Day 43 - June 6 - Trails On Foothills of Mountains

"What does a human desire that I do not have?"

Burnout

Today was a very hard day for me. I did not bike far, and the weather was lovely with a great tail-wind. My route was along bike trails, with great views of the mountains to my right, and the lake to my left. I spent part of the morning working, then exploring the LDS temple area in downtown Salt Lake City, and then sitting in a cafe for a bit to work a bit more. I finished the day early, checked into a hotel two minutes before a torrential downpour started, and then, during a break in the rain, ate at an Indian restaurant nearby. The only thing that could have been seen negatively about today was that I went way over budget for my planned daily expenditure.

I ate well, biked exactly what I planned, and talked with Sarah on the phone, met lovely strangers, enjoyed the company of new friends, and saw cool sights. And yet, at the moment of writing this, I am in one of the worst moods I've been in since the start of the trip. I feel like something is missing, and I can't pinpoint it. For a while, I thought it was chocolate, and I really did forget to eat chocolate today, but I doubt that lack of chocolate would have such an effect.

In hindsight, I have felt this feeling before, almost every summer in the past three years. Since the summer of 2016, I've been spending my summers in the US for various reasons. On a day to day basis, everything was moderately okay, with some ups and some downs. Yet at the end of the summer, I would be simply begging to go back home. This is strange, considering that during the summer of 2017, I technically didn't even have a home. All of my stuff was stashed away in my office at McGill, to be picked up in the fall and moved to Toronto. Still, I missed the concept of home.

Over the past 43 days, I've slept in 39 different locations, and each one is very different from the last. The hardest thing for me is seeing others on road trips, or family vacations, and thinking about how these people are not far from their routine. They aren't far from places they know, geography they recognize, street names they memorize.

On the surface level, in the purely analytical side of thinking about this bike ride, this is a challenge I knew I would face. It's happened to me in both rides I've done already. In the Toronto to Boston ride, I biked the last two days in one super ultra long crazy 160km day because by the time I got to Amherst, I was tired of the ride. In my Boston to Montreal ride, I did the same from near Montpelier, VT to Montreal, setting my all-time single day record of 230km in a day. If I could make such a push to Portland tomorrow, I probably would.

From day 1, I knew I would be in this position at some point, and from day 1, I knew that if the bike doesn't break, the only thing preventing this ride from finishing as planned is me. It's so cliche, and overdone, but today, I am my biggest obstacle.

Yet every day, I continue. I continue because it's the plan. It's what I set out to do, and if there's one thing that the current version of myself differentiates itself from the highschool version of myself is that today, I am able to see things through. Today, the start is as important as the finish, and I will look back at what I've done, and I will not spoil it with a half-assed capstone.

I look forward to the day when I'm 70, and I can tell my grandchildren about how on June 6, 2019, I learned to finish what I start.

A Simple Observation

I talked with Sarah today, who mentioned a report on climate change that, to summarize, says that humans dun goof'd. By 20XX, climate-related refugee crises will completely shadow current refugee crises, and by 20YY, [currently densely habited place] will suffer so much [drought/flooding/severe weather] that it will no longer be able to support [agriculture/industry/life].

I realize that XX and YY are oftentimes years in which I will be in my mid 40s, or early 50s. I realize that by then, the generations I love blaming everything on will be gone. I realize that in 20XX and 20YY, people my age will be blaming me, my generation, my friends, and my culture and upbringing for everything that will happen in 20XX and 20YY.

Think about it, no matter what you do, climate change has spiraled out of control, and by the way attitudes are today, you will be personally blamed for it because it will hit the worst when you are the generation that could have done something.

I hope 46 year-old Assaf reads this and laughs either about how right I was or about how wrong I was.

The Image Gallery

Kenna, my host, agreed to pose for a picture. This is her with three of her eight bikes:

Back in Toronto, I always run into the problem that a light doesn't turn green because there's no vehicle there. Specifically, I run into that problem on the corner of Shaw and Dupont. I hate that corner. Salt Lake City, which, by the way, has bike lanes everywhere, also has some good solutions to this problem:

No visit to Salt Lake City is complete without a picture by the LDS temple.

The public (and most LDS members) aren't allowed inside, but I did explore the beautiful grounds, and witnessed a few weddings. A local guide on a mission (in the church of LDS, members go on "missions" around the world. These can be anything from evangelization, to volunteering at other churches, to providing aid) told me about the building, and the area around it, and we chatted for a bit about the tragedy of a bad name that a few non-Muslims give to all Muslims.
I also took a picture of a statue of Brigham Young civilizing the local Indians. The US is really awful at decolonialism and misrepresentation.

I also crossed the Jordan River! A large part of my route today was actually on the Jordan River Trail.

The storm was coming.

The storm was nearing.

The one thing that I love the most about Salt Lake City is that you can look in just about any direction, and, in addition to the boring, dreary concrete jungle, you get to experience these magnificient towering snowy peaks.

The last picture I took today was of this funky elementary school.

The Map

Today I biked for 70km over the course of four hours.

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