This is a piece I wrote for my cycling club…The Narragansett Bay Wheelmen (NBW)

My 2013 Raleigh Road Bike.

The 2019-2020 winter season was pretty mild.  How mild?  My snowblower never came out of the shed.  Not once.  And more importantly, I was able to get in way more NBW winter rides than I usually do.  I remember thinking back in February, “This is going to be a good riding year”, but then…

The COVID-19 pandemic hit and the world shut down.  Government guidelines were issued.  Protocols were developed.  Businesses and organizations reacted the best they could—including the NBW.

Sometime in March, like clock work, the NBW weekly email arrived in my inbox.  The message and tone was noticeably different.  The upcoming Sunday ride would be a “Show and Go” with no official start time to avoid large groups.  With that, I decided to pass and wait until things got back to normal, which I assumed would be 2 to 3 weeks later.  Boy, was I wrong!  

The following week the next NBW email arrived.  The message was more blunt this time around.  “No club rides until further notice”.

For the next six months I waited for “normal” to return, but normal never came.  From March to September I rode solo for the most part with a few tiny group rides (1-2 friends) here and there. 

As much as I love my solo rides, there is something very special and different about large group rides.  Moving down a New England back road in a smooth formation…trading time at the front…turning in sync through sweeping curves…rolling at an average speed no one could do individually…closing gaps…flying down steep hills…and grinding up climbs with everything you’ve got to stay with the group.  Ahh…it’s a beautiful thing.  And for some of us, it’s a spiritual experience.    

I miss the NBW Group Rides tremendously, but on the positive side, there have been some silver linings in this COVID-19 pandemic.  It has forced all of us to re-evaluate what is REALLY important to us—not just in cycling, but in life in general.  And I’m no exception.  I quit my full-time job in May where I worked for the last 12 years.  I’ve spent more time with my wife and daughter.  We played hours and hours of board games.  Do you guys remember board games?  And my dog is getting way longer walks! 

This re-evaluation has also extended to my cycling.  My desire to drive 3 hours to race for 60 minutes has pretty much vanished.  At this point, I only want long adventure rides.  Don’t get me wrong, I still want to ride hard and “race”, but I need to be on my bike for at least 2 hours!  The NBW Club Rides are perfect for this.  Short drives.  Long rides.  Great people.

I’ve been a NBW member since 2014 (the year I discovered the club) and I’ve enjoyed the Sunday rides ever since.  I pay my annual membership and participate in the Sunday rides, but that’s it.  I don’t volunteer.  That’s something I want to change in 2021.  It’s the least I can do for a group that has done so much for me.     

I’ve hit a metaphorical wall.   I’ve been mentally dropped.  I’m in survival mode, but my crank is still turning.  I know if I keep pedaling, I will eventually see that NBW social tent.  Someday.       

I don’t know when the COVID-19 restrictions will end.  I don’t know when the group rides will be allowed to resume, but I do know this.  When the first group ride does come…it will be a glorious day.