Twenty-two years, ten dates, and what strikes me most about March 20th is how perfectly it captures life's fundamental rhythm... the swing between catastrophe and redemption, between waiting and moving, between endings and whatever comes next.
Start with Coca-Cola's spectacular 2004 failure, where their fancy NASA-inspired process managed to introduce cancer-causing chemicals into bottled tap water. Sometimes our improvements make things worse. Then jump to 2005's snow-blind adventure, where visibility dropped to zero but the spirit stayed high. 2006 brought airport goodbyes and that hollow feeling when adventure walks out the door, while 2008 delivered new gear and the classic bike repair spiral... fix one thing, suddenly you're rebuilding everything.
Winter fire at sunset in 2010 reminded me that the best things cost nothing. 2011's road racing scuffle proved some tribes just aren't yours, bacon tastes better when you're planning solo adventures. The worst was 2012's hospital waiting room, where time moved like desert sand and TV captions couldn't distract from real fear. 2014 meant house hunting instead of racing, then fast forward to 2023's fat bike freedom at Nehalem Bay.
2024's Pipestone punishment redefined human limits over 42 miles and 5,500 feet, while 2025 captured both sides on one ride, charred sentinels on one trail, cathedral pines on the other.
March 20th keeps teaching the same lesson: beauty and hardship aren't opposites. They're the same trail, just different sections. And somehow, you keep pedaling through both.