Falcon Ridge was, as always,  great music, great dancing, and a breath of fresh perspective on our everyday lives.  When I’m there, it feels like the lapse since the last festival was only momentary and the changes that occur in the gaps are that much more evident. New dancers become regulars, old regulars go missing, relationships form, bend, and break, and everyone advances through life.

To stay in the present, I frequently have to remind myself that every experience is unavoidably unique.  With multiple prior bike trips, Falcon Ridge visits, and many biking and dancing activities of various types to look back on, trying to make comparisons between this week and the past is an easy pitfall.  There’s an inclination to associate an experience with an activity, but the activities aren’t essentially much different.  An even stronger instinct suggests a connection between experience and place, but, in contradiction of the logic behind vacation advertising, many of the places are profoundly the same as the last time I visited them.

By elimination then, perhaps the unreproducible element is simply human. Not the people exactly, the people too may be the same, but whatever each consciousness brings and whatever the interaction between them may be.  In 2010 I started using dances as a destinations to satisfy my love of transportation by bicycle.  This week the determination of my fellow cyclists, encouragement from many dancers, and support of our loved ones has enriched the experience; for this I am very grateful.

Our Wednesday night camp site was exactly the same as the one we had in 2013. We slept in a bit after our late arrival but once we got up we packed up camp quickly and started on the road. The last leg of the journey involves many climbs, some fairly steep. We stopped for breakfast  at the now familiar River Cafe in Huntington. They serve huge plate sized pancakes here and I had to have some. However, I  wish I actually had a photo of Dakota’s breakfast because it was a more significant personal accomplishment for him. Dakota finished three eggs, hash browns, two slices of toast, and three slices of french toast.

Fully fueled, we ground over hill after hill moving west towards Great Barrington. Some of the day was slow going and we had to content with periods of heavy rain and uncooperative gears. We we even able to help one somewhat lost motorist. Tired and sore, the final landmarks of the NY state border and the last climb before Falcon Ridge were highly anticipated. We were all very happy to crest the hill and see the sign showing us we were arriving.

And so a third Tour de Dance is completed. This trip brought the expected and the unexpected and incorporated, in some form or another, seven cyclists. My trip odometer read 353 miles when we pulled into the festival today. Thanks to everyone who was supportive. We look forward to seeing you all on the dance floor, on the road, and perhaps on the next Tour de Dance!

Most of my experience here in Amherst is in reference to previous bike trips as it isn’t a practical weeknight trip from home. We went for a casual ride along the path into Northampton. Last time I was on that path it was under construction but today it is in beautiful condition. Then we fulfilled another bike trip tradition with a laundromat visit.

With our clothes cleaned and our legs rested we figured we were ready for another dance. I like when the Amherst dance aligns with a bike trip because I rarely make it to Amherst on a Wednesday and it is always a great dance. It was a very hot and sweaty dance but a mix of slow dances and a bucket of ice water outside attempted to keep everyone from overheating. The cool air on our ride out to the campground in Westhampton after the dance was very welcome. There is much anticipation in the group for tomorrow’s final push to Hillsdale.

At this point after a few days of getting around by bicycle it starts to feel like a normal way of doing things. As long as the weather is warm and there’s enough time at hand, going by bicycle seems as good of a choice as any. The weather was indeed very warm today and many bottles of fluid were consumed. We stopped to refill our bottles

and cool off.

For the third consecutive day we had afternoon thundershowers, but today we were happy for the cooling rain. With a healthy majority of the week’s miles complete there are plenty of sore parts, especially legs, and Dakota set a new bike tour red is record by electing to stand throughout dinner at a pizzeria in order to relieve his backside from the trails of his saddle. The next 24 hours offer some welcome recovery time as we have no dance tonight and a light ride tomorrow.

This morning in my haste to cross the Connecticut River I brought the group across the wrong Brattleboro bridge and we decided to follow through the longer but flatter scenic route to Keene. We went off road following the rail trail along the Ashuelot River and past the well known covered bridges of Western NH. The rail trail was slow going but in trade it is flat and shady.

After setting up camp in Keene and grabbing some dinner we headed up the climb from Keene to Nelson that has become Tour de Dance legend. The Nelson road keeps getting steeper until you pop out in the town center just when you were considering giving up. As a small neighborhood dog roaming the grass greeted me I remembered the magic of the Nelson square. It is all the more believable in the exhausted state you are sure to arrive.

The dancers here always bring an unquenchable carefree enthusiasm and tonight was no different. We were very appreciative that many here were also enthusiastic about our trip and we enjoyed telling people what we are up to. From here we will retrace the steps of the latter half of the 2011 Tour back to Falcon Ridge.

The cabin we have at the Brattleboro KOA is a luxury accomodation and the prefect place to nap with a full stomach, which I did while an hour of spectacular thunderstorms rolled through town, and finally my restfulness felt somewhat restored.

At this point the ladies rejoined the Tour and wet got down to the business of dancing. I’ve always wanted to visit Brattleboro’s regular schedule dances, but it’s just a little too far from home for me on a usual Sunday night. The dance features the use of a genuine stone church, with wonderful stained glass in good condition. It often seems impossible at the start, but the music and the dancers reinvigorate me at the end of the day and I had a good time. The cool air of the night ride back to the campsite felt great and I’m looking forward to some more restful sleep in the cabin.

The first time Isaac and I set out for an overnight bike trip we got no more than 1.5 miles from my front door when a screw destroyed a tire in a way we were not prepared to fix. I was ready to give up on that attempt, but a couple hours late after a visit to the bike store we pushed off again. We arrived at our destination quite late in the evening but we had shown ourselves we could do something.

Although we got off to a glorious start, this week’s trip has similarly presented an early mishap as an injury has taken Isaac off the bike for the week. We are all saddened by this development and the tour won’t be the same without him in the saddle but whenever injury like this occurs I am always most grateful that it is not more serious. However, by bringing the unexpected into our day this development also reminded me what is for me the core value of the bike trips: They push us beyond the boundary of ordinary life. After Isaac’s injury, Dakota and Rolando proceeded to complete today’s course as originally intended logging 70 miles and 4000′ of climbing, likely a personal record for them both. They proved for themselves that they could do something.

I eventually came into Greenfield for the evening riding by myself, accumulating an unplanned total of 99.6 miles for the day and having doubled back over our largest climb. At one point I found myself after dark, on small unfamiliar back roads with cows and deer, no cars around, no phone service, out of water, a rain shower starting, and very tired legs. Outside my comfort zone, yes, but in that moment the road was mine and at least I felt alive, engaged, and in control of my own outcome. Creating unforgettable moments is not an easy thing to do. That is why we do this.

A lot has been said about approaches to training for specific bike events and activities, but it all boils down to : go ride your bike. As purely recreational tourers, this is our core preparation philosophy. For Dakota this is a milestone 80+ mile weekend round trip with 4000′ of climbing through hilly Conneticut terrain on a bike he’s never ridden before. If he makes it through this, it’s solid evidence that the week long trip is achievable for him. On the other hand, there’s that “if.” It’s a big part of what makes any of this worth doing. You never can be sure what the outcome will be. Bike touring is not that weekly sitcom where you never doubt the conclusion, it’s real life mini adventure that can exist in a modern sanitized world. Training for a trip like the Tour de Dance might make it a bit less taxing physically, but at this point you already know if you’re physically capable. None of us knows for sure if this weekend’s trip will succeed. The essence of this training is building the faith to do it anyway.

“The tavern, the ice cream place, or keep going?” we ask Dakota. It’s Sunday afternoon now and having passed most of the climbing on the return route it’s time for lunch. “It’s real life choose your own adventure.” I point out, not knowing if that reference has any meaning to today’s grade school generation. It is though, really, and that’s the fun. An hour later we are rolling into Dakota’s neighborhood, all in good spirits, a preparatory milestone compete. About 10 weeks left until the main event, who’s next?