Monthly Archives: June 2021

A Fitness and Confidence Test

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Am I making progress toward the fitness I need to ride centuries again?

Tony, Ron and I halfway through the Delaware Double Cross. It was an eventful ride but I needed it!

Over the past 16 years I’ve ridden most of the cycling events that are held within driving distance of the Washington DC area. After Covid 19 struck in early 2020 all of them were cancelled for that year. There are relatively few events that have returned for 2021. However, there are two centuries that I am signed up to ride this year. The problem is that my training has changed. In past years, I would train indoors over the winter, and start riding with friends in the early spring. I would even ride a century in May. It was difficult, but group rides were plentiful, and base miles were easy to maintain. Once I had an event or two done, I never questioned my fitness. Covid has interrupted my training cycle and taken away the group rides and events I have always used to measure my progress.

My longest ride of 2020 was 42 miles. I was in a training funk after all the events I’d wanted to ride were cancelled. I rode a lot last year, but they were many short rides. 2021 is different. I’ve started riding longer distances, mostly alone. I’ve gone over 45 miles a few times, and I’m riding over 100 miles a week. I think I have enough base miles to do what I want. What I need is to regain confidence in my training. I remember being worried before my first century. I was ready, but not sure what was ahead of me. Now, after 2020, I feel that way again. Before taking on my first century of 2021 in September, I want to regain the kind of confidence in my training that I had in 2019. What I needed was an event to test myself on. I found one that was ideal for me.

The Delaware Double Cross is a little longer than the metric century distance at 67 miles, and as the name suggests, it crosses the width of the state of Delaware twice. It also crosses into Maryland for many miles. I’ve ridden it many times. The White Clay Bicycle Club from Delaware holds it, and they do a very good job of running an event. It would be the perfect test of my training. I admit I was worried. This event would be my longest ride of the year. How would I feel?

I rode with two good friends, Ron and Tony. We started at 7:30 in the morning on a grey day from the high school in Smyrna, Delaware. After getting warmed up in the first 5 miles, I went to the front and started setting the pace. 18 miles into the ride we stopped at the fire station in Leipsic, DE. I had pulled at the front for that entire time, at a good pace. As we had a snack and refilled water bottles, we talked about taking it easier. My doubts were getting quieter.

About 20-25 miles in, it started to rain. Most cyclists aren’t fond of rain. I’m philosophical about it. If rain is possible, I seal my ID and my phone in plastic bags just to be ready for the worst. If it rains, I get wet. I won’t melt. I don’t like to start a ride when it’s raining though. That’s just inviting misery. However, the three of us soldiered on, and by the time we got back to the school at the halfway point, the rain had stopped and the sun came out. We dried off a little, got some snacks and water, and headed west for the second half of the ride.

Ron’s knee brace had slipped, and he was feeling his injuries. We slowed a little, but we were still moving well, and I started to feel hopeful. This was the way that events were supposed to feel. I had energy to go faster if I wanted to. When we reached the 50 mile mark and the rest stop at the Fire Station in Millington, Maryland my doubts were draining away. A big thunderstorm cell was passing to the east, and as we looked out at it, we thought it might stay ahead of us and with a little luck we could get back safe and dry. We were wrong. 55 miles in, the skies opened up. It was a mighty downpour, and we were soaked to the skin. It started to ease up after we had gone a few more miles. It stopped before we got to the finish, and the roads were starting to dry up before we got back to the school. We still felt good, and we were happy that it wasn’t raining while we were trying to get our bikes on the cars.

Celebrating our wet and wild Double Cross at the Crab Deck afterward.

After changing out of wet cycling clothes and having a beer to celebrate our ride, I had no more doubts. We had a late lunch at the Crab Deck on Kent Island, and despite the rain we all agreed that it was a good time. I may be aging and I may have lost my events in 2020, but I’m back. I felt good, and I could have gone faster than I did. When I got home I checked over, cleaned and lubricated my bike, because riding in the rain demands maintenance, and I need to keep it running smoothly. I have a lot to look forward to. If I keep up my rides, I’m going to be ready for centuries in September.

Birthdays, adapting to change, and finding small joys

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Facing the challenges of an uncertain future.

The second half of 2021 looks hopeful. I’ve been riding regularly, but I have not returned to the kind of riding I’ve done in past years. 2020 was an awful year, and it’s had an affect on my cycling. I’m finding that the few events I can participate in this year are becoming a lifeline of sorts. My personal landscape in cycling has changed from what it’s been for the last decade or so. I’m used to riding with a team of friends whom I could count on, and I have fond memories of those years. Over the last year, much has changed. My friends are retiring, and some are not riding the same events that we once got excited about. What has been a kind of comfortable certainty for over a decade has changed, seemingly forever.

From the Patuxent Rural Legacy ride in 2016. As I turn 60, I often think of how cycling has created so many of the small joys that I live for.

My life is a series of challenges. As I take them on, I look for small joys that can be had along the way. I collect small joys. I don ‘t think happiness is a goal, or something big that you earn all at once to enjoy as you see fit. Happiness is a series of small joys that come along with the trials of life. A life well lived will have many small joys to sustain it. They must be enjoyed as you encounter them, and saved as fond memories to see you through times of change and challenge. This month I turn 60 years old. It seems like a daunting number, but I still feel strong and healthy. I realize that I have been road cycling seriously for the past 16 years. When I started in 2005, I was dealing with a lot of life changes and I needed something to keep me going. When I decided to pursue cycling, I started a life changing habit. As long as I keep riding, I have access to those small joys. As I plan for events in the fall, I’ve come to see that I’ll have to accept more changes and ride for myself. I think that what I’ll gain is new perspective, and many more small joys to add to my life.

Despite the need for change, I can’t help but get excited about the rides I’ve signed up for this fall. Perhaps I will get some inspiration and find new ways to enjoy these familiar events. I recently signed up for the Seagull Century. I have a low rider number – which for veterans of this event is a symbol. Before online registration those who had ridden the year before were mailed registration forms before they became available to new riders. Therefore a low number meant you were a veteran. Though this no longer holds true, something about riding with a low number at Seagull makes you feel like a veteran. In my case I am a veteran. At one time I had friends who would register as soon as possible, then email their numbers around to compare them with each other’s. It was a small joy. I don’t have that pleasure any more, but I still feel the thrill when registration opens and I commit to a ride that I’ve completed every time it’s been held since I rode it as my very first century ride in 2006. It has a lot of personal tradition attached to it.

I’m riding only a few events in 2021. Many of the events I’ve enjoyed in the past aren’t being held this year because their planning was interrupted due to the lingering uncertainties of Covid-19. From last to first, they are the Seagull, the Maine Lighthouse ride, which is perhaps the most beautiful ride I’ve ever done, the Covered Bridges Classic, which is a hot ride held in Lancaster PA in August, and the Delaware Double Cross, which is held in late June, and it will make a nice step in training for the longer rides. I’ll be with a co-worker at Covered Bridges, and with an old friend for Double Cross, but otherwise I can’t say who I might ride with. In many ways, that is exciting.

Now that I have my schedule, it’s time to stretch out my training. Now that Covid restrictions are being eased, I can start looking for club rides and getting fit for the challenges I’ve signed up for. I’ll have to approach things in a new way, but change is one of the only constants in life, and I’m ready for it. 60 years of age doesn’t bother me much, not when I consider the health and activity levels of the average man my age. I will continue to chase small joys on my bicycle, and I’m certain that I’ll have no trouble catching them!