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.

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!