A Journey Well Traveled

The journey is often greater than the destination!

TeamAsha completed the Seattle-to-Portland (STP) 2015 with 100% success rate. All riders reached Portland doing 1- and 2-day rides over a grueling 206 miles! Every rider from the 10,000+ participants in this event will have their personal story to share -- a milestone, a bucket-list item, a tribute to a loved one, or just the idea of pain through suffering in the company of friends -- and every story, every tale, will inspire more stories, more tales, even legends in the time to come...

Even by a large stretch of imagination, "optimism" is not a trait that I naturally inhabit. That said, the experiences of the last couple of days have, if not completely reaffirmed my faith in humanity, certainly taken a bit of the edge off some of my usual skepticism. I have often experienced that humans tend to be less selfish when they suffer together, that the line of empathy that connects us is far stronger than the bubbles of self-interest we tend to reside in! Going through the same feeling of suffering, pain and (potential) isolation somehow tends to amplify our social nurturing behavior and we reach out – in our own small ways – to help someone in need. I think once we strip the varying layers of societal necessities, racial prejudices and personal vanity -- at the point of total exhaustion, when all other things fade away from our conscious thought, and the primitive, reptilian part of our brain kicks in with a rush of adrenaline -- we realize how useless everything else really is! And we dare to choose ‘fight’ not ‘flight,’ because at that juncture in our journey, we realize that we are not any different from everybody around us – just a bag of bones and muscles trying to fight our way to the finish line. Expensive bikes may make you faster for a short distance, but it is a loving hand on your back (literally) pushing you up a hill that gets you to the finish! 

To the strangers who helped us when my friend Mak had flats on the road; the spectators who camped along the road, braving the elements from the wee hours of the morning, cheering a throng of crazy minded people who would otherwise never intersect their life paths; the numerous fellow-riders who always had a smile on their face as we suffered together; the enthusiastic volunteers who were on their feet all day; our gracious donors who readily offer a part of themselves for a collective purpose, and to other directly (and indirectly) affecting elements who helped everyone in their journey – a big Thank You!

You make our journey possible! Till the next one :) ...