These are the things bothering me. These are also the things I am doing nothing about. I don’t have to look very hard to find things I should be doing, things I know will improve my life, but as always and as ever, doing these things, no matter how objectively easy they are to do, seems nearly impossible.

The Mountain Bike: Even with a self-trimming rear derailleur, I get chain skip in the smaller gears, 9-11. The hanger is bent. I know a guy who can help with that. The handlebars should be rolled back about a centimeter, too. I need to tighten the tension springs on both pedals. A bit of lube wouldn’t go amiss. I ran out of tire sealant, so both tires have tubes in them now. That’s playing with fire. I need to reassemble my saddle bag, new tube, CO2 cartridge.

The Body: The left Achilles is persistently sore. Sometimes involves the calf. I need to stretch that regularly, work at the scar tissue there. Some ankle-ups would stabilize my lower legs, both of them. The lower back aches after long runs. More core work. The whisper of tendonitis in my right knee, a leftover from high school cross country in one pair of over-worked shoes, and a coach who told me to “run through the pain.” Some yoga wouldn’t hurt me. A lot might even help.

The Gravel Bike: Close to perfect. Somehow I’ve lost one bar end plug. I need to put together a saddle bag for this one too. I crashed last week and knocked one of the shifters loose, which also means rewrapping the bars.

The Road Bike: Time to rewrap the bars. They’re wearing through where my palms sit. I should check brake pads too. These are special, just for the odd Mavic wheels I bought. I probably have to buy them off eBay. I should get as many pairs as I can find.

The Mind: I need to meditate. Do I? I do. Everyone is meditating. I should get back to making gratitude lists. Reading more books. Looking at my phone less. Just the things humanity needs to do. Slow down. Shut up. Listen better.

The Family: My teenage sons have now developed the skill of tuning me out, which means I need to find a different frequency. Less lecture. Less criticism. More listening. When is this ever not true?

This last one probably gets at the fundamental truth of the difficulty of doing the most evidently good things. It’s hard to know when or where to start.