The day my dad walked to India

Day 12, Saturday: Epinal to Ingwiller (Alsace), 134,5 km.

What’s new: People here speak my language! The names of the villages around here sound so German.

Hero of the day: The nice receptionist in a hotel in Epinal I went into only to print more directions...

Tool of the day: The tachometer. It was fun seeing the number grow on there today.
Soundtrack: Queen – Don’t stop me now

Recently; on my bike (of course), I thought of one of my earliest childhood memories. 

We were on vacation in Leukerbad (Switzerland) and my mother dropped my dad off at a a hiking trail. I was in the car with them and when I asked what he was doing, my mom said: “Papa is going to walk to india”.

There was a little village called Indien (German word for India) in the area. I don’t think I was that naive to really think my dad would be walking to another continent, but I do remember that I pictured him next to elephants and with orientalic music in the background anyway, just for a second. 

It made me think that my dad is very strong and brave, but I do also remember thinking: “It’s probably possible, somehow. My dad could walk to real India, if he wanted to.” (Geography is still not my strength...)

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Today, I would like to share some wisdom of Paolo Coelho, the Portugese writer and author of “The Alchemist”, which I read this summer. He talks about why people don’t pursue their goals in the foreword of the book.

“There are four obstacles.
First: we are told from childhood onward that everything we want to do is impossible.

As I told you, there might have been a point in my life where I thought that my dad was walking from Switzerland to India within one afternoon.
In general, I feel like I was never really taught about “what’s possible” and “what’s not possible”. My parents just let me try, and sometimes, things worked out, sometimes they didn’t. In my head, living means: “Try and you will see if it works."
I am sharing this here, not to brag about how awesome my childhood was (it was!). I share this here to encourage you and to tell you: Most things are possible. Just try and see, then you will know.

The second obstacle: love. We know what we want to do, but are afraid of hurting those around us by abandoning everything in order to pursue our dream.

Oh yes. Big obstacle for me. When I started to think about this trip, I knew I would need a lot of support and help, such as: How to get my bike up to Biarritz? How is my suitcase getting home? I knew I would be kind of annoying for a lot of people around me with these plans...
But mostly, the problem was this: I knew my parents were up for a few very sleepless nights if I did this. Seriously worried. And if something happened to me, it would hurt them so much – only because I wanted to “try” something? Is that fair? I was very aware of how I put myself at risk, but others would have the consequences (if I needed to be picked up in the middle of nowhere, if I needed medical aid for a long time..).

mountainbike-magazin.de
he seems to know what he is doing..... ;)

The third obstacle: fear of the defeats we will meet on the path.

Do you notice how he writes: The fear of the defeats – not the actual defeats? The defeats on the path don’t stand in our way as much as the fear of it. 

Here is my biggest fear I had before this whole trip: Sitting somewhere in the forest by myself with a flat tire. (This might sound light a little fear to all of you who know how to change a tire. But I am being serious. I considered not going every time I thought of this scene.)
So far, it hasn’t happened yet. Even if it happens tomorrow, I will find a solution (and arrive Monday the latest). Everytime I think “Thank God - no flat tire so far” I can't help but to also think: What if I hadn’t gone because of this fear? I did nearly 1300km without a flat tire so far (which is crazy!!! You have to have a flat tire if you are biking this far).. Your biggest fear might happen; but it also might not happen. Consider both.

The fourth obstacle: the fear of realizing the dream for which we fought all our lives.”

You might have read so far, and thought once or twice:  “Uta, you are not there yet, why do you give us advice about reaching our goals?” This fourth obstacle is exactly why I am writing about this tonight. The fear of realizing the dream. It sounds like a ridicoulous obstacle, but I think it is the most important one. This fear is real.

If I think about tomorrw, I feel sick. I don’t feel ready, I don’t think I get it yet, and I don’t really know what to do with this whole thing. Arriving is scary, because I am so familiar now with being on the way. Even checking the route for tomorow feels weird: It’s the first time I am not picking a town, or trying to find a place to sleep. 

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I work hard for this blog, I bike all day and then, at night, I write. So now I think it is time that I can ask you something to do, right? Here is your task:

I don’t think you dream of walking to India. But can I ask you to think of what you would like to experience? What do you dream of doing? While reading this blog, has there been a certain thing coming up all the time in your mind?

Please write it down, on a little piece of paper, your journal or in your phone.

Thank you.We need this for the blog post of tomorrow.

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Tomorrow, if everything goes as planned, I’ll arrive.
At 7am; Alsace-speaking Christiana is going to wake me and we will have breakfast and then we will see how far I'll get. (Using directions from this page tomorrow, 73-year old Christiana showed it to me. Much nicer than google maps which I have been using.... ;))

I will let you know.

P.S: I just google-diagnosed myself because I felt like I might have a serious problem. My left hand has been feeling numb lately; and I am not kidding you; I googled: "ebola numbness". Luckily, I found out there is a thing called "biker numbness" (literal translation - English - German)