In Which I Summarize and Seek a Name

 

Pretty late afternoon winter sun shines on the visibility flags of my tricycle as I pause on a ride Dec. 20, 2025, along the Krumholtz Trail in Marion, Iowa.

We’re about a week into the new year of 2026. I want to look back a bit on 2025 and then look ahead.

I’m not big on New Years resolutions—I don’t dislike the practice, I’m sure setting measurable goals are a good motivator for many people, but it’s just not the way my brain works. And in my biking life, unexpected events derailed my last attempt to attain a goal. At the start of 2024, I noted on this blog that I had ridden 2,954 miles in 2023, and stated that I wanted to top 3,500 in 2024.

Here's what I wrote in January, 2024: “In 2023, I rode 3,346.22 (miles), I’m sure a modest milage total for serious bikers, but a slight increase in annual miles for me. In 2024, I’m setting a goal of 3,500 miles. I’m still working (I retire in spring, 2025), and I hope that my bike miles will go way up in 2025, but a 50-mile increase from 2023 to 2024 seems doable, I hope. Maybe 4,000 in 2025? We’ll see.”

What we saw was a math-challenged rider who didn’t reach his goals. For various reasons, it wasn’t possible for me to ride RAGBRAI in 2024 or 2025, which cut my miles. And, as 2024 went on, I started to develop troubling symptoms—dizziness and chest pressure—that led me to limit longer rides as the year was coming to a close. Late in the year, I saw a heart doctor, who declared me temporarily unfit for biking for a time, until I had a heart bypass operation in January of last year.

So, instead of increasing my miles in 2024 and 2025, I actually rolled fewer miles—2,954 in 2024 and 1,843 in 2025 (1,842.7, to be more precise, but I’m rounding the other years to whole numbers).

From a spreadsheet I keep in my Google Drive (yes, I am that nerdy), my monthly mile totals riding bikes and my trike in 2025. Note the huge spike in September--I was given a new tricycle for my birthday in late August. Rides slowed down after that due to both a two-week trip in October and bad December weather, but maybe September shows the potential for more future miles.

I have decided that I am not setting a mileage goal for 2026. Instead, I’m going to recognize that I’m at a point in life where I don’t need to prove anything to myself or anyone else, and I want to just do what I enjoy. I’m retired now, I have no career mountain to climb, and I want to roll across the planet as much I am comfortable doing, enjoying myself and being grateful for each healthy day and each mile I can roll.

I would be lying to say I don’t hope to exceed my 2025 total miles, I just am saying I will roll what I can and try to be content with and grateful for that.

A big reason that I rode less in 2025 was that it was a truncated biking year for me. My miles in January and February were zero due to my medical adventures. It took about half the year for me to rebuild my biking ability—in fact, an irregular heartbeat post-surgery entailed a follow-up heart procedure in July, and while I did start riding my bikes again in March, it wasn’t until after the July correction of that irregular beat that I really started riding in earnest.

Report on a trike riding adventure:We had heavy snow in late November, and on Dec. 9 I rode my tricycle on the Boyson Trail. It was mostly clear (kudos to the City of Marion, they do a great job clearing snow off of recreational trails). But near the McGrath VW dealership, snow had been pushed off of their parking lot onto the Boyson Trail. I tried to trike around it, but tipped on the edge of snow mountain. I was going very slowly, neither me nor my trike were harmed, but I did file a complaint with the dealership via their web page. To their credit, they quickly answered back and said that they would clear the snow that they had put on the trail. Below, the same stretch of trail seen during my Dec. 20 trike ride on the same trail. The trail is clear.

Due to my surgery, to encourage my continued rolling adventures, my children and my wife conspired to buy me a recumbent tricycle for my 67th birthday—so the nature of my rolling has shifted. The tricycle is heavier than a bicycle, but also sturdier and more stable.

It remains to be seen what the trike will mean for my miles in 2026—yet another reason I’m not setting a specific mileage total goal.

To what do I aspire to ride in 2026? Mainly, to continue rolling and to enjoy the journey. I want to meet the rest of Team Joe and family in central Iowa sometime, and do my first twilight trike ride along the High Trestle Trail. Maybe this year, I can gather some children and grandchildren and enjoy a family trail trike and bike adventure. I would like to visit more regional parks in 2026, now that my wife and I are both retired, and hopefully we can bring some bikes along for some rides at those places.

CR Biker on final ride of 2025. Too cold that day for the trike, but I enjoyed a ride along the Grant Wood Trail leading east of Marion. Wasn't sure of the conditions so I rode The Fancy Beast--the trail was mostly clear but there were a few snowy spots, so it wasn't a poor choice.

Deer seen by Grant Wood Trail on Dec. 31, 2025, bike ride.

Rode my hybrid bike (too cold for trike) Dec. 21 to Cedar Lake. The trail system around the lake is being extended, this is a yet unopened new stretch of trail on the east side of the lake.

Clarence, my hybrid bike, at Cedar Lake Dec. 21.

Tricycle parked on Krumholtz Trail during Dec. 20 ride. What should this trike be named?

Snow on park field beside the Boyson Trail Dec. 20. December got a bit warmer at the end and much of the snowpack had melted by this point, but there were still places blanketed in pretty white.

Winter sun over creek at east end of Krumholtz Trail, Dec. 20 trike ride.

Most of all, I just want to spend pretty days rolling along, enjoying this still gorgeous planet from the seats of my trike and my bikes. Weather has limited my miles so far in 2026, but in the first six days I’ve done three rides—two on bikes and one on the trike, although the trike is beating the bikes in total miles (8.46 miles on two chilly, short bike rides; 16.64 trike miles from yesterday, a warmer day).

The bikes have been a bit of a mixed lot lately. I planned to ride my hybrid bike, Clarence, a few days ago, for example, but discovered a broken pedal. Then, I was going to swap it for my old mountain bike, The Fancy Beast, but it had a flat tyre. Thus, my most recent bicycle ride was on my road bike, Argent, even though I do not commonly ride that bicycle a lot in winter.

2026 is starting with some challenges--a flat tyre on The Fancy Beast and this broken pedal on Clarence.

Whatever. I am limited in trike rides by the fact that the pedals on my tricycle require biking shoes, and the specialized pieces of cycling foot gear that I own are definitely not fit for cold. It was lucky that it was warm enough Monday for those 16 plus trike miles, and it looks like I may be lucky and trike again tomorrow, which will be nice.

Finally, I get down to some real business. I have homework for you, dear reader: a little poll. I would appreciate the hive mind’s input on a question my new status as a tricycle rider raises.

I have habit of naming my bicycles, and I want to honor my new tricycle with a moniker.

My tricycle as I pause to eat a snack at Cedar Lake during Jan. 5 ride. What should I name this vehicle?

What should the trike be named? I posed the question on a Facebook image from a recent ride. The suggestions I received didn’t yet resonate with me. One person suggested “Bart” because he thought maps of my recent rides looked like I was frequently drawing a character from the Simpsons TV show. I haven’t watched that show much, however, and I don’t feel like using the name of a fictional personality I don’t know much about. One of my sisters suggested “the Martian” because the invaders in War of the Worlds used tripods. I am amused by that idea, and maybe if the trike was green I might go that way—but it’s not. The trike is blue, and space invaders are little green beasts, not blue meanies.

And yes, I’m a Beatles fan, and yes, “Blue Meanie” has potential, except it does not quite fit the personality of this sturdy steed.

So, what should it be, blog pals? That’s the really important issue for 2026—the key goal I can accomplish soon, with your help. Let’s play a game: Name that trike.

Please comment your suggestion on this blog (or in a comment on Facebook if you see a link to this post there). It’s not an election—your humble correspondent is the Task Master and full decider in this event—but I would appreciate your ideas.