This past weekend, I joined a bike caravan/camping adventure from Davis to Hoes Down at Full Belly Farm.
17 of us (six of us being female-identified people...not the best ratio, but better than the state-average of 4:1!) rode 42 miles there from Davis in the dry, 98-degree October weather.
Our happy-halfway was at a convenience store in Esparto, where I discovered, through the help of a friend, my new favorite energy drink: Bud Limerita! I found it to be the perfect combination of salt, sugar, and *ahem* hydrating fluid to keep my energy up for the last 20 miles to the farm. THUS, I didn't bonk! It's hard for me to eat much solid food during a ride like that; usually just a small handful of nuts or a PayDay bar is all I can stomach, so finding ways to keep the calories (energy) and electrolytes coming in is essential.
Even though the weather wasn't ideal for a moderately-paced, 84-mile (round-trip) tour of the valley, it was an excellent last-minute choice for me to join this adventure. I got the experience of exerting a LOT of energy on a repetitive physical activity, which, it turns out, is GREAT for processing emotions! A good friend of mine likened long bike rides to EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization & Reprocessing), because of the left-right brain continuous movement & stimulation, and how the brain and chemicals are involved in it, and other science (I invite anyone who is more versed on EMDR to chime in here!)! I had to focus on moving forward and arriving at our destination, despite the discomfort I was experiencing in my body from being on the bike for so long, in the hot, hot heat. (There's some metaphor happening in there?) Eventually, the farm was just around the corner, within eyesight, while it was still daylight, and I already knew I could do it again the next day.
If you're ever going through an emotionally challenging situation that sometimes comes up in this life journey thing we're all on, I *highly* recommend taking some time to yourself or with a friend (or 16 friends) and going on a bike tour. Or backpacking. Or trail running. Or swimming. Or just for a really, really long walk. You don't even have to talk about the past trauma or emotional thing that's hurting you, just go do the physical thing, and let your body take care of the rest. It's so, so cathartic.
<3
17 of us (six of us being female-identified people...not the best ratio, but better than the state-average of 4:1!) rode 42 miles there from Davis in the dry, 98-degree October weather.
Our happy-halfway was at a convenience store in Esparto, where I discovered, through the help of a friend, my new favorite energy drink: Bud Limerita! I found it to be the perfect combination of salt, sugar, and *ahem* hydrating fluid to keep my energy up for the last 20 miles to the farm. THUS, I didn't bonk! It's hard for me to eat much solid food during a ride like that; usually just a small handful of nuts or a PayDay bar is all I can stomach, so finding ways to keep the calories (energy) and electrolytes coming in is essential.
Even though the weather wasn't ideal for a moderately-paced, 84-mile (round-trip) tour of the valley, it was an excellent last-minute choice for me to join this adventure. I got the experience of exerting a LOT of energy on a repetitive physical activity, which, it turns out, is GREAT for processing emotions! A good friend of mine likened long bike rides to EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization & Reprocessing), because of the left-right brain continuous movement & stimulation, and how the brain and chemicals are involved in it, and other science (I invite anyone who is more versed on EMDR to chime in here!)! I had to focus on moving forward and arriving at our destination, despite the discomfort I was experiencing in my body from being on the bike for so long, in the hot, hot heat. (There's some metaphor happening in there?) Eventually, the farm was just around the corner, within eyesight, while it was still daylight, and I already knew I could do it again the next day.
If you're ever going through an emotionally challenging situation that sometimes comes up in this life journey thing we're all on, I *highly* recommend taking some time to yourself or with a friend (or 16 friends) and going on a bike tour. Or backpacking. Or trail running. Or swimming. Or just for a really, really long walk. You don't even have to talk about the past trauma or emotional thing that's hurting you, just go do the physical thing, and let your body take care of the rest. It's so, so cathartic.
<3