Life After 30

The calendar has shifted to May, which is already 8 days young, and with that change came a dramatic shift in energy (at least for me).

April and May are exciting months for cycling, as April represents 30 Days of Biking and May represents National Bike Month. I'm not exactly sure why, but I tend to get more excited for the former. I think it might have something to do with the arrival of Spring, because it's always had a bit of a "coming out of hibernation" feeling (even though I ride all Winter). It leads to things like this happening:

It also leads me to find incredibly inspiring people and stories, like this guy who found me on Twitter or this Instagrammer I found who biked through snow and ice in Minnesota, sometimes with kids. It leads to people like my girlfriend coming to visit for a weekend and saying "I need to bring my bike because it's 30 Days of Biking and my boyfriend is insane." It leads to me getting tagged in social media posts that say things like "Hey Steve, check it out - I rode today!" and things of that nature. There's just something about April...

National Bike Month just doesn't have that same feel to me, and again, I'm not exactly sure why. This year, it also coincides with the beginning of the National Biking Challenge, whereby if you sign up on LoveToRide.net and log miles on Strava, you can actually win prizes. Last year I scored this jersey for logging over 500 miles (I think?):

So that should be pretty exciting, right? Don't get me wrong. I still get excited about biking. Just not the same kind of excitement I get in April. This year I can at least partially blame my impending move. As soon as the calendar flipped, I spent the majority of last week packing some seldom-used items for my anticipated move to Columbus on June 2nd. I'm pretty excited for what's to come, but the moving process is anything but exciting (if you've ever moved, you know this all too well).

I've decided to do it in stages rather than renting a U-Haul and trying to move everything in one day. I took the first full car load last weekend. As such, I'm forcing myself into temporarily parting with some creature comforts like My Therapist:

I know this is a total first world problem, but I almost feel uncomfortable having only one bike in my house. Like...what if something breaks down and I have to send it in to the shop for a few days? I may go crazy. Fingers crossed that nothing happens. With all the routine maintenance I perform, I should be OK. The good news is that because I knew I wasn't going to see the above bike for about a month, she was the beneficiary of a good cleaning just before I departed last weekend. Silver linings are always nice, right?

All this being said, I'm through the first round and I can relax and enjoy biking again. Another silver lining: my girlfriend was motivated to ride with me a few times this past weekend, and I've kept my riding streak going up to and including today:

That was from my last delivery today. One more thing I'll also say about May, thus far the weather has been near perfect, and today was no exception:

I feel like we earned it after a somewhat difficult Winter that just seemed to drag on and on. With that, I hope it motivates you to get out and ride a bike this month. If you do sign up for the National Bike Challenge, you can join a team with friends or co-workers, and potentially win free stuff. Join us?