Independence Day

July 4 -

We were in China when we got the news that Joel had overdosed on opioids. This day we celebrate our independence as a country built on the idea of individual freedom. That stands in contrast to the controlled society of China where individual freedom of expression and action were constrained and controlled. Today is one day of a project I was free to create and express through action without the concerns of outside approval. I am so grateful to live in this land; I could easily have been born into a land where I did not have these freedoms. I ride today to represent those who want to be free from the addiction to substances. They live controlled and constrained and often want desperately to be free, into a land many are born into. I began this journey on Independence Day weekend to symbolize the freedom sought by those on the way to recovery. Addiction is a brain disease. It disrupts the choice making pathways in the brain. It is treatable.

Beginning

A copy of an email/post/text I am sending out over next couple of days. Thanks to all connected with this cause, and those who have already helped me with the wide variety of tasks needing to be accomplished!

Friends,

I began In Joel’s Steps today, a cross-country journey on a stand-up bike, in San Francisco on an Elliptigo, to draw attention to and represent the difficult path of long-term recovery from opioid use disorder. We lost our son Joel 2 years ago to OUD and while his story is uniquely traumatic for us, it is unfortunately far too common. This continues Joel’s efforts and wishes to help others with this disease.

Please check out the website, injoelsteps.com. There are multiple ways to engage if you would like, GoFundMe, Facebook, Instagram, Strava, and home participation with Racery or independently, all under the injoelsteps name: all links are on the website. Your participation in any way, including sharing this note or links, is appreciated and honors Joel and those like him. As it is too often suffered in silence, you know many more than you realize.

If you wish to contact me, please use:

injoelsteps.com

Injoelsteps on Social and Gofundme

injoelssteps@gmail.com (yes, 2 ‘s’ here)

Thanks,

Clay

Simultaneity

This picture is of my daughter Layne and me in front of a favorite tree in Salida, CO. Notice our almost identical tattoos. Neither of us had discussed having a tattoo done to honor Joel. Not the bamboo image, its design, its size, or its location. We each had the idea and implemented it independently with the exception of the dogwood addition which I borrowed from Layne after learning of hers. It was to be my first - I never thought I would want to get one. Those that knew Joel know that he was heavily tattooed. How does this simultaneity happen?

As I approach one week out from the start of In Joel’s Steps, still feeling like I am scrambling to get everything in place while also feeling antsy to get going, that combination of excitement and anxiety, I look at this picture and am reminded of a deeper, unseen guidance to this project. Reminded that it is but a piece of a much bigger effort by many to change how we corporately view the problem of substance addiction, that ”simultaneities” are occuring behind the scenes toward a coordinated end. That each of you is part of this process. Thank you.