A calendar for 2021

January 1, 2021

January 1: a day to look back, and to look ahead. It’s painful looking back on such a historically terrible year, with so much to be enraged and horrified about. We probably fared as well as about anyone I suppose, and our losses were mostly personal disappointments. We’ve been fortunate so far in that no one in our family and none of our friends have succumbed to the virus, but it would be wonderful to hear some live music again, or to go to a film, or eat in a restaurant without anxiety and with a clear conscience, and especially to be able to meet up with people we haven’t seen face to face for such a long time now.

As itinerants, we had big plans for 2020: a month biking the Texas Hill Country in March; two months biking from Saint George to Albuquerque in April and May; and a ride from Copenhagen to Rome in the fall. We booked flights for all of them early in the year, as well as lodging for both of the southwest tours. Then, piece by piece, we cancelled reservations and tore our plans off the calendar and put them back in the hope chest. we settled in for an insecure, confusing year, deciding month at a time where to go the next month to ride out the storm a bit longer.

Continuing the Team Anderson tradition we began last year, we selected a photo from each month of last year, in the way we used to select them for our personal calendars when we used to have an office cubicle or home wall to hang them on. Looking back on the year as a whole now, it warms our hearts to be reminded of the many high points we found along the way. The best of our year of course was the ten weeks we stole back from the pandemic with our tour of Croatia and Italy; but for the rest of the year we enjoyed a series of fine stays throughout our own crazy country, seeing it in a way we never would have otherwise.

And, along the way we put in a respectable amount of bicycling. I don’t keep track other than through the journals, but from them I estimated that we biked roughly 10,000 miles this year and got out on our bikes for somewhere around 250 days. In mentioning this to Rachael, she reminded me that she actually does keep track, and consulted her spreadsheet. 11,231 miles, with 270 riding days! It’s more than I can credit for myself of course, because she often goes on a 42 miler while I’m off on some silly tree quest or other excuse to loaf around. I imagine she lays down 5-10% more miles than I do.

And, if you do the math, you’ll see how close to the ideal Rachael’s year was: 11,231 miles in 270 days = 41.59 miles/ride, rounding to 42! An amazing outcome.

Things could have been much worse for the two us, and we hope they’ll be much better in 2021 - for ourselves, and for all of you. Happy New Year! Hopefully we’ll get to see some of you in person before this time next year.

On the cover: connecting the dots on Pag.

January: in Death Valley, on a freezing descent from Dante’s View.

February: at Windy Point, on our climb of Mount Lemmon.

March: Sheep Rock, in John Day National Monument.

April: On Prairie Summit Road east of John Day, on my first ride after being bitten by a dog in Dayville.

May: in the Palouse, on the descent from Steptoe Butte.

June: In covered bridge country, on a day ride with the Grumbys.

July: At Birch Bay, on our 32nd wedding anniversary.

August: in Zagorje, on our ride from Zagreb to Krapina.

September: On the island of Rab, on our hike to Kamenjak.

October: along the Po River on a day ride from Ferrara.

November: Lassen and Brokeoff Mountains, on a day ride from Chico to Cana.

December: climbing away from Green Valley on the ride back to Tucson.

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Jen RahnWow Team Anderson! I've been in awe of your ability to adapt and roll with the punched throughout the year, but this summary raises my admiration to a new level.

Way to take a year filled with sour lemons and make a pitcher of lemonade at every turn!

2020 wasn't such a festering dung heap after all!!

And what an honor to be included in the calendar. That ride makes my top 10 reasons to be grateful for an otherwise challenging year.
Reply to this comment
3 years ago

Bill ShaneyfeltMemorable year!
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3 years ago

Bob Distelberg2020 was definitely a tough year, but you two managed to still have an amazing time. As Jen said, I'm just blown away by your ability to adapt. And 11K+ for the year? Wow.
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3 years ago

Scott AndersonTo Jen RahnThanks, Jen. That photo of the three of you makes me smile every time I see it. I can’t believe the three of you were spaced so perfectly.
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3 years ago

Scott AndersonTo Bob DistelbergThanks, Bob. Here’s to a better year, for all of us.
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3 years ago

Scott AndersonTo Bill ShaneyfeltA year we won’t forget, that’s for damn sure.
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3 years ago

Ron SuchanekThat's a great post to kick 2021 off with. It's been great to armchair travel with you guys this year. Can't wait to see you in person again.
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3 years ago

Suzanne GibsonIt was great traveling along - not a bad year in all respects. A fine calendar!
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3 years ago

Rachael AndersonTo Jen RahnGetting together with you was a major highlight of the year! I look forward to seeing both of you and you new house this year!
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3 years ago

Scott AndersonTo Suzanne GibsonThanks for traveling along with us this year, Suzanne. Still hoping we’ll make it to your corner of the world this year.
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3 years ago

Scott AndersonTo Ron SuchanekThanks for following along this year, Ron. I’m sure we’ll meet up again before long, Covid or no covid; but you could speed things up a bit if you called off the rain gods up there.
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3 years ago

Bruce Lellman2020 was a year that had most of us rearranging our plans. Andrea and I quit our tour in SE Asia in late January, six weeks early. But you guys kept at it and remarkably pieced together tour after tour undaunted even by a pandemic! I admire your fortitude and am happy you were able to stay safe despite a dog trying to take you down. Thank you for taking us along every mile of your adventures. May your good luck continue in 2021.
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3 years ago