Everything in life, in a sense, has spiritual value. Cycling is no exception. One of the reasons we started Bike Tours is because regular vacations sometimes don’t cut it. Do you ever really get away from it all on vacation, or is it just a case of going somewhere else to do things you feel like you should? Nevertheless, cycling is both a physical journey and a mental one. Whether your ride is 30 minutes or it’s a whole week of traversal, at the end of it you will undoubtedly feel like you went somewhere, accomplished something.

It’s practically a cliché to say that life is a journey. From birth to death, it really is. Those two endpoints are guaranteed, so making sense of what happens in the middle is up to you. We flit from career to career, hobbies to hobbies, and even people come and go in our lives. The only constant is a feeling of moving through life’s different stages.

What does this have to do with cycling?

When you’re riding, you’re always focused on what’s happening right now, and what’s immediately ahead of you. You never look behind you as you ride, because what’s passed has passed. Riding for extended periods of time has an astonishing ability triggering that part of your mind that takes satisfaction in moving forward.

Have you ever heard someone lament their current predicament in life and exclaim that they feel like they’re not going anywhere, not moving forward in life? Cycling is all about moving forward on the path. Sure, riding your bike around town might not directly help your career success, but never underestimate the impact of activities that can put you in a positive state of mind. These things tend to have tremendous carry over into other parts of our lives.

Cycling is no different. It’s not always a breezy and relaxing ride, many times it can be difficult, downright grueling work if you’re on a challenging trail or there’s a steep hill in your town that is on your commute. The human mind has always been something that operates on associations. Symbolism was born from that tendency we have.

When you’re out cycling and you see a hill on the horizon, is it any different than in life when you are anticipating a challenge? You feel all the same things, anxiety, nervousness, excitement, preparedness, joy, victory. You’ll work hard to bike up that hill, but your reward is making it to the top—and hopefully, you’ll get to coast for a while after that before the next hill shows up.

Are you feeling stifled in your day to day routine? Join us on one of our weekend or week-long cycling tours throughout the Great Lakes area. Getting together with other people to go on a journey is a rare experience in our modern world, but it’s a fundamentally human experience.

On our bike tours, we’ll cover moderate distances over the course of the trip, but it’s paced such that you’ll be able to enjoy yourself and really take in your surroundings. We typically ride inn-to-inn and you’ll be able to rest, relax, and partake in good eats!

Contact us if you have any questions about our tours or how to best prepare for the trek!

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