Halftime 2024

As silly as this looks, I am warming to the idea.

We have entered the second half of 2024 and I’m just about where I was at the end of the first half of 2023. That’s not good. I hoped for more, but hope doesn’t count for much. The truth is that I haven’t had a lot of motivation this season. As July begins, I have done 56 rides for a total of 1,523 miles. At the midway point last year I had ridden 59 times for a total of 1,568 miles. The difference is negligible, so maybe I shouldn’t be too hard on myself. And if you want to find a bright spot, then look to my per-ride average, which is higher this season.

I spent last June in suburban Philadelphia where I find miles harder to accumulate. I spent this June at home where longer rides should be easier. And I did ride more this June—504 miles, compared to 483 last year—but I was expecting something like 700-800. It’s impossible not to view June as a disappointment. We had a ton of rain in Washington County. Entire days were wiped out by it, and it came so frequently that I lost an extra day or two to lawn care when the fast-growing grass was finally dry enough to cut.

Frequent and heavy rain has been a problem since early spring, so it’s no surprise that my treadmill has gotten a lot of use. I have done 342 miles of fitness walking so far this year, much more than the 140 miles I had racked up by June 30 last year. That’s also far in excess of my final total of 238 miles in 2023, and it already beats the target of 260 miles that I established for 2024. I walked 463 miles in 2021 and that personal record is looking vulnerable this year.

I wasn’t idle in the first half of 2024, but I wasn’t ambitious. The 10-day forecast doesn’t promise a good start to the second half of the season. We’ll be at least 10 degrees below normal today and tomorrow. We’ll get about another inch of rain tomorrow. There’s just no end to it. On last Wednesday’s ride, I had to turn around in Quaas Creek Park because the bridge over the creek was under water. On Saturday’s ride, I observed that the Milwaukee River is overflowing its banks along River Drive north of Green Tree Road. Another inch of rain could bring flooding to the road itself. The pure mountain bikers are screaming that their trails have been open only occasionally this year. If the rain keeps up, the roadies will have cause for their own complaints.