Cycling through the Pandemic with Sidney McGill

Hello fellow isolators!

Welcome to a special season-ending bonus episode. It is March 17th today, which makes it one year since a state of public health emergency was declared here in Alberta. That’s right, one year of COVID quarantines, a year with an overarching sense of fear (among other feelings), and a year quite different from those we’ve experienced before. I started this podcast about a week after we all started working from home. It’s a weird feeling of almost not being able to remember what that was like, as well as thinking it was only yesterday.

I thought I would start a little project where I talked with cool people about cool things they were doing as a way to practice some podcasting, connect with people outside my apartment, and keep me busy through what was supposed to be a short disruption. Well a year later and I think the show has done just that, so it is a fitting time to wrap things up and take a break for a while. But, before I do, I wanted to have one more conversation with someone who has experienced at least part of this year doing something most of us could hardly imagine doing in a good year, let alone in the middle of a pandemic.

In this special bonus episode, I talk with Edmonton’s own cyclocross star, Sidney McGill. Sidney had just come back from a winter riding bikes in Belgium, and I wanted to know more about racing in a pandemic, how her sport changed with COVID precautions, and how exactly a young Canadian takes part in elite world-level events.

Sidney McGill rides a muddy stretch of a cyclocross track in a recent race.

If you want to learn more about Sidney’s riding life, follow her on Instagram @SidneyMcGill. You can also learn more about her teams and sponsorships with Pedalhead Bicycle Works and Liv Cycling.

And that about wraps up Season 1 of the Well That’s Cool podcast. I’ve had a great time taking you with me as we explored stories from the Netherlands, Scotland, and now Belgium, as well as life on the road with Engelbert Humperdink. I also want to thank the five authors who joined me live this fall and winter for the Book Club series, as well as the two who talked with me about writing with autism and making Mennonites funny.

It has been a crazy year, and this podcast has been a distraction, a motivator, and just a lot of fun. I hope you enjoyed the adventure too, and I’d love to hear what you thought about it. You can reach out to me by email at wellthatscoolpod@gmail.com and I’m also on Facebook or on Twitter. I don’t have solid plans for a season 2 yet, but feel free to send me a suggestion and I may pop back into your feeds occasionally this spring as the fancy takes me.

In the meantime, I’m still making my model airplane kits, trying to read more regularly, and now thanks to Sidney I’m thinking of putting the wheels back on the road and stretching the cycling legs as the temperatures are rising. I may not be getting muddy and tearing up the local park like Sidney does, but I love that feeling of freedom and exploring that comes with pushing on the pedals. We’ve all been cooped up inside for a long time, why don’t you join me for a ride sometime, wherever you are, and get some much needed and very soothing fresh air. That’s my plan for getting out of this pandemic winter!

Thanks as always to Ron Yamauchi for the theme tune and to Anna Schroeder of Annather Design for the cool podcast logo, check out her work at annatherdesign.com. Other music heard during this episode and all the other podcast stuff is done by me, Ben Fast.

Don’t forget to subscribe, rate and review on iTunes or wherever you get your podcasts! And as we count down the days of final week of people experiencing first-time pandemic birthdays, stay well, and happy isolation reading!