Our Creative Director (and founder/president of I Bike Fresno) Byron is about to go on an adventure. We’ll let him tell you about it.
I leave tomorrow by train, bicycle in hand, to San Francisco where I will then mount said bicycle and ride down the PCH to Monterey, then turn inland and ride back to Fresno. The entire distance will be approximately 350 miles.
I am doing this solo. People keep asking me why I’m doing it solo and I guess my best answer is: no small talk.
Then people ask if I am nervous. I don’t feel nervous, but then I think, “Maybe I should be?” Then that makes me think, “Maybe I don’t realize what I’m getting into and 50 miles in I’ll be wondering what I was thinking?” But then I usually toss that aside and just go, “Eh, it’ll be cool.”
I’ve put a lot of miles on my bicycle(s), but never this much at one time. I’m primarily a commuter. I ride from point A to point B. I go to the store. I get to work. I don’t really do centuries, and have never have felt the need to ride a long way just to ride a long way. My bike has always just been transportation. (Technically, I guess it still is for this trip.)
While I have a set amount of days I can do this in (five days), I am not in a rush to make it to the next destination. I will see and experience something I’ve seen and experienced many times — but it was always from the quickly moving confines of a car. It’s not often you get to slow down and actually enjoy every mile. (Well, not every mile; there are gonna be some really crappy ones in there.)
I got myself a new bike. I’m gonna sleep in a hammock. I will wear shirts made of merino wool. I have all the “stuff” and I have thought about that “stuff” pretty extensively.
What I haven’t really thought about are the specifics of the route or where I am going set up camp. I know I’m going from “here” to “here,” but what roads I take to get from “there” to “there”… I have no idea. I’ll figure that out as I go.
As I wonder again if this was the smartest decision, I realize this trip parallels my directing process pretty closely.
I prepare as much as I can, but there’s always a portion of the shoot that isn’t perfectly planned. I get things in order, but ultimately they just have to come together the day of the shoot. At some point you have to trust that you have thought about it enough that it is going to be okay when you arrive to actually shoot it. Once on set, I try to leave some space for all the parts to create something magical on their own. If I don’t try to control every single thing, then there is still space for something unexpected.
That’s not only the adventure of making films and commercials, but it’s also the adventure of life. Leaving space to be surprised. Then, hopefully, we’re actually riding slow enough to not miss it. It’s the things we didn’t plan on that are sometimes the most exciting…
Oh, you know what? I totally forgot. I actually once did go on a bike tour to Mexico with my friend Anthony. Whatever happens on this trip, I hope it goes better than that one did:
