About a month ago I wrote about the challenges that February seems to provide above all other months in terms of getting out and getting miles in while cycling. For myself, what I observed is that the weather in Northern Illinois, in particular, conspires against you as you try to fit those miles in.
As March rolled in it brought with it, as we all know and are living, a different world. But while that is the case, March also brought along the things that it always offers: warmer weather and longer days.
From a cycling perspective, this March turned out what is, in some respects, a surprising result - it’s my second-highest mileage month on record, and my highest month ever for total number of rides.
For the numbers folks, that’s 218.41 miles across 18 rides in the month of March, an average of 11.86 miles per trip. It’s not a lot compared to many others, but it is for me, and one should always compare one to oneself.
In the time since I’ve been keeping records - nine years now, give or take (thanks Cyclemeter) March has always been more active than February (or it has when both months are on the record - there are years back when where neither of them show up in my app). But it’s usually to a small degree - not anything like this. This year March is literally three times higher than February.
And what’s up with that? In part, I do have an overall trend of increasing my riding - this past February, while lower than its neighboring months was better than Februaries past, and year over year I’ve been increasing since 2017. But there’s more to it as well.
Life has changed for all of us to greater or lesser degrees. There are things that we simply cannot do right now, for the good of ourselves and of others. I think it’s common, in this type of situation, to look at the things we cannot do and yearn for them. But while that is a natural response, a better response is to look for what we can do.
One of the things we can do is ride. While many of us are living under Shelter at Home orders, one of the essential activities listed in those orders in most states (if not all - check your state’s order) is exercise. Illinois’ order explicitly includes exercise as a vital activity, as long as social distancing guidelines are met. Few exercise activities are as inherently suited to those guidelines as cycling.
Honestly, you have to really work hard to stay within six feet of each other on a bike or trike under most circumstances (and why would you want to?).
As the month of March progressed into madness, it started for me with continuing to go into work - I work in healthcare, though in a supportive rather than direct role - but being directed to limit contact and maintain distancing while there, and then ultimately to work from home. I work at one site three days per week, and typically take my trike in to work to ride over lunch at least one day a week, reserving the other two for collegial gatherings over food. Under these circumstances those gatherings were largely impossible, and so it just made sense to leave the trike in the car for each day.
Six days a week I also check a PO Box for work that’s about eight miles from home. Under under normal circumstances I might find the opportunity to ride instead of drive to that box maybe three times per month, maybe once per week at most. In March I took that ride six times, with three of them being over the last week of the month.
Why so many of those trips on the trike? In part, well, why not? The days are longer and my risk of running out of daylight on the way home is progressively lower (and I do have lights on the trike as well), since checking the mail is typically an end-of-the-day activity for me.
But I realize too, maybe now more than ever, cycling (and exercise in general) clears my head and centers me. Virtually all of the news we get now, and 85% of the posts on social media, is related in some way to the pandemic. Add to that the fact that, like all of us, my schedule and routine are completely altered, and when working the reality of the situation is just unavoidable as a topic in virtually every meeting; feeling stressed by all of it is inevitable. In this past week I found myself particularly dismayed by the situation, and talking to MLW about it she listened for a while, and then said to me "have you gone riding?"
And she was right.
When I got done with my ride after that, everything that had me dismayed was still a part of reality, but the effect it had on me had diminished significantly.
None of this is new - not to me and, most likely, not to you either. But even though I’ve been active most of my life I do periodically need the reminder of just how beneficial it is to go out and do things that get your body moving, get your heart rate and breathing up and running. It doesn’t have to be cycling, of course, that’s just my drug of choice - anything that gets the blood flowing is fair game.
I know others are finding this too, at least to some degree. While I was still going in to work I found the path that I typically ride on far busier than in times past. In fact, I drive past it on my way in to work each day (it’s literally right down the road), and in the mornings the parking lot, which has usually been empty in the earlier hours, was now routinely packed.
It’s vital that we remain within the guidelines being provided to us, but within those guidelines it’s also vital that we remain healthy both physically and mentally. Which is why it’s time to ride...