Finding Yourself Riding Uphill? Look For The Little Things

What if I told you I had the answer to getting rid of that feeling of life being so mundane?

Don't worry! I'm not about to preach to you about all the wonderful parts of bicycle touring and tell you this is the answer. Trust me.  It's not.

But sometimes at home, I felt every day was the same.  I would have my morning routine of breakfast and coffee, spend the day at work, come home and take the dog out, try to get some work done around the house, make dinner, and go to bed just to start the process all over again the next day.  I decided to disrupt that routine and spend a year of my life bike riding through all 50 states. I thought, this will really change things up!  We all need a break from that daily routine and this was my chance!  So Adam and I went for it!

Now that I've been on the road for three months, even this has become another daily routine.  Our daily grind just consists of riding 60 miles or so.  I still wake up and have breakfast and coffee, I still go to "work," at the end of the day there are still things to be done around the "house" (wherever that is for the night... tonight, it's the Blue Ridge Parkway), and I still make dinner.  I guess, no matter where we are or what we're doing, we settle into a routine.  My bright idea of shaking things up just rolled me over into a different routine and even this can feel mundane. 

I have been rather drained lately and maybe even getting a little homesick and bummed by the daily grind.  To make it worse, we were traveling through some West Virginia coal mining towns on a cold, wet day where we saw not only rain, but hail and snow, too!  We spent the whole day riding next to a river flowing opposite our direction.  This could only mean one thing: we were going uphill!  The day ended in a strange, dark, dirty hotel room. Fit my mood. 
 
Thankfully, the next day the sun came out and half way through the day we started riding next to another river, only this time, it was flowing with us!  What a treat!  I took some time to appreciate this river and it's downhill route. My entire attitude changed after that and I took a picture of me riding next to the river. I realized that no matter where I was, it's the little things that make it all worthwhile!

I decided then that I would try to post The Little Things each day to our Give a Bike Facebook page to remind me to find that little thing in my day and maybe inspire others to find theirs.

Even with finding The Little Thing, though, we all need a break from that routine- whether your routine involves riding your bike 60 miles a day or not!  So while you might be planning a week away from Madison come April break, I'm excited to ride into Madison and take my break there!

Christy and Adam are currently in Virginia. To find out more, check out their blog at http://giveabike.blogspot.com/ or their Facebook Page at https:/ /www.facebook.com/giveabike. To see where they are, you can check out this map at Track My Tour. Christy will be writing occasional stories for Patch as she and her husband make their way through the U.S.

Madison Patch is proud to be the Connecticut sponsor for Adam and Christy's trip. If you'd like to sponsor their trip, visit this page on their website.