Cycling Home: 4100kms. April 30-June 30 2015

Golden, British Columbia to Aurora, Ontario

As most things that challenge you physically, mentally and emotionally (all at once) tend to do, I was broken apart and rebuilt many times in the two months I spent on my bicycle pedaling home to my family in Ontario. The obvious lessons of living simply, physical literacy and mental strength were all boisterously present on this trip. However upon reflecting during, after and still to this day, I recognize that the lessons which expanded my worldview the most were about the privilege that is locomotion and the way land relates to identity (space and place). It is nearly impossible to hide from yourself or people while cycling through small communities across mountain passess, prairies and wetlands. I feel that my unique experience of visiting these communities and the changing of land expanded the scope with which I view my neighbours. This altered lens will continue to change and grow if I allow it and in doing so will inform my teaching practices and relationships

On this cycle trip, I crossed many unceded territories as well as treaty lands. All of which are Indigenous Territories. My understanding of the colonized state of my imagination was still in its infancy, so moving through these lands was cartesian in effort. I pined for boarders, roads, dominant place names as I pushed forward. Today, I am working at learning the names of these places that I moved through as my understanding of space and place evolves. Please visit native-land.ca to interact with the terrirtories that I moved through.

Please click through to the following page to read more about my experiential learning.

Pages: 1 2 3 4