Now What?
Early last week when I surpassed 10,000 miles for the year, I added the final feather to my cap in what will go down as quite the memorable year. Just a couple of days later, I opened up my wallet and let the Battenkill promoter pull out $84 as part of my first race registration for the 2012 season. The act of closing down 2011 and then setting the first target for 2012 gave me reason during the ample free-time this week to ponder on what I wanted to get out of cycling in the year ahead.
Believe it or not, I could imagine a possible future where I would walk away from cycling, at least at the commitment level I now dedicate to the sport. If I ever can't give a good answer to the question "what is it that I want to get out of cycling next year", or if the answers I come up with somehow pale in comparison to other things I'd want to accomplish in life, then I could see myself flipping a switch and redirecting myself to some other endeavor. At various points in my life I was (amongst other things) an aspiring body builder, a die-hard New England sports fanatic, and career consumed work-aholic. For various reasons the motivation driving my dedication to these all-consuming endeavors fizzled, and each time I finished that chapter of my life, and I never looked back.
The good news though for the few of you who follow this blog is that it didn't take much thought to generate a healthy list of solid answers to the question I posed to myself, so there's no chance that the "off-switch" getting flipped anytime soon.
Racing
Spending time thinking about my racing goals actually gave rise to the thought that I could in fact some day flip the switch to the off position. In 2011 my goal was clearly defined, and I built a path that eventually got me my prize, a Cat 3 upgrade. I ended that quest at the final race of the season, so as of right now I have NO experience competing as a Cat 3 and lots of question marks as to what I can now do competing at this elevated level.
Am I genetically gifted enough, mentally tough enough, and not yet too old such that I might expect to one day win a Cat 3 race? If I work hard enough, could I conceivably aim to upgrade to Cat 2 at some point? Or did I just barely reach up the ladder to the next rung, and I'll forever struggle to hold my grasp and not fall backwards to the comfort of Cat 4 competition where my unshaven legs and my sub-1000 W maximum power record are less likely to hold me back?
Without any concrete evidence under my belt in Cat 3 races yet, I don't even have guesses to any of those questions. So for 2012, I won't be targeting a specific accomplishment as my end goal. There won't be any pressure to produce lofty results like I had in 2011. Instead, I'll be signing up for lots of hilly road races (like Battenkill) and two stage races (Tour of the Catskills and Green Mountain Stage Race) in search of answers.
I'll also be picking the brain of my new coach. If the first few months of training with him are a good indication of what's in store for 2012, I'll not only be learning quite a bit more, but I'm guessing that I'll also increase the odds that the answers to my questions above might come back quite favorable.
Giving Back
While I can conceive of a situation one day where I might decide to flip the switch on racing, I doubt I'd ever lack the motivation to continue to ride as the bicycle allows me to pursue other life goals that I'm sure will always remain important to me. While GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney has accurately pointed out that we humans exhale CO2, and I bet you he'd also agree that cyclists generate even greater quantities of these greenhouse gases as we power up and over the hilly roads around my house, he and I would likely disagree on any policy or program that would attempt to get more people out of their cars and off of their couches and onto the ultimate in Green transportation -- the bike. Furthermore, given the stranglehold Big Oil and Big Coal have on the decision-making in DC, I'm afraid that way too many of those in charge right now would scoff at any attempt like mine to use my bike to encourage action to be taken about Global Warming by participating in the Climate Ride for the 2nd straight year.
In addition to raising money and awareness as part of the Climate Ride, I'm hoping to find ways in 2012 that I can give back to the cycling community and to get more people out on a bike. I'll be looking more closely at opportunities in my backyard (Glastonbury Bikeways), in the state of CT (Bike Walk CT), and nation-wide (Rails to Trails). However, if anyone knows of a volunteer opportunity that opens up, or if someone is looking to start something brand new to cut down the car miles and increase the bike miles, PLEASE drop me an email! I'm looking to help, and I have to imagine that there are some people out there looking for people to help, so I'm confident I'll be able to make a connection or two in 2012 to give back and make a difference.
Family Cycling
And of course there's yet another reason I hope to keep the wheels turning on my bike for years and decades to come -- spending time with Mrs D and the girls on the roads and trails in CT and exploring new parts of the country as well. Though most of my exploration time will be done on my own, I'm excited to plan at least a day of family cycling while out in Tucson AZ on our February family vacation. The Tucson family vacation will also double as 2012's winter training camp for me, where I'll tackle such climbs as Mount Lemmon.
Mount Lemmon's never-ending climb
I also intend to add a family bike ride or two to augment my summer-time training camp as we return to the White Mountains of NH for the 5th consecutive summer. And if the girls don't tire of me and/or the bike, I also hope to plan another couple of weekend bicycle adventures like we completed in 2011 (one on Cape Cod, and another to the coast of CT).
The only challenge though that I see with this plan (aside from the monstrous climbs that the NH and Tucson offer) is that by mid-summer it's quite possible that the Desmarais girls may reach a point where they outgrow the caboose of "the train". While they both still appreciate the rest afforded to them when they get to ride in the bike trailer in between stints spinning on the tag-along, I doubt I have much more than a year to go before one or both of the girls find that their feet start poking out the trailer's cramped quarters. So...yet another goal for 2012 will be to find a great deal on a tandem so that when 2013 rolls around, I can list on next year's goals to get the girls comfortable riding something like this!
