As we counted down the days of leaving 2020 in the rear view mirror, most people were ready to drink their way through the holiday season and cross into 2021 in a numb stupor. Some readily took the advice of this particular meme and planned to “transform into a couch.”

I’m Fine I’m Totally Fine

In my heart, transforming into a couch and watching Netflix was all I wanted to do for six weeks. After four months of an intense, election-pandemic-Zoom-filled fall semester, my brain and body were shot. Other than Thanksgiving Day, I didn’t have one day off from mid-August to the second week of December. The university had taken away our days off in favor of completing classes by Thanksgiving to reduce the amount of student travel. Great in theory, not in reality.

I. Was. Exhausted.

A friend asked if I was going to do the Festive 500 this year and I scoffed. I had been locked inside my house for three months staring at Adobe Premiere and Zoom, not even leaving the house to walk the dog for 3…4…5 days at a time. My Strava dashboard came to a screaming halt. For winter break I hoped to get out for some base miles, but 310 in one week? No way.

Within days of turning in my final projects, however, I felt the stress of the semester abate and in response my energy soared. I knocked out 50-mile rides like I’d been doing them all season, totaling almost 200 miles in four days. WHAAAT??! My parasympathetic nervous system had been pinned down like a WWF fighter for months, while my sympathetic nervous system was in overdrive sucking my energy into an elevated heart rate and breathing, and waking me up at 3 a.m. because the world is ending.

But when my fight-or-flight system realized the monsters had gone away, the parasympathetic system bounced back and it could finally do its job: ensuring my body got its three Rs: rest, relaxation, and repair. When it all works correctly, energy is released by the parasympathetic system making you capable of amazing things, and most importantly, you recognize yourself again.

The Plan

Given the unpredictable weather I needed to make a plan, which changed every few hours as I refreshed Weather Underground and watched the daily forecast jumble like a Magic 8 Ball. The mix of rain and snow, and significant swings in temperature left a lot of unknowns. There still looked to be potential to churn out the miles as long as the temperature was above my threshold of 32F degrees and the roads were relatively clear.

To plan for the Festive 500 you don’t need expensive software or power numbers or HRV guiding your days. A piece of notepaper, pen, and scribbles does the job. Got to keep it flexible. Looking at the weather forecast, my goal was for the longest miles on the “best” days (“out”), and a few sessions on the trainer if the snow seemed inevitable (“in”). Because the forecast was changing so much, I opted for a chunk of indoor miles in case I wasn’t able to get outside for long rides later in the week.

The Rides

Day 1, Christmas Eve: Soggy Sleigh Ride Slog on the Panhandle Trail. 50.20mi; 787ft

For some reason I thrive in rainy mild temperatures so I knew this would be a good day to knock out a chunk of miles. However, because it was so dark and misty I shied away from the roads and Amazon delivery trucks making perilous last minute Christmas package drop-offs. The Panhandle Trail was a good choice, except that I underestimated the drastic temperature change descending to the WV border. It felt 10 degrees colder, was cloaked in spooky mist, and still had sections covered in snow, slush, and ice. I didn’t expect this to be easy, did I? Still fun!
Start: Drizzle, 48°F, Feels like 43°F, Humidity 92%, Wind 10mph from SSE
End: Drizzle, 51°F, Feels like 51°F, Humidity 96%, Wind 12mph from S

Day 2 and 3: Holiday greetings from Paris (30.19mi), Watopia (30.08mi), and London (35.05mi)

The predicted Christmas snow fell in heaps so I took advantage of Strava allowing indoor rides to count towards the end goal. When I wasn’t on Zwift I was outside shoveling snow with Louie, so there was some kind of fortitude gained. There was also a lot of holiday baking to stuff in my pockets for the long rides ahead.

Day 4: Road Recon: Few sketchy places, no disasters, needed fenders. 50.38mi; 3,232ft; Bike Wash #2

A bump in temperature began to melt the snow and I was eager to leave the house. Along with liberally applied salt and plowing, the main roads were clear, but left with a nice topping of cold surface water that sprayed my legs for three hours. One main road was poorly plowed, being a mix of clear pavement and packed snow and ice. It’s like Mr. Plow chose which houses to plow in front of: those who picked on him in high school, and those who didn’t.

The Panhandle was covered in snow and ice. I thought I was in the clear once I arrived in the civilized town of McDonald, but I let down my guard. Riding under the new highway overpass, I hit a large patch of icy mud that the construction trucks must have dragged onto the road. I felt like I hit a downed tree as my bike bucked this way and that and struggled to stay upright. I flopped around the saddle, became unclipped, and almost lost my hands on the bars. I was so close to a total disaster, but my trusty IndyFab took care of me. Again. My heart took a while to find the inside of my chest again and I chastised myself for not watching the road better. Needless to say, I survived the recon and it was anything but clear sailing.

With all the road water and grime, my bike was filthy so she got Bubble Bath #2 of the week. I’m relying on her, so I have to look out for her, too.
Start: Partly Cloudy, 33°F, Feels like 27°F, Humidity 70%, Wind 6mph from SSE
End: Mostly Cloudy, 40°F, Feels like 35°F, Humidity 70%, Wind 6mph from SSE

Day 5: Colder Than Advertised. 60.32mi; 3,753ft; Bike Wash #3

After yesterday’s lesson in snow melt, I fendered up for a longer ride. There were glimmers of sun through Canonsburg, but then the clouds and wind crept in and it was….just…cold. A working day to keep the pedals turning and hit the goal. No other cyclists were riding despite the break in the weather, but there were cows to share lunch with. It was uplifting to see the roads and Panhandle melted out to make for easier and faster riding that left me hopeful for Spring. LOL.

Note that this bike bubble bath took place among an ice flow in the driveway.
Start: Overcast, 42°F, Feels like 36°F, Humidity 77%, Wind 9mph from WSW
End: Overcast, 36°F, Feels like 30°F, Humidity 77%, Wind 8mph from WNW

Day 6, New Years Eve: Festively Pooped. 60.52mi, 3468ft; Bike Wash #4

Promises of warmish weather can lift any spirits. 50F degrees is my happy place, especially when surrounded by lingering banks of snow. My legs had been recovering remarkably well, much more than other years and I can’t explain why. Homemade biscotti? I didn’t enter this last day with the typical dread, somehow I knew that my legs would take care of me. Rather than getting slower and moving backward, the miles ticked by, albeit on roads I was already growing tired of. One downside of winter riding is that we can be limited in the available clear roads. But like every Festive 500, it’s not about relishing scenery, although you’re lucky to live in a place if you can. Here, it’s about completing the goal and yes, being outside in the fresh air, and not knowing what adversity you might meet but leaving the house anyway.

“Glad the weather finally turned around, even if it was sketchy, extra gray, extra cold, extra windy and generally winter wx in PA. Happy I went from sitting on my ass for two months to pedaling this much in just a few weeks. Never underestimate what ridding yourself of stress will do to energy levels.”
Start: Mostly Cloudy, 36°F, Feels like 30°F, Humidity 64%, Wind 7mph from S
End: Overcast, 50°F, Feels like 45°F, Humidity 59%, Wind 11mph from SSW

Year in review

Strava gives its users a pretty sweet present at the end of the year, a nice animated set of infographics with all the relevant statistics for the year. We deserve to have a sense of pride in what we’ve done all year, whether it was hitting new mileage highs or getting anything in when the whole world seemed to be crumbling.