2019 Cycling Roundup

As I pointed out last year: don’t panic. The full 2019 Retrospective (i.e. the non-cycling bits) will be coming tomorrow. 😊

2019 repeated a lot of the events and themes of 2018, but more and better. That’s the way it works, right? You live, you learn and you improve.

I set a goal of matching the 9,000 km from 2018, and in the pre-season I was falling behind. It was a late winter that lingered on and motivation to keep going on the indoor trainer definitely waned. But I had an ace in the hole: I was signed up to lead the Saturday rides with the club this summer. This year, instead of 45 km rides on Sunday, I would have 75 to 110 km rides each Saturday. Combine that with the great weather and lack of forest fire smoke for the most part, I racked up quality kilometers through the summer. In the end, today I crossed the 10,000 km mark by riding the Alpe de Zwift.

I don’t expect to see that many kilometers in 2020, but then I say that every year. I think I can consider it a bucket list item checked off to have crossed 10,000.

While the winter was long, it did remind me that I live in Calgary, the land of Chinook winds. On January 18th, I got out for a solo ride with perfectly bare and dry roads. But it didn’t last. With all the practice, I managed to learn how to get on my rollers without a support. That was cool. It helped me get to the end of March when outdoor rides became a thing again.

We didn’t buy any bikes this year! But when my rear rim cracked on my Roubaix, that spurred me to get some carbon wheels to replace them. I needed to get used to the feel of the bike again, but there was no denying the improvement. And that helped me in the Gran Fondo Badlands, my third participation.

It was one of two fondos this year, the second being the Tour de Victoria. For the second year, all four of us rode in it, at the 140, 60, 60, and 30 km distances. But that wasn’t the only great thing that the others accomplished in 2019.

Tammy, Miranda and Ian went on a ride down and through Cochrane this year, which was a first. Tammy participated in the club this year, and I even got a Tuesday ride with her, which was lots of fun. Ian did a super long ride, all the way from Columbia College to home. Tammy is on the verge of passing 4,000 km for the year. She should finish tomorrow. Amazing!

The two most exceptional rides for me were my mountain bike ride in Vernon with Dan, and the BCC ride from Banff to Lake Louise. An honorable mention has to go to my ride in Prince George. When we spent a day there, I rode a lot of roads for the first time, or rode them with strong legs for the first time.

But then the summer had to end, and despite our best foolishness, even the odd winter ride came to an end. It was a good year, but seemed really short. How can 10,000 km seem short? I have no idea.

If I had to opine on the cycling year, it was a definite step up. Until this year, I think 2017 was the high-water mark, with five gran fondos and my fitness matched it. 2018 was a letdown, but the Saturday rides this year strengthened me a lot.

Everything here is thanks to Tammy kicking me onto my bike, seven years ago. ❤️