Relative Something

You may have noticed an absence of posts related to planning for this year’s annual summer bike trip. That is, unless you’ve been reading closely enough to pick up on my uneasiness of late. In 4 days I will be leaving for my annual week-long bicycle trip with about 150 of my good friends. I think I gave a little more attention to planning for the trip last year because I was plotting on having a song I wrote for the group memorized in time to share during the week. My goal this year is to try to develop callouses on my fingertips before I leave. My bike is ready. I am not aware of needing any change in tent / sleeping gear. I just need to be sure to have clothes clean to pack, and then check the map for details on getting to the starting point and I should be good to go.

The only thing remaining after that, if the previous couple decades of doing this serves any pattern, is to have a dream or two in which I find myself showing up without a front wheel or standing in my socks with no idea where any of my gear is, just as the group sets off for the day. You know the dream. I haven’t had any of those classic scenarios play out in my REM sleep yet, so I remain on guard for that unconscious release to drain some of the preparation anxiety that looms in the days ahead.