01/04/2012
On the morning of our last 30k's of cycling we peaked outside and it was sunny. There was a slight chill in the air that reminded us that autumn was on the way. As Nina has so kindly mentioned before, I am normally over enthusiastic about getting up in the morning and starting the day. This morning was different. I woke up thinking about reaching the end of this 2400km journey and instead of being overwhelmed with excitement, the idea was pulling at my heart strings... as a result, I was pulling the sheet back over my head. I took a few minutes to lay there and think back...
The idea for this entire trip started while Nina and I were on a hike. You all know the story...I was celebrating one year since my melanoma diagnosis and Nina was yearning for a big adventure and wanted to do something with me to celebrate. What started as "just talk" quickly became our reality and before we knew it we were researching routes and bikes, website design and sponsorship packages. I remembered the moments of hesitation I had when I first read about the steep ascents and scary traffic. At one point I think I even said to Nina, " what if we don't finish? Neither of us have ever done anything like this..what if it's too much?" I'll never forget her answer, "We are going to finish Mik, even if it takes 6 months". And so here we are...finishing. I let my head peak out of the sheets.
Still laying there trying to get my act together, I attempted to think about what I needed to do to pack up...that was the moment it really hit me...sort of like a piece of gravel in the spokes (sorry for the terrible metaphor, but after my two spills at Mavora Lakes yesterday, it only seems appropriate :) Over the past two months Nina and I have developed a system, a routine, for packing and unpacking our bikes each evening and each morning. All of a sudden I realized it would be the last time we would stuff our sleeping bags and check the propane to make sure we had enough gas to cook dinner. It was the last time we would roll up our mats and decide whether or not the tent was dry enough to fold up. It was the last time we would hit the reset button on Nina's odometer to clock our mileage, and the last time Nina would check to make sure I had sunscreen on my shoulders where I couldn't reach. It was the last time I would pack up my pannier bags so that I had all my camping and cooking equipment on one side and my camera, lunch, and rain jacket easily accessible on the other side. It was last time we would clip into our pedals and begin the days venture by rotating verses from Willie Nelson's song, "On the Road Again". I hid myself under the sheets again. I heard the other two rustling around in their beds and wondered if they were feeling the same way.
Reluctantly, we all eventually got up and I noticed (although I didn't say anything) that Nina and Giovanni were also moving in slow motion...All of this hard work and effort to reach the end and now it was as if these last 30ks were something we were all being forced to do against our will. "SNAP OUT OF IT!", I thought. I got myself together as best I could and we were finally on the bikes. The weather was perfect! We had a flat road with a slight descending slope. We had sunshine and a berm wide enough for Nina and I to ride side by side and do some reminiscing and share in a few good laughs. We stopped to take a photo at the Bluff sign that told us we only had 22km left. And then, just like that, the weather did a 180. It was as if the Island didn't want us to finish either. It sent in a massive headwind. Traffic grew from non-existent to an industrial truckers motorway, and since the elements come in threes, it also started pouring. The last 10 K's we couldn't see ten feet in front of us. Completely drenched I stopped and waited for Nina for a minute, "How dramatic!!" I laughed. She smiled with mascara and rain water dripping down her face and then we were both cracking up. We pedaled the rest of the way and arrived at Bluff with Giovanni to stand under the long-awaited, infamous, yellow sign. We hugged, laughed, celebrated, took a few photo's, hugged again, then looked at each other and said, "Ok, now what?!"
It was the strangest feeling. If you would have asked me in the beginning what I anticipated to feel at the the end of this whole thing, my answer would have been completely different from how I actually felt. I thought I'd feel tired, sore, ready to be done...but instead I felt full of energy, like I still had the capacity and desire to keep going. For the first time I felt an unfamiliar gratefulness for being diagnosed with Melanoma. I thought, "wow..it was a blessing". I would never wish it on anyone else, but at that moment, standing under the sign at Bluff, I realized that because of my experience with skin cancer, I was exactly where I was supposed to be. I have found something that I love and that I am passionate about and it has inspired me to continue doing my part to raise awareness. I looked across the road to see Nina laughing and hugging her Mom. I realized how grateful I was to share this experience with her and how much I loved her. I smiled.. "This isn't the end", I thought..."I can keep doing this for the rest of my life"... and just like that all of the anxiety I had over reaching Bluff, lifted, and I felt completely happy.
Until the next adventure...
xoxo
Mik
