I had a conversation recently about the joys of reflection and of looking back through the tunnel of time, especially in relation to cycle touring.
I don’t know about you, but I’ve found many times that it’s near impossible to process an experience when you’re actually involved in it, especially a big experience.
Being on a long, solo cycle tour is a perfect example as it often means that you’re dealing with many, many kinds of things at once, physical, practical, emotional, directional (!) and that’s way too much stimulation to make sense of. So, at the time, to get through, we do what we need to to make it through the day and fulfil our basic needs. Everything else, the small observations, the larger feelings, sort of just get filed on the ‘to think about later’ pile.
But do we ever take time to fully revisit all those feelings and experiences, to bring them out in to the light again and examine them with the benefit of time and distance and if so, then how?
Cycling in a skirt 