Finishing 2024's First 1,000 Miles In Style

Here are some of the guys, relaxing for a few minutes at the mid-ride snack stop.

There was a good turnout for this evening’s Twilight Zone-2 Ride from downtown West Bend to Campbellsport and back on the Eisenbahn State Trail. It was an intentionally easy effort with an emphasis on camaraderie, not competition. But stats are stats! This was the ride that pushed me past 1,000 miles, year-to-date, and every mile counts.

In recent weeks I haven’t had much to say about my own cycling achievements or ambitions. This year is not progressing as I had hoped. I can blame the weather even more than I ordinarily would. Southeastern Wisconsin is experiencing one of the wettest springs in its history. May was especially disappointing. Wednesday, Thursday, and today constitute the only 3-day rainless stretch we had all month. And where was the warmth? At this time of year, we should be hitting 70° routinely, but today was the first time we did so since last Saturday.

For me, inconsistent weather means inconsistent training. If I had any real competition goals, then I would be much better off riding indoors. I rode only 16 times this month. I feel like half of May was wasted, and that’s not a good feeling. I also feel like my goal of 100,000 lifetime miles by the end of the 2025 season is slipping away. Today I surpassed 91,000 lifetime miles. It will take a big effort to reach 95,000 by the end of the year, then another big effort to find the last 5,000 miles in 2025. I finished 2023 with only 4,423 miles. At the end of May 2023, I was sitting on 1,085. For 2024, I’m at 1,019, and the best indication that I still have a chance at 5,000 this year is how poor my June 2023 was! I rode only 483 miles. Surely, I will beat that total this year. I might even double it. Right?

Return To The Twilight Zone

Let's do this again! I introduced this ride last year and it was a lot of fun. We'll start at the downtown West Bend train depot and take the Eisenbahn State Trail to Campbellsport and back, with a mid-ride snack stop at Kohn’s Filling Station. That's 28.5 miles and we'll average about 15 mph. The ride will finish after sunset, so headlights are required. If you’re a Facebook user, then please click here to visit the event page and indicate whether you plan to participate.

The 2024 WCA Cyclocross Calendar

Trail Building At Regner Park

We had a good crew this evening at Regner Park as work continued on new mountain bike trails. I missed Monday’s session, but today I enjoyed two hours in the woods at the west side of the park. Much of the trail will be rake-and-ride; there will be very little earth to move and very little vegetation to cut. Much of my job today was garbage collection and garlic mustard eradication. Reducing the foothold of invasive species was a target of opportunity as we progressed through the undergrowth.

This will be a 2.2-mile loop when it’s done. And the trails will be beginner friendly: a training course for the NICA kids and a nice place just to ride without any features that demand advanced skills. I'm looking forward to riding here later this summer when the loop is complete.