One of the big successes I had last year was in my running. I managed to shatter my mileage from previous years and topped out at 1600 miles. One of the weakest areas of my 2018 though was my early training. It took me quite a while, last winter, to get back up to speed, and I hoped that this year I’d be able to reverse that trend.
However, what I’ve discovered is that isn’t really realistic for me. Coming off a big December means I need a bit of a rest before jumping right back in. I realize a lot of people might be able to go strong 12 months out of the year, but I’ve found that it just doesn’t work for me. Between the cold, the dark, and the general feeling of needing a break, the year usually starts off pretty weak for me.
I’ve also discovered, now that I’m heavily involved in the winter ultra scene, I just don’t have as much time as I thought I did in January. Tuscobia is at the end of December, the St Croix 40 is the second week of January, and then Arrowhead 135 finishes out the month. Toss in a potential trip to Vegas, and I feel like I need to change jobs to something where I can just take the entire month off.
It’s not all bad news though. I went back and looked at where I’m at this year, compared to last year. As of today I’m only about 13 miles shy of my 2018 running totals on this date. What that tells me is that I’m on the same trajectory that I was last year. With how good last year turned out, I have absolutely nothing to complain about. From a long term maintenance outlook, 1200-1600 miles per year is just fine with me. Maybe some years it’ll go higher, but I really don’t need to keep pushing for a new goal every. single. year.
There’s a phenomena that hits most trail runners. We accomplish something, and then we need to move on to the next big thing, and then the next EVEN BIGGER thing, and so on. Eventually, you reach a point where you come to realize that every year doesn’t have to be bigger than the last. You can run for the joy of running and go with whatever sounds interesting. Maybe there’s a year where you just do some shorter races, or perhaps it’s a big multi-ultra year. What matters is realizing that whatever you do, it should be done with joy.
I’m on the right track this year. I’m running happy and ready for whatever adventures await. Go out and experience life, and run with joy.
It was very familiar to the old Holdup, and everything made sense, except for one small thing. The anti-rattle mechanism was no longer a simple bolt in the receiver, it was a weird mechanism that involved a long threaded screw and a piece of metal that was supposed to lock the rack to the receiver. However, I just couldn’t get it to work right. I managed to secure it once, but after that I wasn’t able to get it to reliably fasten anymore. The piece of metal that serves as the brace kept sliding into the casing of the hitch mount, and I couldn’t get it to stay in place.
I know some people like this mount style, but I think the one I had was just plain defective. I just didn’t like the complexity of it, and decided I didn’t want to have to deal with it. So I brought the rack back to the store, and decided to try out a 
My only qualm was that the T2 Classic didn’t come with all of the locking mechanisms. At first it looked like I would have to spend another $60-$80 to get locks that would secure the bike AND the hitch. However, after doing some research, I discovered that all I actually needed to do was spend $20 to get two additional key cores that were identical to the keys that came with the rack. This ended up making the T2 Classic cheaper than the Holdup Evo, so that’s a solid win in my book. Plus, it used a simple anti-rattle bolt, instead of any fancy locking mechanism.
I brought home the Thule and got it assembled. Frankly, it was a lot easier than the Yakima. I was able to assemble it in a fraction of the time, and didn’t have to do any weird balancing to attach certain parts. Within an hour I had everything locked and loaded on the car and I tested to make sure the bike fit like it should. Everything looked good, and the next morning it got it’s first workout, as I got a ride back from my wife’s choir gig. I’m pleased to report that my bike made it home just fine.
Things went really well right from the start when I discovered that the trail that I use to get out of the neighborhood has a nice solid packing down. I was able to ride the entire trail section without issue before dumping out on to roads. The next part of the trip takes me on a bunch of streets until I get back onto a bike path that leads under Highway 610 and into Coon Rapids Dam park. However, this section of the trail was NOT plowed at all.
There was a small rut that I tried to ride, but after fishtailing off into the deep snow on the side, I decided it was better to just hike-a-bike and walk until the cleared section began again. This section was slow and painful, having to climb over snowbanks at certain points. I really wish they’d clear this section as it’s a really nice area and it would be awesome to ride through in the winter.
One area of improvement though is that I need to figure out a better fitting helmet. The one I have keeps me safe, but it rides way too high on my head. This isn’t just a winter problem either. My head is shaped in such a way that it doesn’t ride right even in the summer. I’ll need to do some experimenting.