Bicycle Love Response - Lauren Barber

After reading this short essay, I feel almost connected to Goodspeed because I felt like I was able to really feel and connect to what she was saying. This essay reminded me a lot of the movie 'The Way' also about a pilgrimage and the novel Wild by Cheryl Strayed. Both of these other sources spoke of a pilgrimage and before experiencing any of these three medias I'd never even known about pilgrimages. One of my favorites parts was at the very end when she is speaking to Green Knees and says, "You're on a pilgrimage." and Green Knees replies with, "Exactly, I'm on a pilgrimage." I just feel like this really speaks a lot as they are able to find common ground in the strangest of places and really make a connection over something not most people would be able to. The thing that really hooked up about this essay was the inspiring language and the feeling that even when everything goes wrong, you can go out and conquer something and get your life back on track. The kind souls in the essay were heartwarming, an example of this being "Through the next few days, any time I took out the map -- which I did often -- people waited only an instant before they approached. The offered directions and phone numbers should I need any help." Additionally, being able to understand the bits of french after 4 years of classes was just a nice extra touch for me to really love this essay.