Falling asleep to good memories

One of my golfer friends says that when he can’t sleep at night, he replays a round of golf in his mind. I think I’ve found an analog.

I should say that it’s a run on my snowboard, using the various ways to play on the slope: easing my way through a glade; riding up and down the  sides of the gully that serves as a natural halfpipe;  gaining speed down new corduroy; smashing through the mashed potatoes, or if I’m really lucky, getting face shots from powder snow.

Unfortunately, I don’t get many opportunities at home to accumulate such pleasant memories. It’s 5 minutes on the lift and 40 seconds down. OK, a minute down if I really push it. So building the memory bank to drips outside the Midwest is important.

While I’m now waiting for the local slopes to open, I’ve been working on my newbie status as a mountain biker. The trail I’ve been riding the most also provides opportunities to accumulate pleasant memories. It has rocks to pick your way through, stair steps (built with wood or relying on tree roots) to descend, bridges to traverse, pine trees to ride through, ascends to conquer, and descents that prompt me to say “whee!” (or perhaps “must maintain control!”).