Sunday, December 27, 2020

Ok, now, I really have NOT been riding...

Not long after my last post, life took a nosedive into an emotional hell, and I could not make myself get on the bike, not even to just sit on it.

Just a day after I wrote the last post, one of our cats began horking up his toenails, and a couple of days later he was diagnosed with lymphoma. Life became about trying to make him comfortable and getting him to eat, and my focus shifted from anything outside these four walls to both cats. Buddah, who was dying right in front of me, and Max, who was 19 years old and nearing the end as well.

Nine days after his diagnosis, we had to let Buddah go. I might have been able to get back on the bike after a few days, but then Max started peeing all over the house. I thought it was a UTI and I wish so badly that it had been...but instead we discovered he had a soft tissue sarcoma, and had weeks to live.

We lost Buddah on October 7th; Max died on November 13th.

Friday the 13th in 2020. I should have expected it.

In any case, between the need for constant care in the last days of their lives, and then the brutal emotional aftermath--and it was brutal for me--I just did not give a flying fark about riding.

But I'm ready to get back to it.

Somehow, I still managed to meet my minimum 2020 miles goal for the year, but I fell a little short of my 2300 goal. 

For next year, the minimum is 2021, and I'm shooting for 2300 again...knowing that if I had kept riding I would have pushed past 2500, so I know I'll have that in the back of my head and I know I'll want to hit that.

I ordered a new bike, an upgrade from my Domane AL2, a Domane AL5. It's a significant jump in the groupset, from a Shimano Claris to a 105, and is quite possibly the last bike I'll need. Oh, I'll want an Ultegra I'm sure, but I won't ever need it. And I opted for an aluminum frame over carbon for the same reason. I don't need carbon. I'm just a recreational rider, never will race or even go on group rides, so it's good enough.

So. Back at it on January 1, 2021.

Here's to hoping next year doesn't suck like this one did.