2015: Goals Met, and Mostly Un-Met

GOALS: 2015

(Now, that was a year!)

My annual bragging post, wherein I laud myself and my cycling achievements. Ah, but this year wouldn't turn out as I'd hoped it would. I'm not sure what this year was called in the Chinese calendar, but for me, it will forever remain in my memory as “The Year of the Squirrel.” (Non-cycling events notwithstanding.)

This post is a departure from my previous five….thankfully. I’m happy to take a leave from my other posts’ subject and return to what I originally intended this blog to be about: cycling. My hobby, and life, outside of work and family. After a record-setting (for me, anyway) year in 2014, I had high hopes for 2015. I set some goals, hoped to improve, and do the big one...something that, for me, signifies a truly serious cyclist.

So, my racing goals for the year were a repeat of the previous year’s: Sullivan Triathlon, Tri-Shark, Decatur’s RTM tri, and Oak Run tri (my favorite), with the addition of the ABR TT series. On a related front, I hoped to repeat my sub-30 TT of 2014, and then head to Decatur to repeat the feat at their TT.

Outside of racing I had three goals. First, I hoped to return to Durango on Memorial Day weekend to redeem myself after a feeble ride there three years earlier. Second, I’ve never logged 1000 miles in a calendar month (I’ve never even done 900!), and I felt this was my year. Lastly, the big one. The double century. 200 miles in one day. On a bicycle. Nothing to sneeze at. This would take training, planning, and luck. (Just kidding about that last, I don’t believe in luck.)

January and February started out as expected, with some cold, some snow, and a few rideable days. I spent some time on the trainer, and managed a few outside rides. March finally arrived, and riding weather accompanied it. My training kicked into high gear, with rides getting longer as the days did the same, and my fitness began its long upward climb, until……

March 22, at 11:30 a.m. my training crashed to a halt, both figuratively and literally, courtesy of Stew the squirrel. I would be out of action for a full three months. Three months of near zero activity quickly erased my early-season fitness gains. When I finally did get to remount my bike and ride, I felt like a kid who had just learned to ride. Everything felt a little foreign, and try as I might, I could not bring my bike and me up to anything resembling a decent pace. It looks like I’d have to downgrade my goals, but I had no idea where to set them. With no previous experience with a situation such as this, I had to settle for some non-specific goals...ride more, get faster, have fun, etc.

Ride more...more than what? More than I rode from late March through late June? Easy enough. Ride faster...faster than my first time back? Yeah, I can do that. Have fun...isn't that a given? Looking at these, it appeared I had no concrete goals for the second half of the year. I would just have to be satisfied riding when I could, and pushing myself as I was able. My first two scheduled races for the year were out, and my season ending race had been cancelled, leaving my race season with just one lonely event, and that was less than three weeks after I was to return to riding.

After my unfortunate absence from the sport I love so well, I finally, eagerly got back in the saddle on June 23. Time to start my year anew. That first evening back on two wheels was a real wake-up call. I felt so lethargic, no matter how hard I'd try, I had no power. When I would power down on the pedals, that familiar leap forward was missing. That wondrous feeling of freedom I'd experienced so many times was changed. I had some work to do, apparently.

Fortunately, I had the next couple of weeks off from work for our annual summer shutdown to start my buildup, so I used this time for training. For the first month, it seemed I was not capable of going farther than about 35 miles...which was incredibly frustrating for someone who’d ridden seven rides over 100 miles in eight weeks the previous year. In time (and with no small effort) I finally broke through that barrier and was able to increase my distance and time on the bike to levels, while far short of previous, I felt were more what I expected of myself.

Unencumbered with any objective goals, I found myself enjoying the year out on the road. No rides I “had” to do, no distances I “had” to achieve, no races I expected to do well in. No pressure, except the pressure to improve. So, I just rode for fun. (Honestly, I always do that, but there was less pressure now!)

You may be wondering, “So then, just what achievements did you accomplish?” Glad you asked. One slightly breezy, warm Saturday I headed out with a friend to rendezvous with another friend in Rantoul, a 60+ mile trip. We had plenty of time for the ride, so I navigated us in a *ahem* circuitous route. This route took us on roads unfamiliar, to towns unexplored, and at the end of the day, we had logged 100 miles. My first century post-Stew! We celebrated with some fine barbecue and beers in the small village of Paxton on our way home. On another day, I planned to ride about 70 miles while accompanying a friend who was training for the Ironman World Championships, we rode, chatted, and wound up with 100 miles again! Having completed two long rides in a year that I had written off as a loss had me quite pleased. On the competition side, I did participate in one race, the RTM triathlon in Decatur. This was scheduled a mere eighteen days after I was released by my doctor to ride. I didn’t have high hopes, and had targeted a finish about ten minutes slower than the previous year’s. I was quite happy to beat that goal by one minute, and even beat a few people I did not expect to!

Overall, considering my early-season setback, my year went well enough. In fact, for 5 months of 2015 I recorded more miles than the same months in 2014, despite having 2800 fewer miles for the year. In the middle of the year, I averaged about 600 miles for three consecutive months, and if you add the miles from March (in which I rode through the 22nd) to the miles from June (in which I rode from the 23rd on), I had a month of over 550 to add to those others!

All of you data geeks, enjoy the numbers below. All of my miles, broken down by month, and by bike:

So, 2015, the “Year of the Squirrel” is behind me now. On to bigger and better things…..or so I hope. Hope to see you on the road!