I was fortunate enough to slightly exceed my 5000 mile goal this year despite a lot of disruptions and some nagging injuries—sitting at about 5500 right now.
For a brief period early in the pandemic I was on track to hit almost 7000 miles, but childcare fell through, and longer solo rides turned into various park trips with the 4 year old on the back of my touring bike. I probably hit 1000 miles with the kid, which was one of the silver linings of an otherwise rough spring/summer. I had a few long rides on the calendar that fell through due to COVID, but I did finish my first 200k in February, and managed a few trips up to Bear Mountain and back (I live in North Jersey). I commute about 100 miles a week, and that looks to continue through the winter. I teach at a private school in NYC, and we’re not closing unless the state mandates it, so on we go. Hoping for 6000 miles in the coming year, including a pair of 200ks, the Princeton 300k, and D2R2, pandemic-depending. I sort of doubt those will happen, but you never know. Best of luck to everyone on their 2021 aspirations! -Brady Smith On Saturday, December 12, 2020 at 1:16:37 PM UTC-5 Bill Lindsay wrote: > My 2020 goal had been to put up a legitimately "big" year. My > 'achievable' goal was 10,000km, and my 'stretch goal' was 10,000 miles. > I'm in the phase of life where I want to remain fit enough that I feel > equipped to enjoy the next phase of life where I'm not working so much. > > I did 200k brevets in January and February with San Francisco Randonneurs > to start off the year, and had 300k and 400k brevets on the calendar. Later > in the Spring, I had a week-long California coast tour planned out. The > 300k got cancelled due to a logistical household crisis at home that kept > me up all night the night before. The 400k and the Coast Tour got > cancelled due to Covid. > > I spent the first few months of the pandemic hardly cycling at all, fell > way behind target for 10,000km and got a little bit discouraged about it. > It was July when I think I started snapping out of it and started back up. > I had fairly big months in August and September. I did several solo 100km > rides, including a summit of Mt Diablo, and did a solo 200km out my front > door and through Marin. After some serious catch up, 10,000km came back > into the realm of possibility. > > I had a two week vacation planned in October, which was to include some > travel. The travel was out, due to Covid, so I was going to substitute a > staycation with a lot of riding. The first week worked out well, and the > second week did not, and that kicked off another comparative lull that > continues to now. 10,000km didn't happen, but I did get past 4,000 miles. > My riding always features a good amount of climbing, and I've got over > 300,000 feet of vertical for 2020, which is a decent ratio for my mileage. > The number I use to categorize a "hilly" ride from a "flat" ride is 100ft > per mile, so 75ft per mile in 2020 tells me I did a lot of 'hilly' riding. > > For 2021 I'd like to execute a do-over for my 10,000km goal. That's just > over 6,000 miles, so a solid 500 miles per month gets me there. That means > riding just about every day, and sprinking in one or two 'long' rides each > month. I don't have a suitable time slot to plan another week-long tour, > so I won't have that opportunity to rack up a ton of miles. I'll need to > spread it out more evenly. > > Bill Lindsay > El Cerrito, CA > > On Thursday, December 10, 2020 at 5:47:01 AM UTC-8 ascpgh wrote: > >> I haven't had an odometer on my bike since March so I fall short of any >> tally or objective to quantify for this year. I am simply looking forward >> to more and better next year and wonder how many others have let their >> minds go forward for consideration of next year's opportunities. >> >> Bicycling has been my balm for this past year, my hospital unit became >> the COVID-19 unit and I have been in that trench since March, bike >> commuting to and from each shift appreciating all of the conditions the >> seasons have thrown along the way. In the warmer months I actually commuted >> with my Rambouillet, stopping when the season obviated its less than >> optimum preparation for full darkness. I've brought it to safety in its >> beausavaged condition, I'll clean it up when I can. >> >> Next week I'm getting pre-procedure COVID swabbed for reconstruction of >> my shoulder, as long as the Thanksgiving surge doesn't bar elective >> interventions. No injury involved, just the remnants of an interesting life >> lived so far. I'll be in a sling for some time, they'll tell me after the >> extent of surgery how long it's going to be. >> >> Nothing prepares you for having to step off the line. It happened to me >> in the military and not being able to walk provided easier rationalization. >> I feel the same for stepping away from my year round cycling cohorts who >> ride regardless of season or weather, chasing personal objectives, >> practicality or persona demons. I feel the same way for stepping away from >> my work colleagues as this pandemic surges. My vocational physical ability >> hasn't been affected much but this shoulder is intruding on other things >> now, mostly sleep. I can't fall asleep for long before relaxed muscles lets >> alignment sag and the cold steel jabs of pain shock me awake. It's what got >> the orthopedist's attention and an MRI ordered. it's a mess. >> >> I'm going to be back to having my bike in the room as an icon of luck and >> motivation to get through post-op and rehab. I have other good hands in the >> house for support through this, including a new nurse, so I don't feel so >> obtuse looking forward to getting back on track and having riding goals by >> spring. >> >> Andy Cheatham >> Pittsburgh >> >> >> -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/00fd1d0c-7bce-4997-b97c-6e187f5b0d18n%40googlegroups.com.
