So many of our experiences are serendipitious.  What If? A question that keeps popping up in our minds while thinking of some life experiences. Thinking of these experiences and trying to answer the question "what if ?" with the benifit of hindsight may either haunt or elevate you. Either way you cannot escape these thoughts and the emotions that follow.  How do we take certain decisions ? How do we react to certain situations ? How does instinct work ?  Why do we choose to follow our instincts certain times while overriding them many other times? Why are our instincts correct many times and wrong so many other times? To answer these questions with any amount of conviction would be difficult, but I can share such an experience  Journeys are a great unknown, you can only be that much sure of what to expect, the rest just unfolds as you go along. When you are on a long distance solitary cycling journey you feel more vulnerable. This makes you more self aware and your instincts