Global Pandemic

~ admin
  • Rockstar postponed (probably can’t make it on that date)
  • Storming of Thunder Ridge cancelled
  • First TransVA 550 cancelled (second date a remote possibility )
  • Garret County Gran Fondo cancelled
  • Loundon 1725 postponed (small chance I can make it on that date)
  • Nightmare Tour probably won’t happen. A friend’s memorial service had to be postponed to that date. Her friends couldn’t show up during the pandemic, but she deserves more than a video farewell.

So, this year’s riding calendar is all but wiped out. It was my goal to do a very hard event on most months to expand my long range endurance for next year’s Tour Divide, but a global pandemic that’s killed hundreds of thousands of people, put millions out of work, and thrown the world into recession, is a tad more important. My schedule is not worth a tear, not even worth a frown, in comparison. But it still affects me personally, and it is worth mentioning in the context of this ongoing blog.

But even while the world has been going through turmoil, our government has asked us to continue exercising. Seriously, it’s a thing. So I have. I’ve brought lots of water on my rides. I’ve brought lots of food. I’ve worn a face mask ever since we’ve been asked to do so. I’ve avoided people when at all possible. And I’ve kept stops to an absolute minimum. I’ve had fewer close human contacts than the vast majority of people I’ve seen walking , running, and biking close to home.

And as completely solo ventures:

  • I set a personal record on the Fresh Bikes ride
  • I rode to Harper’s Ferry and back
  • I did my first solo 150
  • I’ve done a century every other week (on average) since February
  • 2700 miles so far this year, which puts me on track for my highest average year ever.

And I’ve got more in the tank.

  • I will do my first double this year
  • I’ll ride the entire C&O to Cumberland in one day
  • I’ll do my first back to back centuries over a weekend
  • I might (no promises) do my first double double over a weekend
  • I might ride a century on the Blue Ridge parkway
  • I might do a 150 or a double on the BRP

With our without an event to guide me, I’ll prepare myself. For what? Why? I don’t think it really matters. I want to go as hard as I’m capable.