Hitting the pause button

Dear Cycopaths,

I’ve been procrastinating.

I’ve known for some days that I need to do the right thing. I’ve been hoping something would change, to relinquish me this weighty obligation. But, alas, here we are.

We need to hit the pause button on this year’s PKR.

It’s tough to write the sentence, to make it so. I love putting on the annual ride; I love the craziness of marketing, marking the routes, clearing out the garage and pulling the weeds in my yard in preparation. I love figuring out the logistics. It’s all a labor of love that makes the actual ride that day fun to enjoy. But sometimes the best way to love something is to let it go. (I think that’s what people say.)

My wife and I are closing the store. The one we bought in early 2021. The one that brought us back home from Pennsylvania and the one we’ve poured hours of our time and sweat and blood into. The one we were scared to introduce into our lives, the one that represented the biggest risk of our lives so far.

Closing the store has been another kind of ride. It hasn’t been easy, coming to this decision. We procrastinated. We refused to look it in the eye. But a few weeks ago we were forced to face it, and we decided to tackle it and subdue it, and get after it. So we are in the midst of getting after it.

Closing a store is hard emotionally, yes. It’s also a logistical puzzle. It’s one we are jigsawing each day, with young kids in tow. And fitting PKR into that puzzle is like using Elmer’s glue to make it stick to the rest of the pieces — it just doesn’t fit. Right now.

I’m not relinquishing all of my grip. We’ll be back next year.

To those of you who signed up to ride, my sincere apologies. I know at least one of you travels very far for this ride each year. That’s why I’d like to propose a more casual PKR this year. I’ll hop into the saddle for a ride commencing from my house, but we’re not doing a big to-do. No signing in, no porta-john, no pre- and post-foods.

Just a bike and some time to spend on it.