Back in February I posted this video of a guy bikepacking the Kettle Valley Trail in British Columbia.  I thought it was a particularly beautiful, touching look at what it means to ride in the snow.  

The video was a side adventure of sorts for Iohan Gueorguiev, better known for his YouTube channel and web page BikeWanderer, which document his journey from Alaska to the southern tip of Argentina on his bike, solo and self-supported.  I’ve watched several of his videos and marveled at his positive, friendly attitude and his endurance in the face of unfathomable hardships, not to mention his quality cinematography and video editing skills.  Those videos were a wonderful distraction in the dead of last winter.  And then like most things you tend to see on the Internet, I sort of forgot about them.

Then yesterday I open the newspaper and see an article about Iohan.  Not the kind of article you want to read: an obituary reporting that Iohan has died at the age of 33.  It was remarkable in that bikepackers are not the typical subjects for NY Times obituaries.  It was additionally striking in that he was someone I had been briefly introduced to if only through the glowing pixels of my computer screen.  I didn’t know the guy, never met him even once but his videos struck a chord somewhere inside me in a way that I didn’t even realize until I read his obituary.  The Internet can connect you to people in strange and unexpected ways.

Keep pedaling Iohan. May you find peace.