Change Of Season

 This is the time of year I would have been thinking about Gravel Worlds, and this always meant the change of seasons. At least, to me it did, and it still does, even though I don't do Gravel Worlds anymore.

Why is this the case? Why do I feel it is a change of season, and why don't I go to Gravel Worlds anymore as a celebration of the end of Summer?

Well, there is no real, definitive answer to either question. It is a "feel thing" for me, if I had to pinpoint something here as an answer. 

I don't really know why, but Gravel Worlds became the marker for the end of Summer for me. Traditionally this event always happened the second or third weekend in August, right around co-founder, Corey "Cornbread" Godfrey's birthday. I would get home from there, and it just felt different, so I would say it was the beginning of Fall from my viewpoint.

It wasn't until later, actually this year, when I learned we lose over an hour of Sunlight from August 1st to the 31st. Okay! Now this starts to make sense to me. Maybe not to you, but I am sensitive to how the Sun lights the Earth and to the length of days, so this matters to me. 

Gravel Worlds..... Well, this is another matter altogether. I checked in on my end-of-year posts from 2021, the last year I participated in Gravel Worlds. In those posts I could see how the changing of the leadership of the event, and thus its overall feel and function, was a catalyst for my growing discomfort with Gravel Worlds.

Then too, there was the lack of familiarity with others who were there. It became harder and harder to reconnect with those I knew from years previous. Was this due to their not participating or because the crowd was larger so it became harder to come across those folks? Probably a little of both. 

 I want to be perfectly clear here. I have no problem with what Gravel Worlds has become. It just has changed to an event I no longer am interested in participating in. It is not for me. It is an event for a lot of other people. An event which has meaning and is a good time. Good on them. I wish everyone well who is toeing that line this Saturday. 

I think I have something else in mind for this weekend. If it goes well, you'll read about it here come next Monday. Hopefully everything pans out and this will be a good time for me, and you'll get to read about it here. But that is another story.....

The main thing is, it is a changing of seasons from my viewpoint. From my seat, Summer is over. I am moving on to Fall. I look forward to what is up ahead on the long road.....