Ode to Bikepacking and Fragility of Life

I have not seen a single person, car or any sign of human life since I left for this 4-day traverse of the Andes.

I think, what if something happens to me? What if the bike breaks and I can't continue? I have the satellite GPS to call for help, but that would really be a last

All of a sudden I feel overcome with fear. I have faced situations like this before in Mongolia, but I knew that within a day of walking I could always find a gher and call for help.

Here I just have no help. It's just me. Life has taught me that in the most difficult situations necessity gives you a solution. A glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel to follow with all your strength. And so I always made it through. But what if this time instead exaggerated the confidence in my means and it does not work out this time?

This is real life. And real life is raw. Mother Nature does not care at all whether you live or die, whether you are young or old

And maybe that's the most exciting and excruciating thing about raw, lonely experiences like this. That on this planet you count for absolutely nothing.

Feeling your smallness, your helplessness, and rowing as hard as you can to stay alive is something epic, crazy, desperate

And perhaps this is the first and most primal of human feelings and one that our society try her best to erase : the fragility of life

We live lives filled with luxuries and comforts in which each day is the same as the next and of which we remember nothing. We take for granted that we will also be in this world tomorrow

While instead this feeling is something that is always present in those who lead simple lives, those who every day have to struggle to stay afloat.

This fear that I feel, that grips me, I breathe it deeply in my lungs. I let it swell my chest and it is what makes my eye more alert, my muscles more powerful. this is exactly what gives me that extra push that even tomorrow will keep me attached to life

That push that every day makes me thankful to be in this world