Water, Water, Everywhere …

In California the rain isn’t falling and the state is in the throes of a damaging drought. State and local governments are using a variety of conservation methods to stretch the existing supply of fresh water. California has 840 miles of coastline on the Pacific Ocean, but that water is unfit for human consumption or for most agricultural applications because it contains salt.

In West Bend we have had slightly more snow than average. Right now the snow cover on my yard is a little more than 12 inches deep, so over my third of an acre I have something like 10,000 gallons of frozen water. If I could harvest it, that would be enough to supply all of my family’s water needs for an entire month. I won’t harvest it, of course, and sooner or later it will find its way into the ground or into the storm sewer and then on to the Milwaukee River and then on to Lake Michigan. And on its journey it will combine with the melted snow from my neighbors’ yards and the parks and the farmland, etcetera.

No, we’re not in any danger of running out of fresh water. What we need to ration—wait for it—is salt! At least, that’s what our Department of Public Works said yesterday:

“The City of West Bend will immediately begin conserving salt due to the current weather trend the region is experiencing. The change in operation philosophy is needed to maintain a reasonable supply of salt and preserve safety. In order to effectively conserve salt, deicing materials will only be applied to main roads, select hills, curves and intersections. By allocating salt, the city will be able to stretch operations further into the year and thereby assuring safer driving conditions in the long term. Treatment of main roads and intersections will remain unchanged, but drivers may notice a change, especially in residential areas.”

The problem is that we are getting small-but-frequent accumulations instead of large-but-infrequent ones. There were 19 snow treatment operations in December alone, and several more this month. To stay prepared for a big storm, the city now plans to be more conservative in its treatment of small ones.

What does that mean for local cyclists? It’s not great news. With major roads like Washington, Main, Decorah and Paradise getting most of the attention, the secondary roads—the roads we use most often—might be in rough shape for many weeks to come. That’s not just true within West Bend, but also in the surrounding areas where the same snowfall pattern has prevailed. As much as we suffer when we get clobbered by a 12-inch storm, from a road maintenance perspective it’s better than having six 2-inch storms.

I am not even thinking about riding outside right now. My streak of consecutive months with at least one outdoor bike ride ends today. I rode outside in every month from February 2011 through December 2013, but not this month. We had just four days with a high temperature above the freezing mark, and those days were still unsuitable because of the wet, filthy roads and the very high winds. It just wasn’t worth the trouble.

Fishin’ For Ambition

As the coldest winter in 30 years drags on here in southeastern Wisconsin, it is pretty hard to get excited about the 2014 cycling season. I would not be surprised to see another late opening of the mountain bike trails and another shuffling of the early dates on the WORS calendar, just like last year.

Today I posted my ideal personal racing schedule for 2014. Last year I did most of what I predicted I would do. This year’s schedule is more ambitious and takes me in directions that I didn’t go in 2013. It may prove to be too much, or good results in the early mountain bike races may compel me to chase series points across the entire schedule, or I may decide to do even more on the road, but at least I now have something to motivate me to train harder. And that’s important right now, because the clock is ticking and I need to recommit to my indoor bike trainer.

Of course, the schedule as posted today doesn’t include cyclocross. It will be months before the WCA announces its 2014 dates. I will do some of those races but it would be silly of me to “save myself” for cyclocross. Let me have fun this spring and summer and then I will give to cyclocross whatever I have left when fall arrives.

Outside of competition, I'm really looking forward to the Washington County Bicycle Club season and to more hours and more miles on the road in general.

Citizen Of The World

A lot of those borders didn’t exist when I was there.

If you liked the map of American states I have visited, then this should be a nice companion piece. The map above shows all of the European countries I have visited. Throw in Canada and Mexico and you now have my entire résumé as a world traveler.

The world was quite different when I went to Europe in 1978. For one thing, the Iron Curtain was still down and my family could not visit many places that otherwise might have been appealing. Even southern Italy was closed to us … not by Soviet tanks but by the fear of violence following Aldo Moro’s assassination. My parents, my sister and I visited most of western Europe in the company of a friend who was in the United States Air Force. Our route often took us to American military bases where we did laundry and ate fried chicken. In that pre-Internet era, the military newspaper Stars and Stripes was my only link to the Major League Baseball season that I was missing. (We were in France while the Tour de France was going on, but at that time baseball was my only sporting concern.)

Our friend was stationed in Madrid, but as an officer he lived with his wife and sons in a suburban home. Arriving there early in the morning on the first day of our trip, I was wide awake and excited. Everyone else wanted to sleep, but the sun was already up so I grabbed a bike from the garage and headed out to explore the neighborhood. I didn’t know that its brakes weren’t working properly until I really needed them, and I’m lucky that I didn’t suffer a serious crash. That brief misadventure in Spain remains my only cycling experience on foreign roads.

I have not been outside of the US since July 1980 when my family spent a couple of days in Canada as part of a larger trip. In recent years I have been challenged just to visit family and friends right here in America, so traveling overseas hasn’t even been the stuff of daydreams. It would be nice to visit the United Kingdom, Ireland and Australia for the first time. And it would be nice to return to continental Europe as a cyclist. I can imagine myself taking on the cobbled roads and steep bergs that are used in the spring classics. Not this year, though.

In an earlier blog post I mentioned the possibility of a business trip to Atlanta, but that proposal now appears to be off the table. So, I am moving forward with plans to visit Pennsylvania in late March. Hopefully the weather will turn around by then, because I am going to need lots of time in the saddle while I’m on vacation.

2014 ToAD Details Announced

Today the Tour of America’s Dairyland announced details for 10 of its 11 dates in 2014:

6/19 Shorewood Criterium Cycling Classic
6/20 East Troy Cycling Classic
6/21 Giro d’Grafton
6/22 Waukesha Carl Zach Cycling Classic
6/23 Milwaukee Mile Speedway Circuit Race
6/24 Schlitz Park Criterium
6/25 Elkhart Lake Race at Road America
6/26 to be announced in February
6/27 Fond du Lac Commonwealth Classic
6/28 ISCorp Downer Classic
6/29 East Tosa Gran Prix

I’m really tempted this year. First, USA Cycling combined road, track, mountain biking and cyclocross into a single license for 2014, meaning that I would not have to buy an add-on or one-day license to participate. Then, I scheduled a vacation from the 23rd through the 27th just to keep my options open. Now, I’m looking at those two racetrack dates—Road America and the Milwaukee Mile—and they look like fun.

All Of This And Nothing

Interesting things are happening across the cycling world. The newly-crowned national cyclocross champions are tuning up for the world championships on Feb. 1-2, and a new season of UCI WorldTour road racing will begin this weekend with the Tour Down Under. If you embrace cycling in its many forms, then there really is no offseason. Every day brings news.

But in my humble corner of that world, things are pretty quiet. This is the time of year when I take care of all the underpinnings. I renewed my USA Cycling license. I bought my state trail pass and state parks vehicle sticker. I took my mountain bike to Pedal Moraine for a preseason tuneup. I even read a cycling book, a Christmas gift from my brother-in-law. I am making great progress in the home gym, rebuilding my left shoulder. I still haven’t logged any cycling miles in 2014, but I feel like my fitness is about right for mid-January. On Friday morning I will have my blood tested for high cholesterol, a hereditary condition I control with a generic statin. And soon I will see my doctor for a routine physical examination.

All of those things are worthwhile, but I would rather be riding and for me there is no place to ride right now. On the few days when the weather has been nice enough, road and trail conditions have been unacceptable. Nothing in the forecast looks tempting. I could use a vacation …

Or, at least, a business trip. My boss would like to bring our far-flung workgroup to Atlanta for a conference sometime in the first quarter of this year. (I have coworkers from Maine to Texas, many of whom I have never met in person.) If that conference happens, then I should have an opportunity to take my bike down south for a week. But right now it’s all speculation. A solo trip in March to see my mother in suburban Philadelphia seems more likely.

For now, I will keep plugging away indoors and on the snowshoes … a little uninspired, but still moving forward.

The Thin Blue Paceline

Last year I participated in the Police Unity Tour Wisconsin Riders Spinathon and one month from today I hope to participate in the 2014 edition. The Spinathon is an indoor cycling event that benefits the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund. The annual Police Unity Tour is a four-day bicycle journey of more than 300 miles from New Jersey to Washington DC. This year Wisconsin will be represented by numerous law enforcement agencies, including the Washington County Sheriff’s Office and the police departments of West Bend, Slinger, Jackson and Hartford.

The Spinathon will be held on Saturday, Feb. 8, at Pleasant Valley Tennis & Fitness Club, 2754 Pleasant Valley Road in Jackson. Three different instructor-led training sessions will be offered: 8-9 a.m., 9:15-10:15 a.m., and 10:30-11:30 a.m. Last year I followed my own workout plan instead of following along with the instructors, and no one seemed to mind! You can do like I did and take your own bike and trainer, or you can use one of the club’s Spinning bikes. Register in advance (recommended, especially if you are not bringing your own bike) or at the club on the day of the event, beginning at 7:15 a.m. Your $25 registration fee gets you not just a fun morning of training, but also an event T-shirt, a water bottle, and one ticket to the summertime pig roast (and no, I don’t think the guys see the irony in a police-sponsored pig roast). If you raise more money, you get more stuff. See the brochure for all the details. If you want to help the cause by sending donations through me, I will be happy to accept them. If you are a Facebook user, you can indicate your desire to participate by going here, but don't forget to register officially!

2013: A Statistical Review

I had a very special year in 2012 and I knew as this year began that I would be foolish to expect as much from my cycling endeavors in 2013. By almost any measure, 2013 was less successful, but that doesn’t mean it was a bad year. If you look at two of the simplest metrics—how often I rode and how far—then 2013 was above average:

Year   Rides  Miles
2013   153    4100
2012   204    5005
2011   170    5113
2010   137    4650
2009   146    4800
2008   120    3787
2007   131    4410
2006    98    3161
2005   117    3050
2004    88    1454

I didn’t race as much in 2013. At first, that was by design: I delayed the start of my mountain biking season and then raced a limited schedule because I wanted to give cyclocross my best effort. The plan seemed to be working until Sep. 8, when I broke my collarbone. I was able to start riding again one month later, but my fitness and motivation were gone.

For the second year in a row, I rode outside in all 12 months. But I didn’t beat any of my personal records for monthly mileage. And the hours I spent on indoor workouts actually increased, partly due to colder weather and partly due to injury:

Year   Trainer  Treadmill
2013   26.5     30.0
2012   14.5     12.5

In 2013 I went snowshoeing on 6 occasions, went hiking on 4 occasions, and completed 100 upper-body strength training workouts (down from last year’s 156 because of time lost to the collarbone fracture). I went to Planet Fitness on 39 occasions this year and on 3 occasions at the end of 2012, so my membership worked out to less than $2.50 per visit. That was a good value, but the experiment is over: in 2014 I will be content with my home gym and other options.

Which bike covered the most miles in 2013? As usual, this race wasn’t even close:

Year     Diamondback     Raleigh       Trek
         Steilacoom              Competition       X-Caliber
2013     2341            1270          489
2012     2889            1462          654

I use the Trek only for mountain biking or for winter rides when I might encounter snow. I use the Raleigh only for the road. I use the Diamondback for cyclocross, for rec trails, and for the road. Considering the frequency with which I do mixed-surface rides—some combination of asphalt, gravel, dirt, turf, and boardwalk—it is no wonder that the cyclocross bike gets most of the attention.

Off the bike, 2013 was enormously successful. I was able to do a bunch of things that, taken together, I could not have imagined being able to afford when the year began:

• Refinanced the house
• Replaced my car
• Repaired my wife’s car
• Replaced the water heater
• Replaced the kitchen range
• Replaced the washing machine
• Repaired the furnace
• Replaced the lawnmower

It’s all paid in full; I didn’t go into debt for any of it. And that puts me in a very good position for 2014. There are still some home maintenance concerns—there always will be—but most of the imminent threats have been addressed. As the new cycling season begins I look forward to a few important equipment changes and a full schedule of races and other special events.

Putting A Period On 2013

Crossing the Milwaukee River today at Quaas Creek Park ...

In West Bend, today was our first 40-degree day since we reached 50 degrees back on Dec. 4. We have spent almost all of December below freezing and tomorrow we will be there again as high winds from the northwest usher in a few days of below-zero lows and way below-zero wind chill. I went out on my mountain bike at the warmest part of the afternoon—43 degrees—and enjoyed a 19-mile ride around town to reach 4,100 miles for the year. Even the quietest residential streets were in good shape, but most of the trail system is covered with several inches of snow. I attempted a couple of trail sections, but the 29er just sank.

I might go snowshoeing early tomorrow before the temperatures fall into the single digits. On Thursday I went snowshoeing at Pleasant Valley Park to pack the fresh powder for the fatbike riders. (Those guys might have had a chance on the trails that defeated me this afternoon.) On Friday I went snowshoeing at Sandy Knoll County Park. Today’s ride took me past Lac Lawrann Conservancy, where volunteers were busy handing out loaner snowshoes to a big crowd of families. It’s a great way to try snowshoeing for free before investing in your own equipment … or an opportunity for someone like me to share the experience with someone who doesn’t have his/her own snowshoes. LLC will offer free snowshoeing a few times this winter when conditions are right and when volunteers are available to administer the program. And because those factors are unpredictable, these events can pop up with little warning. LLC didn’t announce today’s event until Thursday, and still more than 100 people turned out! Follow LLC on Facebook and/or Twitter to be notified.

Presenting The 2014 Cheesehead Roubaix

Four months from today you will be glad you circled April 27, 2014 on your calendar. The 5th Annual Cheesehead Roubaix is going to be a great time with a great group of people. We will follow the same challenging route, departing Fireman's Park in Newburg at 9 a.m.

The cobbled classics of the professional racing season are the inspiration for Cheesehead Roubaix. My event is a tough 63-mile ride. It’s not a race, but you will feel the spirit of Paris-Roubaix, the Tour of Flanders, and Gent-Wevelgem as you test your fitness against biting headwinds, sharp little hills and more than 10 miles of dirt and gravel. Moroder Photography will be there again to capture all the action!

Cheesehead Roubaix now has its own website from which you can download the cuesheet and map. There’s also a data file for Garmin GPS devices. As always, Cheesehead Roubaix is free of charge and registration is not required. But if you plan to attend please let me know on the Facebook event page, via email, or by leaving a comment below. The awesome staff from Belgianwerkx again will provide goodies at the mid-ride rest stop, and by letting us know that you’re coming you will help us to ensure there’s enough food and drink for everyone.

Aside from the rest stop, there will be no support along the route. Cheesehead Roubaix runs on open public roads that are, by design, at little bit out of the way. You should be a self-sufficient cyclist with enough food, water, fitness and mechanical skill to get yourself from start to finish. I look forward to seeing you in Newburg on April 27 … twice!

Erik's

This afternoon I visited Erik’s on its first day of business in downtown Grafton. The new shop occupies the space that until earlier this year housed Grafton Ski & Cyclery. The Minnesota-based chain now has six Wisconsin locations. Grafton's store is really nice looking, though not all of the remodeling is finished. And it’s a little snowboard heavy at the moment; I’m sure I will like it better once warm weather returns and the cycling stuff gets displayed even more prominently. It’s mostly Specialized with a little bit of Raleigh.

From Erik’s it takes just a few minutes to reach the new mountain bike trails at Pleasant Valley Park. That was my next stop today, just to see if anyone was around. The parking lot was empty and I assume no one was on the trails. With several inches of snow in the forecast for tomorrow, and with a week of vacation ahead, I might return to Pleasant Valley Park in the next few days for my first snowshoe outing since March 2. The fatbike crowd is grateful whenever snowshoers pack down fresh snow, and I will be happy to help if I can. I am definitely not going to ride outside anytime soon. At Erik’s I spent a couple of minutes looking at a Surly Pugsley, but only out of curiosity and without even the smallest twinge of desire.