The Strip-Mall Ride

Ring Road. I mean, come on!

One of the things that I liked the most about my virtual challenges was that I chose famous treks that showed some of the most beautiful landscape in the world. Though I may have been working out by sitting in my bedroom, on my spin bike, by walking around my neighbourhood or around the house, or better—by kayaking on lakes and rivers or cycling around Eastern Ontario, I enjoyed seeing where I was, virtually, by covering the same distance in far-off countries.

As soon as my distances from my workouts were entered in The Conqueror Virtual Challenges app, I would see where I was, virtually, on Google Maps. I could even go to the street view, on most challenges, and virtually wander the neighbourhoods.

I loved seeing northern Spain in my first challenge, the Camino de Santiago, and followed it up with a longer trek over England and Scotland. My first disappointment was Germany's Romantic Road, where Google's street view was unavailable for about 99 percent of the trek.

What I love about these challenges is that at the end of a workout, I could see the nearest village, town, or city, or wonder at a vista that exhibited the beauty of a country. I totally fell in love with Iceland when I travelled (virtually) the Ring Road, and I'm even planning an actual visit, sometime next year, to experience that beauty in real life.

I expect to take some fabulous photographs.

My latest challenge is the 3,669.8 km trek along America's old Route 66, which runs from Chicago, Illinois, to Santa Monica, California. To date, I've covered about 950 kms and am near the Missouri-Kansas border. I'm only a quarter of my way into my virtual journey.

Taco Bell and McD's. Yawn.

But I have to say, as much as I still like accumulating distances and seeing where I virtually am on the map, I find that the street views are downright boring. I'm either on a flat stretch of highway or passing a strip mall. I can't tell you how many McDonald's or Arby's or Taco Bell restaurants I've passed.

I understand that because the United States is such a large country, there will be patches of nothing between communities. Where most of my previous challenges had villages spaced less than 10 kms apart, I often have to travel more than 20 to 30 kms between small points of interest along Route 66. But when I do come across a populated area, I'm faced with the same, boring views.

More strip malls.

I'm looking forward to when I finally head further west and reach deserts and mountains. In 2016, my family actually visited Arizona and we travelled along old parts of Route 66, in Flagstaff. Flagstaff was an interesting town, and I'm looking forward to seeing it again, although virtually.

I'm sure the town had strip malls but I don't remember seeing any.

This virtual challenge will take me until the beginning of 2022 to reach the Pacific Ocean, but I'm hoping that I can extend some bike rides to get ahead of schedule. If there's not much more to Route 66 than small towns with strip malls, it'll be one of the only treks that I've done virtually, that I'd never want to do in real life.