treading north

Well North Dakota got to see me for most of last week. Kelly hooked me up with cheap airfare at Skywest to get home for annual FAA medical certification. It’s easier for me to go to my old doctors up there that know me, since I’m on a special issuance medical certificate due to occasional migraines. That’s the short of the long. I spent a whole lot of time driving across several parts of the state, and during all that time, I realized even more what a tough place ND is to be a fan of mountains. :) Yikes, I’m already spoiled here in UT, and I want to stay. One moment in particular stood out to me in ND of how hard it was to be an outdoor recreation addict while living there. I was stepping out of my friends apartment at 6 in the morning to drive to Fargo to catch my flight. On my way to the car, I looked down at an extremely familiar sight that really brought back my winter commuter days in Grand Forks. I was having to step carefully down the sidewalk, because it was covered in lumpy patches of ice, that were illuminating yellow under the light of streetlamps. I don’t know how many hours I stared down at sidewalks just like that one carefully commuting along in the frigid temps on my old Surly. I know I love cycling to have put up with those conditions for so many years, and it was nuts to think back on it. Now I’m back in the Salt Lake area, and it’s in the sixties. I’ve been riding sweet mountain roads in full spandex uniform as a roadie should. And there’s not a patch of yellow lumpy ice to be seen. I think I earned it. :) But for all you northland winter riders- keep it up! I’d be right with you if I was back in that part of the country, for sure.

As for the rest of my recent ND trip experience, it was great to see friends and family again. That’s the one downfall of finally getting to live in the big hills. It’s not as easy to see everyone. But I suppose if I ever do the airline pilot thing that can all change. We’ll just see how it all turns out…