One of these days

"One of these days the ground will drop out from beneath your feet"

"One of these days your heart will stop and play its final beat"

"One of these days the clocks will stop and time won't mean a thing"

Foo Fighters from "These Days"

So I just don't want to waste my moments.

My legs were tired from riding  three days in a row, that I had off work, for the Christmas weekend riding with wind and hills . One day of rest, (back to work) and then one last day vacation day to use up before the years end found me planning a days ride on my Trek XO2 Cycle Cross. I still need to do two more distance certification runs for the full and half marathon race for Triple D this Jan 15th. So this would be about a 67 mile day.

I should have started earlier, with all the stops and counter monitering I would need to do I would  be finishing in the dark, and wanted to use as much daylight as I could get. I ride back and forth for 5 runs across the measured 1000 foot runs and make note of the counter mounted on the front of my bicycle tire at each start and finish of each run.

Glad to have that part out of the way.Next I would note the counter value with my front tire directly over the half marathon finish point and ride the most straight line I could to the Marathon Half start  line and again note the counter value. Thus obtaining the half distance in reverse for the upcoming Triple D races.

But I can now ride uninterupted. This is the place I find myself often. The place where if I had something that was bothering me, I forgot about it. The place where I consider 'not wasting my moments.'

Squirrels are darting all over the place. I don't know why but it seems they are always running as fast as they can. Zig zagging across the jungle floor of Iowa wood lands, seemingly without purpose. I suppose if foxes, coyotes and 22 caliber bullets were always trying to put an end to my life, I'd be running too. 

I ride past the tree where I would see Big Eagle sitting, every previous winter that I have been riding out here. Big Eagle would always show up after the leaves have all fallen off the trees and sit in the same branch, always alone. Eagles mate for life, I tend to think Big Eagle had outlived his mate, and now was just waiting for his end. I could never get very close to Big Eagle, as I approached on bicycle I would watch his nervousness  turn into a slow lumbered fly away. This the best picture I could get of Big Eagle, off the bike, walking slowly, and using camera magnification.

But Big Eagle did not come back this year. His tree with his branch has remained empty this year after all the leaves have fallen. Maybe Big Eagle is now flying with his mate, in some other place.

The empty tree without Big Eagle

Our moments are precious, a gift, temporal, best not to be wasted.
Thanks for the visit.
Dave