After a year of adjustment in 2025, I’m finding a new frame of mind for cycling in 2026.

2025 was a transition. I ended 2024 with a century, but 2025 included no such ride. I was surprised to find that I hadn’t missed them. I rode shorter rides, I rode alone, and my yearly distance dropped off. I still love to ride, but those rides last year were different. 2025 was a mental and physical adjustment. How will I approach 2026?

Winter has always been tough on me, and after a hard, cold and snowy winter, the onset of spring 2026 has been welcome. One thing a new year brings is event registration emails for local clubs and events. I’m on the email lists of all of my local clubs and a few outside of my home area, so registration emails arrive before the weather warms and Daylight Savings Time makes evening rides safe and comfortable. This year, planning is fun again. It isn’t about riding because my friends are going, or because I ride these every year, but just to ease up and enjoy the ride.

I’m going to ride events, but somewhat lesser distances. 40-60 miles at most. Part of that is a concession to age, part is that I have fewer companions to go with, and part is just understanding that I want to keep riding and moving to stay fit. Speed? I’m not worried about that yet. I have no idea what I’ll be capable of. I have nobody to compete with anyway. The point is to recharge my riding, and I’m looking at events as a way to keep riding and stay motivated.

I started with the Tour De Talbot (TDT). A ride in early June that I’ve been riding for a few years now. I’m going again in 2026. It is a typical eastern shore of Maryland ride – flat, perhaps windy, but enjoyable, and this one has a ferry ride in the middle of it. That kind of experience is so enjoyable for me that it’s easy to look forward to.

This year TDT doesn’t conflict with the Patuxent Rural Legacy Ride, which I’ve enjoyed in the past. Pax runs the weekend after the Tour De Talbot. I’m riding that again in 2026. I know it won’t be the ride I remember, because I’m not the rider I remember being, but an easy, comfortable spin through those familiar surroundings sounds wonderful. All of the stops are by the Patuxent River, and riders cruise down to them and then climb out again. Most riders just remember the climbs. I’ve gone there many times, and I can’t remember not having fun there. Oxon Hill bike club puts on a good event.

Last year I got a gravel bike for a change of pace, and I’ve loved riding it. This year I’m going to ride my first Gravel Event – the Scratch ‘N Denton Gravel Grinder in August, run by the Chesapeake Cycling Club. I’ve wanted to try new cycling adventures, and this is the definition of “new”. For decades I’ve been strictly a roadie, and getting off the road for a little while is something new for me. Since this event has such novelty for me, it is probably the one I’m looking forward to the most.

There will be more to come. I may ride the Potomac Pedaler’s Lewes Delaware weekend. I’ve never done that one before, often because of event conflicts. I may go back to Portland Maine in early September for the Lighthouse Ride, but for now I’m entering spring with a mental tailwind – the kind that comes with renewed energy. I’m going to ride for the soul, and as I satisfy this urge to ride events again, I hope that they will keep me motivated. In 2025 I spent a lot of thought looking backward at what I did for the last 20 years, thinking of what has changed, and thinking of ways to define what a successful year of riding will look like. 2026 will be the start of that new definition of what riding will mean to me. Signing up for events is a good start, and I believe in starts!