The main idea for me to get out and explore is to have fun. The athletic aspect and fitness is a means to do that. I like to explore and find my way in the unknown.
In 2020, I bought a Wahoo ELEMNT for myself—a gift for my bachelor’s degree.
The plan was to bike from Brussels to Bordeaux in seven days. I had been cycling pretty regularly for two years by then and was ready for it.
That was the start of the quantization of fun. The utility of having routing and maps came with statistics that tried to express my fun.
Another day, I was hiking in the woods when my watch told me I was off route. I was walking the wrong way, in the wrong direction. What led me to go off route? Why did I deviate from the planned route? I was simply enjoying the moment, taking a turn that looked like it should be my turn at that very moment.
In 2016, before university and with time to spare, I wanted to hike from Stockholm to Oslo. With no plan other than going west, I found myself in Stockholm, walking out of the city.
That was a year before data roaming in the EU became free. We had no mobile internet on that trip. In preparation, I installed OsmAnd, an offline navigation app. We had no route, so we weren't able to go off route. We only had to go west.
We also did not have statistics about our day-to-day walking. We only used the app to scout supermarkets, public fountains, and fields to camp in. Looking back, I think that was the perfect way to travel: unprepared, with only offline maps. We came into contact with locals and needed their knowledge of the surroundings.
I remember coming back and telling everyone that I always wanted to spend my vacations hiking—or, later, biking—from then on. I still have a book in which I wrote down every city we passed.
So I invested in gear and technology to make this “easier.” I never got the same kick out of a hike or adventure as I did during that time. Walking a route feels different from simply walking in a direction. Getting statistics immediately after finishing a route always felt wrong. You can always do more, but not less…