2021: Best. Year. Ever.

As I've reflected on the past year, I've realized that it was easily one of the best years of my life—COVID be damned. I hope that doesn't sound like bragging—I've had some truly shitty years quite recently. I've fought through my own fair share of challenges and obstacles in years past.

But 2021? 2021 was spectacular!

2,506 Miles on the Bike

As I wrote last year, I long ago determined that 2,000 annual miles serves as a fairly accurate benchmark to determine whether or not I've had a decent season of mountain biking. It's not so much a goal as a threshold: less than 2,000 miles in a year, not such a good year. More than 2,000 miles, then it was a decent year.

So when I blew past my 2,000-mile goal for the year on October 21st, I knew that I was having an incredible season of riding! If I hit 2,000 miles so quickly, what could I accomplish? What could I achieve? I began to dream... and based on my trend line on Strava, I knew that if I pushed, I might just be able to pass 2,500 miles on the season.

While I had to go out for one final ride on the 31st, I did manage to pass 2,500! The number in itself isn't important, but what it signifies is. I explored a mind-boggling array of singletrack across North America and Europe. I rode 167 days, and almost every single one was a new adventure. Each one provided a dose of beauty and flow.

I can't imagine living any other way.

529 Miles on Foot

When Strava added the ability to track goals for multiple sports a couple of years ago, I set my goal for foot travel at 500 miles, just to see how I'd benchmark against that number. 2021 was officially the first year since I began tracking it that I passed 500 annual miles on foot. I covered these 500 miles while hiking deep in the backcountry and walking my minimum amounts to keep the Outside 365 streak alive.

Even though I categorized all of these miles as "runs" on Strava, so that I could track my annual statistics, I no longer run unless something is chasing me. I would love to be able to run again one day, but in 2021, staying healthy and well enough to ride and hike was enough for me.

The Healthiest I've Been in Years

The main thing these statistics signify is that I felt healthier, fitter, and stronger in 2021 than I have in years! The only time I rode more miles in a year was 3,512 in 2013—my biggest year ever. However, many of those 3,512 miles were on pavement on a road bike.

In the intervening years, I suffered through a litany of injuries that I won't go into here, but this year I felt my strongest, fittest, and most pain-free that I've felt since my first knee surgery.

Sure, I still faced physical challenges and some painful injuries. But I was able to work through all of them to keep fighting, to keep chasing, to keep riding. And that's what it's all about.

Outside 365 Continues On

While we're talking numbers, Outside 365 didn't falter in 2021. I covered at least one human-powered mile outside every single day of the year, which brings my streak total up to 1,254 days as of December 31st, and 1,279 as of the day this article goes live.

While having my own streak continue for another 365 days was great, I was ecstatic for my girlfriend Christine to complete her first Outside 365 streak in 2021! After resolving to simply get out there and do it every single day, she was surprised to find how achievable the Outside 365 goal is, even though it can sound so daunting when you first begin. She's found so much joy and benefit in this lifestyle that she isn't planning on stopping anytime soon!

I’m so pumped to have inspired her to add in a few more days of outdoor adventure every week to reach 365 continuous days. Oftentimes, it’s the days that you wouldn’t have gone outside otherwise and are prompted to do so because you don’t want to break the streak that are the most important. It’s precisely those days when you need to take a breather from the stresses of work. When you need to move your body, even if you’re feeling a bit under the weather. A small dose of movement through nature can often change the trajectory of the entire day.

Did you complete Outside 365 for the first time in 2021? If so, I’d love to hear about it! Slide into my DMs (or respond to my last email newsletter) and let me know how the challenge went for you.

...And So Much More

Beyond covering miles outside, 2021 held so much more beauty, adventure, and love than I could have ever dreamed!

Love is particularly worth mentioning. 2021 was the first complete calendar year that Christine and I spent together, and I couldn't be happier. Christine, when you read this, know that I still feel so incredibly fortunate to have met you by a campfire and to have built this life with you!

And what an incredible life it has become! In January of 2021, we had only just begun our 6-month van buying process, and yet by mid-year, we had acquired our new van, moved into it full-time, and begun traipsing around North America. At the time of this writing, we've been living in the van full-time for about 7 months already. Time just keeps rolling on by with the revolutions of our tires.

Pain

Was 2021 perfect? Was it completely free of obstacles, free of anxiety and worry, free of barriers to overcome, free of pain, free of defeat? No, of course not. It also held plenty of obstacles that had to be turned into opportunities. There were worries and uncertainties aplenty, changes of course, and several difficult challenges to wade through.

But perhaps it was, in part, my best year ever because I'm getting incrementally better at overcoming the challenges that present themselves, at actively turning the obstacles into opportunities. Pain is an integral part of the human condition, and to deny that is to deny your humanity. The only way to run from the pain is to numb it, but when you numb the pain, you also numb the joy and happiness and beauty that can be found in life, too.

Pain is unavoidable. Suffering is optional.

Hopefully, I can carry these lessons forward into 2022 and keep building slowly (ever so slowly) on what I've learned. So with 2021 in the rearview mirror, let's rally in 2022 and carpe the fucking diem!