the event horizon

(yes, I am a day late: I started this yesterday and then hopped in a car and drove to vegas for my son's lacrosse tournament. somehow---can you imagine?---I was distracted and neglected to finish and post this last night. so here I am, up bright and early, typing. have yet to drink myself into oblivion or lose any money at the tables. even planning to hop on my bike later between lacrosse games . . . )

the cycling-event-pre-season-sign-up phase is upon us.
you can sign up for this event, that event, oops, not this one because it's full, and you can start counting the days until you'll be able to throw your name in the ring for this other event, or that one.
some fill up quickly,
some never fill.
here's one that I really wonder about:
a relay race, two-to-four-person teams, riding from salt lake city to st. george.
lifted directly from their facebook page, here's the info:


385 miles, 13,500 feet, 30 towns, 1 Question . . . You in?

Salt to Saint Bike Relay: Ride from Salt Lake City over Suncrest and Nebo Loop to highway 89. Ride through the night and enjoy the sunrise as you go through Zions National Park. Then Cruise the last 50 miles downhill into St. George. The best, longest, fastest race of the year with your best friends.

uh-huh. right. I'm all over this one . . .

now here's the thing: there are people out there who are going to do this. I constantly speak of my biking-life as a bit sick and twisted, but I can only imagine the people who will participate in this event. first, they will be fit. second, they will be driven. third, they will be predominantly male. fourth, they will have already chewed up every other challenge out there, and be in need of new ways to suffer.

I don't think I know any people like this, and that's okay with me.

but it is entry time, commitment time, pressure time. our instructor in class the other day said the event horizon is here. which brought a chuckle to andy, sitting next to me, who explained to me that an event horizon is a term associated with quantum physics and, specifically, black holes. I'll let you do your own research there, as I can only begin to grasp the concept and am completely unable to explain it in a layman's terms. it has to do with boundaries and affects (or more precisely, the lack thereof) on observers outside such boundaries.

I like this term.

so here I hover on the event horizon, knowing that each decision I make will impact my future. to enter event A changes my training, my schedule, my anxiety level. to choose not to enter event B might relax me in the immediate, but cause disappointment and regret as it approaches. each event surrounds itself with boundaries that I choose to cross, or not. and each such decision changes me, minutely or in greater ways.

march 5, poised for travel into the great beyond, where my minute knowledge of quantum physics and repercussions will guide me through another overfilled season of Cycling Events.

just know, you won't see me on the road from salt to saint.