I’m writing a lot lately about the strangeness of my mind.  I remain curious.

I’d like to think of me as a “mature” person, not attached to anyone or anything, but sometimes it just doesn’t work out.

I write on a platform called Jetpack (also known as WordPress) and transfer my posts to Facebook.  Jetpack has the seductive feature of tracking the number of views I get in a day or month.

My record for monthly views is 1594, followed by 1372 and 1303.  As January was closing its doors, I was in the 1200’s.

I can do it … reach my third highest views!

Did I mention the word “attachment”?  I was thoroughly absorbed in my statistics.

On Saturday, January 31, I only needed 21 views to reach a total of 1304.  Piece of cake … but one that I had no control over. 

In my Jetpack settings, midnight is based on the Eastern Time Zone in North America, which equates to 6:00 am Belgian time.  When I went to bed at 11:00 pm, I was at 1300.  That’s a nice even number milestone.  But there was a third place to be won!  Obsession equals a frequently interrupted sleep.

About 3:00 am – 1302.  Breathe, Bruce, breathe!  Actually Sleep, Bruce, sleep!

My alarm went off at 8:00, also known as the moment of truth.

1303

(Sigh)

A tie score … good but not great

And I wanted great

And now the kicker: throughout Sunday, February 1, my January total changed four times!  From 1303 to 1304, to 1303, 1304, 1303.  (Sigh again)

Oh … the joy and angst

I went to bed last night with a tie score, and resigned myself to this roller coaster being over.  The views for last month were 1303.

***

This morning?

1304

Okay, I’ll look again …

1304

But tomorrow is another day!

Yesterday Lucinda Brand won the Elite Women’s race at the Cyclocross World Championships after dominating the cyclocross season in Europe.  It was a well-derserved victory.  And you see the joy …

Cyclocross is a winter version of cycling, mostly on dirt trails that go to mud after a rain.  It’s intense … and exciting!

From 2023 to 2025, there was another World Champion – Fem van Empel.  A few months ago, Fem left the world of cycling and talked openly about her burnout:

My own perfectionism caused me to lose myself as a person, so that I only focused on what I was good at.

I was more of an athlete than a person.  And now I know: I am more than just Fem the cyclist.

Giving an opinion is actually the easiest thing you can do.  I don’t think many people realise what that can do to a young athlete or anyone else.

Fresh from her victory, Lucinda had this to say:

I hope Fem finds herself again and that she finds joy in the things she does.  I don’t really follow her, but I saw on social media that she’s been on some nice trips.  I think that’s very good.  That she’s doing things she enjoys again.  Things she truly loves.  That she goes to bed feeling like she’s had a wonderful day.  It doesn’t matter what that is.  If she finds the joy in cycling again, that would be great.  If she doesn’t return to cycling, that’s not a problem either.  She’s already had a fantastic career as a cyclist.  Cycling isn’t the most important thing in life.  Being happy is much more important. 

***

And there you have it …

Everything we need to know about Lucinda Brand