Today’s Weight: 386.7 lb
Yesterday’s Water: 132 oz
I had a very interesting and inspirational encounter this morning – on my way into work I stopped at my usual gas station. I happened to see a guy on his bicycle, wearing biking gear that said on the front “Cross Country Trip” and on the back, “NY to LA”. I was instantly curious if that meant what I thought it meant, so I approached him and asked him about what his shirt meant. In a thick Polish accent, but with perfect (and polite) English grammar, he informed me that yes, he’d started biking in New York, and was biking across the country by himself, to Los Angeles. He’d left New York on July 1st and been traveling since – he reached Avon, Indiana this morning. He said his plan was to bike across the country in about 5-6 weeks.
I also asked if he’d picked his route ahead of time and he informed me he just goes wherever Google Maps tells him to go. So I was able to pull up what Google’s route for a bicyclist would be, from New York to Los Angeles. Looks like Google says 3017 miles. I looked it up, and he’s been averaging about 60 miles a day. He’s also about 1/4 of the way done.
There’s something very inspirational to me about that. Here’s a guy, he decided to travel to a foreign country, and ride a bicycle across it, without any support crew. He was obviously in fantastic shape – probably very low body fat %. This is the sort of undertaking that many people would find insane – I find it fascinating that someone would do it. But here’s the thing – how many people have done something that brave and difficult, surely not many? What level of preparation and dedication does this take? It’s awesome. The human mind and body can do some amazing things, if you only put yourself into it fully.