North

We headed up to Illinois for the New Year Holiday. Aside from a recent funeral, we've not been up to see my family in a long time. That's one of my regrets of my current employment, not getting consecutive days off to be able to make short weekend trips home to see family. As such, we were able to take advantage of how the Holiday fell with my off day and were able to make it up North.

We left out in freezing rain/sleet from TN and into active snow in Southern Illinois. As we progressed Northward, the snow became less and less, to the point where much of the mid state was almost snow-less. Temps were in the low 20's with single digit wind chills while we were there, but it still felt warmer than TN despite the thermometer telling us otherwise. It was good to get some "winter" in for a change. Years past had spared us from the wintery side of winter.

Time passes so quickly, despite how long the school year seemed to drag out years ago. Or how summer seemed to last forever, or Christmas wouldn't come soon enough. Now it seems they are always sneaking up on you. As if it were all just last week. Well I guess they were all last week, but hopefully you get my point. Time marches on. Not seeing someone regularly, you really notice the time passing. People are getting older. I'm getting older. Time changes from "when I get it" to "I need to make it." Time's no longer waiting on us to get around to it.

Recently Kid Riemer of Salsa Cycles posed a question on their facebook page asking "What did you learn from your bike in 2012?" It made me think. First off, what possibly could my bike teach me? Secondly, did I learn anything? I finally realized that my bike taught me not every ride requires performance enhancing clothing nor more time than I have available.

Years past I would not have ridden as I would have believed I needed a specific amount of hours on the bike, or a set amount of miles. That 40 minutes or 15 miles weren't worth the effort. That I had to suffer alone for miles and miles, hours and hours because that's what cycling was all about, right? Meh. I rode my bike a lot as a kid. All the way through high school and college. I was never a cyclist. It's just what I did. What I enjoyed. Several rides this year have reminded me of that and have reshaped my perspective on things. Same goes with travel. It won't all be for racing this year. I'm planning more bike adventures around friends and family. Time is precious and I need to take better care of it.

Three days into the new year and plans are already shaping up and escalating. Two multiday bikepacking trips are in the works. Each one on completely new to me trail systems racking up to roughly 700 miles of self-supported trail between them. Lots of S24O's being planned, hopefully starting within the next week. Mix in the races I'd like to do and the event calendar is shaping up to another full year of adventure. I can't wait and I'm sure time won't either.

So here is to another new year. Another new start. Another pause and reflection. Two days and counting until the big Four-O. I'd hoped for a LazerTag party on the farm, but cold and mud put the kibosh on that. Oh well, there's always Five-O.