The Day After Christmas

Remember when you were a kid and you had a birthday or a holiday where there was at least one gift that you received? I remember the sound of the wrapping paper crumpling in my hands, the sound of the ribbon straining as I tried to tug apart anything standing in the way between me and the gift. When I finally got to the gift I thought it was the best moment in my young life, how could this get any better. I played with the gift, inspected it from various angles, slept with the gift and then........BAM! The next day there was a major letdown, because you know what? NO more gifts until next year! A sort of melancholy crept in because the power and emotion of getting that gift wore off, almost overnight.

The 2007 Race Across America experience, the crew, the race, my teammates, the connections and pain and wonder and suffering and joy was like a big ole' gift that somehow I was lucky enough to receive. We rode across the country on our bikes, drove our sore behinds back to Minnesota where I met up with several long lost friends and opened up new connections, did some riding, drank some coffee, watched some bike racing, etc., etc. Could it get any better than this?

As I sit typing this I'm at work, working the job that I love in one of the most beautiful places in this country (I can say that now, having visited 14 states recently), yet I can't help but feel a sort of melancholy for this too feels like the day after Christmas.

My cycling form is starting to come back and I've found that the 80 miler just doesn't feel that long anymore and the next hill is just that, a hill. Perspective is a blessing and a curse. For about a week, several weeks ago, I received the gift of being able to race in the "world's toughest bicycle race," with a collection of some of the most genuine, down to earth, intelligent, complicated people I've ever met.

What each of us decides to do with this gift is solely our responsibility. I've chosen to tackle the 2008 RAAM on a two person team. Ever since I got the call from Bernie that he wanted me on Team Strongheart I've been thinking about RAAM and ever since I've gotten back to Colorado not a day passes where RAAM isn't still on my mind. I've decided to take the gift of RAAM and use it, keep it and tuck it away for those times when riding feels more like a job and that hill seems like a mountain. What will you do with the gift?