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Review of the 2004 cycling season

One of these days, I will write my account of the 2004 West Shoreline Tour. But it has been one of those years where cycling -- and writing about cycling -- has taken a backburner to other things. Since it's a gloomy November day and the St. Louis Rams are getting killed by the Buffalo Bills, I figured it's a good time to review the 2004 cycling season.

As I mentioned, cycling hasn't been high on my priority list. I'm not really sure why, but I felt really burned out about the sport this year. I only did one weeklong tour this year, and I had no great desire to do another trip.

I guess the tone of the season was set during April when planning the Tour de Stooges and rainy weather gobbled up most of the month. In a normal year, April is a good month for me to build up some mileage to prepare for weeklong tours. Instead, I spend a lot of time in front of the computer answering e-mails and compiling T-shirts orders.

There were times where I felt motivated, and the unusually mild summer we had in the St. Louis area helped. But there seemed to be a lot of other priorities that got in the way.

Shoreline was a great tour: wonderful scenery, good roads and trails, and exceptional people. But, still, something was missing. I wasn't riding as strongly as I should have been, and it killed my desire to do any more weeklong trips this year.

I am hoping my motivation returns for the 2005 cycling season. It will be the 20th anniversary of my first weeklong cycling tour, the Bicycle Across the Magnificent Miles of Illinois ride from Chicago to Edwardsville, the community where I was living at the time. I think it would be appropriate for me to do an Illinois ride to mark that milestone

Roger 0 comments 3:14 PM