What is Adventure

BY LYNDA LAHMAN

Egle is competing in her second off-road rally…a seven-day ‘mini Dakar’ in her words, pushing her personal limits tackling physical, mental, and mechanical challenges. This follows her other adventures of travelling across the world, writing to support herself, creating an online magazine, and publishing a book about the people she’s met along the way.

Kris just finished up her ride on the California Backcountry Discovery Route, a challenge that starts off in deep sand, followed by miles and miles of rocks, steep hills, open deserts, and nights camping under the stars. She’s been named to the Rev’it Women’s Adventure team, promoting the brand as well as women riders, a genuine honor and accomplishment testifying to her hard work and skills.

Hayley had a wild hair idea to have women carry a baton, handed off person to person across the globe over the course of a single year, building friendships between female riders and highlighting our growing numbers and impact on the industry. It’s grown into a huge movement, connecting women who might never have met, garnering publicity through articles in magazines, online forums, Instagram, and Facebook pages. Ripple Relays are furthering the goal by forming local rides in individual countries, increasing the participation numbers exponentially.

I’m about to embark on my fourth Iron Butt Rally, an eleven-day competitive scavenger hunt with only a hundred riders zigzagging across the United States and Canada in search of bonuses, or designated objects at specific locations, to photograph in the hopes of obtaining enough points to be a finisher. A unique niche, dedicated to safe long distance riding, the Rally is followed online by thousands, and the number of women participants continues to grow.

Katie recently pushed out of her comfort zone by joining a group ride for the first time. Introverted by nature, she’s spent the past few years exploring the roads in her area solo, but was caught up in the excitement of Hayley’s Women Riders World Relay and its more informal US Ripple Relay, and ventured across the Cascade Mountains to meet up with a small group of women, all eager to carry the baton through parts of Washington State. Watching her enthusiasm and hearing her excitement over lunch confirmed the risk was well worth her efforts.

So who are the adventure riders? Is it necessary to ride off-road, on gnarly single tracks to be considered an ADV rider? Or to take off for months at a time across the world, carrying everything you own in the limited space of your bike? How about spending sixteen to eighteen hours a day riding, managing time, sleep, and efficiency to navigate through heat, cold, rain, and traffic in search of a specific spot to pull over and take a picture?

What if we let adventure be defined by the individual? Maybe it’s that which pushes us out of our comfort zones and into our growth zones, no matter where those lines may be. Maybe it’s an open invitation to try more, experiment more, learn more, and explore options. That sounds like a pretty exciting adventure to me!

Featured image: Motors and 4×4’s