Summer 2023, Continued …

It’s September 1 and the grocery stores are already full of Halloween candy and pumpkin spice everything. It’s sickening, and I refuse to be rushed into a season for which I have little affection. Autumn doesn’t start until September 23 and I want to squeeze all I can out of the last 3 weeks of summer. The 10-day forecast seems to promise summertime conditions, so there’s a lot of bike riding in my immediate future. I kicked off September with a 32-mile Eisenbahn State Trail ride, cruising leisurely to Campbellsport and then making a little more effort on the return to West Bend to beat the setting sun. The graph above shows the difference in speed before and after the turnaround.

Here’s a weird thought: August was my first full month at home since March. I went to Pennsylvania to celebrate my mother’s 90th birthday in April, then I went back to Pennsylvania in May after Mom broke her hip and I stayed until late July. So, August was a month of catching up on things around my house, in the yard, and on the bike. I got back on the familiar roads of Washington County, rode with friends I hadn’t seen in a while, and started up another season of cyclocross practices. August was productive. I racked up 711 miles to finish the month with 3,021 miles, year-to-date. That’s slightly ahead of last year’s pace. And I lost 4 pounds … not the 7 pounds I wanted to lose, but not bad.

Giving up Coca-Cola was one of my plans to lose weight in August. My goal was total abstinence but I gave in on 2 occasions. The first was a few weeks ago when I had a rare case of indigestion that nothing else would cure. The second was yesterday before cyclocross practice, when I was coming straight from a dental appointment and my energy was low. So, in September I again will try to avoid Coke completely. Losing a few more pounds would be good for any number of reasons, but especially for my racing ambitions.

The WCA cyclocross season begins next Saturday, September 9. Don’t look for me in Manitowoc; I will be working overnight on Friday the 8th to cover for a coworker who’s having surgery. That will be the second of 7 consecutive nights on the job for me. Working all night, then going to a bike race, then working all night again is not a winning combination. I plan to start my racing season on Saturday, September 16, at Englewood CX in Fall River.