The first question everyone asks us. Well...It doesn't feel all that good, to be frank. Everyone, including us at some point, I'm sure, had an expectation that we'd be pumped up and proud of what we'd achieved. But really? On our last ride, we were both just quiet and sad and a little tearful.
And then it was just over.
It's not that we're not proud of ourselves, it's just not that "WHOO!" kind of proud. What we did took months and it was neither easy nor hard. And, more than anything, what we did was quiet. One day of ever evolving countryside slipping into another while we rode with the tacit understanding of mutual support. And, really, that's all there was to it.
What amazed me on a daily basis was not what I could achieve with my body, not how far I could ride or what hills I could grind out, but the easygoing peace of mind I was able to step into while my body occupied itself with getting strong, being strong, and, in that world of fresh air and sunshine and birdsong, I had nothing left to focus on but the surprising landscape of my own uninterrupted thoughts.
And then we found ourselves at the top of Signal Hill gazing out over the Atlantic and there was nowhere left to go but home.
So, how does it feel to be done? I think it feels like we're not quite ready yet for all the noise.
1 comment:
It's no small thing to know that the two of you are comfortable in your own and each other's silence. It sounds like it's been a wonderful experience, even if there wasn't a climactic "WHOO!! WE MADE IT!" to punctuate the end of the trip. I love that feeling of quiet, almost melancholic peace that acknowledges "So that's it. Ok. Moving on." Matter-of-fact-ness mixed in with some zen-like spirituality.
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