Plan Z

So, it's back to this.

I was about 2 minutes into my Zwift ride tonight when the program displayed a connection failure message. All of the other riders disappeared and I was left alone on the course. Everything seemed to be working OK, but the last time all of the other riders disappeared I was not able to save my stats at the end of the session. It’s like that ride never happened. I wasn’t about to continue tonight, only to lose another workout. This episode was the latest in a string of technical failures of varying severity. I have tried to improve Internet connectivity in the home gym, but that didn’t work. I have tried using my new, much more powerful laptop. That didn’t work either.

Last winter I used my old laptop to run Zwift in the home office. The laptop was connected by an Ethernet cable to my home network gateway, so the signal was as strong as it could be; I didn’t have to worry about WiFi. And until I started Zwifting in the home gym, I still wasn’t worrying about WiFi. I have other wireless devices that work fine in that location. But something about Zwift, whether it’s running on my old laptop or my new one, is unhappy in the home gym. I’m tired of fighting with it.

Tonight I moved my trainer back to the home office. I did three short Zwift sessions and they all worked flawlessly. (I wasn’t going to attempt a long ride, only to have the connection drop before I could complete the course.) I used the new laptop, which has twice the CPU speed and twice the RAM of the old laptop. As you should expect, Zwift runs noticeably better on the new laptop. And there didn’t appear to be any connectivity issues, though the new laptop has no Ethernet port and must connect to the Internet wirelessly. My wireless access point is only inches away from the laptop’s home on my desk, so signal strength is not a problem.

This is not the setup I wanted. Among other complaints, the monitor in my home office is much smaller than the one in my home gym. But I’ll live with it.

Ride on.

Presenting The 2023 Cheesehead Roubaix

Cheesehead Roubaix XII will begin at Newburg Fireman’s Park on Saturday, April 29, at 9 a.m. CDT. Inspired by Spring Classics like Paris-Roubaix and the Tour of Flanders, Cheesehead Roubaix is a 63-mile ride that features almost 10 miles of dirt and gravel. The ride will test your fitness with rough road conditions and about 2,000 feet of climbing.

Cheesehead Roubaix is free of charge, but please consider making a voluntary contribution to the Newburg Fire Department to show your appreciation for the use of its facility. Donations will be accepted at the concessions stand before and after the ride. NFD is a small, all-volunteer department. Your generosity will make a big difference!

Cedar Creek Outdoors again will provide technical support and a mid-ride rest stop in Belgium. Please let us know you plan to attend so that we can ensure there’s enough food & drink at the rest stop. Join the fun at the Facebook event page, send me email, or leave a comment below.

Cheesehead Roubaix is designed for self-sufficient cyclists. Be prepared to handle your own flat tires and other minor mechanical issues. The ride uses only open public roads and park paths. You are responsible for your own safety and conduct, and you are expressly not exempt from Wisconsin traffic laws. Represent the sport well. Please visit the Cheesehead Roubaix website and print out your own copy of the cuesheet and map. The website also offers data files for GPS devices.

See you on April 29!

Minooka’s Loss Is Regner’s Gain

The Hugh Jass Fat Bike Series first came to West Bend during the 2019-2020 season and ran three successful races at Regner Park (plus a bonus race at Riverside Park), but the series did not plan to return to West Bend for 2022-2023. GEARS, our local advocacy group for mountain biking, decided to hold a fat bike race at Regner anyway, part of West Bend’s annual Winter Warm-Up. But things have changed, and it’s a big win for West Bend.

Winter in southeastern Wisconsin is off to a warm start. A few very cold days have been more than offset by long periods above the freezing point, and the only snow you’ll find is in a few places where it was piled up by plows or shovels. Freeze-thaw cycles have resulted in soft trails that are extremely susceptible to damage from bike tires and foot traffic. Accordingly, tomorrow’s race at Minooka Park has been dropped from the calendar. At its website, the Hugh Jass series explains, “We regret to inform you that consistent warm weather has led the Hugh Jass Team and Waukesha County Parks to the decision to cancel this weekend’s race at Minooka Park. Respecting the trail systems we use, which are maintained by our cycling community, is something that is just as important to us as having a good time. Inevitably, hosting our normal race and party this weekend would cause major damage to the trails leading us to this decision.”

The January 7 race has been rescheduled for January 21 at Regner Park. Anyone who bought a series pass or who signed up expressly for the Minooka race is now registered for Regner. And being part of the series rather than a standalone event will boost overall registrations at Regner. With only 5 races in the series, everyone who aspires to a high overall ranking will have to come to West Bend.

The big question now is whether there will be snow. The current forecast doesn’t show any, but January 21 is still too far into the future for the forecast to be trustworthy. I suspect most Hugh Jass racers would prefer a snow-covered course, but the race at Regner could go on without it. While the Minooka course relies on singletrack—bare earth that is easily churned into a mess of mud and ruts—the Regner course runs mostly on grassy fields and asphalt paths. Series points and raceday podiums are reserved for fat bikes with tires that are at least 3.7 inches wide, but don’t be surprised if you see just-for-fun racers on standard mountain bikes or even on cyclocross bikes if the course is free of snow.

2022: A Statistical Review

Garmin Connect combines indoor and outdoor miles, but I don't.

How did I do in 2022, my 19th season as a cyclist? By the numbers, it was not an impressive year. I rode 4,190 miles outdoors, down from 4,704 in 2021. That decline came despite only a tiny reduction in frequency—143 rides this year versus 148 rides last year—but my average distance per ride dropped from 31.8 miles to 29.3 miles. I set no new monthly mileage records, and a metric century on October 22 was my longest ride of the season. My 4,190-mile total ranks 14th all-time and is my lowest output since I rode 4,100 miles in 2013, a season shortened by injury.

On the upside, I exceeded my goal of 3,612 miles in 2022 to surpass 85,000 lifetime miles. In 2023, my goal will be to reach 90,000 lifetime miles. I will need 4,422 miles to get there. I’m trying to stay on pace to reach 100,000 miles in 2025, the year in which I will turn 60. But obviously it would benefit me to exceed 4,422. I don’t want to rely on back-to-back seasons of 5,000 miles in 2024 and 2025.

I spent more than 53 hours on the turbo trainer in 2022, my biggest effort since 2008. That’s good news and bad news. I always would prefer to ride outside, but I have such an aversion to cold weather that riding inside is frequently the better choice. Having a smart trainer and a Zwift subscription has made indoor riding far less of a grind, so I’m doing it more consistently.

I missed my goal of 500 walking miles. Hurting my left leg in August put an end to that idea. I finished 2022 with 295 miles of fitness walking. I’m setting a goal of 260 miles in 2023. That’s 5 miles per week on average, and it’s enough. It is just cross-training, after all. I’m not trying to be a competitive walker.

June 10, 2023, will be the 40th Anniversary of my graduation from high school. I want to get back to my senior year weight: 185 pounds. That won’t be easy, but I was there as recently as September 2019.

Off the bike, 2022 was rewarding in many ways. I had a lot of success at my job and reaped the rewards from a grateful employer. I had a very enjoyable vacation in Pennsylvania. I read 28 books. I redecorated my dining room. Even if my cycling numbers were down a bit, 2022 was a good year.

One Last Outdoor Ride In 2022

Yesterday in West Bend, we rose above the freezing mark for the first time since December 15. And we didn’t just sneak above 32° for a few minutes; by 1:25 p.m. we had hit 40° for the first time since December 3. It might have been a day of aggressive snow melting if not for the considerable cloud cover. Fortunately, we stayed well above the freezing mark overnight—extraordinarily rare at this time of year—so the melting continued unabated.

This afternoon we cracked 50° for the first time since November 29. I think we topped out at 54°, more than 20° above normal. The streets were still wet and dirty, and the park paths were blocked by snow in some places. I didn’t let that stop me; I did my first outdoor ride since November 23. It was only a 15-mile tour of West Bend, shown on the map above. And like any winter ride, it wasn’t fast. But it was a mood lifter. Winter is the equivalent of house arrest for me and we’re in the early days of this one, so any chance to get outside is a blessing. We’re going back into the 30s tomorrow and we might have fresh snow on the ground by this time next week.

K’s For Days: Done!

Today I finished the “K’s for Days” mission on Zwift, completing 500 kilometers (311 miles) of indoor cycling this month. It’s not that big of a deal, but I appreciate little incentives like this at any time of year and especially during winter. Sometime in the next few days I will surpass 1,000 miles of Zwifting in 2022. And it looks like I will finish the year with my 4th highest total of trainer minutes since I started riding indoors back in 2006.

I don’t want to focus too much on numbers like these, as it always will be my goal to ride outside as much as I can. But something like “K’s for Days” is a good fit when the snow is flying in December. I’m thinking about doing the Tour de Zwift, Jan. 9 through Feb. 5, to stay motivated as winter wears on. It would be a great way to force myself to ride several courses I haven’t tried yet.

This Blows!

Bontrager makes a nice line of tire pumps and I’ve had one for years. But stuff wears out, and my old pump isn’t connecting reliably to Presta valves anymore. The good folks at Pedal Moraine are going to order a part that should get the old pump working again. It was my only floor pump until this afternoon. The plan now is to relegate it to backup duty … maybe to store it in my car so that I always have a pump when I take my bikes somewhere. Today was a good day to invest in a new pump to serve as my primary. This Bontrager Dual Charger can switch between high volume and high pressure, and it features a big, easy-to-read gauge. I tested it on my turbo trainer tire and was immediately impressed. Great upgrade!

1,000 Miles On Zwift

Today I surpassed 1,000 lifetime miles on Zwift. I have been using the virtual cycling platform since November 2021, but only when cold and/or wet weather keeps me from riding outside. I should have reached this milestone a couple of days ago, but family obligations kept me from riding on Saturday and I lost Friday’s ride to a technical glitch.

The exact cause of the glitch remains a mystery. Zwift’s customer support team says I lost my connection to Zwift’s servers. But Friday’s ride seemed normal to me in every detail except one: I appeared to be the only rider using Zwift at that time. So, I took every sprint and every KOM and didn’t fret over all the “Ride On!” cheers I wasn’t getting. At the end of the ride I selected Save and the course—one that I had never ridden before—appeared to be completed. But my ride never showed up on Zwift.com or on Garmin Connect. I then shut down the Zwift application. Upon restarting, I was prompted to update the software. After doing so, Friday’s course reverted to incomplete. In my manual training log I gave myself credit for riding, but “officially” the ride never happened. Those statistics are simply lost.

Yesterday I completed two courses on Zwift and everything worked as expected. Today’s ride also was free of glitches. Friday’s ride stands alone as the time Zwift failed me. Overall, I have been satisfied with the service, and I still have only scratched the surface of what it can do.

More Of The Same

When I find something that works, I stick with it. In the last couple of weeks I outfitted myself with new copies of old favorites.

My endurance road bike, the BMC, will need new tires to start the 2023 season. I didn’t even look at other options; I love Continental Gatorskins. You could say I love them too much, but I’m not asking my existing tires to last as long as their predecessors. I have more than 3,240 miles on the current pair, and that’s probably enough even though they’re still performing.

That new Bell Formula MIPS helmet will be my everyday helmet, replacing an older copy of the same thing. I probably should be replacing my helmet every five years or so, given how frequently I ride. Not sure how old the existing helmet is, but it’s starting to look a bit shabby.

The new saddle is a Fizik Arione, the same model I use on my BMC. This one will go on my Framed Gravier, replacing the stock Selle Italia Boost. The Fizik Arione is 90g lighter—I’m still trying to cut weight from the surprisingly heavy Gravier—and it’s significantly longer and narrower. That’s a better fit for me. Also, its surface is easier to move along. The Selle Italia Boost has a sticky, rubberized feel that I don’t like. I got the new Fizik Arione online from Walmart, believe it or not, where it was more than $30 cheaper than any other reputable retailer’s price.

Watch this space! I’m not ruling out more new goodies before spring.

The 2023 ToAD Schedule