You Hate To See This

The only consolation for Pogi today was the attention of the cutest paramedic in Spain.

Tadej Pogačar, regarded by many people as the greatest road racer of all time, crashed out of the Vuelta a España today. Pogačar began Stage 8 with a 3 minute, 50 second lead over his closest rival. It’s probably true that only a crash with serious injuries could have stopped Pogačar from winning the tour, and today his number came up. The Vuelta will continue, of course, and the fight for overall victory should be very interesting. Enric Mas is the new leader. If he holds on, then he will be the first Spanish winner of the Vuelta since Alberto Contador in 2014. Mas leads four-time Vuelta winner Primož Roglič by 1 minute. American Sepp Kuss, the 2023 Vuelta winner, now sits in fourth place, 2:15 behind Mas. With two weeks remaining in the tour and with several brutal mountains to climb, the 2026 Vuelta is now wide open.

The big question for Pogačar now is whether he will be ready for the UCI road racing world championships in late September. Pogačar is the two-time defending champion.

A Detour On The Journey To Mythical Sleep

For more than a year, I have been refining my approach to sleep. Poor sleep has been a limiting factor in my performance not just on the bike, but in life! When I wrote about this last July, I was averaging 6 hours, 12 minutes per day. But that was the average only for the 4 weeks leading up to that post. My current 52-week average is 5:41. February and March were a mess: I endured 6 consecutive weeks with a daily average of less than 5:00.

My current 4-week average is 6:31. That’s not just more, it’s also qualitatively better. Garmin calculates a sleep score in which duration is factored alongside stress, movement (“tossing and turning”), and time spent in different stages of sleep. Did I get enough deep sleep and enough REM sleep, etc.? During the last 52 weeks, my average sleep score was 64 out of 100. During the last 4 weeks, it improved to 75.

I’m still fighting to find a consistent sleep schedule–in bed at the same time, then out of bed at the same time–which so many sleep experts recommend. Some recent advice resonated with me, though I have not yet tried it: hold yourself to a consistent wakeup time and your body will rapidly discover its optimal shutdown time.

Even without that fresh advice, my sleep stats have been trending in the right direction this summer. But summer is rapidly winding down, and that’s becoming a problem. Back on August 13, I slept so late into the afternoon that I missed a group ride and ended up with a fat zero for the day. That was an anomaly. However, recently I have had a lot of wakeup times in the 4-5 p.m. range. I don’t have much success going straight from the bed to the bike; give me at least an hour. So, most of my rides are starting between 5 p.m. and 6 p.m., and I can’t continue to get away with that. Today’s ride was my 32nd consecutive post-5 p.m. start. The last time I started earlier than 5 p.m. was way back on July 8! Sunset in West Bend will be at 7:29 on August 31 and at 6:59 on September 17. We’re losing daylight in chunks. I need to make a change.

I could continue to go to bed early in the morning–immediately after my shift on nights when I work–and then wake to an alarm set earlier in the afternoon. That would mean fewer hours of sleep overall or a return to biphasic sleep, which always was a compromise. What I will do instead, damn it, is stay up to ensure I get my chance to ride, then go to bed late in the afternoon and wake up again sometime around 10:45 p.m.! There are all sorts of problems with this, not the least of which is that I will be exposed to melatonin-suppressing sunlight shortly before I want to sleep.

But, yes, I’m going to risk the progress I have made with my sleep issues because right now it’s more important to me to hit this year’s cycling goals. And anyway, there is no real fix as long as I continue to work overnight. At worst, I’m trading adequate for inadequate. The Garmin Connect “Mythical Sleep” badge remains elusive.

More Rules They Only Hope You Will Obey

These signs appeared on the Eisenbahn and presumably on other state trails this year. Let me know if you ever see a law enforcement officer with a radar gun on a state trail. Let me know if you understand how a law enforcement officer can determine that a motor was engaged when the rider exceeded 15 mph. Most riders of non-motorized bikes are capable of bursts over 15 mph, and many riders of non-motorized bikes are capable of sustained efforts over 15 mph. It can be hard enough to distinguish, at a glance, an e-bike from a non-motorized bike; it can be harder still to distinguish one class of e-bike from another. So, what? Pull over everybody, just in case? I don't expect the City of West Bend, Washington County, or Fond du Lac County to devote any resources to enforcement on the Eisenbahn. Things might be different in a more heavily urbanized area like Milwaukee, where 28 mph e-bikers on the Hank Aaron State Trail are an obvious danger to other users.

"We're from the government and we're here to help!" Yeah, thanks again.

99,000 Lifetime Miles

Summer in Washington County is a shorter season than the calendar would have you believe. Already we have reached the time of year when 80° is warmer than average, and already you can see leaves beginning to change from a robust green to a sickly yellow. Wednesday will be our last day this year with an 8 p.m. sunset. Let me have the next seven weeks. That’s all I ask. When October arrives, you can have your sweaters and your pumpkin spice lattes and your yards full of trashy Halloween decorations.

On today’s bike ride I surpassed 99,000 lifetime miles. I want to reach 100,000 lifetime miles by the end of September. I will reach my goal before the end of 2026, even if I have to travel somewhere warmer to get the last miles. September 30, though, is my self-imposed deadline because I want October 1 to be the start of a new chapter in my life. On that day I want to feel free to do whatever I want for my fitness. That might be mountain biking: same time commitment, but fewer miles. That might be hiking. That might be some combination of exercises in my home gym. With 100,000 lifetime cycling miles behind me, I won’t be chasing every last mile anymore. If you care at all when I get to 100,000, then surely you won’t care when I get to 100,001. We love our round numbers, don’t we? Getting to 100,001 will be a greater achievement than getting to 100,000, but no one will look at it that way.

With the big mileage goal and summer behind me, you can count on me not to fight very hard against cold weather. In October, I plan to spend 2-3 weeks back in Pennsylvania, where the average daytime high should be 7° warmer than it is in West Bend. Those are 7 precious degrees at that time of year! And sometime around November 1, I will fill the kitchen pantry with supplies for the winter. By December 1, grocery shopping might be nothing more than a weekly order of perishables delivered to my front door. I’m not dealing with winter anymore. I will shovel my sidewalks – municipal code demands they be kept clear – but otherwise I’m done. This week I purchased a battery charger to keep my car from dying during the long periods of disuse I predict for it. I kid you not: full hermit mode this winter.

Offseason cycling goals have always been tricky for me. There will be turbo trainer sessions, but probably not Zwift sessions. I still have three very worthwhile Garmin Connect challenges to attempt: the Tacx 75K Ride (75 km / 46.61 miles), the Tacx 100K Ride (100 km / 62.14 miles), and the Indoor 4-Hour Ride. All sound terrible while the weather is still fair, but we’ll see what depths of desperation I reach in winter. Hey, with just 16 more hours of indoor riding before January 1, this year would be a Top 10 season on the trainer!

I legitimately want to get into a new strength training program in the home gym. That will happen. And I am committing to try each of the seven preset walking workouts on my treadmill. I have had the machine for 2.5 years now and still haven’t pressed those buttons! The last big walking challenge on Garmin Connect is Stepping Up 50K: 50,000 steps in one day. My current PR is 41,635 steps. Completing the challenge would take something like 7.5 hours. That’s an insane amount of walking in a single day, and it’s probably something I would attempt indoors only if there were a full day of sports on TV.

Cycling has never been my only tool for fitness, but for more than two decades it has been the most dominant. Starting this autumn, I will try to find a better balance. I don’t want to feel guilty for doing other things and “neglecting” the bike. The focus isn’t competition anymore. I haven’t done a bike race in almost two years. The focus is now longevity. To be on the bike for years to come, I need to pay more attention to other activities that can support my overall fitness.