This post has been along time coming. But as with most important things, ill never say them until I am positive I wont change my thinking. Having these past few years, to think. I mean, really think. About everything. It’s made me realize so many things I never saw before. Things I may have seen, but always overlooked. As with every other important thing I have ever decided, this was all thought about on the bike. Nothing else can clear my mind so well, and allow me to see things for what they are. Call it meditation if you want, MTB Zion, maybe. But it took this long, this many miles, this many 4 hour rides on the trainer, this many hypothermic, dehydrated, double flatted races. This many rejections, and mistakes, and ironic twists, this many SSA’s, this many hard times, to realize, how much I like, being me. All these things I’ve always carried around in the back of my mind. All the things I regretted, and dwelled on, and wished had never happened. All the things I swore up and down I never thought or cared about. All the things that have changed me. Molded me into the person I am today. I’m thankful for every one of them. I’m thankful I never did any homework through 7th grade. And that I get made fun of so much. And that I didn’t get into Thayer Academy. And that Sarah Duggan spread that rumor. I’m thankful the Estabrook’s called the cops on me. And that Rosie never forgave me. I’m thankful I never made it as a professional basketball player, or skateboarder, or D.J. I’m thankful I batted .876, and didn’t make the all star team. I’m thankful Michaela broke up with me, and that Liz lives in Buffalo, and that Christina wasn’t around that summer. I’m thankful I didn’t tell Judy how I felt that year. And that Phoebe never wrote back to me. I’m thankful for every flat tire, and broken chain, and bad race I’ve ever had. It’s these things, more than any other, that have made me grow, and become who I am. And there is no other person id rather be than me. No place id rather be than here. And all these things I question today. If they are real. If its possible. If they feel the same. If all this can really work. The answer is yes. And I will do everything possible to make sure they are real. And that they do really work. Because if they don’t, I will have tried. And no mater where you finish, as long as there is not a DNF next to your name, it was worth every bit of effort. And I love that I will always have that place, to know all this is true. Weather it’s a bike, or a tent, or those running shoes, or a stage. I love, That Hakuna Matata, will always mean. Hakuna Matata… For the rest of my days.