"WHY DON'T HE WRITE?"

Miles Ridden Since Something Written

845 Miles

"Why don't he write?"

Timmons the Muleskinner, Dances With Wolves, 1990

Only one part of this blog's equation seems to be working regularly -- the riding part. The writing part has been neglected. I might say it's due to my chronic lack of discipline. But I seem to have the discipline to ride fairly regularly.

It must be motivation, or the lack of. I have signed up to ride in the Tour de Safford on October 30. And I am planning to sign up for the Tour de Tucson held on the third Saturday in November. I suppose getting my 56-year-old body in shape for those two century rides keeps me in the saddle on a more or less regular basis.

Maybe if there were some kind of writing competition I could enter, I would find the motivation to write more frequently.

The practical explanation, I think, is that I usually just don't have the time for the writing after the 90 minutes or so of the riding. I either have to go to work directly after the ride or rationalize that I have other, more important, things to do.

And it probably does have something to do with discipline.

I mentioned the Tour de Safford. I was invited to be on the organizing committee for this event. It's the first annual Tour de Safford so the members of the committee are feeling our way through the organizing. The more we do, the more there seems that needs to be done.

I took on the task of preparing a traffic plan for the three rides of the event -- a 33-mile ride, 66-mile ride and the main event, a 104-mile ride.

Since this is a timed event, intersections will be controlled by law enforcement officers. Over the three routes, there are 23 intersections that need to be controlled for anywhere from one hour to several hours during the day. Coordinating this requirement with our local law enforcement agencies has been a chore. But I think we are nearly there.

We are hoping for about 500 riders to show up and our registration numbers so far put us on track for that number. Our local hospital is the beneficiary of the money we raise at the event.

(Maybe another reason I haven't written after I have ridden is because I am too tired to write a decent blog entry -- as this one will attest.)

Happy riding.