Returning To Full Health

I got 4.5 hours of outdoor exercise this week. Baby steps …

I came into October strong and I’m leaving it on the upswing, but the three weeks in the middle were rough! After my bike crash on October 7th, I didn’t do anything remotely athletic until the 23rd. Then I resumed walking for fitness. On Friday morning I even picked up a Garmin Connect badge, my first since September 29th.

On Saturday afternoon I got on the bike for the first time since my crash. I would have been content with another walk, but again Garmin Connect provided extra motivation. I needed just 11 more miles to complete the October mileage challenge. But I didn’t feel like doing much more than that: I finished the day with 17 miles, bringing my October total to a modest 162. That’s my lowest monthly total since February. I am not yet fully recovered and as the weather continues to decline I am unlikely to ride outside again this year.

Today there was a third Garmin Connect badge on offer, so I knocked out a 5K walk around the neighborhood. I’m still working on the overall walking challenge for the 4th quarter of 2021, and I’ll probably need all of November and at least some of December to complete it.

One of the worst things about getting hurt was being shut out of the home gym. Because my crash happened at the end of a week-long vacation, I already had missed several training sessions. November begins tomorrow and so does my winter strength program. It may be slow going at first. My left arm and shoulder are still a little tender. Weightlifting, stretching, foam rolling … everything stopped when I got hurt. I’m happy to be moving again, but I will take care not to do too much too soon.

The 2021-2022 Hugh Jass Fat Bike Schedule

Here’s the schedule for Season 7 of the Hugh Jass Fat Bike Series, which includes a race at West Bend’s Regner Park for the third straight season:

1. 11/27 – Lake Geneva Ziplines & Adventures - Lake Geneva

2. 12/11 – Trek Headquarters - Waterloo

3. 01/01 – Minooka Park - Waukesha

4. 01/22 – Regner Park - West Bend

5. 02/12 – New Fane - Kewaskum

6. 02/26 – Black Hawk Trails - Madison

Fan Status Reconfirmed

At the midpoint of this year’s race, Sina Frei and Laura Stigger are crushing the women’s field.

Thanks to the Absa Cape Epic, I am a bike racing fan again! I had been AWOL for a few weeks. But each stage of the 8-day African mountain bike race is free to watch on YouTube, and the 7-hour time difference puts the live broadcast in the small hours of the morning on this side of the Atlantic. That’s perfect for a 3rd Shift worker like me. I’ve got my job on one computer monitor and the race on another. Rest assured: I’m not neglecting my job, but in spare moments I’ll un-mute the race and get caught up.

I didn’t see any of the three UCI Cyclocross World Cup races here in the United States this month. Injury kept me from attending the race in Waterloo, and economy kept me from subscribing to FloBikes to watch the broadcasts. I’ve said it before: it’s now almost impossible to watch cyclocross for free. So, I’m very grateful for the Cape Epic broadcasts on YouTube, just as I love the Red Bull.tv coverage of the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup.

Annika Langvad—the Danish woman who won the Cape Epic five times during a career marked by success on the road, in mountain biking, and in cyclocross—is providing the color commentary for this year’s broadcast. And she has valuable insight, but it’s also kind of sad that she isn’t racing anymore. She was a cyclist after my own heart, someone who was good at everything and not a one-dimensional specialist.

I like Dutch cyclists Marianne Vos and Lucinda Brand for the same reasons, and Italy’s Eva Lechner, and France’s Pauline Ferrand-Prévot. Among the men, Mathieu van der Poel (Netherlands), Wout van Aert (Belgium), and Tom Pidcock (Great Britain) shine as multi-discipline stars. There’s a ton of talent out there right now.

But in addition to Langvad, a couple of recent departures have made cycling feel a little less like the sport with which I fell in love. Sophie de Boer (Netherlands) announced her retirement this week. She was one of my favorite cyclocross racers. And Katie Compton, who reigned for a decade and a half as the American women’s cyclocross champion, was forced out of the sport by a positive doping test that she and her husband clumsily denied. I didn’t say anything in August when the Compton story broke. I hoped it would prove untrue—she had been such a great ambassador for American cyclocross—but two months later there’s still no good reason to doubt the validity of the test results.

I’ll get over it. Yes, I miss many now-retired pros: Sven Nys, Paolo Bettini, Thomas Voeckler, and a bunch of others. But cycling renews itself every season. This week, for example, I recognize only a few of the names of the Cape Epic riders, and that’s OK. It’s still bike racing.

Grim Days

A week has passed since my big crash in Pennsylvania. I have been in dull pain and discomfort ever since. But the healing process is evident. I have more movement in my left arm than I expected at this point, and I have grown an array of scabs over my road rash that almost rivals the rocky carapace of Marvel Comics superhero The Thing.

Despite my injuries, I got through a full week of work without much trouble. I don’t know how I would have made it if I were not working from home; going into the office would have been torture. And for a little extra consolation, I didn’t miss many opportunities for outdoor recreation. Until this afternoon we were in a dark and rainy funk for several days.

I am content to be a bum for a while longer. It’s October, so there are plenty of schlocky monster movies to watch. The new NHL season has just begun. I’m reading books again after taking a break in September. With so many “easy chair” distractions, my convalescence should be done in time for raking leaves and other autumn yard chores.

By next week I may be doing fitness walks/hikes again, but I have no target date for getting back on the bike. My next ride might be indoors.

Back In Wisconsin … Broken

It was a great vacation in Pennsylvania until Thursday afternoon when I crashed on the road and badly injured my left shoulder … again. Pretty sure I know what to expect: two weeks without the use of my left arm, then a fairly rapid period of improvement, and finally a long winter of rebuilding strength in the home gym. I’m a mess: road rash all over the left side of my body. But aside from the shredded handlebar tape that needed to be replaced anyway, I think the bike is OK. At the moment I don't really care. I think my outdoor riding season is done for 2021.

I’m still replaying the crash in my head, and I’m still failing to understand it. I hit a bump in the road with such violence that the handlebar was wrenched from my hands. Fortunately there were no other people or vehicles nearby.

Working from home is going to prove its worth again tonight. As my new work week begins I will be relatively comfortable in my home office where no one will ask why I’m limping and holding my left arm tightly against my chest. And having my oldest kid living with me again is going to ensure a steady flow of groceries to the house. It will be a while before I make my next appearance in public, and unfortunately that means I won’t be at Trek HQ in Waterloo tomorrow for the UCI World Cup cyclocross races.

Zwift is looking better all the time. I can’t keep breaking myself like this.

Sunburst Surprise

Because it was kind of a rest day but not a complete day off, today I decided to visit a short section of the Ice Age Trail that I had not seen before. My brief hike turned out to be something more than I expected.

I started at the Ridge Road trailhead and followed the trail to Sunburst Winter Sports Park. I thought my hike would be a simple out-and-back, but on my return I decided to leave the Ice Age Trail and its familiar yellow blazes for wherever the white blazes might lead. And by following those white blazes I not only got to see even more trail I had never seen before, but I also got to revisit some that I had. In the days of the Sunburst Showdown—formerly part of the Wisconsin Off-Road Series—I raced my mountain bike there. The back of the ski hill always had more potential for fun than the front, but it’s all private property and getting access was a challenge.

Anyway, the combination of the Ice Age Trail and this other trail made for a short but challenging loop with a lot of elevation change. My counter-clockwise, 2.7-mile lap took 47 minutes.

That’s as much as I could squeeze into my schedule today, but I’ll go back soon to knock out a couple of laps now that I know it’s an option.

A Ride For The Statuesque And The Not-So-Chiseled

West Bend has a surprising array of no fewer than 36 significant pieces of outdoor sculpture. Some are visible from public streets, but others are tucked away in city parks and the best way to experience the collection is by bicycle. You’ll have that opportunity on the Tour de Sculptures next Sunday, October 3, no matter what kind of bike rider you are. Tour guides will be on hand to provide information about each piece. Check out the flyer below, and keep watching the Facebook event page for updates … especially if bad weather creeps into the forecast.

Late September Is Looking Up

As I mentioned on Monday, I am focusing on climbing for the remainder of September. Today I got plenty: 3,182 feet. There wasn’t a lot of flat road today. Check out the profile:

Today’s ride was stupidly windy too. The combination of hills and wind made for a lower average speed than you should expect from me. I’m very satisfied, though, not disappointed. And I tested a loop in northwestern Washington County that would be excellent for hill repeats. Maybe I’ll go back to it in the week to come. My goal for September is 20,000 feet, and after today’s ride I’m still looking for another 4,019. I’ve allowed myself too many days off the bike this month; otherwise I could have hit my goal with the sorts of rides I usually do. So, now I’m pushing myself and today’s ride was a big step in the right direction.

Last Of The Summer Whines

Autumn will begin on Wednesday. That’s the official start, anyway. Unofficially, autumn has been here since August 31st or thereabouts. It was then that the days became noticeably shorter, the mornings noticeably colder, the leaves a noticeably less uniform green. Things are unraveling quickly. We’re still getting an occasional burst of summer, but have we seen the last of the 80° days in 2021? In the 10-day forecast there are no 80° days and only one 70° day. On Wednesday we might be lucky just to hit 60°. And with overnight temperatures dipping into the low 40s this week I may be turning on the furnace and forgetting all about the air conditioner until next July.

Fortunately, I have no cycling mileage goals for the remainder of September. I will be happy with whatever I get. My real focus will be on climbing: I want to climb at least 1,000 feet on every ride between now and October 1st. That’s not guaranteed around here, and I certainly won’t find it on the Eisenbahn State Trail. I plan to spend the bulk of my time in the Town of Wayne (Washington County’s northwest corner) and in the Northern Kettle Moraine.

When October rolls around I will be in my native Pennsylvania. My vacation will feature some cycling, but in a sense it will be the end of my season. On my return to Wisconsin I will ramp up my cross-training program. More than ever before, this year I have continued to cross-train throughout the cycling season. But autumn, for all of its sickening crimes against cycling, really is the time for those other activities to shine. I plan to walk more, hike more, ruck more, and return to longer and more structured strength training workouts in the home gym. I will be only a fair weather cyclist for the rest of the year.

This morning I reached a walking milestone: 100 walks since I started tracking on Garmin Connect this time last year. And with my next walk I will surpass 300 miles of walking in 2021. Garmin treats hiking and walking as distinct activities, so my hikes have not contributed to these totals. There’s a lot more of this to come in the next three months.

And then what? I’m still thinking about a smart trainer and a Zwift membership to get me through the deepest, darkest months of winter. If something as simple as a Garmin Forerunner GPS-enabled sports watch can make me train more by turning my non-cycling workouts into a game, then how much more would I get out of indoor cycling with Zwift? I hesitate purely on financial grounds. If I could have the equipment and the membership for free, then I would grab it in an instant.

Covering A Lot Of Ground

Meh.

Today I reached 4,000 miles, year-to-date. It’s a nice milestone even if it has become rather common. This is my 13th consecutive season with at least 4,000 miles. And I feel like I have arrived late. Today’s ride was just my 7th ride this month. What about the other 7 days? We’ve had as many bad weather days as good ones, and I’ve been busy with home renovations and other domestic chores. Tomorrow’s weather looks great—just as warm as today but without the high winds—but I probably won’t have a chance to ride. A thousand square feet of new carpet goes into the upper level of my house tomorrow and I have to stick around for the installation. I’ve carved out a 3-hour block just for the arrival of the installers. Who knows how long the job itself will take? I shouldn’t complain; the house will be really nice by Wednesday evening. But halfway through September it looks like I will be well off the pace for a 5,000-mile season. If I’m being honest, then I’ve already given up on that goal. There are others, though. I’m not done.