On previous bike touring expeditions, be it 3 days or 14, my favourite part of each trip has actually been when it was all over. I loved to look back over maps, see our route and say “I biked that”. On a trip with a not-too-distant end date, I knew how many more days I would be cycling and when I could expect a warm shower and comfortable bed again. On these tours it was, at times, difficult for me to find the joys in the day-to-day, especially when the weather or road or sleeping conditions weren’t ideal. Because the end was always in sight, I could usually talk myself into doing another day despite hardship.

What I have been finding is that my old method of delayed gratification doesn’t work too well on a year-long tour. I want to be able to enjoy living simply and in the moment with my family in order to accomplish a common goal over a long period of time. I am learning to stop looking towards the end date but to look towards the moment. The moment that is happening. Right now.

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We realized shortly into this trip that while we certainly have a plan and route put together for the next year, for the most part, we have no place to be at no certain time. We can stay in one small town or decide to get to another one — or just play at a park or library all day. We can take left turns, right turns or go straight where we please while still shooting towards a general destination. It’s freeing. It’s invigorating.

But what this also means is that we are moving slowly. Very, very, slowly. Even slower than we expected we would be carrying all the weight we have with us. Sometimes the kids want to play at the park longer or we come across another great stop a few kilometers away from the last one. Sometimes we want to hang out longer in the tent in the morning or chat with some inquisitive folks along the way. While we are definitely enjoying these moments, there is a nagging voice in the back of our minds that reminds us: if we are too slow, we’ll get caught in snow as we cross the Rockies, or we’ll have difficulty making it to a few of the family get-togethers we have scheduled months down the road in another state.

Our trip is linear in nature, so if we don’t advance, we won’t get to those people and places we want to see. So we’re trying to find a pace that we’re all satisfied and content with – trying to reconcile the mileage we need to make with the mileage we want to make. Finding the happiness in the rest breaks instead of in the distance, and taking time to stop and smell the flowers.