Musings from the Road: Rained in on a Bicycle Tour

I’m currently “on a bicycle tour” but I say that with quotations because today is my first day and I’m actually bundled under some blankets in front of a fire. I’ve only pedaled 1.5 miles so far. Instead of riding, I’m waiting out some extreme weather at a co-living space in Santa Cruz waiting for some friends who got stranded even further up north because of the flash flooding.

Solid first day, I’d say.

So, join me on a journey as I tell you a story……I’m joking, instead, bear with me while I share some random musings and just think out loud for a minute here. Because I’ve actually been thinking a lot about what I want The Pedal Project to look like in 2017. I want you to be a part of it. I want it to be bigger, inspire more people to travel, sleep under the stars, bicycle and just generally do what they love. Plus, I figure if I put these on paper and put it out in the world, someone will hold me accountable and you’ll all have a little glimpse into the madness of what I’m trying to do. If some days it doesn’t make sense, just know, I’m figuring it out as I go, too 🙂

Also, I’ve sprinkled in some favorite photos from last year, just because.

Goals:

• One new post a week: Create the muscle memory and habit of posting at least once a week. Quantity over quality (at least at first) here, in order to avoid starting a post and it never actually getting published due to ‘not being quite right yet.’ I’m also not allowing myself to feel guilty for not getting something shared fast enough. This is fun, this is all about my journey and what I’m doing to prepare for my epic trip. There will be mistakes and probably some level of procrastination. And that’s ok – every once in a while, at least. Ugh, I’m over perfection in 2017. Let’s all just be real. Okay? Okay, moving on….

• Photo posts: these will be just photos of an adventure – whether bicycle related or not, so I can practice my photography and just simply enjoy a new hobby. No need for lots of content, I’ll just let the photos speak for themselves and you can tell me what you think.

• Bliss Interviews: I’m building a way that everyone can share their stories of bliss and happiness, whether or not I have the time to interview them. This will need a new home and a submission form. And ideally a map so you can see where in the world our happiness has infected (can happiness infect? I think, yes.).

• Vlogging: Bum, bum, bum. This is a scary one for me. I’m not great with a video camera (read: I’m terrible), but several people have asked for this and I think video is the future. That last bit is the marketer in me speaking. But it’s true. My goal is one new check-in post a month that is either an adventure reel of what I did that month or a monolog of me sharing what I prepped for as the 12-month countdown for Alaska continues to loom closer.

• 100% nomad life: I really feel like this is the year that I need to embrace being a full-time digital nomad. No apartment lease, no permanent zip code, no worries. I have an amazing job that lets me do it and plenty of experience working from the road – why not take the leap? This one is definitely just a musing at this point, but I feel like this is how all my best ideas slowly creep in and take hold…

• Choose happiness: I want to share more thoughtful posts – especially on Instagram – about living a mindful, grateful intentional life, no matter what your/my current situation is. I’ve noticed that whether you focus on the positive or the negative happenings, it will set the tone for rest of the day. Why not make it a good one?

And with that, I think I’ll sign off. Someone is baking a cake and the amazing smell of melting chocolate is spreading throughout the house. I need to get a closer look.