A Full Weekend For February

Yours Truly and Ian “The ’Cross Examiner” Prust at Saturday’s Police Unity Tour Spinathon.

For most people, a cold weekend in February is filled with cycling neither in thought nor in deed.  I am not most people.  My Saturday began with streaming coverage of the Superprestige Middelkerke cyclocross race from Belgium, continued with a 2-hour indoor trainer session at the Police Unity Tour Spinathon, then concluded with the annual business meeting of the Washington County Bicycle Club.  And today was no less active: up early to watch the Boels Cyclocross Classic from Holland, then a complete overhaul of the route details for the WCBC’s 2013 season.

Reworking all of the cuesheets for the bike club took hours, but the finished product keeps a consistent look from one ride to the next and corrects a few errors.  I also made sure that there will be maps for both the long and short routes on all of this year’s rides, though the maps aren’t very good.  I don’t have sophisticated mapping software and even if I did it would be difficult to show enough details for accurate navigation.  My maps at least will give the riders a feel for where they’re going and allow them to orient themselves by major highways.

My competition calendar will, for the second year in a row, prevent me from riding more than a handful of times with the WCBC.  But I am looking forward to the club century, back on the schedule for the first time since 2008.  It’s a great route that I hope will appeal to some of the stronger riders in the area.  With only periodic refuel/rehydrate opportunities as we pass through the small communities along the route, the WCBC century won’t look or feel anything like the 100-mile rides offered by the bigger bike clubs.  Yes, we have no bananas: you’re on your own for food and drink.

The complete 2013 Washington County Bicycle Club schedule is here.  Route details are here.