Halftime 2026

Today brings the first half of 2026 to a close. I have covered 1,400 miles so far this year. By this date in 2025, I had ridden only 894 miles. I’m happy with the difference, but a lot of work remains before I reach my goal of 3,075. Today’s ride was my 60th this year, so I’m averaging 23.33 miles per ride. That would be my lowest average since 2004, my first season of cycling, when I averaged only 16.52 miles per ride. I can’t live with that. Longer rides are coming soon.

Last year on this date, I reached 555 miles of walking. I finished 2025 with a personal record: 1,141 miles. This year, I have 600 miles already. I didn’t set a walking mileage goal for 2026. Nonetheless, a new PR is a strong possibility.

Strange but true: I didn’t plan to end the first half of the year with exactly 1,400 cycling miles and exactly 600 walking miles. It just worked out that way.

Garmin Connect’s Appalachian Trail Expedition

Early this morning, I completed Garmin Connect’s Appalachian Trail expedition. It was the longest of the 17 “hiking” expeditions. I did all 17 in ascending order. This is another kind-of-neat Garmin challenge. Completing it didn’t require any unusual effort on my part; it required only the accumulation of steps over the last 11 months. Completing the 13 “climbing” challenges will be much harder. I have completed only 2 so far. The climbing challenges track elevation gain, and most of my walks have almost none. As I did with the hikes, I will progress through the climbs in ascending order. Each will be harder than the one before. I needed 73 days to complete the first climb and 125 days to complete the second. I have been working on the third since February 19, but it’s still only 79% complete. Even if I were to commit to regular stair climbing workouts, it would take years to reach the summit of Garmin’s virtual Mount Everest. Because of their long time horizons, Garmin’s expeditions don’t work well for motivation. There’s no deadline; you will get there eventually. But there is something to be said for consistent effort over time, so I will take those little rewards as they come.

Well Done, Doylestown!

I really enjoyed today’s ride here in eastern Pennsylvania. Mom lives just outside Doylestown, the seat of government for Bucks County. It’s still a pretty place despite the urban sprawl that comes from being squeezed between Philadelphia and New York City. Doylestown itself is charming. Imagine Cedarburg WI with a county courthouse and stately homes that go back to the 18th Century. There’s a lot to like … for those who can afford it. My biggest complaint about Doylestown is its motor vehicle traffic, which is far greater than you would expect in a community of only about 8,400 residents.

When I lived here in the late 1980s, riding a bike never occurred to me. I don’t know where I would have done it. The region’s 30 miles of bike and pedestrian infrastructure didn’t exist yet. Now it forms the backbone of my rides when I visit Mom, but by itself it’s still not enough. The network of trails is growing in piecemeal fashion, requiring many on-road miles to link the pieces. It will be great someday.

The photo above shows the most recent piece of the network. That 0.3-mile section along New Britain Road is so new that you can still see sawdust on the ground under the fence rails! On previous visits, my rides down New Britain Road were a little uncomfortable. Motor vehicle traffic wasn’t too bad, but the road surface was poor and there was no shoulder. As you can see, the road has been resurfaced and there’s now a physically separated bike lane. It’s a beauty, and all it took was a little extra asphalt. This new link in the trail system doesn’t change where I go, but it changes how I feel about that section. For some local riders, especially kids, the new link probably opens up a part of the system that seemed too dangerous to access before.

Eastern Daylight Time

Today is the end of an unconventional week. Monday looked normal enough, but Tuesday began on the treadmill in my home gym. I was determined to get my 10,000 steps early in the day, because the rest of Tuesday would be very busy. At 2:30 a.m. CDT, I pulled out of West Bend and headed for West Newton PA, my childhood home. I got there early in the afternoon and immediately embarked on a 2-hour ride on the Great Allegheny Passage, one of America’s great rail trails. The GAP stretches from Pittsburgh to Washington DC, roughly 300 miles. There’s a very nice access point in West Newton and a very well supplied bike shop at the trailhead. None of it existed when I was a kid; the railroad corridor was still active. If it had existed in the 1970s, then I would have been all over it!

After a Tuesday night hotel stay in western Pennsylvania, I arrived at my mother’s house in eastern Pennsylvania late Wednesday morning. I didn’t get on the bike that day, but I did find time for a long walk around Mom’s neighborhood. Back in the saddle on Thursday, I rescued the turtle pictured above. It was on its back after failing to get up a curb that was too high. It probably was far enough from the flow of motor vehicle traffic to avoid death by that method, but it was baking under the full sun of an 80-something-degree day. I turned the turtle over and set it on the grass. Seconds later, it waddled off to safety.

I rode again on Friday, on Saturday, and earlier today … solid, maintenance rides of the Zone 2 type. There will be many more of those over the next two weeks. This week I covered 127 miles in 8:44. That’s almost enough weekly volume for the remainder of my time away from West Bend. In July, when I’m home again, I will look for bigger numbers.

West Bend Adopts New E-bike Rules

Last night, the Common Council of the City of West Bend adopted new rules for e-bikes. The move was largely an incorporation of existing state statutes into the municipal code. The new rules confirm that riders 16 years old or younger may ride on sidewalks except in the downtown and Barton business districts, which are off-limits to all riders of any bicycle, motorized or non-motorized. The new rules also confirm that no riders under 16 may operate Class 3 e-bikes, which are capable of high speeds.

The revisions to the municipal code also include the removal of bicycle registration requirements–something that should have been done long ago–and the establishment of clear rules for bicycle parking, abandonment, seizure, and impoundment. Long story short: don’t leave your bike somewhere in a way that inconveniences others.

Click here to read the city’s official news release on these subjects.