Thanksgiving Reflections

This morning I went out on my Thanksgiving bike ride, to prepare for the events of the rest of the day, and I was reminded of when I got back into biking, another Thanksgiving 2 years ago. I remember that ride well. I started from my house, went through ASU Research Park, and came back. In total, it took around 50 minutes. Today, I started along the same path, and less than 20 minutes later I was at the south end of the park.

Normally when I get to this point, I tend to head in a south-westerly direction, through Tempe and into Chandler. Today, I decided to head east instead, because I had never done it before. I traveled through neighborhoods that I had never been to before, along roads that I never knew existed, and altogether had a great ride, the disgusting uniformity of red tile roofs and stucco notwithstanding.

One of the things I love about biking is how it gives me an opportunity to let my mind wander, and today my thoughts were on how a ride that once left me tired was now barely a warm-up. Of course, this is true of everything in life; The first time we try anything, we aren't very good at it, but as we do it more often, we get stronger, smarter, and better at whatever we do. But the real trick is getting started in the first place, to be willing to severely suck. And we have to accept that we may never get good.

Moving on from these thoughts, I reflected back on this past year, and came to the unfortunate conclusion that I'm basically the same as I was a year ago, unfortunate because I like to have progress and change in my life, to keep things from getting boring and myself from getting complacent. Well, I did get a pilot's license, lose a family member, met a lot of new friends, lost touch with others, reconnected with a few that I had lost touch with, started playing softball, lost about 10 lbs, traveled to Show Low, Denver, and Seattle, was the best man at a wedding, and had the first year since I started playing out in 2004 that I didn't perform on a stage in front of an audience (yet). But I'm sure that none of these things has had a significant, lasting impression on who I am.