• The snow is beginning to melt and the days are noticeably longer. It’s time to break out the road bike.
• National Trails Day kicks off the summer.
• Fat Tire is the culmination of our hard work and the end of summer.
• Cyclocross season is crisp and colorful with varying temperatures.
• We took a trip downstate the weekend after the Keweenaw Chain Drive.

I was discussing an event with a team mate and was trying to remember when it happened. I found someone laughing at me when all of my temporal references were in relation to bike races rather than months and holidays. That is simply how it works.

When I chose a weekend for hosting a Trekker’s ride, a weekly ride for our local community bike club, I chose the weekend after the Great Deer Chase, but not the weekend just before Fat Tire, because I would be doing trail work that weekend.

It really is funny. It says a lot about my priorities, and I’m not the only one who uses this bike culture jibber jabber.

Whenever I use races and other cycling events as time references, my friends understand me perfectly well. In fact, they use the same language and no one thinks twice about it.

Let’s convert the above cycling time references to normal time:
• National Trails Day is the beginning of summer – the second weekend of June.
• The Fat Tire Festival is Labor Day weekend.
• Cyclocross season is fall.
• The Keweenaw Chain Drive is Father’s Day weekend.
• Roadie season is spring.

Do you find yourself using bike speak?