I'm on my third go-around with cycling. First was when I was a kid and pretty much rode my bike everywhere. Second was when I was right out of college and spent a year touring Europe by bike. That decision was made almost on a whim--I was applying for grant funding to pursue an individual project. My project was recreating the travels of a 15th century female pilgrim who, at the age of 40, up and left her husband and 15 kids and spent a large portion of the rest of her life on pilgrimage. She did it mostly on donkey/horse, so I figured a bicycle was the 20th century equivalent, so I threw that into the grant proposal. Once I was awarded the grant I then had to figure out exactly what was involved in touring by bike! This was long before the wonders of the internet made research like that easy--I pretty much figured most things out on my own as I went along. I came back from that year and kept cycling a bit, but not in any serious way, and then I fell into the adult black hole of job/kids/house responsibilities and stopped cycling altogether for years. Last year I pulled my old touring bike out of storage and got it in working order again so that I could commute to work and ride just for fun, which is still mostly what I do, although I was talked into signing up for a triathlon, so I'm doing that too. I'm not much enjoying the training though, so I doubt I'll sign up for another one after this one is over. I don't like being on my bike and thinking "gotta push harder" when I'm passing beautiful scenery! I'm still a tourist at heart.

Sarah