Following Yellow Arrows

I just arrived home two days ago from the east coast.  After the ride completed, my wife, Cindy, and I spent several days in Boston before camping for three more days in Acadia, Maine and having a great time with her relatives in Albany, New York. We also had great fun visiting the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY and seeing the Boston Symphony in Tanglewood, MA.     My thought process was that if I spent nine weeks cycling to get to the east coast it would sure be nice to stay a bit and see some sights.   It was all more than great as a post bike trip celebration.

I'm now back home in Minneapolis.   Of course the big question is, "Have you gotten on the bike yet?"

Indeed I have and it was great to go out the day after we landed in Minneapolis. My first ride was a wonderful 30 mile ride that took me though Fort Snelling State Park, along side the Mississippi River and up Ohio Street and Grand Avenue in St. Paul.  I especially wanted to try some of the steeper hills in our area.  What was once a serious challenge has become very manageable.   It isn't that the hills are not hard or even have steep grades but that I found myself approaching them as, "No worries, this will be over soon, at least they are short."   My mind raced back to the Big Horn Mountains and 30 miles of hill climbing or the wonderful but steep climbs in Montana, Wyoming and South Dakota.    The hills were creating memories for me of the trip.   It wasn't that I raced up them but rather that I had confidence that I knew that no matter how steep they were I would soon be over them and moving along and along again.   I'm a little faster than before but even more so much more confident in riding in traffic, going up hills and simply enjoying the ride which made it a very enjoyable experience.  But there was one problem.  I missed the yellow arrows.

Throughout our entire trip, volunteer staff routers planned our route each day and marked yellow arrows all across the country helping us to know where to turn and guiding us across America.  It is one of the clear benefits of going with many others on such a trip.   And, I simply miss the simplicity of waking up early in the morning and rushing out on our bikes to follow the new yellow arrows of where we should go for the day.   Often we forgot the towns we were staying on and the towns we were heading to.   Like ants following single line, we just headed down the road following these yellow arrows.    It was one of the simple and comforting things about the trip -- just go where you are told.  Follow the yellow arrows.

On my bicycle I now have to think and plan and decide where to go and how long to go and when I should go back and what other things I need to do and become a responsible human being again!  On the bike, as in life, we have to make our own yellow arrows.  But some interesting things have changed.  For example, I returned from my ride yesterday and drove into my driveway.  Then I realized I needed to pick up the mail at the Post Office.  Rather than hop in my car to drive the mile to the Post Office, I just rode out again on my bike.  It was as if I was still on the bike ride going into a nearby town to pick up stamps. 

There are significant differences that I'm starting to feel now that I'm home.  Most of it has to do with distractions -- even good things like reading a book or walking the dog -- and all the other things to do - like mowing the lawn and washing dishes -- and people to connect with whom I have missed for the summer.   No more just biking for seven hours a day.  The best way to put it is that I miss following the yellow arrows!