During the pandemic in 2020, a novice cyclist by the name of Lady J.B. Owen and her husband dusted the cobwebs off their tandem bicycle and set out to inspire people at a time when many Canadians were feeling the negative effects of social isolation.
Starting at their hometown of Red Deer, Alta., the team never made it to their goal of Halifax, N.S. due to the Atlantic bubble that moved in during the trip. Nevertheless, she made the most of her situation and was given the opportunity to speak at Parliament Hill, a dream she had since high school.
Owen was then inspired to share the many lessons learned during the 5,000-kilometre trip spanning 56 days in a book she later penned.
The couple made a one day and night stop in Moose Jaw along the way. Owen said her brief stay in town gave a lasting impression, and the city now holds a warm place in her heart.
“It was so artistic, and at the same time it had this nostalgia and this historical feel to it. I’m from Red Deer, and there’s nothing really historical about it,” she recalled. “Being there, I was really wide-eyed about all of the… old buildings, and then all of the artwork that was downtown. I just thought it was so cool.”
“It just was like a secret gem – a hidden gem I (never grew) up knowing about…,” she said.
Her brief stop in Moose Jaw would end up playing a major role in her book.
“What I recognized is that there’s a ton of history in Canada that we’re really not aware of. When you get outside your city, and you’re willing to be a tourist in your own backyard, you learn so much about your country that you didn’t know you didn’t know.”
“From that moment on, every little town we went to I was like, ‘what’s this town’s gem? What’s this town’s secret? What is this town known for?’”
“We went to this one town, and I was like, ‘oh, we’ve already been to this town – I know what this town is all about.’ And so, I just had a judgment about it, instead of being curious (and asking) what is something about this town that I don’t know,” she said.
It’s about being curious and seeing life from a completely different lens. “It’s like seeing life from the back of a bike,” she said. This would become the title for her book, Wisdom from the Back of a Bike.
“Everyone helped us (along the trip). Sometimes we would be on the side of the road just resting, and people would pull over and be like ‘do you guys need help?’”
“It really restored my faith in humanity, because people offered us to stay in their homes, (and) people gave us food and bought us lunches; we were at a campground and people gave us fish that they caught. It was so amazing that people were so generous and kind.”
Lady Owen found several analogies about cycling to be indicative of life in general. “For example, sometimes you have to let go of the handlebars and trust that the person in front of you has got it.
“And so, sometimes in life you just have to let go of the tight grip you have on everything and expecting everything to be a certain way,” she said. “There were just so many interesting analogies like that."
Her message “is that you have to do something to experience something – you can’t just talk about it, read about it, watch a video, or do a podcast. If you really want your life to change, and you really want to gain wisdom, you have to go out and try things.”
The book talks about strapping on your cleats, grabbing the reigns, or pushing the pedal to the floor – it’s all about doing what inspires you on a personal level.
“The catalyst is we all have hobbies, and things that we love to do. Within the things we love to do, there’s so much wisdom,” she said. “Take what you love to do… and then find what wisdom that (activity) gives you and start implementing it into your life.
“It’s not that cycling is the answer; it’s that doing something is the answer.”
Since that summer, the couple cycled 6,500 kilometres to Alaska. Last year (2022), they cycled 10,000 kilometres across Canada from Vancouver to Newfoundland. This summer, they cycled from Calgary to Cabo San Lucas in Mexico. The couple also selects a charity to support on each year’s trip.
Next summer they plan to cycle from Cabos (Mexico) to Alaska, which is approximately 8,500 kilometres and Lady Owen said it’s the equivalent to climbing Mt. Everest seven times.
“It was an idea that everybody said was impossible, and we made it possible by believing that we could do it. Giving up was not an option,” she concluded, noting that ‘what you want wants you,’ and that anything is possible.
Lady Owens’ book, Wisdom from the Back of a Bike, is expected to launch in spring 2024.
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