Is that... all there is?

With the same sadness that I felt at the end of every episode of Big Chuck and Lil John (no relation to Lil Wayne, I think), I say goodbye to the '25 "season."

In retrospect, a "good one?"

My reminders that I chose to be on a start line some twenty plus times this year.  Depending on how you look at it, I ended up on a podium all but one time at the Bootlegger 100... basically anyways... some three deep, two five deep, and one just overall in the Winter Shart Tarck Series.  In the past, I woulda said it was a great "season," but if I'm doing so well at fifty six years old, is this a sad reflection that the single speed "class" is, if not ded, is mebbe dying?  At the start of the year, we had at least thirty single speeders give it a go at Shart Tarck.  Then at last week's Barnburner 50k, we had seventeen finishers (19 signed up, so mebbe they DNF'ed or they were just ded and automatically entered from a Democrat voter roll?).  Breck Epic and Trans Sylvania Epic had lower than normal numbers, so mebbe our current crop of single speeders aren't dying, they're just less willing to do the big stupid things as a matter of self-preservation.  Hopefully they're just spending more time drinking beer and throwing rocks at things.

That's what I like to do.

Regardless, I think I had fun.  Pretty sure that I logged a four apple tall man's buttload of saddle time this year and mebbe reveled in the utilization of the associated fitness that came along with it.

That said...

I think all that has put me into a deeper post-season sad hole.  The timing is so on point.  It's the end of tiny saddle bag commutes and the start of sling bag season for carrying layers... covered knees on the way to work every day... walking out of the tall tower at 5:00pm to ride home to no sunshine... working up the self-motivation to get out the door to keep some fitness on the weekends over the winter... cold fingers... fewer opportunities to see "my people" at events... 

Perhaps coming off a high high makes my normal, previously acceptable low seem more poopy.  

Mebbe in a week or so, I'll be able to appreciate the even better '25 story.  I made it through a year without one race or event being affected by even a sniffle.  I had zero DNFs due to mechanical issues or injuries, although I had close calls with both scenarios more than once.  The Horny Cat 69 came off without a hitch (at least IMHOMO).  My wife still loves me somehow, and my dog will accept me no matter what I do...

So, I got that going for me... which is nice.

Yeth... please don't call the wahmbulance.

I've already signed up for the '26 Winter Shart Tarck Series AND it's coming back to the OG location Renaissance Park for the first time since 2000.

Gotta love the five deep series podiums which allows for the attendance awards.

On the plus side, the park is close enough that I can ride over to the start four and a half miles away from my house (85% of which is safe).  I can have a couple beers after the race, hang out, and not find myself on Interstate 77 on the way home wondering where everyone is going.

It's also better for getting some dead sailor hang time.

On the negative side?

I bought a fourteen tooth just a few months ago.  My 30 (oval)X13 experiment was an abject failure but at the same time, what I felt like was going to be a cheat code for 2026.  I really think the 32X14 was gonna jive with my body type/weight/style/idiom...

at the Rock Hill course.

I'm not so sure the chunky and punchy course at Renni is gonna be copacetic with the taller gear, but I know we'll be doing trail work to get the course ready after all these years, so mebbe?  I ran 32X16 at multiple events this year, so obvs I'm only getting stronger as I get older.

I believe I can fly.

Time to add that pile of number plates to the stack I've been collecting since the early '90s that will be in some random drawer when the machines come to tear my house down after I'm ded.

On that positive note...

Time to make a 32" rigid single speed happen.