I don’t think adults need more vacations - I think we need more adventures.
Somewhere along the way, many of us become very good at managing our lives. We become responsible. Productive. Efficient. Comfortable.
Our calendars fill up. Our routines become predictable. We spend our days in meetings, answering emails, solving problems, driving kids around and moving from one obligation to the next.
And while there is nothing wrong with any of that, I think something important gets left behind.
Adventure.
Just the simple act of doing something uncertain. Something challenging. Something that reminds us we are still capable of being uncomfortable, humbled, alive, free and fully present.
Last weekend, after a year of planning, world-class cyclist Rob Britton and I had the privilege of leading 40 gravel cyclists from across Canada through the backcountry roads, trails, streams, bridges and mountains of Kananaskis in an event we created called The Divide.
There were broken chains, tired legs, wrong turns, river crossings, bears, beers, sore legs, cold plunges, fireside chats and more laughter than I can adequately capture in a LinkedIn post.
One of our riders, Matthew Decore, dropped the peloton and took off into the backcountry at one point and we haven’t heard from him since. We call him “Hardcore” for a reason. But statistically, losing only one rider out of forty is still a pretty successful event.
But what struck me wasn’t the riding.
It was what happened to us when we stepped away from our normal lives.
Phones disappeared. Conversations deepened. Strangers became friends. Stories got embellished.
Somewhere between the river crossings, fireside chats, cold plunges, cold beers, and breathing in that fresh mountain air, something shifted. Maybe it’s because adventure demands our attention. It pulls us out of autopilot and back into the moment.
Whatever the reason, I left the weekend convinced that adults need adventure every bit as much as our kids do. Not because it helps us escape our lives.
Because it helps us return to them a little more awake.
A sincere thank you to everyone who joined us, and to the many partners, volunteers and supporters who helped make the weekend possible.
Already looking forward to the next one.
https://www.thedividegravel.com/