Stuck In First Gear

Usually by this point in any new year I have created an Events tab to show you where I think I will be riding and racing. Not so in 2019. My special events calendar has been slow to evolve. I haven’t said much about my plans other than that I intend to return to mountain biking after sitting out last year. And I will, but it’s increasingly unlikely that I will do any racing in the first half of season.

This year’s WEMS and WORS schedules don’t work well for me. Most of the WEMS events are too far away, demanding long drives on Saturday mornings. That’s bad enough by itself, but it’s even worse when you consider I work overnight on Fridays. Running on Sundays, WORS races fit better with my work schedule, but I’m still not willing to travel far. That means I couldn’t hope to compete for a series title, and without such an incentive I am less likely to participate even in nearby races like Englewood, CamRock, and Minooka.

My mountain bike racing season may prove to be all about the WEMS Championships at New Fane on September 7. If that’s true, then the most sensible plan is to train at New Fane almost to the exclusion of all other courses. From a competitive standpoint, that has been a successful strategy in the past. There are other factors arguing in its favor this year, the most compelling of which is, simply, I am very busy with things outside of cycling.

The situation will get worse before it gets better. My oldest child will graduate from college in May. My youngest child will graduate from high school in June and then begin college in the fall. Those will be proud moments for me, but you can easily imagine the demands that they will make on my time, my money, and my energy. There’s also a huge list of home improvements that must be addressed this year. I don’t know how I will do it all, but I don’t have any choice, and my cycling season will suffer for it.

So, don’t expect much from me in the first half of 2019. I am way behind last year’s pace and it could be June before I look anything like the cyclist I should be. My training is still very hit-or-miss, rising and falling with our erratic weather. Trails are still too wet to ride, but as the weather improves I will get into a quiet training schedule that I think will look like this:

MO - Endurance ride (road)
TU - Cyclocross practice @ Royal Oaks
WE – Flex Day: either rest or make up for a rainout
TH - Mountain bike practice @ New Fane
FR - Endurance ride (Eisenbahn State Trail)
SA - Mountain bike practice @ New Fane
SU - Endurance ride (road or rec trail)

Most of that will be solo or in the company of just 1 or 2 friends, even the cyclocross practices, which normally I would confine to August and September. This year I intend to hit Royal Oaks Park every week for short-but-hard workouts of the sort I don’t do often enough. Hopefully that will be a fun way to force myself to do intervals. Five months of that schedule should deliver me to the end of summer in good shape for the WEMS Championships and for the cyclocross season, which I expect to be much fuller than last year’s. The family stuff, the house stuff … those things should settle down before Labor Day.

There’s just so much work to do between now and then.

At Long Last … Luck?

Despite my Irish surname, St. Patrick’s Day has no special significance for me. And, as for the supposed connection between the Irish and good luck, in the troubled history of the Emerald Isle there is clearly more of the bad.

But let’s give this St. Patrick’s Day its due, at least here in Washington County, where we have our own Erin. Today was brilliantly sunny, dry, and generally pleasant if not especially warm. It was good enough for a bike ride—I joined a couple of friends for 30 miles on the roads between West Bend and Newburg—and it looks like the start of a very good stretch. I still haven’t ridden on consecutive days this year; the weather hasn’t permitted it. In the week to come, I might have to force myself not to overdo it. Between now and Saturday, every day should be warmer than the last. The forecast calls for sunshine and manageable winds. Some rain might arrive next Sunday but probably not enough to make the day a complete washout.

I am far behind last year’s pace and I probably won’t make up the deficit by the end of the month. But my racing season is still a long way off. There’s plenty of time to get fit. Right now I just want to get into a rhythm, with more days on than off.

Easy Breezy

There’s not much to say about this little 1-hour ride other than I felt a moral imperative to get out today. This was the first 50° day in West Bend since October 31! That’s 133 days ago. If you live somewhere with nice weather, just try to imagine spending 4½ months below 50° without interruption. High winds, impending rain, and limited route options kept me from getting too ambitious today. Most park paths are still covered with snow and ice, and our county highway department issued warnings today for several flooded roads. I’m still waiting for the first carefree, go-anywhere ride of 2019.

Thawing

I don't stray far from home on days like this.

I got to ride outside today for the first time since February 22, exactly two weeks ago. This was the first day above freezing since February 24. Today’s ride was my 5th so far this year and I finally have surpassed 100 miles. Last year I had 150 in January and 125 in February, which speaks volumes about the severity of this winter. And today was great … in its way, but now it’s time to settle in for what will be a very wet, very windy weekend. Next week’s forecast holds some promise: we should get into the 40s by Wednesday and we might even see our first 50° day of 2019. I choose to be optimistic. Tomorrow I’ll be watching Strade Bianche, arguably the most beautiful one-day race in the world. Daylight Saving Time returns early Sunday and that’s much to my satisfaction, as it provides more time to ride later in the day. And Paris-Nice begins on Sunday. We’re getting into that time of year when there’s a bike race almost every day, which is only as it should be.

Get Some!

More than 80 mountain bikers attended last night’s meeting of the Park & Recreation Commission at City Hall in West Bend to support improvements to the trails at Glacial Blue Hills. Greg Van Slyke and Rich Ramsey presented the concept on behalf of GEARS. The preliminary plan was received warmly by the commission and by city employees, who promised to work with GEARS on a final plan that can be presented to the Common Council.

The project at Glacial Blue Hills won’t happen overnight, but it has begun auspiciously. In the shorter term, if you really need to scratch that downhill/freeride itch, here’s the 2019 bike park calendar from Little Switzerland, released late yesterday:

Rethinking Mountain Bike Trails At Glacial Blue Hills

This week the Park & Recreation Commission of the City of West Bend will hear a proposal from GEARS, our local mountain biking advocacy group, for future development of trails at Glacial Blue Hills Recreation Area, the 208-acre park property on the city’s northwest side. Glacial Blue Hills is already home to about 8.5 miles of mountain bike trails that over the last 20 years were built for free by volunteers with the approval of the city.

“Our goal is to expand and improve the trails here, which will enhance the park and have a positive economic impact in West Bend,” GEARS says in a prepared statement that will be presented on Thursday, 6:30 p.m. at City Hall.

Here are the key points of the GEARS proposal:

• New trails will be machine-built by a professional contractor, resulting in trails that are sustainable and easier for volunteers to maintain.
• New features will include a pump track and freeride elements like berms, jumps, drops, balancing platforms, and boardwalk where appropriate.
• The entire trail system will be signed and mapped, creating a safer user experience by directing riders to areas appropriate for their skill levels. Mapping and signage also will aid emergency responders in the event of a crash that results in injury.
• As a non-profit organization, GEARS—now part of Metro Mountain Bikers—will pay for the trail-building activities with a combination of grants and donations.
• GEARS will encourage the city to enhance the property with a paved parking lot, a source of potable water, and toilets. Those features are badly needed by all users, not just mountain bikers.

“With this development we should see more tourism in West Bend,” the GEARS statement says. “Mountain bikers travel to ride new trails and leave money behind at restaurants, (convenience) stores, hotels and small businesses.”

This is a solid plan with good people behind it, but of course there will be opposition. The Ice Age National Scenic Trail passes through Glacial Blue Hills and the local chapter of the Ice Age Trail Alliance is rallying its members to fight the plan on Thursday. Its call to action frames the situation as “Mountain Bikes vs. Ice Age Trail,” which is truly unfortunate. Hikers and mountain bikers have coexisted in Glacial Blue Hills for years. The past, present, and future can better be described as “Mountain Bikes and Ice Age Trail.” If approved, the GEARS proposal will reduce potential conflicts by keeping mountain bikers off the Ice Age Trail and on clearly-designated, bike-specific trails. This plan has my enthusiastic support. If it has yours, then join me this Thursday, 6:30 p.m. at City Hall.

Fitting Cheesehead Roubaix To A “T”

All along the Cheesehead Roubaix route you will find signs inspired by the roadside atmosphere of the Spring Classics in northern Europe. Some assist with wayfinding, but most are intended humorously. Of the latter, nothing has been more popular than the Contrôle Anti-Dopage signs on the bathroom doors at the rest stop in Belgium. (Don’t worry, you won’t actually be tested for performance-enhancing drugs.) I can tell you anecdotally that these signs have prompted more comments and more photos than all other signs combined.

So, in celebration of the 10th anniversary of Cheesehead Roubaix, the good folks at BELGIANWERKX have created this commemorative T-shirt:

You can buy shirts online, at the store, or at Newburg Fireman’s Park at the end of the ride on April 28. Proceeds will be donated to the all-volunteer Newburg Fire Department. Don’t miss your chance to own a piece of Cheesehead Roubaix history!

Don't Miss Your Chance To Preview The County Bike Plan

That Will Take A Bite

Today I had a dental appointment. Routine, right, just a cleaning and checkup? That’s how it started, but it finished with the decision to extract a tooth that has been giving me trouble for more than 20 years. Next Monday I will be back in the dentist’s chair to begin the process: off with the existing bridge work, out with the bad tooth, et cetera. At a subsequent visit the new bridge work will go on and I’ll be more than $3,000 poorer. It’s a big financial hit for sure. In response, I will postpone a couple of equipment purchases that I hoped to make for the 2019 cycling season: no new wheels, no new helmet. They were “wants” and not “needs” anyway.

I got on the bike yesterday afternoon after a 3-week absence. My ride was a slow 25 miles around West Bend, but it kept a streak alive: I have ridden outside at least once in every month since February 2014. With temperatures in the 40s there was no doubt I would hit the road despite a misty gloom.

Saturday was pretty dull looking too and not as warm, but it was good enough for my first snowshoeing adventure since last February. I walked for 90 minutes through Lac Lawrann Conservancy and Royal Oaks Park. There might be more snowshoeing in the immediate future. We’re going back below freezing tonight and it looks like a few inches of fresh snow will fall throughout the week.

It will be a while before I can ride outside consistently, but this weekend was a nice break from the deep freeze … and from the turbo trainer.

Woooooooooo, Pig! Sooie!

From one Washington County to another, congratulations to Fayetteville AR, which today was announced as the site of the 2022 UCI Cyclocross World Championships! Fayetteville is home to the University of Arkansas in the fast-growing northwest corner of the state. Unlike most other sites that have held the World Championships, Fayetteville has not held a UCI World Cup event. You can bet, though, that USA Cycling will ensure it hosts a couple of C1/C2 weekends in the next few years to prepare.

In 2013, Louisville KY became the first American city to host the World Championships.

The UCI also confirmed today that the United States will continue to host the first two rounds of the World Cup next season: Jingle Cross in Iowa City IA on September 14 and World Cup Waterloo at Trek’s corporate headquarters near Madison on September 22. I'm sure I will be in Waterloo again to spectate. It’s too early to know whether I will be able to attend the World Championships in 2022, but I’m hog wild about the idea!