Out my backyard windows there is 6 feet of snow on the deck. There’s another six to nine inches on the way. We’re on the Covid-19 lockdown here in the Sierra mountains of California.
It’s been a week now and yup, I’m officially stir crazy. The house is cozy but small and with temps in the low to mid 40’s, there’s just not much to do outside except shovel snow. All the ski resorts are closed and the town is begging people not to go backcountry skiing — there’s no room in the hospital for that. I’ve already organized the garage, stacked a half cord of firewood and dragged the old Kurt Kinetic trainer out from storage under the house.
As far as I know, you can still legally ride a bike up here. I’ve saw one guy the other day on an old steel rig. Still somehow, it doesn’t feel quite right. My road and gravel bikes are in the apartment we left a week ago, thinking a small town was safer than the SF bay area. Fortunately, I have my full suspension Trek Fuel up here, parked in a freezing garage and a bunch of winter riding gear I keep in a bag up here.
So that’s the fitness plan for the moment. I ordered the thru axle adaptor on Amazon and it should be here by Thursday morning. Hopefully, I picked the correct axle and the Kinetic still functions — it’s been at least 4 years since I’ve hooked it up.
If things go my way, I’ll inflate the tires, lock in the read wheel and away I go, so to speak. I’ll get a space heater to put in front of me and crank some music from a small bluetooth speaker. I’ve never liked trainers but 45 minutes a day will keep the weight down. There’s nothing like being pinned down in a pandemic for encouraging snacking all day — and if I’m honest, the wine and beer consumption have gone up. I’ve got the Netflix binge and the Pinot Noir binge going strong.
The wife and I also cleared a space upstairs for a makeshift workout room. She does a video workout and I’ve started the core exercises from Charlee Atkins on bicycling.com. They’re challenging and I think I went too heavy on Day one. A little too sore for my own good.
Everything I’ve read tells with this is a minimum two months lockdown and it wouldn’t surprise me if it went three. If you haven’t figured out a routine, now is the time and all the isolation experts say a daily schedule and structure are key.
Here’s wishing all my fellow cyclists good luck. Someday we’ll all ride again post-pandemic.
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