Sweating on stage
Shifting gears on adventure...with my heart rate the same.
Howdy! If you’re new around here, welcome to Traipsing About, my newsletter about reclaiming creativity and ditching tired personal paradigms. No ChattyChat bots here—I claim hand-spun credit for all drawings, bad jokes, and typos.
Here in Oregon, I’m still glowing from a birthday week at the coast and in Portland. Friends, nature time, and a plenty of piano!
As part of my goal to play more in public, I jumped at the opportunity to thwack away at an old grand piano at a friend’s 50th anniversary party on the trip, plus at a couple locations later on. I even *gulp* played in my first formal situation, a monthly Portland meetup in a rented recital room.
My heart rate soared, but luckily I didn’t have an aneurysm. I even enjoyed the experience, connecting with another dedicated amateur that I’m staying regularly in touch with.
Playing pieces in my wheelhouse that start me at 2 out of 8 RAM is the key. It’s getting easier to keep smoke from coming out of my ears when I play for others, so these efforts are paying off! If you’re a musician, try out the 2 outta 8 idea, it’s gold.
This week on Adventuring About, Edition #136:
Today, we’re jumping into:
Shifting gears on adventure
Never complain, never explain
Traipsing Tidbits.
In case you missed it: Last time, I wrote about gracefully showing up for people during tough times in their lives, finfluencers, and tips for better sleep.
Shifting gears on adventure
Last week marked the 10-year anniversary of Chelsea and I setting off on bikes to pedal 4,000 miles from N. Idaho to Portland, Maine. Google Photos keeps resurfacing photos of us camping, pedaling, eating, and grinning. What a phenomenal journey.
In my blog post titled The Wonderful, Trying Adventure of Bike Touring, I lead with this:
What does adventure, a much-belabored word, even mean these days? Fools far crazier than Chelsea and I rode bikes across the country…in 1880. On wagon trails. Not breaking new ground here, Magellan!
And yet that trip, even along the (sometimes) quiet highways and byways of the U.S., still sticks in my memory as an Adventure because touring was still so new to us. Since then, we’ve of course taken long bike trips to Europe, plus all the offroad bikepacking I’ve done since 2018. None have topped that initial tour.
Cruising through beautiful landscapes? Popping a tire? Couchsurfing? Crappy diner food? WHAT NOVELTY.
Not so these days.
In fact, this week I sold my bikepacking bike! For almost two years, it languished in my garage as a “should do,” lobbing nasty little comments at me when I’d walk by it. I listed it for sale last year and then deleted the listing—I wasn’t ready to shelve that identity quiiiite yet.
This year, I planned a trip in Idaho, then realized I didn’t feel like doing it. “Lotsa lotsa climbing” said a friend who knew the route (aka potential sufferfest). Call me over the hill, but I’d rather drive the van out there to camp and do day rides, then slackline or chuck a frisbee.
I can’t pin down the exact reasons, but I think it’s mostly that there isn’t much personal growth for me left in bike expeditions. After hundreds of hours and thousands of miles out there, the last couple of trips had me questioning the difficult moments. “This isn’t worth it” running through my head on brutal climbs or hike-a-bikes versus relishing the challenge.
When the tough parts don’t feel like worthwhile obstacles to surmount to get to the payoffs, it’s time for a change.
These days, I find myself thirsting for a different kind of headwind. Regular piano recitals or playing music with others, definitely living abroad, or getting involved with a new enterprise? I’ve got a new writing side project coming soon. Those fit into the adventure category for me in a different way, though less sweating than biking! (Well, except for piano recitals.)
Also, this isn’t to say that I’m done with bike travel! The goofy thing is that while I’m down to just two bikes *gasp*, they both work for potential future trips. My trusty old Salsa Fargo cruises pavement and gravel and I can strap bags on my full-suspension mountain bike for more serious endeavors if I feel like it. Good enough.
But somehow, the identity piece of selling the Bikepacking Bike strips away that layer of “I’m a bikepacker,” reducing it to “yeah, I sometimes bikepack.”
I’ve gotta say: it’s working for me. Lots of adventure left in this life, just not all on a bike seat!
Never complain, never explain
A most-excellent reminder from The Art of Manliness about complaining and explaining. Here are a couple of (lightly edited) paragraphs that stood out to me (lots more wisdom in the full post).
When you need to apologize, explanations easily turn into excuses. The explanatory part of your apology should be kept short. “Beware of too much explaining, lest we end by too much excusing.” You should pivot as quickly as possible to taking responsibility and saying how you’re going to make things right. In the words of an old proverb: “Don’t make excuses; make good.”
If you’re tempted to complain about something on the basis of subjective taste (e.g. “I didn’t like that restaurant”), reconsider. For the party you seek to complain against has a purpose and vision outside of your own needs and desires.
Traipsing About Tidbits
Note: none of these links are ever affiliate links, just stuff I use, enjoy or admire.
I enjoyed writing a guest post about the evolution of my music appetite for the modern piano blog No Dead Guys. A sense of the flavor: “Think of my initial musical taste like that of someone who hated broccoli and asparagus as a petulant child and only wanted grilled cheese with the crusts cut off.”
This obituary for a quiet life is delightful. “All around us are these lives—heads down and arms open—that ignore the siren call of flashy American individualism, of bright lights and center stage.”
These Wildlife Photos of the Year are INSANE.
My new favorite tool (via the great newsletter Recomendo) is a cordless drill-style compressor that runs off my existing Dewalt batteries. This $30 gadget replaced a $250 air compressor and works on both car and bike tires.
Lately I’ve been rocking out to Chappell Roan’s fun pop songs, infused with a “dark and unsettling tone that underscores her intense, somber lyrics.” Adult language warning :)
A quote to ponder
Musician and entrepreneur Derek Sivers on how to handle doubts:
"If you're in doubt about something that's not in your life, try it. Things are so different in practice versus in theory. The only way to know is to experience it yourself. ... Err on the side of yes. Try it. If it was a mistake, at least you’ll know first-hand, instead of always wondering.
If you're in doubt about something that's in your life already, get rid of it. Not just things, this goes for identities, habits, goals, relationships, technology, and anything else. Default to not having it, then see how you do without. ... Err on the side of no. Get rid of it. Start with a clean slate. If it was a mistake, you'll get it back with a renewed enthusiasm."
That be all for Traipsing About newsletter #136.
This week’s unsolicited advice:
Take a look around your house or garage and see if there’s anything (*cough extra bike) that you’re in doubt about. Make like NSYNC and bye bye bye!
See you next time,
Dakota
Thanks for reading Traipsing About! I appreciate your time and attention in a world where it’s a precious commodity. Please drop a line anytime, I read and respond to each one personally. Except when I let our cat handle it, of course.
After months of laboring at this piece, I’m excited to introduce a crowd of people to a piece that now feels like a close friend. 😃
I hadn’t heard about the 2 out of 8 RAM concept, but it is so true. Glad I have a fun phrase to describe it now. Congrats on the performance!