§ i
Monday morning, and a bicycle by the door
Every Civic Holiday, our group meets for a ride. Nothing heroic. Thirty-five kilometres, a relaxed pace, and an unspoken agreement that no one gets left behind.
It has become one of those small traditions that nobody officially organized. It simply happened one year, and then it happened again, and now it is the thing we all quietly look forward to when the long weekend appears on the calendar.
If you have never ridden with a group like this, I should tell you what it actually sounds like. There is very little talk about watts, or gears, or training plans. There is a lot of talk about gardens, and grandchildren, and whose knee is behaving this summer. Someone always tells the same story. Someone always laughs at it anyway.
The pace is the point. Fast enough that you feel your legs. Slow enough that you can finish a sentence. Somebody drifts back to ride beside whoever is having a harder morning, and the whole group softens without anyone announcing it.
And when we roll back into town, most of us will keep going a little farther — to Croftland Cafe, a wonderful new local café that recently opened. Coffee. Something fresh out of the oven. Bikes leaned against the wall outside where we can keep an eye on them.
I like that we get to be there in their first season, while everything is still new and the owners still look up hopefully every time the door opens. There is something good about a table full of cyclists helping a brand new small business begin its own journey.
That is Monday. And it is Saturday morning as I write this, and I am already looking forward to it.
§ ii
More Than a Date on the Calendar
In about an hour, I’ll close this laptop and head to my 10:30 a.m. Group Active class at the YMCA.
That’s the other thing I’ve been looking forward to all week.
I already know how it will unfold.
I’ll walk through the doors and someone will say my name before I’ve even had a chance to put my bag down.
One of our three wonderful volunteer instructors, Samantha, Adriana or Lujain, will already be at the front of the room, smiling, welcoming people and encouraging someone before class has even begun.
The familiar faces will gradually fill the room, and before long everyone naturally settles into their favourite spot. That’s what happens when a group of strangers slowly becomes a community.
These are people I didn’t know a few years ago.
Today, they’re an important part of my life.
Not because every workout is easy. Some days they’re anything but.
But because every class reminds me that an active lifestyle is about so much more than exercise.
Every Saturday morning, Samantha, Adriana and Lujain choose to give up part of their weekend to help others become healthier, stronger and more confident.
They’re volunteers.
They don’t simply lead a fitness class.
They create an environment where people feel welcomed, encouraged and inspired to keep showing up.
- They’re helping build confidence
- They’re helping build friendships
- They’re helping build community
I don’t think we say thank you often enough to people like Samantha, Adriana and Lujain, or to the many volunteers who quietly make our communities stronger every single week.
Walking into that class reminds me that community doesn’t just happen.
People choose to create it.
People choose to invest in one another.
People choose to show up.
I’m grateful they do.
A few years ago, I probably would have looked at a Saturday morning very differently.
Today, I’m excited about Group Active.
I’m excited about Monday’s Civic Holiday ride.
I’m excited about spending time with friends, sharing plenty of conversation along the way, and afterwards gathering at Croftland Cafe for coffee, fresh baked treats and another opportunity to support a wonderful new local business that’s just beginning its own journey.
Those may seem like ordinary moments.
- A fitness class
- A bike ride
- Coffee with friends
- Supporting a new local café
On their own, none of them seems life changing.
But when you put enough of those moments together…
They become a life.
A life filled with movement.
A life filled with friendship.
A life filled with purpose.
A life that always has something to look forward to.
“Routine gives life its stability. Anticipation gives life its energy.”
§ iii
The quiet power of looking forward
I’ve started paying attention to the difference between the two.
Routine is steady and dependable. It gets us out of bed, keeps us moving, keeps the week from wandering off. But routine on its own can start to feel like maintenance — the same days, arranged in the same order, going gently nowhere.
Anticipation is different. Anticipation is a Tuesday that feels lighter because Thursday is a ride. It’s a January afternoon spent looking at a river map for a trip in September. It’s checking the forecast three days early for no practical reason at all.
It doesn’t take much to create:
- A weekly ride that everyone counts on
- A fitness class with your name in it
- A weekend away, two hours from home
- A cruise you’re still only dreaming about
- Something you’ve never tried before
- Coffee with a friend on Thursday
Every one of those experiences begins long before it happens. We live them twice — once in the imagining, and once in the doing. Sometimes three times, if the story is good enough to keep telling.
I think that is what people are really describing when they say someone seems young for their age. It isn’t their knees. It is that they still have something circled on the calendar.
§ iv
What this is really about
PEDAL & PORT has never really been about cycling. It has never really been about travel either, although both are wonderful excuses to leave the house.
It is about living with intention. Choosing to move. Choosing the table where the conversation is. Staying curious about places and people and versions of yourself you haven’t met yet.
That same belief runs through our Wellness & Active Living experiences — journeys built around movement, rest and feeling well while you travel.
It is about continuing to grow, no matter what the birthday card says.
And more than anything, it is about always having something to look forward to.
So here is the only suggestion I’ll make. Put something on the calendar this week. It does not have to be ambitious. A ride, a class, a walk with someone you’ve been meaning to catch up with, a coffee at a café that just opened down the street.
Then notice how the days leading up to it feel.
I’ll be at the Y at 10:30 this morning, and on my bike Monday at the usual place. Coffee afterwards, if you’re anywhere nearby.
Active lifestyle. Shared adventures. It really is that simple.
