BY BERT STEPHANI

As a kid I devoured books about polar expeditions, climbing Everest and dangerous travels in the rainforest. Jacques-Yves Cousteau and his crew were my television heroes and I listened to the cassette tapes my aunt mailed to my parents while she lived in the Congo. I was destined to become a famous explorer. But as I got older there was the preparation of the basketball season that prevented long travels during the summer, work got in the way and then came a family that I just love being with way more than the highest mountain or the deepest abyss.

I still managed to see a nice chunk of the world and explore different cultures and places. During my twenties and thirties it bothered me sometimes though that I never completely released my inner Indiana Jones. But I also started to understand that my childhood heroes all paid a big price for following their passion, a price that I am not prepared to pay.

It’s very unlikely that I’ll discover a new dolphin species, be the first to climb Everest while playing a saxophone or swim across the Bering Sea in just a pair of Speedos. But like in sports, exploring doesn’t require you to be setting new records to enjoy it.

During the lockdown I got restless and started to understand that I really need a healthy dose of adventure to stay sane. Luckily I rediscovered bicycles as a way to explore. In the early nineties I got hooked on mountainbiking. Back then it wasn’t about trails and bike parks, it was about the adventure to go places where a normal bike couldn’t go. It wasn’t about speed or distance (although I experienced plenty of both), it was a way to see something of the world, hang out with great people and it wasn’t bad for my health either (except for the crashes).

Somehow, I found all of that back in the last month or so (minus the fitness and adrenaline kicks). I started taking a camera with me on my rides. It makes me stop more often and enjoy the moment. I’m exploring again, exploring how to explore on a bike again.