In anticipation of Thanksgiving, Padraig and I did a gratitude session on the last episode of The Paceline. Gratitude is, for me, an integral part of mental health. I actually have a theory that you can’t properly possess a thing unless you are sincerely grateful for it. It’s the feelings that create the attachment, not just simple possession, but I’ll spare you more of my philosophical nonsense.
Over the last few days, it occurred to me that we left at least one important thing off our list, which is you, the readers/listeners.
And yeah, blah, blah, blah, token expression of appreciation for your support.
BUT ALSO…there is a core group of you that made TCI possible in the first place. You know who you are. You’re the ones who came with us from Red Kite Prayer, and who we just knew would come along. I never would have said yes to Padraig’s next crazy idea (this site) without you.
And if you’ve joined the community since TCI launched, you’re the hope we need to keep writing, to keep brainstorming new ideas, to keep trying to rope in new contributors. It’s not easy, this thing, but if it were easy, it wouldn’t be much fun. So thank you too.
Without readers, it is much, much harder to write. It’s you who keep us honest. The personal echo chamber gets very echo-y, and we’ve learned a lot from putting our ideas in front of discerning readers and taking their feedback.
The bike has given us all so much, and The Cycling Independent is an effort to blast that message to a wider world. You’re a part of that, fellow travelers on this road, and the project wouldn’t be possible without you.