End of Year Review

This was a great year of cycling!  My accomplishments are significant, and yet still leave room for improvement.  First, the narrative, then the numbers.

In 2009 I started riding a little, encouraged by friends and attempting to lose some weight.  I think I was able to ride about 800 miles in 2009.  That’s not a bad start.  In December 2009 I purchased a “trainer” device.  It allowed me to convert a bicycle into an indoor cycle, and by the start of 2010 I was riding that regularly.  In fact, I rode more days in January 2010 than any other month, mostly because of the trainer.  It was in January that I decided to set a goal of being able to ride the Seagull Century in October 2010.  From my perspective of 8 miles or 30-35 minutes at a time, this seemed like a huge goal, but also within reach.  I set about learning about riding and distance training.

In mid-January, I set out and purchased the Kona Zing, an entry level road bike.  Now I was committed and rapidly found that I liked riding outdoors a whole lot more than stuck inside on a trainer.  My rule of thumb the first part of 2010 was that I would ride if it was above 50 degrees F, below that was just too cold to be comfortable.

In January I was able to get outside for 70 miles.  In February, there were no outside miles.  Snow piled up and the trainer was my mean friend, but with the goal of the Century, I knew I needed to continue to work at the riding and the increasing fitness level.  It was March or April when I joined the Severna Park Peloton with a great deal of apprehension.  These riders were fast and fairly intimidating.  I sometimes went out for a ride ahead of the group, a technique that meant I had a lot of solo rides early in the morning, but it kept me out on the roads.  I also used Fridays, my usual day off, as a day to extend the rides so I had some experience with longer rides.  In March – May I was able to ride longer rides of 51, 55, 65, & 72 miles.  These were increasing my confidence so that one day in June, I simply extended the ride a little further and accomplished 100 miles 4 months ahead of my goal, the vast majority of that distance was solo.  Two more rides over 100 miles preceded the Seagull Century.

With those distances and experience behind me, the challenge of riding the SPP Ocean City ride was my next significant goal.  Those were more than 100 miles in each of 2 consecutive days.  I finished that in fine form, learning a lot about hydration and nutrition (the hard way).  From there it was a very short step to attempting a 200k ride.  That ride was a tough one, mainly because of conditions.  I was fine and strong throughout the ride, but we were a good deal slower than we anticipated.

All year I watched my speed come up as my fitness level improved.  I’m not a speed demon, and still have some ways to go in that department, but continuing to log the miles and press the heart rate will have benefits to me down the road.

I’m amazed at the numbers I’ve pulled together this year.  They are presented below with some goals for 2011 in bold print.  (Some of these distances will be aided by the fact that I’ll be on Sabbatical June – Mid September.)

• Total Miles = 6119.7  (2011 mileage goal = 8,000)
• Days riding = 225 or 61% (2011 days riding = 240)
• Longest Ride = 129.2 miles  (2011 longest ride = 186.5 miles or 300k)
• Number of rides over 100 miles = 7 (2011 number of rides over 100 miles = 9)
• Time on a bike = 373 hours, 47 minutes  (2011 time on a bike = whatever it takes)
• Highest 30 day distance = 838 miles  (2011 highest 30 day distance = 1000 miles)
• Highest 7 day distance = 326 miles  (2011 highest 7 day distance = 350 miles)

For the blog, more photos, more reviews, more of what I’ve learned and ride reports.

See you in 2011!