TCI Friday
I just got back from New Zealand, where riding a bike is a real good idea. In fact, there’s a lifetime of riding there, and I’ve only just scratched the surface of the surface of that. Still, an experience I’ll not forget soon.
A lifestyle in which a person only needs to get up, eat breakfast, and then execute some captivating, riding adventure is one I’d happily sign up for. It’s so simple, so rewarding, so not possible given the need to earn the hard currency necessary to fund said lifestyle to begin with.
Like Pink Floyd said, “How can you have any pudding, if you don’t eat your meat?”
The answer comes from Blondie, who said, “Dreaming is free.”
So I’m back here at the TCI editorial desk, plotting my next escape from the bonds of responsibility. A family trip to Wales this summer holds out the promise of tacking on the Traws Eryri, a four-day tilt at the high mountains and green valleys of the Welsh north.
Having said that, I became even more urgently aware, while in New Zealand, that the clock is ticking and the world’s great cycling destinations can no longer be put off for another day, even if, by virtue of the way time works, they literally have to be put off for another day.
I’ve never been to Moab or Sedona or Whistler or Downieville. I’ve never even ridden on my multiple trips to Bellingham. I’ve not ridden in Asheville. Or the Dolomites. Or Peru. Now clearly, I’d need a fortune of Muskian proportion (without the deranged rantings thanks) to attend to all of these in the time I have left (relatively) near the top of my physical capabilities, but the fact remains, those trails aren’t going to ride themselves.
This week’s TCI Friday wonders what few destinations you’ll be getting to this year, and/or which ones you fully intend to visit before shuffling off this mortal coil, may it be many, many years henceforth.
Some locations that are not so dramatic, but may be type 1 fun, or so my wife and I hope. C2C across Florida in February, and then across US in summer from Delaware to DC to C&O, Gap, Erie-2-Ohio, Katy, Trans Am from Pueblo to Missoula to Oregon coast, and up to Astoria along the coast….if the creek don’t rise.
Asheville is a potential target this year, since we are thinking of moving there. I’ve still not had my fill of Northern New Mexico, for that matter. Oahu, Big Island, Netherlands, southeastern England all were wonderful by bike. If I had my druthers, I’d like to do Napoleon’s route from France to Moscow and back before I kick the bucket (and hopefully not end up like his Grande Armée in the process). It is all good.
While relatively young I long to ride MTB in the Pacific North West, but before I die I want to experience cycling culture in Europe. Specifically Holland/Belgium-I’m curious to know what it might be like to ride bicycles all the time and for everything. If I don’t make either of these things happen I’ll be OK, New England has been good to me.
The two B’s…Bellingham/Bentonville are ones I may take in this year. Closer is Knoxville. I did CO for some snowboarding already this year, but it would not be difficult to convince me to return. Asheville/Brevard remain a regular visit.