Hot Takes: In Defense of 2020
Let’s acknowledge the elephant in the room for a moment. 2020 was…something. Something in that “what the hell kind of dumpster fire is this and why does it have the aftertaste of stale farts?” kind of way. The #2020vision posts that flooded onto social media accounts as the Earth completed its orbit of the sun really (I mean really) aged badly, and even now, as there appears to be some light at the end of the tunnel, the optimists among us are dabbing a toe in the cool waters of skepticism. We’ve been fooled this year, a lot. However, the world defiantly kept turning like a student in Google Classroom who keeps hitting “Submit” on a blank document (that joke hits differently for some of us). And, despite all that 2020 took from us, it taught and brought us some good as well. This is how I would like to remember the year.
It grew our skills in the kitchen
When the Covid-induced lockdowns hit us hard in the spring, the kitchen became a refuge and outlet for coping with the uncertainty we faced in the world around us. Grocery store trips, at least in the NYC area, resembled some weird game of Where’s Waldo? But necessity is the mother of invention, and some of us used this time to learn new skills in the kitchen, hone the skills we already had, and experiment with new takes on familiar favorites. At certain points this spring, I may have joked to myself in a quarantine-induced haze that we were turning into a bread baking team as several of our riders took on the task of learning to make the food products they were used to easily acquiring in the outside world. A few highlights from our time in the kitchen this past year:
It reinforced the simple joy of riding
In a typical season, racing reigns supreme. As restrictions started to be put in place in the spring and events began to be cancelled, I wrote about how these cancellations might impact athletes used to devoting time and effort in pursuit of peak performances. Admittedly, this deferred season was a bit of a bitter pill to swallow. And shifting guidance about what made sense (group ride sizes, drafting distances, mask usage, etc.) required a change of gears (see what I did there?) in terms of what “normal riding” looked like during our typically road-heavy months of the year. But, if we were reminded of nothing else, it was that we relished in the pleasure of a pure bike ride:
It got more people on bikes (and “old” hands trying new things on bikes)
For better or worse, bikes broke big in 2020. Anyone who tried to purchase a bike (or cycling-related items) this past year likely recognized what happens when a surge in demands meets disrupted supply chains: “out of stock” became the new normal. Bikes became more valuable to many than ever before as socially distant means of transportation, replacements for shuttered gyms, and an escape from the glow of endless screen time. In an ideal world, the powers that be will recognize the increase in bike usage as a sign that more meaningful investments in bike infrastructure make sense. But until that happens, we can at least take comfort in the joy that is seeing new bikes find a place in the lives of new and “old” riders alike:
It got people off of bikes
When the pandemic struck fully in the spring, health and safety concerns, along with restrictions in some areas of the world, led many to cut back on the amount of riding they were doing outdoors. In some regions, people were restricted to areas as small as 1-2km from their homes; in other regions, people were keen to stay close to home in case of danger or difficulty, as well as concerns over the ability to get supplies as needed on longer rides. During this time, some of us took that pedaling off-road and into the virtual arena (I’ll never forgive Scott for the hours I spent sweating buckets Zwifting in the late spring) while others used the pause on bike racing to get off their bikes and train differently. I may have taken this to a bit of an extreme one day in the fall, but here are some other we worked out body and mind away from the bike this year:
It brought social justice issues to the forefront
In the face of all that the COVID-19 pandemic threw at us this year, the world defiantly kept turning. As a result of this perpetual spin, social justice issues continued to rear their ugly heads in many facets of our lives. The pandemic highlighted the disproportionate impact that public health crises have on communities of color due to lack of access to quality healthcare, a dearth of preventative systems, and an understandable (historically-rooted) distrust of the medical establishment. On top of this, people of color continued to deal with the impact of unfair policing and a justice system that does not seem to value the lives of those people it also supposed to protect. Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, George Floyd and many more lives were lost or impacted this year for reasons far-removed from the pandemic crisis. Amazingly, and potentially as a result of this year, people across all walks of life seemed to wake up, stand up and take notice. Movements for social change not only cropped up in the wake of these acts of injustice, but they also had enough staying power to give this author some (muted) hope that we might continue some forward progress as a society. During this time, the humble bicycle took on a new power as a tool for social change. Cyclists took part in protest rides in cities around the world, cyclists began to expect more from the brands they represented or that asked for their support, and cyclists sought true diversity and representation in the sport they loved. This will forever be an enduring memory of 2020 for me:
I am a New York City based cyclist who hasn’t found a way to quit the sport in the 10+ years since I moved to the East Coast from the Midwest. Former, and occasional, runner, full-time high school teacher, bourbon and cat aficionado.
Instagram (especially if you love cats): @myvelolife
