Reflections upon ending a journey by Kate Harris, perspicacious explorer, reader, writer and cyclist.

“One thing I’mm really going to miss is being the total dictator of my days. When you’re on a bike trip, nobody tells you where to be, what to be, who to be. You are challenged and pushed only as hard as you are willing to challenge and push yourself. Your failures hurt all the more because they are yours alone, but you savor your successes so much more because they, too, belong absolutely to you. Instead of always passing other people’s tests – in school, in work, in life – you design and (hopefully) pass your own test, day after day, and there’s such resonant and enduring satisfaction in that. Sure, making the grade on that chemistry final felt fleetingly good at the time, but climbing the grade up and over the Continental Divide felt amazing then, feels amazing now, and will continue to feel amazing forever.”