4 August 2008

 

 

(An epilogue or prologue?)

 

 

Tripping through the streets of Bangkok brought me face to face with a man similar in age to myself and with a stature reminiscent of someone I had met before. He stood just below my height with a rust orange wrap around garment thrown casually and purposefully across his right shoulder, dropping halfway down his back before settling slightly above a rope–tied waist. He carried with him a bag of thick grey cloth delicately balanced off his left shoulder. There was a weight of substance in this bag. A weight of experience which would explain the lightness in his step.

 

We had nearly run each other over. At precisely the same moment our collective attention, while diverted elsewhere, came together in focusing back on the road that lay ahead. We had been sharing the festival of local street life. Making apologies and stepping aside for the other to pass we continued on towards our next destination. I was headed towards the blue taxi with red leather interior; him I don’t know. When I turned around to capture another glimpse of the man, he was gone. Swallowed up by the cacophony of life enveloping us both.

 

A Journey can take you to somewhere you have been before yet never experienced. It provides opportunity to experience that where you have never been but thought you understood. A Journey satisfies and satiates in so many different ways.

 

From road-side art-house expressionism to examples of past glory days to acknowledgements of significant contributors of the past, the world’s cultures serve up diversity in droves. It is all there for one to reach out and touch.

 

This Journey has experienced diversity in eight countries over three continents within which contained innumerable cultural influences all providing unique life perspectives. It was done from the favored position of the saddle; the chosen steed an Argon18 Titanium road bike. Perfectly suited and without fault.

 

Are there any particular moments that stand out? That depends on how much time you have….

 

There’s the old-schooler riding his single speed in Italy’s Dolomites, black bears lining the Canadian highways, the surprise hilliness of the English Peaks district, Dali’s expressive art in Spain, Frances movable feast in the TdF and Thailand’s daring streets. Not to be forgotten is the American training fest that is Mount Tam.

 

But the overall theme to be taken from A Journey is the welcoming nature of those whose paths have crossed. Stand out mention must go to the Dolce Vita Cycling girls in San Francisco, the Il Pensinitos in Italy and the Redorte Velo Club in France who all welcomed a stranger from a strange land into their mists with a smile and exceptional grace. All went out of their way to show the way around exceptional routes in very exceptional locations.

 

No matter which direction you go or how you get there……the world is an amazing place!