“make a radical change in your lifestyle and begin to boldly do things which you may previously never have thought of doing, or been too hesitant to attempt. So many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the initiative to change their situation because they are conditioned to a life of security, conformity, and conservation, all of which may appear to give one peace of mind, but in reality nothing is more damaging to the adventurous spirit within a man than a secure future. The very basic core of a man's living spirit is his passion for adventure. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun. If you want to get more out of life, you must lose your inclination for monotonous security and adopt a helter-skelter style of life that will at first appear to you to be crazy. But once you become accustomed to such a life you will see its full meaning and its incredible beauty.” 

-John Krakauer, Into the Wild

18 Days

I have been thinking about the significance of these two numbers. This is the number of days I plan to bike 4300 miles, through 10 states, from Astoria, Oregon to Yorktown, Virginia. The Trans Am Bike Race's only requirement is that you are fully self-supported, and that you have a GPS spot tracker to verify that you actually rode your bike. What you choose to ride is entirely up to you. Any bike is allowed. You could show up on a unicycle if that's your thing. There are zero checkpoints, so you are responsible for your own fuel, and your own safety. Basically, you are on your own. The clock will not stop. You have 40 days to complete it officially. A part of me questions the desire to even take on something like this, since you can loose motor control of you hands and neck. Severe saddle sores are common. I will suffer. Two hundred and thirty eight miles daily for eighteen days. That's what is will take. There's a real possibility that I'll be riding 22 or more hours a day. This excites me and terrifies me more than I can say. I mean, I'm 43, I will be turning 44 at the end of it. These are miles and times for elite athletes. And yet, at 43 years, old I still think I can. It's just the way I'm wired. It's the reason I believe in the goodness of folks, the reason I  believe we can all do better. I'm not sure that I'll finish in 18 days, or 25, or at all. But I'm sure as fuck going to give it all I have. And that is pretty fucking good in my book.