Chris P.

In July of 2019 I had just moved to the city where I would attend graduate school and was working on campus for the chair of the department. He very generously gave me an old bike of his so I could explore the city without a car. That bike is a silver, Marin Coast Trail circa 2008 hardtail mountain/hybrid bike which he bought while he was going to school in California. It traveled across the country with him multiple times, and later once with me. It’s mine for now, but if I ever don’t want it, or can’t keep it, I will graciously return it to it’s original owner, thankful for the memories I made because of it.

This bike served me well for years of casual exploring around the city and short rides, but as I started going on longer rides and learning about “bike touring”, I knew some changes were required. This is the oldest photo of the bike I have from when I lived near campus.

My goal was to turn this bike into something that I could ride anywhere, anytime, sometimes loaded up with gear, all while being comfortable and confident. Basically, a light duty touring bike capable of handling lots of miles on asphalt, some miles on gravel roads, and occasionally off road but not super fast or technical single track. A friend in college broke his collar bone chasing adrenaline on a mountain bike. I’m not interested in that, and nor is this bike.

By the end of the summer of 2024, I knew one of my 2025 goals would be to ride the Erie Canal Trail from Buffalo to Albany, so that was what I had in mind when making modifications to this bike. The rest of this series will chronicle all of that in detail. Keep an eye out in May for posts about actually riding the Canal Trail too and any other longer rides I do to test equipment before my first bike tour.

The title of this blog post shares a title with an article than ran in The New Yorker on September 16, 2024 and written by Anna Wiener. (If you have an iPhone, you can read this article for free, but without photos, otherwise it’s behind a paywall).

www.newyorker.com/magazine/…

She describes at length her interactions with Grant Petersen and his brand expressed through the company, Rivendell Bicycle Works. I’m not interested in rehashing all of that beyond saying that prior to reading this article, I was not familiar with Petersen or Rivendell. The names had come up in research about bikes but I did not understand the context behind them. Now I can sympathize with Peterson’s desire to resist excessive technology and race oriented features in the bike industry.

My own approach to riding has been similar and I’ve only just begun to tailor a bike to fit my needs instead of adapting to the bike (must more info on this process will be available in other posts). Something I can ride whenever I want, wherever I want, sometimes loaded up with gear, for as short or as long as I want all while being comfortable and confident. A tall order for a modest bicycle.

A career in real estate forces my life into a fast pace without the ability to ever truly shut off work. Being on two wheels is the closest I can get though. I don’t commute by bike because our office in an area of the city that’s not very safe for cyclists (or even motorists) plus my schedule often involves multiple appointments back to back all over the city or county. That means I ride for everything else. Mostly for visiting friends, going to the bar, events, occasionally grocery shopping, and just for fun. To explore.

Exploring means that I’m looking around, following whims, stopping to take pictures and observe. It means I’m going slow. At least relative to the rest of my life.

I’m not sure I’ve perfected this practice into an “art” though. Or that “going slow” is even an art at all. It’s a choice.

I choose to walk outside and get on a bicycle. I choose to leave myself time to get to a destination without being in a rush, if I have one at all. I choose to ride upright so I can observe the world go by at 10-12mph. And what more is a series of choices than a lifestyle?

This is only the start of my journey towards touring the world by bike, but here are the steps I think it will take to get there. These milestones are meant to happen roughly in sequence but also build on each other, repeating old events while tackling new ones over time.

1. Going for a short ride around your neighborhood in a loop from your home with no stops
2. Taking a short ride to meet a friend for coffee or a drink
3. Picking up a few groceries or other items at a shop by bike
4. Commuting to work by bike for a day
5. Going on longer, recreational rides for a few hours after work or on the weekends
6. Riding to a town or city nearby and spending a night or two there in a hotel then riding home
7. Riding and staying in hotels for a week (credit card touring)
8. Riding off road on a gravel or dirt path
9. Acquiring a small tent and going on an overnight camping trip by bike
10. Going on a week long tour that mixes hotel stays and camping
11. Transporting your bike and gear by plane for a bike tour
12. Giving mountain bike riding (single track) a try
13. Hike a bike
14. Riding more varied terrain and climates (hills, mountains, hot, cold, rain, etc.)
15. Going on a two week long bike tour
16. Going on a month long bike tour
17. Taking a sabbatical, being between jobs, or between large projects/career milestones to travel for months or years without a detailed plan

Before you know it, you’ll have developed an insatiable sense for adventure and be on your way to cycling around the world! It all starts with walking out your front door, swinging your leg over the frame, and taking off.

In the fall of 2018, I was an architecture student working on my thesis. To help stay focused and waste less time, a friend and I decided to quit social media. At that time, it meant Snapchat, Instagram and Facebook.

Prior to this decision, I had already reduced Instagram posts to only when I had a blog post to go along with it. That website is long gone but the idea that I was “de-valuing” information by scrolling through it for a second at a time has stuck with me. The blog posts were a way to redirect attention of a broad audience to a media where I could explore a topic with sufficient depth. It was fun for a while to have a creative outlet too.

I’ve never re-downloaded Snapchat. I did recently start an Instagram for work, although it’s a slippery slope into old, bad habits. And I’ll probably have a Facebook account as long as my Mom lives, or the platform exists, to be able to stay in touch via a family group chat even though I never post or comment.

That was my problem with all these platforms: I was only a consumer and not a creator.

That ends with this blog.

Even if very few people read it, I want an outlet to share what I’ve learned. To give back. Something that people who are really interested can find and interact with in as healthy of an online environment as possible. If a line or a photo or an idea resonates with you, or you have a question about something — post a comment — that’s why I’ve made this information public.

They did not excite me enough to start a new social media platform. Yet are essential to living the life I want.

Priority Number 1 — My Health Without it, nothing else matters.

Priority Number 2 — Forming and Maintaining Social Connections Sharing life’s experiences with others makes them memorable and meaningful.

Priority Number 3 — Financial Independence From Work I Don’t Want to Do Access to wealth and income allows me to pursue the other 3 Priorities.

Later posts will delve into each of these further, so stay tuned.

Explore the world.

Around New Years I decided I wanted to be more conscious about living my life with intention. But intention determined by what? Priorities.

It started with 3, then upon reflection I realized something was missing. There was nothing to encourage acting on my many, diverse interests — housing, urban planning, cities, architecture, real estate, public health, industrial hemp, rural areas, bikes, travel, etc. I needed to unify all this in a limitless way. A framework with which to evaluate actions and choices.

Explore the world: Near and far. Physical and ideological.

The pursuit of a life with this in mind is the purpose of this blog. If you also prioritize exploring the world, follow along with me, share your experiences and lets learn from each other.