Winter

It's that time of year where I usually get depressed. The novelty of the cold weather has worn off, the Christmas season is more than a month passed, and the groundhog has indicated that we will have roughly two more months to spend indoors. But, I haven't been as happy as I am right now for a long time, I catch myself smiling for seemingly no reason everyday, and it's usually when I notice others smiling back at me. It makes me feel even better that my mood is positively impacting others.

I've always thought The Power of Possitive Thinking would make someone a little phony; I'm starting to reconsider, even though I'm not intentionally doing it. Here's an example: Friday. It started snowing Thursday after work and has continued throughout the entire night. There are eight inches of snow on the ground and the news is telling everyone in Chicago how bad the driving conditions are everywhere. It's time to leave for work and I am not about to walk so I haul my bike down the stairs and proceed. My bike is how I get to work and I didn't even think twice about it. Thankfully the weather has made fewer people take to the road and the ones who are on it are being very cautious, as am I. I stay on the main roads that are plowed and occasionally have to merge into a single lane with the cars to avoid foot tall piles of plowed snow. When I get to the non-traffic part of the ride I have to dismount and trudge for a bit, but I find most of it recently plowed (recently, as in, I wave to the people as they turn around to make another pass). I arrive at the museum only four minutes later than usual and as I pass the security guards in the shipping dock on my way to the bike cage their heads swivel and their mouths are agape. All I can do is smile from ear to ear.

It might be that rewarding feeling when something difficult is over or the knowledge that every time I do a difficult ride it is preparing me for this coming summer. During the ride it looked like something out of the training sequence from Rocky IV which gives me hope because in the end it was worth it for the Italian Stallion.

I've got to give credit to my mountain bike. I neglect taking care of it often and sometimes complain about how clunky it is, but it has gotten me to work everyday since November and I have only taken one minor spill on it. I've owned it since September 1993 and have never had to have any major repairs made on it. The chain has never broken, I haven't had to replace any spokes and other than the gearshifters becoming obsolete and getting a couple new sets of tires it has been the most reliable (physical) gift I have ever been given.

I think patience is what is causing this good mood. At times the tour seems despairingly far away and at other times I think there is no way that I could get enough training in in so little time and raise the rest of my funds. The US economy is moving downward and the political candidates are in a deadlock, but patience has a very calming effect. There are a lot of changes happening in my life because of this tour and the point of my life at which I am at, but I am relying on God to provide the solutions to my problems in time and not trying to take care of them hastily on my own.

I hope a similar feeling is finding its way to the other 210 people I will be riding with this coming summer.