In Which I Have Hope for a Brighter Future

Lights of bike bridge in Marion seen Dec. 18, 2024.

In the end, 2024 didn’t go as I hoped that it would. I didn’t exceed 3,000 miles on my bikes, nor reach my goal of riding 3,300 miles. And I thought, through much of the year, that my miles in 2025 would easily be even more, what with my retiring and having for time for more, longer bicycle rides.

What I didn’t anticipate were some medical bumps in the road. In March, I had a TIA, and was being way more careful after that to not push my bike rides too hard. Yet, as the year drew to its close, I had some dizziness, some light headedness and chest pressure—not pain, but a feeling that something was not right.

As it turns out, my feelings were right, in that something was not right. I ended up having some medical tests which indicated some heart issues, and now I’m going to have heart surgery in early 2025—and Dec. 18, the day before I met with a heart doctor, was my final bike ride of 2024, which was not my life plan.

Well, life is like a bike ride. You can make plans but also must just deal with what you find, what you encounter on the journey. My time on two wheels is on temporary hiatus, probably for several months. Yet, it is likely by March or so I will be ready to roll again.

Dec. 9--Bike ride on Lindale Trail in sunshine--deer traffic on trail. There was winter weather in December, but it was nice enough for biking in most days in Iowa.

I won’t set a mile goal for 2025. I feel like when I start riding again, it will be like starting to ride again, with a body I have to get used to and train from square one. Well, at least the skill of riding a bike won’t have gone away. And heart rehab will be aided by wheeling across the planet, once I’m ready.

At least the months I’m losing—January and February—aren’t prime biking season anyway. While there are no guarantees in this life—as I’m well learning now—my health prognosis is good, with a very high likelihood of being able to get back to biking this year.

We’ll see what is coming.

My last ride, Dec. 18, was an interesting day, one week before Christmas. It’s my wedding anniversary, and after my solo ride, my wife and I went out for a nice dinner.

It was a chilly, grey winter day. I rode down to campus (to get some files I needed for work) and then doubled back along the Cemar Trail. It was a medium ride—cool, but not too cold as I was dressed well.

When I got close to home, the light was getting dim, and I decided to ride down the Lindale Trail. They have completed the trail bridge in Marion that goes across Seventh Avenue, the town’s main drag at that point. I don’t typically ride the trail in dark, but twilight is not full dark. Yet it was dark enough that I hoped to see what the bridge lighting looks like.

Dec. 18--Last biking selfie of the year (above) and bike parked at twilight near bridge.

Well, it was quite pretty, but also obviously set to be decorative from the street—to be a fancy gateway into Marion. The lights are on the exterior of the bridge. They leak enough light onto the bridge deck to illuminate the way there at night, but there is a bit of a ride on a dark trail to get to the bridge from either direction, so I don’t blame the powers that be for illuminating the bridge to look good for drivers rather than plan it to be best for bikers on the bridge, since one would not expect many bikers there at night.

I’m glad I came. The bridge was pretty to see with its lights on, and my twilight strategy worked out OK—I won’t make a habit of a ride at that time, but my bike lights were adequate and I enjoyed the sight, not realizing that is would become my final ride for a while. It all, it was 11.18 miles for the day, almost 95 miles in December and 2,953.83 miles for the year.

Goodbye, 2024. What with one thing and another, it wasn’t quite the year I hoped that it would be, but then again, I suppose, life is never fully what I hope it will be. I still enjoyed almost 3,000 miles rolling across this pretty Earth via bicycle in 2024, and I look forward, after my unexpected break, to continue that kind of journey.

I hope your 2024 went well and that you’ll roll many miles in 2025. And I hope to see some of you out on the bike trails soon enough!

Bike on Cemar Trail near Raining Rose. Gray, cool day. As it turned out, this ride on my road bike Argent was the final ride of 2024. Not what I wanted, but I enjoyed the miles I could ride.

In Which RAGBRAI Teaches About Limits

Can I get a discount? Sign at community college campus in Emmetsburg, where I had a dorm room and a shower, thank you Cate.

Well, it was an odd day Tuesday on RAGBRAI. There was a north wind, which made for a headwind on maybe 25 percent of the ride—a very strong headwind, too. But, it was a side or back wind on the rest of the ride—so, overall, I would say the wind helped.

And it was humid and warm. But not hot—just warm.

Still, in biking parlance, I was bonking, or I bonked (not sure how to conjugate “to bonk.”). When afternoon came, it wasn't freezing rain, but was just slow Joe, running out of gas.

Which was a bit of a surprise to me. I've biked around 1,700 miles this year—far more training miles then I have ever done before RAGBRAI. And Francis was recently tuned, has a new chain, and I've finally learned the importance of keeping my tires well inflated. So the body and the bike should be working better then ever.

They are not.

The bike is fine. The bicycle is willing, but the flesh is weak. In my defense, I had a minor issue Tuesday, in that my cute monster lunch box, which I'm using for my daily supply of snacks, got accidentally left in the support vehicle.

RAGBRAI lesson from Tuesday: All we are is dust in the wind. But at least we can make electricity.

Starvation was not a danger—Cate was with me when I rode and shared snacks and there is food galore along the RAGBRAI route—but I did not have my usual snacks nor my electrolyte drinks. The lack of the drink, I think, may have helped run me down more than expected.

So near the end of Tuesday's approximately 80-some miles, I was beat, whipped, worn out. I did not sag, but did have to rest for some time in the shade before the final town, and take it very easy for the last 15 or so miles—as the afternoon wore into evening, I had to take care not to hurry. I did not finish the ride until close to 7 p.m., way too late.

And to think that before RAGBRAI I toyed with the idea of riding 100 miles in a day this year.

I don't think I would do that, now. At the moment, it's beyond my capacity, and while working myself and getting good exercise are all good things, I also think paying attention to limits makes some sense.

So I drove Wednesday instead of riding. I gave myself an extra day of rest, and the driving schedule has been reconfigured so I only have one full day of RAGBRAI to conquer.

Corn. Heck, yes.

It's not exactly the way I wanted to do RAGBRAI, but I think doing RAGBRAI requires an ability to reshape plans to fit reality. For the first two years, I rode every mile and was proud of it. But now RAGBRAI is teaching me about limits.

And when I get back home, I plan to schedule a medical checkup. I'm a 55-year-old biker. I've had medical exams before, but never on a regular basis and never when not prompted by some external requirement or event.

RAGBRAI is teaching me to pay a bit more attention to my corporal shell. A willing spirit requires some strength in the body.

Sister and mermaid. Which is which?