SafeSport Trained, Again

Five years ago, I completed SafeSport training for the first time. I was then the captain of Team Pedal Moraine, and I thought it would look good to complete the anti-abuse, anti-harassment program. This year, renewing my certification wasn’t optional: as President of the Wisconsin Cycling Association, it was my duty to complete the training. USA Cycling requires it of all members of the WCA Board of Directors. USA Cycling might require it of you too, especially if you are in a position of leadership within your cycling club or USA Cycling-affiliated local association.

Breaking The Seal On 2024

There they are, those first precious outdoor miles of the new year! West Bend has enjoyed a few 50° days in 2024, but this was the first one I could use. And even today I didn’t spend as much time in the saddle as I would have liked. In my new role as President of the Wisconsin Cycling Association, I had a 1-hour call with USA Cycling that kept me in my home office until 4 o’clock. I used the rest of the afternoon, all 90 minutes of it, for a ride around town. Unlike most of my season openers, today’s ride was NOT impeded in any way by lingering snow and ice. Even shady park paths were fully accessible. The 10-day forecast proves that winter isn’t over yet, but there are more 50° days coming soon, and maybe this year’s first 60° day next Tuesday.

The 2024 WEMS Schedule

9 Hours of Alpine Valley

June 1

Alpine Valley Ski Resort, Elkhorn

Jack Lake Crazy Eights

June 15

Veterans Memorial Park, Deerbrook

Romp in the Swamp Epic

June 29

Nine Mile County Forest, Wausau

RASTA Rock N Root

July 20

Washburn Lake Trails, Rhinelander

Hundred Down in the Underdown

August 17

Underdown Recreation Area, Gleason

The Wild Ride Buzzard Buster

August/September TBD

Levis Mound Trailhead, Neillsville

I Do Solemnly Swear

At the end of January, the Wisconsin Cycling Association asked me to serve as its President for 2024. I gratefully agreed. It will be an honor to lead our statewide, USA Cycling-sanctioned governing body for road, track, and cyclocross racing. (Mountain bike racing still falls under the governance of TREK’s Wisconsin Off-Road Series.) In recent years—and particularly since the COVID-19 pandemic—the role of the WCA has been greatly diminished. Its once-thriving road series has dwindled to a handful of unrelated events, mostly criteriums that are little more than tune-ups for the Tour of America’s Dairyland. In 2024, the WCA plans to reintroduce its criterium series not just as a collection of training races, but as a competitive series in its own right.

The Tour of America’s Dairyland has changed road racing in Wisconsin, mostly for the better but very much to the detriment of the WCA’s Wisconsin Cup. And in my opinion, it would be silly to deny and oppose the changes when we might benefit from them. My objective is to make the Wisconsin Cup a prestigious, “can’t  miss” series that crowns its champions before ToAD begins on June 13. Then, between the end of ToAD on June 23 and the start of the Intelligentsia Cup in northern Illinois on July 19, I want to see a Wisconsin state championship criterium as a standalone event.

So, right now there’s a big emphasis on crits, because there’s so little time to arrange something. But crits are only part of an overall road racing season. I am already working on plans for the state time trial championships and, with luck, there may be some open road racing. I think both of those are best suited for the weeks after the various criterium series. Summertime TTs should attract not only pure roadies, but also triathlon/duathlon competitors, especially as Ironman Wisconsin approaches (September 8). Open road racing is probably the biggest challenge, as it comes with so many logistical considerations that other forms of racing avoid. WiSport continues to hold most of the open road races in Wisconsin, but they are in remote locations with little automobile traffic. My best idea for the state road race championship is to hold it on the auto racing course of Road America. That venue has been used for cycling in the past, so maybe it would be right for the WCA.

Track and cyclocross are in good hands thanks to dedicated and capable volunteers. I don’t have much work to do there … maybe none! And that would be OK. I’m going to be busy. But if you have ideas for bike racing in Wisconsin, then I have time for you.

The 2024 WiSport Schedule

Presenting The 2024 Cheesehead Roubaix

Cheesehead Roubaix XIII will begin at Newburg Fireman’s Park on Saturday, April 27, at 9 a.m. CDT. Inspired by Spring Classics like Paris-Roubaix and the Tour of Flanders, Cheesehead Roubaix is a 63-mile ride that features almost 10 miles of gravel roads. The ride will test your fitness with rough road conditions and about 1,600 feet of climbing.

Cheesehead Roubaix is free of charge, but please consider making a voluntary contribution to the Newburg Fire Department to show your appreciation for the use of its facility. Donations will be accepted at the concessions stand before and after the ride. NFD is a small, all-volunteer department. Your generosity will make a big difference!

Enjoy the free mid-ride rest stop at Community Park in Belgium! At the Facebook event page, please confirm your attendance to help us ensure adequate quantities of food and drink.

Cheesehead Roubaix is designed for self-sufficient cyclists. Be prepared to handle your own flat tires and other minor mechanical issues. The ride uses only open public roads and park paths. You are responsible for your own safety and conduct, and you are expressly not exempt from Wisconsin traffic laws. Represent the sport well. Please visit the Cheesehead Roubaix website and print out your own copy of the cuesheet and map. The website also offers data files for GPS devices.

See you on April 27!

Hugh Jass Day 2024

Steve Jeske photo

Today, the Hugh Jass Fat Bike Series was back in West Bend for the 5th consecutive season. If you like winter, then this was a good day to be at Regner Park. There was abundant sunshine, deep snow from last week’s storms, and below-zero wind chill. The timing was perfect. Last Saturday, you might not have been able to drive to Regner. Next Saturday, the course might be little more than a muddy track.

Winter is not for me! I may have been the only person at Regner who looks forward to the above-freezing days promised in next week's forecast. But I’m glad Hugh Jass is having success and I’m especially glad that the series continues to come to West Bend. So, I did my small part: I delivered the coffee. Thanks to generous contributions from its partners, Kohn’s Filling Station and The Shadow Man, Team Pedal Moraine gave away coffee and donuts today. Hopefully, that gesture will raise the team’s profile a little bit. And, hopefully, TPM’s partners will benefit too. All partners were represented on the banner at our table, and special recognition went to Kohn’s Filling Station and The Shadow Man on the sign outside:

Steve Jeske photo

If you would like to join Team Pedal Moraine’s roster of partners for collaborations like today’s, then please contact me via the email widget on the right side of this page.

New Treadmill

I set up my new treadmill in the home gym today. It’s a big upgrade over the old one, as it comes with preset workouts that adjust the speed and incline automatically. Because of its bulk, it was difficult to bring in from the garage, where it was delivered last Saturday. And because of lousy instructions and extraordinarily tight tolerances for some of the parts, assembly was much more challenging than I expected. Now that it’s in place, however, I expect to be very happy with it.

My first workout was a success. I spent an hour on the treadmill tonight and everything worked beautifully. Now I probably should read the owner’s manual to figure out how to use all of those new features.

The treadmill will share the home gym with my strength training equipment. For cycling-specific workouts, I keep my smart trainer in the home office instead. I tried to use it in the home gym, but that area must be a bit of a dead spot in my home WiFi, as I struggled to stay connected to Zwift there. I have not yet restarted my Zwift subscription this winter and I’m not sure that I will. If all goes as planned, then I am 10 weeks away from my next trip to Pennsylvania. When I return to Wisconsin in mid-April, I should be riding outside regularly. To commit to Zwift for only the next 10 weeks probably doesn’t make sense. I can use my Garmin to do smart trainer workouts without Zwift, they just aren’t as much fun because they lack the imagery of Zwift’s virtual world.

The 2024 WORS Schedule

Do Cyclists Dream Of Biphasic Sleep?

Lately I have been wearing my Garmin watch for more than just walks around the neighborhood. I’m trying to get deeper into all of the health metrics that it can provide, including sleep. I started to look into these numbers more than three years ago, but I didn’t stay consistent. Maybe there isn’t that much to see and I will give up on it again. Right now, though, it’s kind of interesting.

I’m a biphasic sleeper: on a typical day, I sleep in two distinct periods instead of getting all of my sleep in one block. It’s not uncommon for me to be mentally fried at the end of an overnight shift, so I usually go to bed shortly after I’m done with work. What follows is something like this:

And that’s clearly not enough total sleep, especially because there’s so little deep sleep. (The heart rate bottoming out at 39 beats per minute is pretty cool though!) I’m always up again by early afternoon, when I have a very active period that might include exercise, grocery shopping, yard chores … anything you might do between the end of your workday and your bedtime. But after dinner—and especially in winter, when it’s already dark outside—my energy drops and I return to bed for as much sleep as I can get before my next overnight shift:

Add those up and it’s about seven hours of sleep in a typical day. A lot of people would take that if they could get it, but how many of them would still consider it a good deal if they had to get it in two blocks instead of one?