Halftime 2025

No matter how you slice it, my cycling season is off to a slow start.

Today I surpassed my goal of 550 cycling miles in June. This was my first 500-mile month since last September. You now have to go back to last July to find a month with more miles (675). In the week that ended on Sunday, I rode 170 miles in 12 hours, my highest totals this year. Things are trending up for me, and they must continue to trend up: I am far behind my usual pace at the midpoint of the season.

My mileage total, year-to-date, is only 894. When I hit 1,000 later this week, it will be the latest date on which I have reached that target since 2004, my very first season. I didn’t get to 1,000 until September 4 that year.

Here at the midpoint of the season, I have only a few noteworthy fitness accomplishments. Perhaps the most noteworthy is that I have been active every day so far this year. I have always done at least a walk that was purely for fitness. On some days, I have done multiple walks. As the weather has improved, I have done walks and bike rides on the same day. This won’t be a record year for cycling miles–I may even miss my goal of 3,161–but today I set a new personal record for walking miles, 555, with half a year still to come!

Heating Up

Regner Park was a popular place to cool off this afternoon.

Saturday was West Bend’s first 90° day since August 26, 2024. It was an unapologetic, swaggering, “here I am in all my magnificence” summer day fit for hamburgers, ice cream, and listening to the Allman Brothers Band. It was a rare occasion on which my neighbors with swimming pools didn’t look like complete idiots. It was my kind of day: the kind of day that the true Wisconsinites hate to the very bottoms of their souls.

And Saturday was only the beginning of our three-day heat wave. Late on Sunday night, my oldest kid and his cat came to visit, as the air conditioning in their Milwaukee apartment had failed, making sleep impossible. Today was hot and windy again until rain broke the spell in the evening. I rode my bike on each of those days, troubled less by the heat than by the high winds. It never really gets hot here unless there’s a howling wind from the south.

Now, even I admit that 90-something should be hot enough. But if the temperatures are going to reach the mid-90s anyway, then I wouldn’t mind just a little more. We haven’t had a 100° day since July 4, 2012, and I have been sitting on this Garmin Connect goal for too long:

You will notice that I have already earned the companion Frosty badge. No shortage of opportunities there. But it may be a while before we get so close to 100° again. Good weather last week contributed to my most productive week on the bike so far this year: 145 miles in 10:20 of ride time. That’s still not good enough, obviously, but things are moving in the right direction. And my weight is dropping: -5.5 pounds since June 1. An emphasis on Zone 2 riding, better diet, and more productive sleep seems to be working.

Reaching My 2025 Walking Goal

I reached my 2025 walking goal today: 500 miles. I probably should have been more ambitious. My total last year was 554 miles, a personal record. So, with 205 days remaining this year, I need only 55 more miles for a new PR. I might have it by the end of June, especially if we continue to have cool, wet weather that limits my time on the bike. I’m looking forward to riding tomorrow and Wednesday, but when it’s raining and the temperature is struggling just to reach 60° later this week, I’ll be back on the treadmill.

Art Hicks

Matt Reschke photo

Today, the Wisconsin cycling community mourns the loss of Art Hicks, the veteran USA Cycling official whose professionalism and fairness earned him the respect of countless racers at countless races. Art's sporting career also included coaching services for cyclists and triathletes. And he had a connection to Washington County that you might not have known: he was the uncle of Mark Ramsey, owner of Pedal Moraine. We'll miss you, Art!