Ready to be rolling

I'm ready to race the Tour Divide. I know that I am not fast, but speed is neither my strength nor my strategy. My only hope lies in persistence.

Yesterday was a day filled with bighorn sheep and mountain goats. Too much rain. Miles of climbing. A day to remind me that I have brought just enough.

Coming down from the Divide, coming down as relentless as the rain. Banff is damp, cloud-wrapped, with too many people, too many lights, too many places that are too warm, too dry, too crowded.

I get small luxuries, a new chain for my bike, a quick bite from the grocery store. Other racers are here, getting ready. "Where are you staying?" they ask. The question is already alien to me.

So are the excessive comforts of the town. I'm not staying, I'm already gone.

I head out on the trail, pitch my tarp against the rain. This is the only home that makes sense now, for this next little while.

I'll return to town tomorrow, a day too long for I am here a bit too soon.

I'm waiting for a clock to tick over to the point where every instinct to keep moving is the right one.

I am ready to be rolling.

Kent "Mountain Turtle" Peterson
Waiting out the clock in Banff, AB