See You Soon, Wisconsin

I've been wearing out this route for the last 10 weeks!

Today was the last full day in Pennsylvania on my current visit. I expect to return in October. But tomorrow I at least will begin the drive back to Wisconsin, and I probably will complete the drive in one shot to avoid paying for a hotel. I won’t be on the bike tomorrow and I’m making no promises about Friday. I will be unpacking, doing laundry, shopping for groceries, and addressing whatever jobs accumulated around the house during my 10-week absence.

I did one last ride here this afternoon. It was a lot like its predecessors. I didn’t do any special rides during this visit, but I put in my work. My fitness is better and I think I’m a few pounds lighter than I was in mid-May. My bathroom scale will tell the true story. And then we’ll see how well I perform on the familiar roads around West Bend.

Aside from assessing my own fitness, when I get home I will need to decide, quickly, whether there will be a Royal Oaks cyclocross practice series in August and September, whether there will be a Team Pedal Moraine century sometime this year, and whether I’m going to buy a treadmill for my home gym. I’ve been missing my home gym. During my time in PA, I have done no strength training. That’s not good, so I look forward to getting back into the routine.

Routines figure heavily in whatever claim I have to being a successful person. For the last 10 weeks, I stuck to my routines as much as I could. But I’m anxious to wake up in my own bed on Saturday. I’m proud of all the things I did for Mom, and now it’s time to get back to living by myself and for myself.