Question: I know you rode your bicycle self-supported across America. I’m thinking of doing that too, but I am by nature a nervous and anxious person, and I am often depressed. Do you think an epic trip such as yours will help me overcome those shortcomings? —Anonymous
RBR’S STAN PURDUM REPLIES: It depends on what you mean by “overcome.” Life on the road will confront you with all sorts of circumstances, many of which cannot be foreseen, that will require you to make decisions and then deal with the consequences, which may be serendipitous and heartwarming, but can be less so. You didn’t say whether you are thinking of doing your trip solo or in company with others, but if it’s the former, and you have to make all those decisions on your own, you are likely to have to override your anxiety to do so. Whether that will make you less anxious later in broader life situations is something I can’t predict.
What I can tell you is that there are enough studies and personal testimonies about the mental-health benefits of exercise in general and cycling in specific to suggest that you may experience some positive movement regarding your personal issues while dealing with the demands of a long-distance cycling journey. Here, for example, is a study regarding how physical activity helps reduce depressive symptoms.
And here is an article about the mental benefits of long-distance cycling. It includes a statement especially pertinent to your question: “… long-distance cycling is a mental game as much as physical one. It’s about confronting your own limitations, then surpassing them. It’s about facing adversity, then overcoming it. And in the process, it shapes a stronger, more resilient version of oneself.” That article is an especially good one, and every point it makes resonates with my long-distance cycling experiences.
Nonetheless, the human psyche is a complex entity, and we cannot say that everything that might trouble it can be cured by cycling. Emily Buehler was a young woman when she made a ride from New Jersey to Oregon with her friend Mary. This was a big step for Emily, who was depressed and oppressed by low self-esteem and so worried about offending others by simply expressing her preferences that she often ended up unhappily keeping them to herself and regretting her choices later. Her book about that journey is remarkable in that she sometimes voices the killjoy reasoning that ran in her head, which often kept her from embracing the riches that a long-distance ride can supply. When reading it, I frequently felt like I wanted to say to her, “Come on. Put your worries aside and live in the moment.” But that only shows how difficult it is to pedal in someone else’s shoes. And in the end, I admired her courage in being so open about her struggles.
In an “Author Note and Disclaimer” near the end of her book, Emily explains that while the book is the account of a cross-country ride, it’s also the story of everything she learned in the 10 years since. She says, “I mention this because I want to be honest, and because I don’t want any readers to feel disappointed when they go on their own trip and the answers they seek aren’t miraculously revealed while they ride. (Just wait ten years, get a good therapist, and write a book about your travels ….)” Then she adds, “Much of the change that started with the trip continued afterward, and many of the struggles, I’m afraid, will be lifelong ones.”
I never got the idea that she regretted the trip, and the author bio says that she still commutes on the bike she rode across America.
So perhaps the answer to your question is that an epic bicycle trip will offer you many opportunities to confront and even make progress against your depression and anxieties, but it may not be the venue on which you outride all of your demons.
Stan Purdum has ridden several long-distance bike trips, including an across-America ride recounted in his book Roll Around Heaven All Day, and a trek on U.S. 62, from Niagara Falls, New York, to El Paso, Texas, the subject of his book Playing in Traffic. Stan, a freelance writer and editor, lives in Ohio. See more at www.StanPurdum.com.
When I was in elementary school, I decided I wanted to ride cross country. I’d never heard of bicycle touring and had never seen any touring equipment, but I wanted to do it. Fifteen years later, in 1977, I did it. I flew to the West Coast, looking down at the endless expanse of hills and thought, “What am I signing up for.” Two months later, on my 25th birthday, I arrived back home at my apartment in Media, PA.
To me, this ride was scratching an itch that I needed to scratch. Psychologically, I was divided into “before the ride” and “after the ride.” I’m very type-A, so I won’t say it made me relaxed. But I was less spring-loaded than before the ride. And every day, as I deal with life’s mediocre situations, I can think, “I’m the guy who did that!”
Some days are wonderful and bucolic. On a transcontinental, other days will be rainy, windy, boring, and unpleasant. That’s the nature of a long tour — you embrace all of it. That’s what makes it an accomplishment.
I can’t promise what such a ride will do for you, but it was wonderful for me.
Thanks for sharing your story.
well – any bike ride helps with all that 🙂