Sometimes, I become overwhelmed with negative thoughts. No matter how hard I try, I just can't seem to get them out of my head. Fortunately, this time of the year I can always head to the mountain, make a few turns, and for a few hours clear my mind. When I'm skiing, everything else is irrelevent. My only concern is the line I'm skiing. When I'm riding he lift back up, my only concern is the next line. So for those few hours on the mountain, nothing else matters. Cancer, money, lonliness, laundry, all leave my conscious thought, replaced by skiing.

In the summer, I don't have this option. I spend hours on my road bike, miles passing under my wheels, but unlike skiing, on the bike I am less than focused. My thoughts tend to wander. However, my time on the bike is usually not filed with negative thought. More often than not, it is creative. Some of my best ideas occur to me when I'm on the bike. Not all the time. Climbing up a steep hill, heart rate at 90% of it's maximum, the only thing I can think of is getting over the hill. Or when a large German Shepard wants to see if he can outsprint me, I am generally not rewriting my latest screenplay.

The next few weeks will be filed with uncertainty. I have a CT scan on January 4th, and that will weigh heavily on my mind. But as long as the lifts are turning, for a few hours a day I can be focused on one thing, and one thing only. My next turn.