Five months ago the long-range weather forecast for Chicago predicted that we would have the worst winter in a generation. However, things didn’t turn out as predicted (they seldom do). In fact, this has been the mildest winter we’ve had in over 30 years. While I didn’t get to ride in the snow on my new Surly Necromancer Pugs as much as I had planned, I was able to use it to play in the mud and rack up some (slow) miles at the same time.
The earliest I've ever gotten to the first 1,000 miles!
This morning I went cycling with a friend of mine and about 30 minutes into the ride today I passed the 1,000 mile mark for the year, which is two weeks earlier than I did last year. In 2011 I set of goal of cycling 5,000 miles, but ended up with 6,836 miles.
I’ve had a few people ask me what my goal for 2012 was going to be. It took me a while to figure it out, but I finally decided that my goal for 2012 was to have fun on my bikes. Last year I was so determined to rack up miles that I seldom went on the off-road trails because I could accumulate miles faster on the open roads than on the trails. This year I set my mileage goal at only 5,000 miles (again), but I really don’t plan on worrying about—I want to get re-acquainted with my mountain bikes. Last month I had the local bike shop completely rebuild my Gary Fisher Bug Sur mountain bike, and I am currently in the process of rebuilding one of the other mountain bikes myself.
lanefinder
March 18, 2012 at 7:32 AM
Congratulations on your first 1K of the year, although (as you have intimated) it is not quantity but quality that counts. Having said that, I would be chuffed to pieces to have ridden that number of miles inside the first quarter of the year, and that’s before the ‘real’ cycling weather has arrived. Here in the UK the weather is picking up and the cyclists on the roads are increasing, along with the joggers!
I do like getting the miles (sadly not as many as you!) in but I also love to enjoy the miles that I am doing by enjoying the scenery, the ‘solitude’ and the sounds. And talking of the sounds, the skylarks are singing brilliantly now, so spring has arrived, enjoy.
Great site, cheers, Lanefinder.
All Seasons Cyclist
March 18, 2012 at 8:31 AM
lanefinder, I am certain that last year I did not even notice the scenery on 99% of my rides — I was just trying to add up the miles. This year I might even take take a compact camera with me on some of the off-road rides!
James
March 18, 2012 at 8:02 AM
Impressive start to the year! Keep it up. And very smart idea to have as a goal simply to enjoy riding and be (slightly) less focused on the stats. It can become all consuming. I did that last year. I stopped recording each and every ride and once I had ‘let go’ I just enjoyed the riding for the sake of riding! I still love keeping statistics, I am just not as obsessed as I used to be!
All Seasons Cyclist
March 18, 2012 at 8:33 AM
James, I would love to be able to ride without keeping stats, but I obviously have a bit of the obsessive/compulsive gene in me (my friends all agree).
James
March 18, 2012 at 12:00 PM
Nothing wrong with that at all….I am back to recording more of my rides this year having just signed up to Strava. It’s free and you can compare with other people across the world more easily and lots of the pros post their rides up there…..check it out!
Brian
March 18, 2012 at 1:05 PM
Well done on achieving the first 1k of 2012. Judging by your photos it seems if anything your weather is worse than ours so I can’t us that as an excuse for only just reach 750 miles so far.
Like you I get stats fixated. I blame Garmin for making all this information available. I am constantly looking at average speeds, gradients, cadence and heart rate. !!! This also explains the lack of ride photos on my blog as I tend to be concerned at keeping average speed up and looking at the Garmin than looking for photo opportunities..
All Seasons Cyclist
March 18, 2012 at 8:46 PM
Brian, last week I slowed down to watch a hawk bring down another bird — a very impressive sight. Now I am wondering how many other things I’ve been missing!
gitwizard
March 18, 2012 at 2:36 PM
Great going! I need to get another bike soon.
Keep up posting the stats, it makes for interesting reading for bike-obsessed people like me.
All Seasons Cyclist
March 18, 2012 at 8:48 PM
gitwizard, there is a mathematical formula to determine how many bikes you need: N + 1 (where N is the number of bikes you currently own).
Cherry
March 18, 2012 at 3:51 PM
Wow, 1000miles and it’s only march. That’s really impressive! That’s my mileage for an entire bike season!
All Seasons Cyclist
March 18, 2012 at 8:52 PM
Cherry, I am an old guy and my sons are grown-up so I have some free time now. If I didn’t work 50 hours a week I’d have a LOT more time to ride. As a friend of mine said, “The slower you move the faster you die.”
Ian Street
March 19, 2012 at 2:47 AM
Well you are much further ahead than me, although to be honest I have no idea how far I ride I simply ride. Probably not the place for this comment but just wanted to thank you for visiting me at http://www.intotheorchard.com and liking the post The Ride Journal. I’ve enjoyed having a good scan through your blog and bikes. That Surly you have – blimey never seen anything like that this side of the pond. Cheers Ian
All Seasons Cyclist
March 19, 2012 at 9:34 AM
Ian, there are several Surly Pugleys in the UK already — a group Brits put together a Website for them at: http://www.pugsley-on-patrol.org.uk
Ian Street
March 21, 2012 at 7:49 AM
thanks I’ll have a look at that
Steve
March 20, 2012 at 11:43 AM
Nicely done! It is interesting that you have surpassed your mileage pace from last year despite the fact that this year your goal is to have fun and last year you focused on mileage. There is a lesson to be learned there, I think.
All Seasons Cyclist
March 20, 2012 at 7:02 PM
Steve, the real lesson is that I have more time to ride when I don’t have to run the snowblower four or five times a week! I still rode after last year’s blizzard, but it was kind of slow!
Sandra
March 23, 2012 at 8:43 AM
Sadly, I’ve never tallied up all of my miles. I have never had a computer on bikes, but I did get a GPS a few years ago (8?). You’ve got me curious!
Thanks for liking my post, by the way. 1,000 miles? Looking forward to hearing about all of your rides. I wish I could find a community here to ride with out on the road!
H.W.
March 23, 2012 at 6:27 PM
I like the way think you man;) And I like the way you ride. You got style and passion, two things that go good together in bike culture. Congrats on your first 1000 of the year, I have been slacking, but reading your posts gets me all hyped to get out there and go hard. Keep up the good work, one pedal stroke at a time.
All Seasons Cyclist
March 23, 2012 at 10:42 PM
I saw a sign on Facebook yesterday that said, “Money can’t buy happiness, but it can buy you a bike which is pretty close.” I agree with the sign!
H.W.
March 26, 2012 at 3:03 PM
Yeah that’s a good a good one!
paralaxvu
April 10, 2012 at 4:00 PM
If you ever get to California, there’s a little unincorporated town you might want to visit. Mount Laguna is in South San Diego County at the 6,000 feet level and is a beautiful ride. We recently sold our cafe there (it’s now the Pine Tree Inn & Tavern, I think, open only on weekends, good food, good prices). We got a lot of cyclists thorugh the town, all of whom loved the trails there…well, at least in the spring and fall and summer;)
All Seasons Cyclist
April 10, 2012 at 6:47 PM
I think at 6,000 feet above sea level I’d run out of oxygen! I’ve always wanted to cycle in places like you describe, but I’ll probably end up working until I’m 80 (just to pay for my cycling addiction).