Time is ticking in India too!

Have you ever cycled home late at night under a street lamp? As Ciaran so correctly observed in his post this week from Africa, time begins to pass quickly when you are not letting it govern your daily life. As a result, time on these tours has a way of creeping up on you as you approach the midway point of the journey – like the long shadow of you and your bicycle approaching you from behind. You feel you have all the time in the world as you looked back over your shoulder, over the weeks of the tour you have ridden, until you are directly under the street lamp. The light suddenly pushes the shadow out in front of you – you watch it racing away at ever greater speeds. You try to remain blissfully unaware near the middle – under the streetlamp – hoping the journey never ends, as the shadow continues to stretch ahead of you and fade out. 

With only 5 riding days remaining here in India, we are now well past the midpoint of our journey, and if we could provide any advice to Ciaran and the riders on the Tour d’Afrique – soon to cycle under that same streetlamp – it would be try and resist the urge to think about the finish. Don’t watch that shadow race ahead of you. Live day to day and enjoy the good and the bad as you had since the start. It will probably be the first and last time that you will have visited places like Jaipur, Addis Ababa, Ilkal, Marsabit, Ganapatiphule, or Sesriem – so enjoy these places while you can.