Ancient pueblo ruins in Utah
AU REVOIR!!!
Why is it that vacation time always flies by faster than working time? With only a few days left of my ‘vacation’ from the usual regime of the athlete, I find myself in that familiar spot of wondering how I got to this time and place.
As I look back at the past five weeks, I think I need a vacation from my vacation! First, there was the two-week car camping trip in the desert southwest. Peter and I spent two glorious weeks sleeping under the crystal clear desert sky. The abundance of stars gave an illusion of a full moon, even if it was only a sliver. Days passed quickly while searching dry canyons for ancient pueblo ruins. Not only did we discover site after site at all levels, some even unapproachable on the sandstone ledges, we also found shards of pottery and tools chipped from obsidian. It was all nice to look at, and to leave for others to discover on their own. Though I was tired from a long season of physical and emotional output, the hours spent scouring this wonderful native land passed effortlessly.
Camps were simple and easy with a car to load gear in and out of. Car camping is much easier than bike-touring camping and it was a luxury to have a cooler filled with goodies after a long, hot and dry day out in the desert. Some days I would just sit in the foldable chair, a $10 luxury from K-Mart that made us feel like royalty. Sit all day and read, relax, think or simply enjoy the views around from a nice spot in the shade.
Parts of me found it difficult to relax- one of my problems is clearing my mind outside of my sport. In training and racing I seem to be able to reach a level of clarity that I haven’t quite mastered in life. I’m working on it, but after a few days I felt the urge to move. So we did, and after a few more days, we’d move again. Utah turned to Arizona and then ultimately, California. Our trip came to and end and soon enough we were in a plane, flying north to Montreal.
Spring turned back into winter much to the chagrin of everyone in the province of Quebec save for us. It’s easy to enjoy foot after foot of fluffy, powder snow when one has just been scorched by the desert sun. Each day the snow fell, Peter and I would go out and snow shoe from our back door. What a gift to step outside, strap on the ‘raquets’, grab a few snacks and head up high into the sloping forest for an hour or two, sometimes three. Some days, I’d wake up and look outside at a scene I can only liken to being inside of one of those tacky snow-globes, and someone has just shaken things up. We realise each trip home that we have a little piece of paradise here in The Glen.
And now, it’s time to go, that same time each year in the Spring when I must begin the regime of being an athlete again. As the Spring snow melts and shrinks from the splatter of rain, I know I must leave if I want to put in the 4,5,6 hours a day of riding and hiking I need. In order to build up a base solid enough, I need sunshine and warmth. It’s off to California we go, and happily so. That we are able to have a ‘home away from home’ filled with friends eager as we are to ride the mountain passes of the Eastern Sierra Nevada is something to look forward to.
When I return, Spring will have passed and the valley will be transformed. In this time of my life, the things I am missing are the subtle daily changes in season, and sometimes a season all together. There are many things I look forward to in retirement, and one of them is sitting in front of the fire and watching the leaves bud, them bloom, then finally change colour and fall.
Right now, though, it’s time to get back to being an athlete!
