Will This Put A Dent In My Season?

Today’s blog post is not really about cycling, but it is about something important to my health that could negatively affect my plans for the rest of 2023. The next 5 weeks will be filled with intervals of discomfort that have nothing to do with the bike.

Ever since I have had teeth, I have had bad teeth. I had a natural underbite, which is not ideal for dental health or for facial attractiveness. At the age of 11, I got braces. My orthodontist believed he could correct the problems with my bite if only he could move my teeth far enough. When my family relocated, my new orthodontist immediately realized that my problems could be corrected only with oral surgery. He spent the next 2 years moving everything back to where it had been originally. Finally, in August 1983, at the age of 18, I had oral surgery. Soon thereafter, the braces came off. That’s right: I had braces for 8 years. As you can imagine, that wasn’t good for my social life, and it wasn’t good for my teeth overall. Having braces presented cleaning challenges that led to cavities, and moving the teeth so far over such a long time led to blunted roots. On an X-ray, many of my teeth look like baby teeth, and those short roots make it easier for my teeth to break. Now, any cavity is potentially a death sentence for the tooth in question, as it is not always possible to drill into my teeth without breaking them. Nice, huh?

Last Friday morning, I began a very aggressive course of procedures that will fix most of my dental problems by the end of September. My dentist estimates I need about $18,500 worth of treatments to replace the missing teeth and to repair the damaged ones. I signed up for the first $5,200 worth of treatments. The big, as-yet-unaccepted expense is for 2 implants with a bridge between them on the upper left side. A few years ago, I got a partial denture to fill that gap. I haven’t been wearing it … not because it’s uncomfortable, but because it alters my speech in a way I cannot tolerate. The dentist tells me that, with practice, I should be able to speak normally while wearing the denture, so I’m going to try again to get used to it. The partial denture was intended to be temporary. I didn’t realize that when it was made for me. A permanent one would fit better and take up less space, making it easier for me to speak normally. So, I might replace the temporary denture at a considerable costs savings vis-à-vis the implants, but only if I can train myself to speak normally.

The denture versus implants question will not be resolved this year, and insurance is partly to blame. I will exhaust my 2023 dental benefits on the other procedures, so any additional procedures will wait until 2024 when I have a new pool of insurance money. (Almost all of these expenses are out-of-pocket, but I will take any little bit of assistance the insurance company throws my way.) Whatever happens, my mouth will be in much better shape by the end of September. I am scheduled to see the dentist on 4 occasions between August 31 and September 29. I would have liked to complete this work earlier in the year, but I didn’t count on being in Pennsylvania for so long. Now there’s a chance that it will disrupt my training and racing. I should be OK, though, because my biggest targets this season are 4 cyclocross races near Philadelphia in mid-October. Tentatively, I plan to go back to Mom’s on October 13 for a 2- or 3-week stay. That will put a smile on Mom’s face, and I might finally have one on mine.

Season 10 Begins At Royal Oaks

Nine racers came to Royal Oaks Park in West Bend today for the opening of Season 10 of our cyclocross practice series. Today’s course was a little more run-heavy than usual. We will experiment with other configurations as the season progresses.

Back On The BMC

Today I got my BMC back from the shop. This is a big deal. Prior to today, my last ride on the BMC was on July 26, when I was still visiting Pennsylvania. Every ride since then had been on my Framed gravel bike, which is not a great road bike. The Framed is too heavy. It climbs hills like it’s towing something. Yes, I put in plenty of work on the Eisenbahn State Trail during the last three weeks, and the Framed is well-suited for that, but I am first and foremost a roadie. Hopping aboard the BMC today for 28 miles on roads I had not seen since May was a joy. The new rear shifter worked perfectly.

First 200-Mile Week Of 2023

This was my first full week at home since May 8-14, so perhaps it’s not surprising that it was my first 200-mile week of 2023. I finished the week with 212 miles and almost 13.5 hours of saddle time. Friday’s 46-mile trip on the Eisenbahn State Trail to Eden and back was my longest ride this year. I did the 32-mile Eisenbahn trip to Campbellsport and back on Monday, Wednesday, and again today, with remarkably consistent numbers. Why so much time on the Eisenbahn? My road bike is still in the shop. But today would have been a good day for the Eisenbahn even if the road bike had been available. Because of its mostly north-south orientation, the trail allowed me to avoid the worst of a strong and steady breeze from the east. West Bend’s yearly average wind speed of 11.1 mph is almost double the average where my mother lives (5.8 mph). It’s noticeable. I’m glad to be home again, but I sure do miss the warmer temperatures and lower wind speeds of suburban Philadelphia.

Presenting The Twilight Zone-2 Ride

Two weeks from today, don’t miss the Twilight Zone-2 Ride! This will be an easy 28.5-mile, Zone 2 ride (14-15 mph average) on the Eisenbahn State Trail from the downtown West Bend train depot to Campbellsport and back, with a mid-ride snack stop at Kohn’s Filling Station. This 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.

Keeping Up … And Slimming Down?

I call 'em "Cheaps Ahoy!" and I love 'em, but damn ...

After a weak June, I rebounded with a solid July: 24 rides for a total of 742 miles. That effort got me to August 1 with 2,310 outdoor miles, year-to-date, exactly the same total with which I began August 2022. I finished last year with 4,190 miles, my lowest total since 2013, so I’m not celebrating my current status. My goal for 2023 is not to match 2022, but to reach 90,000 lifetime miles. I need to finish this season with a total of 4,422 to get there. Obviously I am not on that pace, but I’m not far off.

Training will change this month. My endurance rides will get longer. Cyclocross practices will force me to do intervals. I don’t know if I will find time for mountain biking—Saturdays are my only good options—but in general I will be doing a better mix of workouts on the bike. I will be getting back into home gym workouts too, not just for strength, but also for flexibility and mobility. Since returning from Pennsylvania last Friday, I have been using my foam roller again, and the results have been surprisingly painful. I have a lot of work to do in all phases of my fitness plan. Luckily, my main cyclocross goals are in October. If I’m a good boy, then I can find some kind of good form by then.

Body weight may be the bigger challenge. I started August 2022 at 198 pounds and dropped to 196 by September 1. Today I am 203 pounds. That’s only a 1-pound drop since May 1, the date of my previous weigh-in. Being at Mom’s house for 10 weeks provided many opportunities for treats I would not have had at home, and I didn’t try very hard to resist them. I’m home now, though, completely in charge of what I eat and drink. August will be a month without Coca-Cola or cookies, and the elimination of those empty calories should have a measurable effect. Can I lose 7 pounds in August to finish the month at the same weight I recorded on September 1, 2022? I think so. That’s a good goal.

Presenting The 2023 Royal Oaks CX Practice Series

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.

Shifting Into MacGyver Mode

Being 900 miles from home and having only one bike with me, encountering a mechanical issue was almost the worst thing that could have happened. It’s not as bad as a crash with injuries—something with which I have experience—but it’s still a pretty serious threat to my cycling ambitions. My rear shifter lever had been getting sticky on recent rides, sometimes refusing to return to its original position. On Monday’s ride, the spring responsible for that return failed altogether.

The lever still works, but it dangles comically from its remaining point of connection. That point of connection, though, is what still allows me to shift gears. So, the bike isn’t completely disabled. The local shop was closed yesterday and today, otherwise I may have dropped in to see whether the shifter could be repaired quickly. I plan to begin my return trip next Thursday, so there’s no time for ordering parts and leaving the bike in the shop for several days.

Enter the humble rubber band. This hack is as cheap and simple and they come, and it works!

I got through a 30-mile ride this evening with no problems at all. I could shift up and down the cassette with ease. I will count on this setup to get me through my remaining rides in Pennsylvania.

Some Notes For July 2023

On Friday the UCI announced that it will ban transgender racers from elite women’s competition if they transitioned from male to female after puberty. The UCI cited scientific evidence that the athletic benefits derived from years of elevated testosterone levels are not counterbalanced by subsequently lowering testosterone in adulthood. And this shouldn’t really surprise anyone. For decades, anti-doping agencies have conducted out-of-competition tests for a variety of performance enhancers, including testosterone, because many of them have effects that last long after the substances themselves disappear or return to normal levels. USA Cycling will follow the UCI’s lead … at least, at the elite level.

We could see legal challenges to the ban. At one extreme, some transgender advocates say that the only necessary proof of womanhood is that a person believe she is a woman. At another extreme, some opponents argue that transgender women will always be men, no matter what they do to alter their bodies. In the United States, the UCI’s distinction between pre-puberty and post-puberty transition may constitute an impossible path for athletes to navigate, as many state legislatures and the federal government have considered or will consider bans on gender transition healthcare for minors. Someday soon, there simply may be no pre-puberty transition.

Chicago’s Austin Killips has been at the center of the debate about transgender cyclists. Killips won the UCI’s Tour of the Gila stage race in May and took the bronze medal at the USA Cycling Cyclocross National Championships back in December. Another transgender athlete, Jenna Lingwood, placed fifth in the elite women’s field at CX nationals after winning the Masters Women 40-44 age group championship. I haven’t met Lingwood, but I have met Killips. We worked together very well for the last 50 kilometers of the Little Apple 100 gravel race near Chicago in 2019, and I couldn’t have asked for a better partner. So, let’s not argue about whether transgender athletes should have some place in competition. They should. And let’s not argue about whether they should be treated respectfully and as members of the gender to which they feel they belong. They should. This isn’t make-believe for them. This isn’t dress-up. This isn’t even about sexuality; it’s about identity. Choosing to transition is damned hard, and the only reason to do it is because all of the alternatives are much worse. But at the same time, let’s not ignore biology. Killips and Lingwood had no noteworthy results when they raced in men’s categories pre-transition. It’s difficult not to argue that their success in elite women’s races is largely a result of the enduring effects of male puberty.

In Other News …

On Wednesday’s ride I surpassed 1,000 miles of cycling since I returned to Pennsylvania in mid-May. It’s a big enough number to impress my mother and other people who don’t ride, but I know it’s less than I would have ridden if I had spent all of that time in Wisconsin. I can’t be too critical of myself, though, because I have devoted a lot of time and energy to Mom and to her home, including many hours that might otherwise have been spent on the bike.

Rain turned today into a rest day and robbed me of a 200-mile week. I finished the week with 11 hours of saddle time and a total of 180 miles, my biggest numbers so far this year.

I’m down to my last two weeks here in Pennsylvania. I expect to be back in West Bend on July 28 or 29. I have tentative plans to return to PA for another two-week visit in October that, hopefully, will include a little cyclocross racing.