2019 - Cycling Year Wrap Up - new bikes, record climbs

Final days of 2019.  It was a pretty good cycling year.  I ended up with 3,673 miles, 218,000 feet of climbing, a couple of record climbing months, a couple of centuries, some really good family rides, and a completely new set of bikes.

The year started with a promise and a new mountain bike.  But things turned out to be much more hectic and busy than I expected in the beginning of the year.

There was not enough time for MTB, including riding, cleaning, maintaining, finding, exploring and really enjoying the sport.

So I ended up selling the bike.  It was a bummer, but I figured I will pick up MTB sometime in the future when I have more time.

I also struggled a little with indoor cycling.  I tried UpCycle and did not enjoy it at all.  It felt artificial and very much not like the feeling of freedom associated with outdoor cycling.  However, Zwift turned out to be a good friend.

My road bike stable has completely changed in 2019. I got my first and second Pinarello Dogmas at a fantastic bargain in 2019.  Ended up loving these bikes!  Sold my original Pinarello Gan K Disk.

I did the most amount of climbing I have ever done.  It was mostly weekend rides.  I climbed Hicks Rd many times.  I finally climbed Mt Umunhum, Mt. Hamilton, and Mt. Tamalpais, Mt. Eden several times, Los Gatos and Saratoga hills, and bunch of others.

I finally rode one Sunday to the ocean and back in a self-supported century ride.

I also found an awesome deal on a 2018 Specialized S-Works Roubaix frame and ended up building that bike, which turned out to be an amazing bike.  It was my first experience with Di2 electronic shifting.  It took a couple of months to get used to the shifting, but I ended up loving it.

In fact, S-Works Roubaix is now my go to bike.  What a huge difference between S-Works and regular Roubaix.

It was to the point where riding the black and orange Roubaix was no longer fun.  I ended up selling the old Roubaix to a guy that really wanted it.

I also tried to teach my youngest daughter how to ride without training wheels, but she resisted and hated it.  After thinking it over, I bought a cheap hybrid bike and a small tandem kids bike, which turned out to be a great little adventure machine for father and daughter time.

We did several rides between 10 and 15 miles and my daughter absolutely loved it.  We did road riding, gravel grinding, off-roading and even some simple single trails.

I did family riding, weekend neighborhood riding with tons of kids and a group of adults, some weekend Armenian Bikers group rides and coffee shop stops.

I joined a really cool cycling club in Boise called Lactic Acid Cycling with some very nice people.  I also explored more of Boise and surroundings.  I had some really nice rides and great experiences, especially late summer evenings when it was getting dark long after 10pm.

I also set up a smart trainer in Boise and one at home, where I can ride after work in the hotel using Zwift.  That worked out really well.  I kept my Bkool trainer and got a Wahoo Kickr Core.

All in all, it was a really good cycling year.  I ended up riding much more than I thought in the beginning of the year.

I rode in Cowiche and Naches, which was a lot of fun as well.

I lost some weight and kept lower weight consistently throughout the year.  It was lower to compare with the year before.

Even though there we no extraordinary cycling adventures due to very busy work schedule and kids soccer / music schedule during the weekends, 2019 brought great rides, experiences, places, and cycling journeys.

I am so proud of my son riding to school and back every day!  We worked together to maintain his bike, change tubes and tires, and sometimes ride together!

My daughter Sophie even got to visit Calfee's shop and meet the shop dog that had only 3 legs but an amazing level of energy and positivity!




I am not planning on getting any new bikes in 2020.  I may upgrade the Dogma K8 Disc to Ultegra Di2 group.

I hope to just keep on riding as time permits - alone, with kids, family and friends.  I hope to do a few new centuries and hard rides.  Here is to 2020!