Today is March 22nd, 2021. One year ago today, I started a streak of daily bike riding that continues to this day (yesterday was actually the 365th day - more info on why later). Of course, I celebrated by taking to the trails with my girlfriend on an absolutely gorgeous 2nd day of Spring:
It's a weird coincidence because I have a loose tradition of eating pierogi on or about March 18th, dating back to 2014. This was totally unplanned, but that's usually how the best adventures work out.
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So, why exactly did I decide to ride a bike every day for a year, and why did I decide to start on March 22nd, 2020? Well you see, for those of you who have been living in a cave, there's been some sort of global crisis going on for the last year-plus. I decided on the day that it truly affected me that I had to do something...
But wait - hasn't everyone been referring to March 11th as the day everything in the US got shut down? Yes, but looking back, that's what makes this whole thing so bizarre - everything wasn't shut down on that day. The NBA and NHL decided to suspend their seasons on that day. For 11 days after that, my work schedule was unaffected. Other than restaurants and bars being banned from dine-in service, my life really didn't change all that much. I lived in this weird gray area where it seemed like life was going to be minorly inconvenienced for a few weeks, maybe a month.
Until the Ohio governor decided to close just about everything on March 22nd. It was a day just like most other Sunday afternoons. I was home, working on removing carpet and re-painting a room that would become the office, when I got a text from my boss telling me to tune in to the governor's address. For the purposes of this blog, I'll gloss over a lot of the rest of the details, but that was the moment when I thought, "Oh wow. This is pretty serious." My natural reaction was to take a bike ride to clear my head, and that began the streak.
We were told to shelter in place for the time being, and my employer graciously gave us a week of paid leave while they figured things out. I know damn well I was quite fortunate. In the next few days, I started to turn that into an opportunity as much as I could, and a daily ride became a quest of sorts.
I wrote at the time, "If we can all find some positivity, do a thing (or things) we love at least once a day, and above all else be supportive of one another, I do believe that we will all be OK." Not to toot my own horn, but that's the best way to sum up why I did what I did, and I firmly believe riding a bike even if only for a few minutes a day is the single most important thing that's helped keep me sane through all of this. Friends and family are great, but we also need something we ourselves can rely on, too. Out of a very bleak set of circumstances for all of humanity, I'm thankful that I did find that one thing within myself to keep me moving (literally) every day.
The months passed, the seasons changed, tempers flared, tensions escalated, life got worse, life got better, life got worse again, the holidays passed, the calendar changed, I swore off alcohol for a month, life might be getting better again, and every day in there was a ride of some sort. And a lot of comma splices.
It goes without saying that those bike rides and many of those days were not peaches and cream. In fact, some of them were downright miserable, and many of them were boring. Spending the majority of the last year in Grove City, OH, I've learned more about the streets, roads, and trails around this small town than I care to admit, and I'm not surprised by much around here anymore. That doesn't mean I'm going to stop trying to find a new adventure, because seeking it seems natural to me. On that note, I have no plans on ending the streak any time soon. 30 Days of Biking is on the horizon, after all. I'm sure there will come a day when the schedule or circumstances don't allow (after the end of April, of course), and now that I've finally done a full 365, I'll be cool with it.
One final thing I'd like to add is that even though I spent most of those rides alone, I certainly couldn't have done this alone. I had help from my girlfriend, Mom, Stepdad, Dad, Rachel's sister, the CitiBike Bikeshare system, I'm sure someone I'm forgetting (it's been a year - give me a little slack), and of course, all of you who sent inspirational messages and the few who were able to join in rides together. I hope I brought a little inspiration into your lives as well along the way.
So let's keep riding for another 365, shall we? I don't need a global pandemic to inspire me this time.
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