Learnings from riding across America

Even though I didn’t visit any new states as I rode across the United States, I learned and saw a lot.  Sights and stories are in the blog posts.  Here are my top 6 “lessons learned”:

Cycling- and life- philosophies:

1. Never give up!  Don’t ever give up.
2. It doesn’t get harder, you just go slower.
3. There’s no such thing as bad weather, only bad attire.
4. Just keep pedaling!
5. There’s no such thing as can’t- only won’t.
6. If I can do it: anyone can.

#5 is the most significant, and goes hand in hand with #6.  One of my Warmshowers’ hosts- Kenny Smith- related a story to me about a 16 day rafting trip he took with his wife Patsy.  Kenny told me,

“you won’t be the same person after this trip”.

I looked at him and didn’t really understand.

Kenny went on.

“You’ll face many different conditions, adversity and fatigue and you’ll get through them all.  You will discover that you can overcome anything”.

I thought a lot about Kenny’s comments the rest of the ride.  He was absolutely right.  I’ve always been a “can do” type person, but the ride took it to an entirely other level.  I never feel powerless, and having overcome the challenge of riding across the USA, I know that there is virtually nothing I can’t do.  It’s all a decision on whether I want to badly enough.  The same goes for you!