Go Ride a Bike!

This experience is something you can do at any age, whether in between college grades,  just finishing college, taking a vacation with a partner, starting a new chapter in your career, starting retirement, or just taking some time to find YOU again. You also don't have to be super fit, just enough that you could do 50 miles in one day. No one is really trained for this type of physical feat. There are too many variables: weather, elevation, comfort on your bike, physical fitness, diet, mood, bike repairs, whatever else. If you're like me and was freaking out days before the trip, saying, "I have no business being on a bike,  nevermind riding 360 miles across Virginia!", then I just have to say you're wrong and you can do it. I knew and still know squat about bicycles, and I luckily had one solid mountain ride on Skyline before the trip, but I look back embarrassed and ashamed at how afraid I was. All I want to do now is be on my bike. Sounds silly and obsessive, but I'm still riding the high of the experience - months later. I know I won't ever have that exact same experience, but I now have the confidence to take my bike new places and make new experiences that can be just as awesome. Get out there and do something physical for yourself. You'll feel good. Ride on!