Cycling Around The World With ML Buchman

Sometimes we can only find our true selves by leaving everything we thought we wanted behind. Matt Buchman was a successful business consultant, but when he lost everything, he set off to cycle around the world. It was a way to escape his old life, but also to find a new path. In this interview, he talks about some of the highs and lows of the trip, but it’s also a discussion on what really matters and how to find home again. M.L. Buchman is the author of over 60 romance, thriller, sci-fi, and fantasy books, as well as nonfiction. And today, we’re talking about his memoir, Mid-Life Crisis on Wheels: a Bicycle Journey Around the World. Show notes * How losing everything led to a grand adventure * Dealing with fear of the unknown * Letting go of a perfect plan in order to learn more about yourself * How the lows are just as important as the highs when traveling * Looking for a definition of ‘home’ * Adjusting to ‘normal’ life after an extended period of travel * Recommended books about cycling adventures You can find ML Buchman at MLBuchman.com and on Twitter @mlbuchman Transcript of the interview Joanna: M.L. Buchman is the author of over 60 romance, thriller, sci-fi, and fantasy books, as well as nonfiction. And today, we’re talking about his memoir, Mid-Life Crisis on Wheels: a Bicycle Journey Around the World. Welcome to the show, Matt. Matt: Hello, and thank you. Hey, Joanna. Joanna: It’s great to have you on the show. So, look, this is a hell of a book. It’s really fantastic. But I want to start at the beginning. What led up to the decision to cycle around the world? What was happening in your life? Matt: I tell people it’s really easy to launch on a trip like this. All you have to do is lose everything. I had a business partner with a different definition of the word integrity than mine. I ended up losing not only my job and my business, but my career. And that ended up because I burned bridges from Houston to Calgary to Denver. It was astonishing what the train wreckage was. I was going to lose the house. I was sitting in this house I’d spent seven years remodeling with every penny I had, and the few minutes of time. A friend said, ‘Well, if you sell the house,’ and I was like, ‘Okay, I’m going to lose the house …’ I started looking for the second half of that question. I was out for a walk and got nearly clipped by a cyclist, and it was like, ‘Oh, I could bicycle around the world.’ Suddenly, it made sense, because nothing else in my life did. I was single, and bummed out, and frustrated, and angry, and a workaholic that had no work. So I sold everything and got on a bicycle. Joanna: I love that one. A workaholic without work. I’m a workaholic. I understand that. That’s the pressure to forget everything else. It’s interesting because, on a serious note, your life was a train wreck, but you still had this house. So often it seems that we spend a lot of energy, and time, and emotional stress building things like a house, the perfect thing to have, but that’s not what really matters. Do you think almost that this was going to happen, that you hadn’t really addressed what was important? Matt: Yes and no. I think that what occurred was inevitable because of who I was being. Because at that time in my life, I was still under the belief that if I just try harder, it will work. If it isn’t working, try harder. So I designed and built the house for the family I never had time to find.