Simplify, Man!

Our crazy-cold November is almost over. I won’t miss it, but December doesn’t promise any improvement. At this time of year, every ride could be the last ride for weeks—or even months. I have ridden only 6 times this month: 137 miles in a little less than 9 hours. I haven’t ridden on consecutive days since October 24-25. But I surpassed my mileage goal for the year and, unless I get injured or I lose a bike, I’m going to remember 2018 as a successful season. I beat last year’s mileage, riding longer this year but a little less frequently. The higher per-ride average is a function of more days on the road and no days on singletrack.

That’s right: no days on singletrack. I have ridden my mountain bike only 5 times, and not since February 13. This year my 29er has been nothing more than a winter bike. Its disc brakes and wide, low-pressure tires make it a good choice for rides around town when snow and ice are present. There might be a little more of that before the end of this year.

But that’s not what I bought a mountain bike to do. I bought a mountain bike so that I could be a mountain bike racer. This season is my first without any mountain bike races since 2010. That wasn’t by design; my early plans for the 2018 season included a mix of WORS and WEMS races. When WEMS revised its schedule in March, events that had looked so attractive suddenly disappeared from my calendar. A cold, wet spring then destroyed my remaining enthusiasm for the WORS season. It was just easier for me to stay on the road and look forward to cyclocross.

I’m already at peace with the idea of fewer miles next season. I want to reach 70,000 career miles by the end of 2019, and I will need only about 3,000 miles to get there. Reducing the pressure I put on myself to squeeze every mile from the year, I should be willing to spend more time on singletrack. I don’t know whether that means I will return to mountain bike racing. The WORS schedule doesn’t thrill me, so my plans may hinge on the WEMS schedule that hasn’t been released yet. Whatever happens, it’s still a good idea for me to get back in the woods. If riding singletrack isn’t preparation for mountain bike racing, then at least it’s good training for cyclocross, where my handling skills are holding me back a bit.

I am thinking about replacing my 2011 Trek X-Caliber next season, but I probably will wait until 2020. A reliable source tells me that Trek plans a major revamp of its mountain bike line in 2020, more bang for the buck if I can delay my purchase. If I’m just training and not racing in 2019—even if I am racing, but only a little—then getting another year out of the X-Cal is a no-brainer. Again, a lot hinges on the WEMS schedule.

I am re-thinking the future of my 2011 Diamondback Steilacoom, a bike made more-or-less superfluous by my purchase this year of a 2017 Trek Boone 7. The Boone is my cyclocross bike now, but that’s not asking a lot of it. I have spare wheels/tires/cassettes that can turn the Boone into a rail-trail/gravel bike or a backup road bike in a matter of minutes, so it’s hard to make a good case for keeping the Diamondback.

I have a bunch of spare parts to unload too. “Someday I might need this” is an argument whose truth is no longer apparent to me. I want just enough stuff to keep me rolling if one of the bikes goes down for maintenance. Clothing? Same deal. I recently got rid of some old jerseys that I stopped wearing long ago. I’m no hoarder, but stuff just accumulates, you know? It’s time for a leaner approach to my equipment and a more honest assessment of what I really need.

So, that’s an early glimpse of my 2019 season: tear down first, then rebuild.