Kora

The Tibetan culture has a word, "Kora", that means to circumambulate around a sacred place. That resonates with me for some reason. It's essentially what we'll be doing for the next 3 weeks. In Tibet the holiest natural place is Mt. Kailash. Performing a kora around this mountain is considered a right of passage and a way to atone for past sins.

I got to thinking about the differences between this bike trip and the cross-country bike trip. Riding coast-to-coast is a classic Western goal-oriented type of activity. We start out at one end and ride in an almost linear fashion to eventually arrive at our goal. The satisfaction for most riders comes in the achievement of the goal. I've always been a little odd anyway, so my goals were a little different. Regardless, if I hadn't made it to Boston under my own power I would have been sorely disappointed.

There is no "goal" with this trip. We ride in a big circle with no awards waiting for us at the finish, not even a t-shirt. It seems to me that the motivations for doing this are much more Buddhist in nature. We're doing this because we love riding. We're doing this because we love exploring the outdoors under our own power. We're doing this to experience a natural environment that is as close to a Holy Place as Western society gets. We're doing this for camaraderie and new friendships and shared experiences. We're doing this to see if we can.

I guess that's enough Deep Thoughts for one night. We'll see how profound this looks after I've spent the first night sleeping outdoors in the sleet. But of course that's just part of the experience. I wouldn't have it any other way.