I did things, quietly, a bit different this year over last. While gravel season was easy, as I like it, I haven’t taken it as easy as I normally would on the trainer. Simply put, I didn’t want to have to work as hard to make gains come the first of the new year. Last year was a little tougher than I’d have liked getting back into shape for the spring so I decided I’d go harder on the trainer so I didn’t lose so much ground over November and December..

I also bought a speed sensor this year and hooked that up on my trainer wheel so I could get a better sense of my mileage. I’m not liking it very much. It turns out I’ve got to work a lot harder for 20-mph on the trainer than on the road. I don’t now if it’s a quirk or what, but I can set the trainer to give me the right speed range for the effort but I don’t like the resistance I’m getting – it’s too easy. Comparatively, if I roll outdoors in the third lowest gear (from the top of the cassette), that’s 18-mph. With the trainer set the way I like the resistance, I have to roll fourth highest (from the bottom) to get that on the trainer at about a 90 cadence. In other words, I’m three gears harder on the trainer than on the road. This is also going to throw my indoor mileage off for next year by a mile or two a day, but it’s going to be an awesome carrot leading into spring. I made the decision to chase it… because what’s a couple hundred miles between friends, anyway?

My totals are tabulated from last year. I’ve got 8,430 outdoor miles and another 1,394 indoor miles for a total of 9,824 miles for the year which works out to an average speed of 18-mph. I’m pleased with where things shook out and equally glad I didn’t get all freaked out trying for 10,000 miles.

I have high hopes for later this year, I’ll sign my wife and I up for the Horsey Hundred in Kentucky after some discussion with our group that normally heads down for the weekend – we may just skip this one and wait till next year. Doing that would mean our first road trip would be mid-June and everyone (who wants to be) should be vaccinated by then, so I’ll have to reserve a campsite for that one. I’m already in for DALMAC (the 50th) – this is a virtual lock to go off as it normally would. That’ll leave having to sign up for the Assenmacher 100 in August. The annual Ride for Recovery is questionable, though. The RfR is a tricky one. It’s the last Sunday in April and I don’t know if the state of vaccination will be enough by then. I’ll reserve signing up for that for later, though one way or another, Dawn Farm will get a contribution. After all, I owe that place my recovery from addiction.

Other than those rides, it’ll be play the rest by ear. I don’t anticipate matching last year’s mileage, but I wouldn’t count it out, either. I’m not so much worried about quantity anyway… quality is vastly preferable. With the friends I’ve got, quality won’t be a problem. My friends and I $#!+ excellence. And so it should ever be.

Anyway, FU 2020. Let’s leave it at this: it shouldn’t be too hard for ’21 to be an improvement over last year…