Twenty-four years of April firsts, and not once did I successfully predict what the day would bring.
In 2002, I was internet-less in New Haven, frustrated by a landlady and missing cables, but catching sunrise through skyscrapers. Meanwhile, the tech world was busy making history. Google announced Gmail with a whole gigabyte of storage (people thought it was a joke), and NASA scientists were floating glass in mid-air to create revolutionary materials. The future arrived whether we had internet or not.
The Montana years brought a different rhythm. There was gearing up for Lolo Pass despite questionable spring weather, fighting exhaustion before birthday bike rides, and the glorious surprise of actual sunshine in 2007. Then 2008 pulled the classic April Fools reversal... spring was definitely not here, just more snow and bikes needing repair.
The Devils Slide tradition became a thread through the years, documenting races and friendships and forgotten sleeping bags. By 2012, I'd given up photography... except not really, because mirrorless cameras changed everything. A year later brought shredded tires at Pipestone and the stark beauty of Butte's mining landscape.
Then there was that Vegas trip where I got real about fakeness and online personas, surrounded by fake statues and actual clowns. Fast forward to 2020, and we're all figuring out what "place" means during lockdown. The answer, for me, stayed consistent... on a bike.
Looking back through this digital odyssey, April first keeps showing up as a mirror for wherever I am. Sometimes frustrated, sometimes grateful, always moving. Which tracks, because the whole point of April Fools is that you can't quite trust what you're seeing. The joke's been on me all along... these posts were never about the pranks. They're about showing up, recording what's real, and pedaling through whatever weather arrives.