All Of This And Nothing

Interesting things are happening across the cycling world. The newly-crowned national cyclocross champions are tuning up for the world championships on Feb. 1-2, and a new season of UCI WorldTour road racing will begin this weekend with the Tour Down Under. If you embrace cycling in its many forms, then there really is no offseason. Every day brings news.

But in my humble corner of that world, things are pretty quiet. This is the time of year when I take care of all the underpinnings. I renewed my USA Cycling license. I bought my state trail pass and state parks vehicle sticker. I took my mountain bike to Pedal Moraine for a preseason tuneup. I even read a cycling book, a Christmas gift from my brother-in-law. I am making great progress in the home gym, rebuilding my left shoulder. I still haven’t logged any cycling miles in 2014, but I feel like my fitness is about right for mid-January. On Friday morning I will have my blood tested for high cholesterol, a hereditary condition I control with a generic statin. And soon I will see my doctor for a routine physical examination.

All of those things are worthwhile, but I would rather be riding and for me there is no place to ride right now. On the few days when the weather has been nice enough, road and trail conditions have been unacceptable. Nothing in the forecast looks tempting. I could use a vacation …

Or, at least, a business trip. My boss would like to bring our far-flung workgroup to Atlanta for a conference sometime in the first quarter of this year. (I have coworkers from Maine to Texas, many of whom I have never met in person.) If that conference happens, then I should have an opportunity to take my bike down south for a week. But right now it’s all speculation. A solo trip in March to see my mother in suburban Philadelphia seems more likely.

For now, I will keep plugging away indoors and on the snowshoes … a little uninspired, but still moving forward.