Imagine using a week of your vacation to ride 300+ miles across Georgia. Along the way, we sleep on gym floors, shower in high school locker rooms, and subsist on peanut butter, bananas, Powerade, and fig bars. We get up around 5 a.m., ride most of the day, and relax in the afternoon and evening.

Most of my family and friends don’t get it at all, but this experience called the Bicycle Ride Across Georgia (BRAG for short) is one of my best weeks all year. That’s not to say it’s easy — I’ve fallen and scraped skin off my leg, have had to give up some days because of asthma, and have gotten dehydrated at least once. But it’s a ride that engages all of me in a way I don’t often experience. It takes all my time, my attention (a slip in attention is how I fell), and my lung power. But it’s also a chance to connect with the natural world, to reconnect with good friends, and to be surprised by what I can do.

So I’m on the way to my seventh BRAG since 2006. I’ve worn myself out packing and I have some butterflies — as I always do. But what I love about BRAG is that no matter how any one day goes, there’s always something new to see and someone new to meet. I’m excited and ready for this adventure. BRAG, here I come!