The Ride has been over for months now. Almost exactly 6 months, if you're counting (if any of you are still there).
I wondered what I would carry with me from the 67 days on the road; now I've had sufficient distance to appreciate how much the Ride Against AIDS has meant to me. I see it in subtle ways: how I can recover easily when the slippery Seattle pavement threatens to bring me down, my decently fast flat changing abilities, the way my laugh has become a bit more like Audrey's.
Some changes are not so subtle. I feel strong, not in that my toothpick arms have gotten huge, but more that I can get through hard times and laugh like I mean it, laugh until my belly hurts. I'm not sure I would have ridden across the country in a saner year, but I know I needed to do it, and that it helped. Riding broke my year long spell of sleeplessness, it gave me time to be silent with my thoughts, to feel my legs burn, to feel truly tired, and to be mentally renewed. And now, I miss my ride mates and being on the road, but the calm has remained. I sleep, I ride my bike, I study, I laugh, I remember those I've lost, and I smile. I'm grateful. Thank you for your love and support.
I wondered what I would carry with me from the 67 days on the road; now I've had sufficient distance to appreciate how much the Ride Against AIDS has meant to me. I see it in subtle ways: how I can recover easily when the slippery Seattle pavement threatens to bring me down, my decently fast flat changing abilities, the way my laugh has become a bit more like Audrey's.
Some changes are not so subtle. I feel strong, not in that my toothpick arms have gotten huge, but more that I can get through hard times and laugh like I mean it, laugh until my belly hurts. I'm not sure I would have ridden across the country in a saner year, but I know I needed to do it, and that it helped. Riding broke my year long spell of sleeplessness, it gave me time to be silent with my thoughts, to feel my legs burn, to feel truly tired, and to be mentally renewed. And now, I miss my ride mates and being on the road, but the calm has remained. I sleep, I ride my bike, I study, I laugh, I remember those I've lost, and I smile. I'm grateful. Thank you for your love and support.
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