Spring. Forward?

The normally easy-going Jeff Wren is a bulldog of a bargain hunter.

Spring officially arrived today. Whether that means anything to me remains to be seen.

On Saturday I traveled to Oshkosh for the Fox Valley Bike Sale, a swap meet and expo. I wasn’t in the market for anything and the only money with which I parted was my $5 admission fee. But I didn’t come away with nothing: the swap was a gold mine of information. The biggest nugget? Race The Lake is on August 13, not on August 20 as reported in the Bike Fed’s ride guide and on the Wisport website. That’s significant to me because after last year’s good-but-could-have-been-great experience, I wanted to try it again. I didn’t want to miss my favorite WORS race, though, and I know the Reforestation Ramble is scheduled for August 20. Now that I’m sure there’s no conflict, Race The Lake is on my schedule again.

And I might be fit by then: my back is still a problem. On Sunday I did a 35-mile road ride and I was a little uncomfortable the whole time. This morning I felt OK—still not 100% but at least as good as I felt on Sunday—so I did an easy 20-mile ride around town, exploring the parks and finding a “secret” link between Decorah Hills and Badger Lane that I had never seen before. Today’s ride pushed me past 500 miles, year-to-date, and finally past 100 miles, month-to-date. I had such high hopes for March but now I’ll be content if I’m not limping at the end of it. If I have to abandon some of my plans for the earliest weeks of the racing season, then at least I still can dream of late summer.