Are epic bike trips just for the younguns?

Countdown - 173 days

So, lately it seems like just about every time I mention this trip to someone who doesn't know about it, they say something like, "seriously? at your age?" or something like that. The only thing harder than hearing that comment is finding someone who hasn't heard about the trip yet.



Is this just a trip for young people? Am I too old (I'm not even 50!) for this?

No way! In fact, I've got a few reasons why it's even BETTER for us graying types to be making this undertaking.



5. The more mellow you are, the more time you take to smell the roses. See, to us, it's not just the destination, it's the ride. We savour the sights and sounds along the way. We're not as obsessed with simply getting from one place to the next. We'll notice the things along the way. Call us multi-taskers if you will, but the fact is, those young punks miss a lot by keeping their focus on destination goal and not the real goal, which is the journey itself.


4. Patience. If there's one thing you have to have on long trips, it's patience. Traveling a long way in one day can make anyone get antsy to 'get there'. But those of us with experience will know how to pace ourselves. We'll get there feeling a lot less tired because we planned and prepped for a full day's riding. We didn't take off like a rabbit, only to come dragging in like a tortoise. We know enough to stop at a couple of beers at night, instead of 'celebrating a particularly good day' with a couple too many. The next day is a killer.

3. Wisdom. Because we've likely been around for a few more years than these punk kids, we probably have made the mistakes (a few times) that they are just making for the first time. That means that -hopefully- we've learned our lesson. And we know that just because you are in a groove and don't feel like stopping for fuel because you just stopped an hour ago, doesn't mean you don't stop. It means you check to see how far it is to the next available fuel stop and make your determination from there. Once you've pushed a bike to the next fuel stop, you NEVER want to do that again.

2. Mental Capacity/Diminished Mental Capacity. Either you got it or you don't. Again experience is a great teacher. But age can also be a great equalizer. Being wise enough to know your limitations is great, but sometimes oblivion will make you a lot happier. So here's to us old-timers who are either aged and wise, or aged and memory challenged. It's easier to explain why your went 75 miles out of the way by taking a wrong turn when you are old enough to say," gee, I just forgot what road I was looking for." People can understand and forgive that. When you say that at 22 years old, well, you just look stupid.

1. We find such majesty in the little things. We're like small children (and my wife would agree to that whole-heartedly). It doesn't take a whole lot to entertain us. A trip like this is something we check off of a bucket list, but young people can do that too. To those of us who are showing a little frost on the roof (or missing a few shingles), trips like this become a sense of purpose for us. Raison d'etre.