Front Door Adventures

Every year, I travel half way around the world from my home in Colorado to guide cyclists through the Himalayan Buddhist Kingdom of Bhutan. Many people view a journey of this magnitude as an adventure. We think of adventure as dangerous and adventurers as young, fit, and fearless. Although the word may conjure images of high-altitude mountaineering or a solo sail across the Pacific, adventures are not exclusively for crazy people who partake in extreme endeavors. The level of risk posed by a particular activity is based on perception. Every time we take a step out from our normal daily experience we open ourselves to the opportunity for adventure. The benefit of participating in adventuresome experiences is that our perception of ourselves and our environment shifts, and we grow as a result.

Adventure is what you want it to be. Driving the car on light errands can be an aggravating experience, particularly when you spend more time waiting in traffic then you do in the store. Next time you need to run out for little things, strap on your helmet and head out on your bike. The streets are too dangerous, you say? Use the city map to chart a route using side streets and bike paths; get on the side walk to bridge the busy streets until you can return to safe passage. Until you get out there and do it, travel by bicycle will seem risky. Comfort will come as your skills develop. Once you stop worrying constantly about traffic, your surroundings come to life and you notice sounds and smells, you feel the sun on your back or face; you enjoy the speed of the bike, the blood pumping through your heart and body; you notice how worries are replaced by a sense of liberation.

When we break down the activities that fill a day, we can see that opening ourselves to the possibility of a front door adventure is easy. A trailer can be used to entertain two little kids, or carry a few bags of groceries; a wicker basket attached to the handlebars will accommodate a bunch of flowers and a bag of croissants, or a week’s worth of fresh produce from the local farmers market. Adventure errands may morph into meandering through unknown neighborhoods, taking a right on a street you never noticed, exploring a park that until now, you had only glanced at through a car window. It could be no time at all before you realize you have been out exploring your home town for hours. Adventure can expand your boundaries and alter the person you thought yourself to be.

Everyone is a candidate for adventure. Our defined boundaries confine us to what we already know; adventure exposes us to the unknown and that is what gives life its spice. The truth is, I don’t have to travel very far to experience adventure. Commuting daily to work by bicycle can be an adventure. I might have to endure sub zero temperatures and four inches of fresh snow, or pedal into bike stopping summer winds, or escape from an angry dog. Why drive? Where’s the adventure in that!

Jenny Skorcz