Germs of the Australia Ride
In talking with a woman at King’s Canyon Resort about my trip, I once again was faced with the question most foremost on people’s minds: Why?. She was gracious not to bluntly ask the question but the reason for riding clearly bothered her. Finally, she just blurted out, “Are you being sponsored by someone?” She was trying to come up with a comprehensible reason as to why a person would do such an oddball thing.
Most other people (and there are many) just outright ask, “WHY?” And to that, I really don’t have a clear answer to give. In the end, I’ve learned to give a simple answer: “I’m not sure I know. I just wanted to.” Which is really no answer at all. Or sometimes I say “I just wanted to see Australia the slow way” which also doesn’t explain anything.
The question of “Why?” can be asked of anything, but usually people don’t think to ask it. Why paint? Why study birds? Why have a child? Why climb mountains? Why love someone? And if one puts aside the motivation of money– a common answer to “Why?” for most actions nowadays– there then arises the question of an inner motivation, or passion. Where does that passion come from? Why does a person have a certain passion in the first place? Those are questions that can be asked of anyone in any pursuit. But most often, the answer to “Why?” is simply assumed to be understood and so the question is not stated.
Perhaps because my pursuit may be weirdly out of the ordinary (to most people), the question “Why?” arises a lot– almost every day– in my conversations on the ride. (However, I can safely say that I am not unique; many others do far more epic bike rides than I do.)
I’ve pondered this “Why?” often as I pedaled. Especially on days when I hate what I’m doing (insert smiley face here). I’ve shared already one of the “Germs of the Australia Ride” in a previous post. But even that doesn’t answer the question “Why?” The movie (or book) Tracks was just a catalyst; it was not the driving reason.
Harry, the owner of a caravan park in Coolgardie, Western Australia, said to me, “I really shouldn’t ask why. A biker once told me, ‘If you have to ask, you really wouldn’t understand anyway.'” I don’t know if I agree with such a glib response. It is true that the answer to “Why?” is usually complicated. Or, to be more precise, it is usually multi-faceted, such that a concise answer is hard to come by. It has to be for one to go to great lengths to do something. That is why it is hard to give a single sentence when people ask “Why?” Children are our blunt philosophers: with every answer to a “Why?” there is always another “Why?”
But many of you know me. I have thought about answers to the “Why?” and I know there’s more than “I just wanted to.” (e.g. why do I want to?) I know my “Why?” cannot be completely answered (I’ll leave the deeper aspects to the psychologists), but I have a sense of where the inspiration came from to make me hop on the bike. If any of you know anything about my INFP brain, you’ll know it jumps all over the place to arrive at one thing. My brain has jumped to many different areas to ultimately become “The Australia Ride.” I’ll try to concretize at least one other reason next (since I know you the reader have asked the same big question as many people I’ve met).
In the end, though, it is just a lark that makes one hop on a bike. (Some smart alec will then ask, “why that lark?” and we can go through that endless loop again!)