Written by Today’s rest day was much needed and appreciated after several lengthy back-to-back days of challenging rides. Not only are rest days necessary for the body, but also for the mind. Knowing that you can sleep a little longer, eat breakfast a little later, nap if you wish, have no schedule to adhere to – and, yes, not get on a bike – is important for the mental aspect of this ride.
While I was unable to sleep late this morning, I did take my time getting out of bed and enjoyed a more leisurely breakfast than the usual feed-trough approach. I readied myself for the day and took an uber to Main Street Rapid City to find a decent cup of coffee and a place to work and take a couple of calls for the morning. The better part of my day was spent coffee-shop hopping and finding other locations for lunch and snacks. During the day, I hit three coffee shops, a delicious ramen restaurant for lunch, an ice cream shop for a scoop of amazing chocolate ice cream, and also a place to grab a burger on my way back to the hotel at the end of the day. I managed to slip into a few shops here and there to browse but found that I really just wanted to sit and relax more than anything.
I stayed in and around Main Street because our hotel was a little far from the main area of town and Ubers seemed to be few and far between. I had an appointment for a massage at 4:15 pm near Main Street and it seemed preferable to spend my day in the general vicinity.
Towards the end of my afternoon, I made my way to where I was to have my massage. It was a few blocks off Main Street down towards one end.
Before heading that way, I enjoyed my last coffee for the day – a decaf latte and continued working on my laptop. While pulling together some posts, I stumbled across the unfortunate events of the day – the assassination of Charlie Kirk and the school shooting in Colorado. Both left me shaken for all the reasons they should – people had been needlessly and senselessly shot and killed. But there was another element to it that struck me.
Earlier in the day, I had joked that having family come visit was like winning a challenge on Survivor and being able to see your family. This ride places you in a bubble from the outside world. Since starting the ride, I had only turned the TV on in any of my hotel stops once and it had been to watch the US Open. I did also hear, the other day, of the tragic slaying of the Ukrainian woman on the train but have generally been out of touch with pretty much everything other than what is happening amongst the 22 riders and 5 guides of this ride. It’s been somewhat blissful to remove outside influences. Of course, I have had some personal things to attend to, and sometimes those have been challenging, but the news of the rest of the world has gone largely unnoticed.
I hadn’t realized, but there has been a peace about not paying attention to anything but the ride ahead for the day. Years ago, after having been a self-described news-junkie, I turned off the TV realizing that all I could influence, and control was what was happening in the four walls of my house and in my immediate community. That had been incredibly empowering and mentally calming. This ride, until today, has allowed me to go back to that place for a period of time. The events of the day were jarring and difficult to process at the best of times, much less when your world has been spent riding a bike all day every day for the last three weeks.
I went for my massage, which was an odd and uncomfortable experience in and of itself – but will spare the details here. Suffice it to say that the massage therapist made uncomfortable and inappropriate jokes while I was on the table and it left me feeling even more unsettled than when I had walked into her practice.
After getting my burger from a nearby restaurant, I made my way back to the hotel and to the rest of the group. It was a desperate act of inserting myself back into the ‘known’. I realized that the ride, the riders and the guides, had become my bubble for this experience. Being in a strange town, I wanted back to the safety and security of the hotel and people I knew. I spoke with my husband before bed and crawled into bed that night looking at ranches in Idaho. I did that because it was a reminder of the peace and beauty we had seen, and of the simpler ways of life that the smaller communities represented. Perhaps they are on to something staying in a slower pace of life removed from the hustle and bustle of the rest of the outside world.
For now, it’s back in the riding bubble for tomorrow and the rest of the trip. It’s a bubble that I welcome and enjoy in spite of the challenges each of the rides presents. Will deal with reality… later.