Epic, what does that mean? If you look it up in the Oxford dictionary, the definition in our case is "an exceptionally long and arduous task or activity". Well... that sounds hard! The truth is, it means different things to different people. I for one am blessed, living in a place like British Columbia, I have endless places to go. We have big mountains, ocean and vast amount of unspoiled land, pretty much limitless. Yes, we are pretty lucky.
Now, does that mean you need to live here or places like New Zealand or the Alps? Do you need to go on a dream trip to Mongolia, Himalayas... no, not really. I remember as a young kid, maybe 8 years old, going 2 km from my house on my own in the woods was pretty epic to me. I used to grab my bike and a backpack with, of course, the mandatory knife, matches, ax, survival book, bag of cookies and, of course, a stuffed monkey. I was only 8 after all.
Now I have young kids, a job, mortgage payments, etc. Needless to say, I don't have as much time as I used to. I still get out, but not as long, far or as often as I would like. That's ok, because I found my own, every day epic. All I need is my bike and a place to go. Just this morning I checked my cycling computer and saw the number 9586. That's 9586 km just on my commuting bike! All this time I was complaining that I never had a chance to go on big rides anymore. Funny thing is, without even realizing it, in just shy of a year, I was riding a pretty long ride after all!
Yes, epic can mean "an exceptionally long and arduous task or activity", but it doesn't have to be. Stop dreaming of all those far away places, pick up your bike and go for a ride every day if you can, next thing you know you'll break the 10000 km next year. Just don't forget to bring along your stuffed monkey...
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