Gasping for breath up a steep climb recently on the mountain bike with my riding friends, I thought to myself, ” Where is the race?” ” Nobody is going to the Olympics – why are we racing on this ride?” Then it occurred to me that my group and a lot of other groups of cyclists, runners, and other fitness enthusiasts are in really great shape. People are not traveling for work, or pleasure just yet and a lot of folks have a lot of free time to get their work done at home and then go ride, run, walk, hike or do some other form of exercise. I am calling it Covid Fitness and it is a national phenomena.

I recently went into my local bike shop, Dirty Harry’s, in Verona,Pa and their business is booming. Barry Jeffries, the owner, told me that they have 350 bikes on back order and their repair business is off the charts. Barry, Scott, Brocc and the boys will have a record year in sales and service because a lot of people are turning back to cycling as a recreational activity during this pandemic. The health clubs are not fully operational yet and people need to get out. What better way to do it than on a bicycle? As the bikes roll in the door from the manufacturers, the boys at Dirty Harry’s build them up as fast as possible and out the door they go. Sold!!! All kinds of bikes. High end mountain and road bikes, E-Bikes, kids bikes, commuter bikes, you name it. They are selling like a fish sandwich in Lent. The Peleton home cycling equipment is back ordered by at least 6 months and that is the case with a lot of sports equipment providers. Most outdoor equipment manufacturers have had a strain on supply because of the surge in purchases due to the Covid 19 crisis. Even spare parts are being used to make new equipment because supply of parts is also in great demand. A good news bad news scenario for the sporting equipment industry in that record sales are being offset in a way by a strain in supply. They have the customers, many new to the sport, but are having a hard time keeping up with demand.

So back to my group. We have guys and gals who travel for work, guys and gals who are retired, and many working from home. These folks have always been active but recently, they probably have ridden mountain bikes and road bikes more than they ever have in recent years because the distractions have been put aside due to this pandemic. I have complimented a lot of cycling friends on their fitness and their response has been, ” Hey Pat- I don’t have much more to do.” ” We have not been able to go to work at the office, or sit and socialize in a restaurant, or go to a movie or concert, so really – outside of exercise, what do we have to do besides work at home and read a book?”

The end result is that a lot of us are in the best shape we have been in for many a year and my group keeps pushing, pushing, pushing every week on scheduled rides in various venues around our area of the country. The CDC says nothing better to combat this virus than boosting the immune system with sunshine and outdoor exercise. The texts and emails buzz every week with the proposed riding schedules and the good thing is that at least we are not sitting around with nothing to do. My wife Janet is in on the act too with an increase on her walking with her friends, cycling with me on the rails to trails on Sundays or hiking locally or in the mountains. We are making the use of time seeing that for the first time in many years, we are ” empty nesters” and can take advantage of time together.

So, again, the pandemic has caused a lot of disruption to our lives as well as to lives all around the world. It has caused a lot of us to reflect on what is really important in life and how we have taken things for granted. This too shall pass and the world will learn to live with these kinds of viruses and change our daily habits on how to deal with them. But in the meantime, there have been some good things that have come out of this time and the great outdoors has been calling to a lot of us. Enjoy the sunshine and these active summer days and evenings. Thanks for reading.