There’s That Wisconsin Spring!

April began with such promise: 7 rides in the first 7 days, 10 rides in the first 12 days. And then our characteristically bad springtime weather returned with a vengeance: cold temperatures, high winds, snow. Yesterday was our first 60° day in a week, but relentless 20-30 mph winds kept me off the bike. I did a solid ruck march on the Eisenbahn State Trail and through Forest View Park, so the day wasn’t a total loss. I even got to wear the super cool Merrell trail shoes I bought earlier this year:

Those haven’t seen a lot of action yet, but I expect to have them for a long time. (Would you believe I still have these after almost 10 years?) The Merrells will be my light-duty hikers when I don’t need the extra protection of beefy leather boots. Walking and hiking challenge the body in ways that cycling does not. Both activities are low-impact, but as weight-bearing activities they still stimulate bone cell growth better than cycling. Neither is an anaerobic challenge, but their slow-paced nature makes them great at burning fat while keeping cortisol (stress hormone) levels in check.

Today I got back in the saddle after a 1-week absence. I was content with 24 miles around town. With wind chill in the low 40s, I wasn’t feeling ambitious, but at least the sunshine was nice. Lack of ambition has been kind of a theme for me this season. I still haven’t done a ride in excess of 30 miles. I just can’t talk myself into a multi-hour ride encumbered by layer upon layer of thermal clothing. I'm out of hope for April, so perhaps May ...

Signal To Noise

I am done with Cyclingnews and VeloNews. I have unliked/unfollowed them on all social media platforms and I have removed the VeloNews feed that used to reside in the right-hand column of this blog. Because these media organizations continue to glorify the exploits of known dopers and continue to give them the appearance of credibility and relevance by using them as sources even after some of them have received lifetime bans from cycling’s governing bodies, I no longer will support Cyclingnews or VeloNews in any way. There are plenty of other cycling news sources from which to choose—e.g., the governing bodies, the race organizations, the teams, and the riders themselves—and most Cyclingnews and VeloNews content comes from these sources anyway. The difference, as I see it, is that these other sources don’t feel compelled to stir up controversy to generate page visits and advertising impressions, and in general they keep apart from riders who have disgraced themselves and brought our sport into disrepute. If the people who genuinely care about cycling don’t stand up for what is right, then parasitic organizations like Cyclingnews and VeloNews will continue to drag the sport through the cesspool of its shameful past.

Do You Want The Good News, Or … ?

OK, the good news: today was the first 70° day in West Bend since October 9th, 6 months ago. I rode outside for the 7th day in a row and for the 8th time in the last 9 days. It was awesome to ride without thermal everything.

The bad news is that the nice weather won’t last. I’ll make every effort to ride tomorrow, but after that …

And the really bad news today is that my hours at work have been cut by 20 percent, which means my income has been cut by 20 percent. If the most alarming unemployment forecasts prove true in the wake of COVID-19, then I’ll count myself lucky just to have a job. But right now all I can see is hardship ahead. This is gonna suck. Bike racing? Forget about it. I’ve taken my 2020 Calendar page down. This might be a year with no license, no races, no special events of any kind.

Training (For What, I Don’t Know)

Today's ride: good enough for early April, right?

Today was the end of my training week and I’m happy with the numbers. I did 6 rides in the last 7 days for a total of 150 miles. So, yes, they were relatively short rides and they were pretty slow, but that’s not important right now. You have to go back to September 16-22 to find my last 150-mile week, and to September 2-8 to find my last 6-ride week. That’s 7 months ago. Ouch.

Tomorrow I will surpass 500 miles, year-to-date, putting me about 2 weeks ahead of last year’s pace. Raw mileage isn’t everything, but for me there’s usually a correlation between mileage and fitness. I expect to be satisfied with my progress if I’m close to 1,000 miles by the end of this month. And it’s looking more and more like I’m not going to race until cyclocross season, so there’s plenty of time to get fit.

I will be busy for the next few days, dodging raindrops if necessary. There’s a cold front coming late Wednesday afternoon and we might feel like winter has returned. I don’t want to give up the momentum I built this week, but when the wind chill drops back into the 20s on Thursday there’s little chance that I will be persuaded to ride.

Checks

I don’t write a lot of checks. In 2019 I wrote only 7, and 5 of them were to government entities that penalize citizens for paying by credit card. I understand that the credit card companies have transaction fees, but I’m very disinclined to pay them in the form of “convenience” charges.

Today I wrote my second check of 2020. Like the first one, it was a quarterly water bill payment. Also like the first one, it was delivered to City Hall by hand. That’s how cheap I am sometimes: I won’t even part with an envelope and postage stamp if I can help it.

I’m not a bike commuter and it’s a rare day when I run errands on the bike, but today I did. The dropbox at City Hall is super convenient. I rode straight to it from home, left my payment, then did the rest of my ride. Fitness, frugality, and social distancing? Check, check, and check!

Coping

Washington County government announced yesterday the county’s first COVID-19 fatality, one of 37 confirmed cases here. The man was my age and, like me, was employed in Waukesha County. Health department officials cited pre-existing medical conditions that made this unfortunate man more susceptible to the coronavirus. I suppose I also have a pre-existing condition: asthma. It’s not a big deal in normal circumstances, but we’re no longer living in normal circumstances.

I can go months at a time without taking a hit off my inhaler. Things were worse before I became a cyclist. I’m no doctor, but I feel like I have so greatly increased my lung capacity and efficiency that I am no longer troubled by some of the triggers that used to make me wheeze. And in recent years I have taken several measures to improve the quality of the air inside my home. Replacing the old carpet in the lower level was the biggest step forward. I shudder to think of all the dust mites, mold spores, and pet dander that resided therein. My home is smoke-free, pet-free, and more-or-less radon free. Not that radon is an asthma trigger … it’s just the second-leading cause of lung cancer behind cigarettes. So, yes, my asthma is very well controlled. But I can easily imagine that it would complicate COVID-19. Asthma or no asthma, the best thing to do is to stay uninfected.

For the last week I have been working from home, and I’m incredibly fortunate to be able to do so. In most ways, the last week has felt like the work-from-home arrangement I had with my previous employer. The big difference is the schedule: these days I’m working overnight instead of normal business hours. I’ve been doing the nighttime thing for 4.5 years now, but it has felt very different during the last week. Without the 66 miles per day of commuting between West Bend and Brookfield, I have more free time and less stress. I’m sleeping longer and better. I’m probably even eating a little better, as there’s no break room vending machine to tempt me. I’m a little ashamed to say this, given how negatively the current crisis is impacting so many others, but I’m actually better off. As long as the economy doesn’t nosedive so dramatically that I lose my job, I’m going to be OK.

Bike riding? Well, here on the last day of the first quarter of 2020, at least I can say that I’m ahead of last year’s pace. Ever so slightly. That’s got nothing to do with the coronavirus or even with the decimated racing and special events calendars that disincentivize training; it’s all about the weather. We still haven’t turned the corner. We’re 2 weeks into spring but we’re struggling to stay above 40 degrees. The thing that keeps me going is the knowledge that last spring was a crapfest too and I still got close to 5,000 miles before the end of the year. It’s impossible to believe that Wisconsin’s quarantine is going to be lifted before the end of April. I’m hoping that the combination of improving weather and continuing home-based employment will contribute to a big mileage total in the month to come.

Yes, You Can Ride Your Bike

As expected, today the governor announced much stricter quarantine rules to fight the spread of the coronavirus in Wisconsin. The rules cover almost every aspect of daily life, and collectively they amount to a Stay at Home order. Activities deemed essential—going to the grocery store to buy food, for example—are expressly permitted.

So, too, is cycling. Section 11 of the governor’s order defines Essential Activities. Paragraph C reads as follows:

Outdoor activity. To engage in outdoor activity, including visiting public and state parks, provided individuals comply with Social Distancing Requirements as defined below. Such activities include, by way of example and without limitation, walking, biking, hiking, or running. Individuals may not engage in team or contact sports such as by way of example and without limitation, basketball, ultimate frisbee, soccer, or football, as these activities do not comply with Social Distancing Requirements. Playgrounds are closed.

State parks and trails are not closed. In fact, you can use them for free.

Washington County parks and trails are not closed. In fact, you can use them for free (though county trails remain off-limits to bicycles because of an old, ill-conceived rule that has nothing to do with the pandemic).

Bike shops are not closed. You can’t use them for free, of course, but Section 13, Paragraph K recognizes them as essential businesses:

Gas stations and businesses needed for transportation. Gas stations; auto and motorcycle supply, repair and sales; boat supply, repair, and sales; and bicycle supply, repair, and sales.

Yes, you can ride your bike. Get outside and engage in healthy activities to keep your body strong, your head clear, and your spirits high.

My Own Private Eisenbahn

This coronavirus is the real deal, and it’s going to become an even bigger deal tomorrow when the governor announces that Wisconsin is basically closed. Individual outdoor exercise should be allowed to continue, but I’ll bet the unpaved parts of the Eisenbahn State Trail stay quiet. Today I saw nobody north of Northwestern Avenue in West Bend, where the pavement ends.

I’m cool with that.

Cheesehead Roubaix 2020 Is Canceled

RTC Postpones Opening Day For Trails

Today the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy postponed Opening Day For Trails, a nationwide event originally scheduled for April 18. Locally, Bike Friendly West Bend had partnered with RTC and other groups to plan activities on and around the Eisenbahn State Trail. But the coronavirus pandemic strikes again, and there’s no end in sight. This is turning into a lost season for cycling at almost every level.