Commencing Countdown, Engines On

Now it’s time to leave the capsule if you dare.

Cheesehead Roubaix will return on Sunday, Apr. 27, 2014. That’s 200 days from today. Some of the details still need work, so keep watching this blog and I will release additional information as soon as I can.

The state cyclocross championships are just 60 days from today. There are many arguments against my participation—not the least of which is my broken collarbone—but right now I still can hope. This afternoon I did my first outdoor bike ride since Sep. 8. I am not fully healed and another crash could be really bad. I will stay away from technical terrain for as long as I can, but eventually I must work on my bike handling again. During today’s 90-minute ride I covered 23 miles on my cyclocross bike. It was one of those mixed-surface rides that I like so well:

Some asphalt, some gravel, some dirt, some boardwalk …

With today’s ride I reached 39,000 career miles. Coming into the season I really wanted to reach 40,000 and I was well on my way until an entire month was wiped out by injury. You don’t suppose a slim chance remains, do you? I still have unscheduled vacation to use before the end of the year, and those three cousins in Texas whose invitations always sound so appealing as the Wisconsin winter approaches …