Forget it

I’ve had quite the backlog on the diary since, well, most of the summer. Before I can even digest one adventure, I’m scheming and plotting for the next. While I admire some of my friends who are able to keep up with everything, I guess the backlog doesn’t really bother me. I’m such a documenter (GPS, photos, writeups), that I do sometimes worry that I’m not recording and understanding experiences as I should. Heaven forbid that some amazing ride be unwritten, or a cool photo not get posted! Just another day, another amazing ride, right? Can they really all be so amazing? (Yes, I think they can.)

I have all these photos of lesser rides, often by myself, that especially this summer, go unposted. Solo Cottonwood Gulch runs, fast sprints up CR110 to Little Rainbow. Sunset cloud watching through Smeltertown. They just get filed away in a directory, unlikely to be unearthed or paid much attention to (too many photos for that). The GPX file goes into the log and that’s it. But sometimes the thoughts I have or feelings are just so real that I feel like I have to try to document them in some form or another (such as here). I don’t want them to slip away and be forgotten. Because of what value are experiences that are forgotten?

I take things too literally, or practically sometimes. Our minds are so complex, especially when it comes to memory, that it’s debatable whether anything is truly forgotten. We may not be able to consciously pull up the images and thoughts, but they are there. They’ve become a part of us. Writing about things sure is fun, and the triggers into memory are incredibly powerful sometimes (I was just digging back ~4 years or so here), but it’s not everything. We have a way of prioritizing memories and holding onto those that seem the most important, but I don’t think that system is foolproof, and sometimes the best stuff gets lost. Or does it?

So here’s to all the forgotten rides of summer. And not just rides, but thoughts, conversations, challenges, feelings and everything else that makes life so rich.