the battle to Waterloo - May 16, 2007 -

ethics, philosophy and temptation.

Hello from Waterloo New York!

After two days of rest and we felt like new - well almost new. as with any endurance event you never really feel fully rested until the trip is a distant memory. but my how things have changed over the past 48hrs. when I last wrote on this blog we had finished riding near the Pennsylvania border and had just made the journey to Ithaca by car. our plan at the time was to return after a rest to that random bit of highway and begin the ride once again.

every adventure must have some sort of a grounding philosophy, a mission statement that binds the mindset of the individual to the task at hand. ground rules that are either unspoken or spelled out in a constitution. as we rested, ate lazy lunches and recapped the trip so far, Andrew and I discussed our philosophical goals of this trip. the geographic goals for me it is a journey from New York to Canada and for my friend that journey will continue all the way to the Golden Gate Bridge. but those destinations are not the sole prizes of this adventure. rather the currency we hope to earn is the experience of the road, the sum total of what we will find and see and do will be greater than the end destination. in other words - the key is the journey and not the destination. the miles we will cover on the road will pale into insignifigance compared to the internal journey.

with that in mind we decided not to return to our random spot in the road, but to continue our ride from Ithaca, electing not to backtrack 150km down the road. almost as an underline, an emphasis on our ideals. if we remove the possibility of completing every inch of our goals then we must be forced to find the full value in our own internal achievements.

rest days also brought on a bit of a re-think as far as biking equipment. Andrew had been riding an old friend, his trusty mountain bike that had been with him when he rode the length of New Zealand and from Istanbul to Paris. where once the trusty GT was a great comfortable machine, this ride, this ride clear across a continent required something a bit different, something built for speed. off to the bike shop we went and found a great touring road bike that would be the go.

so today with our philosophical bags packed and new bike in tow we hit the road from Ithaca heading north along Cayuga Lake towards the Erie Canal. we will follow the canal all the way to lake Erie and to Niagara Falls, where we will cross into Canada.

we had such enthusiasm when we started the ride today, with fresh legs and a new bike to put through it's paces - but the reality of bike touring quickly set in. a stiff headwind, driving rain and rolling hills were like a kick to the guts. but this was after all what we signed up for - if we'd wanted to do something easy and without challenges we could have just stayed home. the temperature continued to fall as we climbed through the hills, the biting wind stealing the feeling from my fingertips and chilling my shins as we raced down the backside.

what happened next was almost out of a fairytale or at least out of a morality play. head to the wind we passed through yet another micro town that lacked the warmth of a cup of soup and a crust of bread we so badly wanted, when out of nowhere, the ultimate oasis. parked on the side of the road, raised on a small hill sitting on the corner of a farmyard, there it was. a 1961 Pontiac Firebird, lovingly restored to it's original glory painted eggshell white with only the for sale sign to give it a swash of color. we pulled off to the side and looked at it for a long moment. Andrew got off his bike and looked closer. it was time to get off the bikes for a banana anyway, we sat in the farmyard and Andrew asked the question jokingly at first, "well, should we buy it?" I laughed and he just looked at me.

"Are you serious?"

"Sure, why not, it's affordable, and wouldn't that make for a great adventure, we could drive to California"

I was gobsmacked, the images of racing through the desert in the classic car, getting out of this god-damn cold wind, filled my head.

without needing to think I gave my answer, "I'm game if you are..."

"well there is only one way to solve this." Andrew reached into his pocket and pulled out a coin, "Heads we buy the car, tails we ride." with a flick the coin was in the air and as it landed in the grass we both pounced upon it.

it was heads.

we both just looked at each other not quite sure what to say. the silence spoke chapters and we knew what we had to do. the car would have to wait, we were on a mission, and as cool as temptation was, we had to resist. with one last look at the beautiful automobile we pushed our bikes to the road and started into the icy wind once again.

every journey has an emotional turning point where there is that defining moment that will forever define the experience. today was that day.

have fun out there....

~Scott