Reep's Bike Adventure of Epicness (BAE) (has ended)

[GreenBike]

Here´s another Hero, don't know if still operating ...

http://www.bikechina.com/heinzstucke1z.html

[reepicheep]

Still alive.

Hills suck less.

[reepicheep]

Took a day off. Went to a museum.

Happy 70th.

[reepicheep]

Still alive!

Use sunscreen!

[jacob]

Drink water!

[reepicheep]

I am basically a fountain now, Jacob.

Who now wears sunscreen (in my defense, I'm fairly dark skinned and haven't burned in years.... but also have spent most of the last 5 years inside).

[reepicheep]

Turns out flat places are their own special kind of hell.

Never thought I'd miss hills.

[Gilberto de Piento]

Sounds like things are tough out on the road. Is it windy or muddy or something else? Hang in there!

[Chad]

Yeah, it doesn't sound easy, but I'm looking forward to hearing about it!

[reepicheep]

Still alive!

[reepicheep]

Last day.

[enigmaT120]

You get high marks for brevity.

[reepicheep]

I have a short book of journal content to type up, but I'm not going to do it on my phone.

I'm back, BTW. I survived.

And I have to work tomorrow. Which sucks donkey balls.

[Quadalupe]

It's good to hear that you're home safely! Good luck with getting back to work again, I can imagine it must be hard after the freedom you've enjoyed the last few weeks.

[reepicheep]

5/29/2015
Distance: 18.5 miles
Location: Werschweiler, Germany
Elevation: 768 ft gain, 610 ft loss

Blog post ideas: We all think we've escaped Plato's cave

Who: Ulrich and Karin

An 89-year-old German man asked me a question as I was on my way out of Werschweiler around 1600, dreading the obviously large hill on the way out. I don't know what he asked, but despite the hill I stopped to answer him. We had a brief, mutually unintelligible chat, before I decided I'd best get out of the road. He went to get his son-in-law, who speaks decent English thanks to a stint as a German tank mechanic and many evenings spent in the discotech hanging out out with Americans.

Ulrich found out I didn't have a place to stay that night (I fully intended to camp somewhere around Sankt Wendel, in the forest) and called his wife Karen. They then invited me to stay. I gratefully accepted, because while I really think I would have been perfectly safe camping--this area is so sparsely populated--I really wasn't looking forward to trying to carry my bike into the woods off trail.

Ulrich and his wife, who turns out to be the "little mayor" (as opposed to the big mayor in Sankt Wendel) of this 500-person town, fed me and beered me and chatted with me all evening. Karen isn't as fluent, so the dictionary got a heavy workout. Ulrich is retired, but used to be a civilian mechanic for German Army tanks. He has a fully kitted-out workshop downstairs and actually ground down a kickstand screw that was hitting the spokes and making this annoying clicking noise for me.

They have two daughters, a 36-year-old who lives next door with her partner and a 32-year-old who lives 10 minutes away with her husband and two young children. I think it's so interesting and cool that the whole family (father-in-law and his wife live downstairs from Ullrich and Karen) lives so close together and can help one another out when needed. Really a throwback to a simpler time.

Their oldest daughter studies or studied some kind of sociology. She lived in Spain for a year, then wrote a book about Los Angeles's relationship with its Mexican immigrants. That might have been quite an interesting, European perspective to bring to a project like that. She also walked a pilgrimage trail in Europe--maybe Saint Michael? (Turns out it was Camino de Santiago). If that's a thing. I'm surprised to learn that pilgrimages are still a thing for Europeans, but apparently many of them do it to jump start or recognize personal change, and not because they are inherently religious.

I feel physically OK but will probably be sore tomorrow.

5/30/2015
Distance: 26.5 miles
Elevation: 2,057 ft gain, 1,312 ft loss
Location: Hermeskeil, Germany

Blog post: Why Nations Fail, book review

Who: Kevin (Dutch, concerned about his English abilities), Justin (16-year-old alcoholic), Michele (no English to speak of), Kiara (14 year old who wants to join the German military and help people), Nadine (punk with a hat)

Fell in my clip shoes. Twice. Spent most of the day after that in sneakers. Basically can't handle hills in the clip shoes. Remain uninjured.

Really struggled on some of the hills, even not very steep ones. I think my legs are just so tired...I don't have anything left to give. I ended up walking the bike up a couple of hills. Hopefully I feel better tomorrow.

I wanted to go to Trier but after 30 miles today I was just so tired. Even though I was almost finished with all the elevation gain for the day, I just couldn't imagine making that last hill.

I was biking past a field with three tents and a handful of teenagers hanging out. I biked past, thinking how cool it would be if I stopped and slept there, nevous about asking...and then I just turned around and went back. And they were happy to have me.

So here I am, listening to Du Hast by a campfire. Justin got drunk around 2030 and passed out after telling me some people with ectasy were coming later (nobody with ectasy ever shoed up). I helped his friend put him to bed in a tent--we nearly had to carry him and shove him into a sleeping bag. They are worried about him--apparently he does this a lot. Rough home life of some sort. So young, and we can all see he is on a self-destructive path. It is heartbreaking...and tomorrow I ride on, never to see him again.

The rest of these kids are pretty normal. There's something about a campfire that brings about self-reflection in people, though, and as the "outsider" I have been privy to several very deep conversations tonight.

Nadine wanted to know if she should move to New York to pursue her singing, or be an early childhood teacher. Kiara wanted to talk about how she hopes she can help people with her life. Kevin wanted to talk about racism and cultural exchange and his desire to move to America.

The kids asked me if I would help them buy vodka and cigarettes...they were already drinking beer, which most of them were of legal age for, and since they were just sleeping in a field I didn't really see any major problem with providing what they asked for. I'm not sure how legal (or not) that is, in Germany, but the clerk at Aldi (who obviously knew what was happening) didn't bat an eye.

I'm a little overwhelmed. It seems like most of these kids have a high degree of self-awareness, but also feel like their lives are basically meaningless. That the world will not permit them to pursue their dreams and passions and that there are systemic obstacles in their way, mainly related to the German education system and their relegation to secondary education that isn't tracking them into university. To be so young and to feel that way is so sad, and there is nothing I can do for them. I am just passing through their lives.

5/31/15
Distance: 20.7 miles
Location: Trier
Elevation: 636 ft gain, 1896 ft loss

Blog post: More growth is not necessarily better (per How Nations Fail)/ Growth problems aren't the only problems--heat wave in India

Spent some time today walking the bike up a dirt road. Tried to jump on it going uphill tore my ass somehow--I didn't think it was serious but I've gone to the bathroom now that I'm in Trier and I'm bleeding. That is NOT a comfortable place to bleed from, though I don't feel significant pain so I'm hoping it's superficial. And that a proper shower will keep anything from getting infected.

Last night, I was quite cold. "Pack light, freeze at night" seems very, very true and I wished I'd brought my real sleeping bag and not this light fleece. I think in future I will sleep with my legs--with shoes on--in one of the saddle bags, and make sure to put on all my layers before bed, no matter how warm I am beforehand or how inconvenient it is.

The bivvy really needed to be staked tighter too, and somehow if I can hold up the bottom off my legs I think it will be much more functional. Even so, condensation was only a minor problem last night. I didn't bother with the tarp.

This was morning while I was enjoying breakfast (fired up the stove tea for the first time), the farmer whose field we were cmped in showed up to express his displeasure. I was the only one outside and awake (because I was the only one not hungover), but I roused the kids out of the tent, so a surprisingly un-hungover Justin could talk to the farmer.

About the only thing I understood from their conversation was that if we didn't leave, he was going to call the police. I finished my breakfast and started packing up, then helped the kids with a couple of tents that they were struggling with. We made some awkward good-byes--the alcohol and fire fueled camaraderie of the evening before had somewhat worn off--and I pedaled off.

Most of the trip down to Trier was downhill--it was tons of fun whizzing down the mountain, and a little scary thinking about how hurt I'd be if I fell--but it was also sad to give up so much elevation. I wasn't ready to go back uphill today, and so even though I've only done 20 miles, I'm spending the night with Vanessa, the girl I couchsurfed with earlier in the year who also couchsurfed with my sister and father in the U.S. while she was on vacation a few weeks ago.

Vanessa and I had lunch together--I've spent a lot of money today--but man, was I hungry. I've had a burger, fries, chocolate milkshake, and only now am I full. The whole gluten-free thing has kinda gone out the window, though I seem to be handling it OK. I did take something for a headache on Friday after my dinner of bread and cheese with Ulrich and Karen.

Now that I am full I am quite sleepy--I am in a restaurant called "Louisiana" in Trier and I am charging my phone, waiting for Vanessa to finish with work.

I've begun to get away from thinking about my own work quite so much, nor am I mulling over Hubs. This might be the first trip I've taken as a genuine voyage of self-discovery and not because I'm trying to run away or escape from something.

6/1/2015
Distance: 43.1 miles
Elevation: 1,270 ft gain, 1063 ft loss
Location: Ettlebruck, Luxembourg

Spent the night with Natalia, a Romanian studying her MA in Psychology (or contemporary European history, or something) in Ettlebruck. She was both sick and busy, preparing for a meeting with the director of a local hospital, so it's kind of amazing that she was willing to host me at all (and even more amazing that I didn't get sick after I stayed with her).

We talked quite a bit about permaculture. Apparently most of her friends are in the "transition town" movement, which is a movement designed to promote local food and energy self-sufficiency. She is a vegetarian with strongly held beliefs about animal welfare and the quality of the food supply, many of which I agree with.

I think climate change is going to have a significant impact on our food supply, that many people, myself included, will not be prepared for. I think striving for self-sufficiency and some degree of robust community is the only way that anybody is going to get through the next couple hundred years. The world is about to get a lot smaller.

[reepicheep]

6/2/2015
Distance: 20.5 miles
Elevation: 1,526 ft gain, 974 ft loss
Location: Martelange, Belgium

Instead of going to Bastogne, went to Martelange in order to lessen the elevation gain. Two big hills at the beginning, but fewer hills overall.

Uneventful, short day. The plateau I spent most of the day on was windy and empty. Just a few scary bits on roads without bike paths.

I'm now at a campground outside Martelange. It's practically empty--most campers are at work. I'm enjoying some white wine by the pol--the sun is ferocious, yet lovely.

I finished the book I was listening to (Why Nations Fail). It posits that broadly inclusive, centralized political institutions lead to sustainable economic growth, and that exploitive political policies lead to exploitive economic policies and eventually to failed states.

My main issue with it isn't the argument or premise--I'm convinced that political policies play a major role in the success of any nation--but rather that the book makes the assumption that more growth is better.

It's true that a combination of capitalism and democracyish have led to unprecedented economic growth in much of the world, but the authors do not discuss the cost of that growth. If the economy had stagnated at 15th century levels of trade and mercantilism, I would likely not be able to take a 1000 km bike trip, but the oceans wouldn't be full of plastic, either.

The authors also discuss how the cataclysmic upheaval of the black plague and later, Atlantic trade, impacted various European nations. Countries like England, which were slightly more politically inclusive than other countries before these events, became more inclusive after. The opposite occurred for more totalitarian nations like Spain and Russia.

The authors assume, however, that inclusive-yet-centralized political policies will be the best form of governance for any future cataclysmic event, helping countries with these policies survive the event better than those with more exploitive policies. I am just not sure how true this is--just because something has worked in the past doesn't mean it is the best choice for all future events. China has been able to make great strides with their emissions because of how much power the party has. The U.S. is still dickering about whether climate change is a thing. Who is to say that a more decisive, authoritarian government won't be more successful at managing climate change than a democratic one?

I also finished Fight Club. What a kick in the pants!

The protagonist says he must hit bottom before he can be redeemed. And whooo, does he ever hit bottom. I think this idea of redemption being necessary is a biblical hold over, and while it is appealing (Protestant work ethic is such a part of our culture and all that), it falls a little flat if you don't believe in the original fall from grace.

If I am not supposed to spend my life clawing my way out of sin via the fruits of my labor, what am I supposed to be doing with my time?

6/3/2015
Distance: ~15 miles
Elevation: ~909 ft gain, ~433 ft loss
Location: Somewhere south of Bastogne

Woke up to mist and then a light rain. Packed up my stuff and went to sit under the porch.

I have somewhere about 10 km from Bastogne to stay, just a short hop from here, but I can't be there until after 1600. And it's only about 14 km from here, a couple hours, tops. So I'm relaxing at the campground for awhile, writing and reading. I am in no hurry.

I am finally starting to relax a bit. Work is all-consuming and so mentally exhausting that the real impact of it on my mental well-being is only becoming clear after days away. I so desperately don't want to go back. So little would be required for a life like the one I am leading right now, it's such a shame that I didn't try this earlier in my life, before I got so trapped by a job, a house, a marriage.

I could have biked around the world for years just on what I currently have saved.

Yesterday while setting up the bivvy I had my first moment of "this is too hard and I want to go home." I don't know why it struck me at that particular moment. The sun was out and beautiful. I was not overly tired. But there it was.

The funny thing is it would actually be damned difficult to stop and go home right now. I would still have to finish packing up, find the nearest train station, bike there, figure out a route home, pay for a ticket, wait for the train, then kick myself all the long way back. Easier to just keep going.

It bothers me that I will never take a trip like this with my husband. He could never stomach such uncertainty over where he would sleep each night, or day after day of mental and physical challenge. It is ok to take a trip like this alone. It helps me reflect and learn. But it would be better with my husband. Maybe he can drive the chase car?

6/4/15

Location: Bastogne
No biking!

Went to the Bastogne War Museum today. Some 80k soldiers lost their lives, were casualties, or MIA during the Battle of the Bulge. More than Normandy. Incredible. And it was seemingly a somewhat symbolic victory, too, not really strategically necessary, though they slowed the Axis counter-offensive considerably. Hitler was already on the rails when he tried to chew on Easy Company.

I can't help but think how much older the average 20-year-old was back then. To see so much death at such a young age--very different from today, where people are still children so late in their lives. Even the folks I supervise who are in their mid-twenties act like children.

Nathalie and her family have been wonderful to me. It's been so nice to have a chance to rest, to relax, to see a bit of culture and history. Victor, their three year old son, is such a lucky little boy, to grow up surrounded by such love. Nathalie is preparing a special room in the house to do the Montessori curriculum with him. She had to do in-vitro to conceive him, and had him quite late in life. He's obviously the apple of his parent's eye. To grow up on a farm, with a house built around and for you, with horses, dogs, cats--what a life!

[reepicheep]

June 5-6, 2015

Distance: 57.3 miles
Elevation: 2,218 ft gain, 3622 ft loss
Location: Liege

Blog post: Futility of carrots and sticks in a knowledge economy--creating a sense of progress and mastery in intangible work

I left Nathalie's house, took a turn onto a major road I should not have been on, and promptly got a flat tire.

After an hour in the heat (80+ degrees F) trying to change it, I was successful. I was proud of myself, but wasn't able to properly inflate it and I think whatever cut the tire was still embedded in the rubber, because a mile later it was flat again.

I gave up replacing the tube again, though I had the materials and even patches, as I needed some other minor repairs as well. I went to a house just a bit away from where I got my second flat, and spoke with Bernard, a man pulling out of his driveway in a pick-up truck.

Bernard did not speak English, nor did I speak sufficient French to communicate my predicament, but we communicated well enough through gestures and air-hissing noises. He helped me put the bike the back of the truck and drove me the 5 minutes to the nearest bike shop--something Nathalie's husband had fortuitously shown me the night before as we were on our way back from the Fritterie.

The bike shop moved me to the head of the line when I said I was trying to bike to Liege, and replaced the tube, fixed the brake cable that my teenage German friend snapped several days ago when I was camping outside of Trier, and also did something to diminish the squeaking front column (driving me mad). 31 euro total.

Then I stopped to get ice-ream (glaces) in Bastogne and was waylaid by a car full of Brits dressed in pirate costumes who wanted to arm wrestle for charity. I arm-wrestled.

On my way again...it was a long, long day, with more than 845 meters of elevation gain and two serious hills. The downhill was nice, and going up wasn't that bad in the early afternoon. I conquered the majority of the hills ON the bike.

But by the early evening, after 7 hours of riding, and after draining, then refilling, then draining my camelbak again...I was wiped out and badly sunburned.

Fan, my Liege host, changed the meeting location on me to a spot outside the city--a BBQ/camping place that was right along the bike path and next to the river. Thank God the end of the day was flat, because I had to push the bike up several hills at the end (even some basically flat hills). I was seriously considering the utility of dramatically collapsing on someone's front stoop and begging for a glass of water, as I was in primarily residential neighborhoods at the end of the day without a public spot to stop and refill. Never in my life have I been so tired. I wanted to quit so many times, but there was nothing to do except keep going, there was no useful way of quitting. I couldn't spend the night sleeping by the side of a road with no water in a residential neighborhood.

After cursing just about everything in my life multiple times in some very colorful language, I made it to the BBQ place, gobbled down a couple of sausages, a pint of water, and then fell asleep in a camping chair until my host decided we could go back to her house.

Let me tell you, I was never so happy to ride in a car in my life. I slept the sleep of the dead once we made it back to Fan's house (after a long, cool bath).

Today, we went into the city and bought some cream for my sunburn and some food. I made guacamole for Fan and later we will have tacos.

Fan tells me that a significant portion of Belgians are on unemployment. Her friends are artists, DJs, alcoholics, and professional smokers.

She herself helps to connect Rasta bands with event managers. It is her own business and she is in a couching group/classes to improve it. She seems ambitious...but is also on unemployment/welfare. Very common here, I guess. The Belgians have put fuck all investment into their road infrastructure, in contrast.

Fan does own her own house, though. She says it was 110,000 euro six years ago, but was basically an empty shell. Not even a kitchen sink. She is re-finishing one room at a time (the bathroom and Olympic-size bathtub was amazing).

Fan has a house-guest, Manu, who was born in Chile but who has lived in Belgium since he was two. He lost his unemployment benefits and has no job prospects--he is a DJ. He stays with Fan and does the housework (supposedly). Mostly he drinks, apparently.

[reepicheep]

6/20/15 interjection:

I have many more pages to type, but I'd like to interject with some thoughts on my two days back at work so far.

I am completely, utterly, apathetic about my work.

I could not give two fucks about either the details of the work I'm doing or the overall picture/reasons behind the bigger picture.

But it's not...difficult. It's not like I'm bored, or upset, I feel like I'm floating above it all. Nothing bothers me, everything is water off my back. Other people are incredibly stressed out about everything from minor details to major politics. I'm not worked up or interested or engaged in anything...not even the utter, total nonsense that a couple of my folks got up to while I was gone (to be expected). Normally I would bring that home with me and worry about it, chew on it, stress over it.

I don't dread going to work (I did, in the last few days of the trip). I just don't care. At all. I don't care that I'm already sleep deprived after two days. I don't care that my house is an absolute mess because I haven't had time to clean up my trip stuff since I got back. I don't care that I haven't showered in two days (I haven't worked out the way I'm accustomed to...I don't feel dirty). I don't care that I need a haircut. I'm not even really hungry--not the way I was while I was biking each day--though I eat for lack of anything better to do.

I'm not sure if this is a temporary result of being gone from work for so long and my inability to adjust back to the Groundhog Day nature of my job, or if it's a more permanent shift in attitude from listening to Epictetus four times in the last couple of days of the trip (I talk more about him in later journal entries).

In contrast, everything outside of work feels more real and solid. I taste my food with intention. I walk down the street and I notice the sky, how my hands feel in my biking gloves. I don't want to play with my phone so much.

I bike home and I notice new things I didn't see before. Road signs. The kinds of leaves on the trees. The temperature. I chose not to wear a jacket yesterday just to feel the light rain on my skin. I don't listen to podcasts, I just bike. The trip is all too short when I'm used to going for hours at a time.

I really don't *want* to feel engaged in my work anymore, though that's not a good recipe for career success* in the long run, if this persists. I'm enjoying this feeling. It's almost bliss. I am untouchable.

*...except I also don't care about career success.

[Dragline]

That red pill can be pretty tasty.

"It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate,
I am the captain of my soul."

-- William Ernest Henley ("Invictus")

[jacob]

@reepicheep - You've grown as a person.---Converted 10000 experience points into one additional level of warrior/sage/mageness. It's hard to undo but I hope you don't mind too much.

PS: I'm one of those "too chicken and worrying too much about where to sleep tonight" people. Congrats. You're now officially braver than I am.

PPS: Despite my supposed IQ, erudition, etc. I still haven't figured out what "reepicheep" means..