Summer In My Mind

No, that's not a typo in the title. I really am in summer in my mind. I just can't quite give it up. Maybe it's because I love summer so much that I just can't quite let it go. Or maybe it's because our summer seemed unusually short here in Montana this year. Whatever the reason, I'm okay with it. I'm just going to stay in the summer mindset. I've accepted it. It's good.

I'm not crazy. I like winter, too, and am dressing warm, riding my winter commuter bike, adjusting to winter boots instead of sandals -- I am even ready to enjoy my favorite winter activity, cross-country skiing.

But for some reason, my brain isn't registering winter. I haven't decorated the house for the holidays (and I may not), I haven't relished in the first snowfall, I haven't agonized over the roads (yeah! being car-free has its advantages), I haven't thought about the season. At all.

Instead, when I walk or ride my bike to work in the mornings, I think about summer. I look at the mountains and the trees and the snow-covered ground and I see the beautiful colors of summer.

I really don't know why I'm stuck. It could be that I am surrounded by fabulous summer images all the time via bicycle travel blogs, videos, magazine articles (PDF), and photographs. It could be that I had such a great time riding my bike this summer and hiking the Montana mountains that it's just stuck in there.

But I like it, so I'm going to go with it. And when the icy chill in the air threatens to make icicles of my fingers as they grip the handlebars on my commute home, I will imagine that the cold is only a temporary inconvenience to a pending summer day.

Photos by Ginny Sullivan

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CONNECTIONS is posted by Ginny Sullivan, Adventure Cycling's special projects director and features the cultural, historical, geographical, and human connections created through bike travel. Find out about our award-winning Underground Railroad Bicycle Route.

Source: http://blog.adventurecycling.org/2011/12/summer-in-my-mind.html

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