LIFE can be so hectic at all the wrong moments.

The small business idea started on a whim has continued to grow. To the point that going away cycling will seem like a holiday. Hahaha. But. There will also be some guilt for I feel that I am leaving a newborn business when it needs help to grow. The workload has increased from a part-time endeavour to almost more than full time. What happened to the semi-retirement hobby job?! Mind you, it is fun.

I digress.

With all of these busy times, here we are three wee little weeks before I head across the Atlantic for the first time in three long years. It will come very quickly and before I know it I will be assembling my bike on the Zurich airport floor. The fatigue of the overnight flight. The new sounds of the unfamiliar surroundings (I was last in Zurich in 1992). The bustle of an international airport. The worry until my boxed bicycle shows up... of course, the last piece to be removed from the plane. Fishing out the various bike parts, trying to remember where the tools are to re-build the bike, hoping that I remembered everything I need. The re-build itself could be done with my eyes closed - a kind of Zen-like moment. Until everything is assembled. From chaos to order.

My mind's eye as I sit here typing in a still-frigid and snowy northern Ontario, Canada, sees Zurich bathed in sunshine, with a temperature of about 23C and a slight zephyr at my back. Though I will have trained at home, weather-permitting, the bike will feel a little awkward with the weight of the bags and the stiffness of the overnight flight. Starting slowly to get the blood flowing, the engine (ie 'me') will warm up and almost imperceptibly I will gather speed.

Then there will be. Whooshing wind in my ears. Whirring of the chain. And there will be. The smells of cycle touring.

And I will be happy.