2020 – A Fresh Start – RideCycleSpin

With a new year upon us, it seems like a good time to summarize my past year (and decade). 2019 was a year of ups and downs as far as fitness and cycling go. I started the year with a renewed focus on training and I had an indoor set-up that motivated me through the winter months.

I joined the website Trainer Road and with my “new” power meter, I was able to get some indoor time before the snow melted. However, the flip-side was that I wasn’t riding outside as much as I had in previous winters. The desire to bundle up and ride in the snow had diminished.

When spring finally arrived, I went on vacation to Las Vegas where I rented a bike and rode some of the fine trails and roads east of the city.

I continued to ride through the spring, but not as much as I had in previous years. In June, I joined a 160 km group ride on the Simcoe County Loop Trail (SCLT). After about 120 km, I started to feel dizzy and slowly, those too-familiar concussion symptoms returned. I cut the ride short at the 120 km point. I have unfinished business on this trail and I plan to close the loop in the near future!

In July, my friend Taryn and I did an overnight bikepacking trip from KW to Elora. It was really hot on those two days, but it was a manageable distance each day. Taryn wanted to test her bikepacking gear for bigger events. She did the COLT in three days in the fall and you can read about it on her new blog!

In August, I joined a slo-pitch game with my colleagues at work. I used to play a fair bit of softball/slo-pitch many years ago, so I was excited to see if I still had some skills. I dug up my 25-year old ball glove and joined a couple dozen co-workers for a fun game. I stepped up to the plate 4 or 5 times and I was able to make contact and run the bases. And that was the problem… “running” the bases. That evening, after the game, my knees were killing me. The sharp, stabbing pain in my left knee prevented me from putting any weight on that leg. Over the next couple of days, the pain subsided and I was able to hobble around with the help of a knee brace, a walking pole and lots of ibuprofen.

Through the late fall and summer, I couldn’t ride as much as I would have liked, but I did get in a 130 km ride from Waterloo to Guelph, then on the Guelph-to-Goderich (G2G) rail trail. The cycling team Toronto Hustle organized this ride to raise money for the G2G trail. This rail trail will connect Guelph to Goderich. Much of the trail is in great shape thanks to volunteers and countless hours of work. West of about Milverton, the trail gets more difficult but with donations, I’m hopeful we’ll see improvements in coming months and years! Oh one more thing… I completed this ride on a new gravel bike. More on that in a future post, but … hey… new bike!

A quick summary of my 2019 cycling year:

Outdoor distance: 2,767 km
Riding time (outdoors): 130 hours
Indoor time: 20 hours
Longest activity:130 km
Road ride distance: 643 km
Gravel bike(s) distance: 1443 km

Most of my rides from 2019 are shown here (Not included are my rides in Eastern Ontario, and in Nevada).

I’m not big on New Year’s resolutions, but I plan to ride more than I did in 2019, both in terms of time and distance! I also want to explore some new areas/trails/roads, so send me some ideas!

Finally, 2019 was a good year for discovering new music. If you feel so inclined, check out these musicians, and never, ever underestimate the power of live music!