Last year I made a discovery. One week I decided to pack my bike and take a solo overnight trip down to the Keys. I thought of it as running away from home on a bicycle. I had way more fun on that trip than I'd had in a long time. I realized that something got lost when Al and I moved to Miami. I felt the loss, but I couldn't pin it down. I had great bikes. I was riding a lot. We were traveling to bicycle events all over Florida. But I was, well, bored.
People ride bikes for a lot of reasons. Since the very first bike I owned as a kid, I loved riding a bicycle because of the places it could take me and the things I could see. When we moved to Miami, most of our riding became group riding. Riding with a group is fun and has a lot of advantages, but you have to accept the rules and route of the group. You can't just expect the group to stop to look at a fountain, some public art, or a garden along their route. I didn't want to give up group rides, but I did want to have more bike rides that were, well, more about seeing things.
So I got some bicycle travel gear. I got maps. And I started talking to friends. They introduced me to the term micro-adventures, adventures that are short, simple, local, and cheap. It is a term made popular by the British adventurer Alastair Humphreys. It was a perfect fit for what I wanted, a way to add solo travel to my rides rather than replace all of the group riding and bike events that Al and I do.
So I pour over my maps and make plans. Solo bicycle travel has its risks, but, after all, not much that is worthwhile in life is risk free.
