Mileage

Our club president distributed a friendly email blast to club members the other day. He wanted to report how he’s doing, mileage-wise, for the first quarter of the year.

“March racked up 859.3 miles and 40,991′ of climbing,” he wrote. “2,381 miles ridden year to date: That is 57 road rides, 12 gym ‘rides’ and a few swims and some weight lifting. Some day soon the benefits of all that exercise should start to pay off!”

Yipes! I know I don’t have anywhere near that many miles. In fact, a quick check shows I’m right. I’ve done a whopping 847 miles in the first three months of 2013.

Well, Joe is a special case. He works from his house, so he gets in a lot of weekday rides. An easy ride for him is about 25 miles. His weekend rides usually go over 50 miles, on both Saturday and Sunday. Of course, he’s going to rack up lots of miles.

It’s fun to find out what kind of totals my friends are achieving, even if I know I have no chance to approaching them. I don’t consider my cycling a competitive event. In fact, I know Joe doesn’t, either. He puts a lot of miles on the board because he rides a lot, not because he’s trying to out-ride everyone else in the club. But still, I can’t help but feel that I have to try harder when I look at numbers like those.

Actually, I feel that my mileage is down, because it’s only well below last year’s mark at this time. And that was because we had a mild January in 2012 and I rode over 400 miles in a month where I’m usually lucky to do 200. When I look back to 2011, I see I had done only 704 miles in the first quarter. 2010 was even less, with 681, and in 2009, I hadn’t even reached the 600 mile mark by the end of March.

So, I guess I’m doing okay, even if it feels like I’m not up to snuff yet. I’ll keep turning the pedals, but I won’t make an extra effort to turn a 19-mile ride into 20 miles, and so forth. If anything, I’ll build on the mileage I’ve already put down and try to improve my hill work and overall speed. I’m pretty content with where my biking is right now, for a guy of 62.

Oh, there’s only one thing: Joe is 62 as well.

A Look Back at 2012

My wife and I decided a ride today was a must. She wanted the exercise, since she hadn’t been out for several days. I wanted to get in one last ride this year, since the forecast for the 31st calls for rain, and the combination of chilly and wet doesn’t appeal to me. So off we went.

It was only 40 degrees (4C) when we left home. That’s about the coldest temperature I care to ride in. What’s that old line — “There’s no bad weather, only bad clothes” — when it gets chilly around here, we don’t have much in the way of really warm cycling gear.

So we bundled up as best we could, and did some laps at the Veloway. It was nice to run into our friends, Rick and Penny, who were also cramming in one last ride. Rick figured 30 miles would bring him up to the same mileage he rode last year. After 15 miles today, I just wanted to go home and sit in front of the fire, but decided to do one more lap with the two of them, while Pat said she’d had enough, and headed for home alone.

I’m glad I got out today, even though I’m still cold as I write this. The ride gave me a chance to mull over the past year — what I accomplished, and where I came up short. On last year’s last post, I indicated some things I’d try to do this year, although I was careful not to consider them full-blown goals.

First, riding longer. I had mostly short rides in 2011, with just a few over 40 miles. I decided to correct that this year, and go for more long rides. One way to do that: train for centuries. I wanted to do at least two centuries this year. I did one, and concluded that rides of that length are no longer appealing to me.

Likewise, randonneuring. I thought about trying a brevet this year, but since I won’t be doing centuries, I certainly won’t be doing rides even longer than that.

I wanted to try out some new routes, since my riding had gotten predictable. I’m afraid it’s still predictable.

I also wanted to do more organized rides, simply because I like the atmosphere, and it’s one way to treat oneself to new routes. Didn’t happen. I did three organized rides this year.

Then there’s the weight thing. Luckily, I didn’t pledge to lose more weight this year, although I intended to see if I could maybe get it down a little (waffling enough?). I did finish this year at my lowest weight since I started riding. However, since I’m on of those guys who gains weight during winter, I’m still heavier than I am in mid-summer. Lots of room for improvement there.

One area where I did show marked improvement over previous years — total miles ridden. I finished the year with 4,519 miles — almost 500 more than my previous best. I probably won’t ride on the 31st, because of the afore-mentioned rain, so that’s my final total for the year. It’s also 2,000 miles more than my first full year of “serious” riding, back in 2008.

What does the coming year hold? I have no idea. If more miles come, they come — I won’t try to improve on this year. I’m going to try once again to ride more and different routes, just to add some spice to cycling. I’ll have to give some thought to organized rides — which ones to shoot for, what distances to ride. But I’m going to keep riding for the sheer enjoyment of it. See you on the road.

Looking Forward to Riding More

I got an email this week from some PR lady up north suggesting I do a post on how to keep riding my bike through the winter. She had some groundbreaking ideas, such as: layer your clothes, keep your fingers and toes warm, and if there’s snow on the ground, skip the ride.

I was sorely tempted. But then I remembered — I live in Central Texas, where we get measurable snow maybe once every five years. So I really can’t relate to winter bike riding.

What I can relate to is putting on the miles during mild weather months — like December. Today, for instance, the temp when I drove in to work was about 54 degrees (12C), and it got up to 72 (22C) on my way home. Tomorrow being Friday, I’ll be getting home early, and I intend to hop on the bike and ride!

In fact, today was a big day on my personal calendar. It was the last day of classes for fall semester at the university. I’m still waiting for final projects to roll in, and I’ve given my class most of next week to do that. But my hours can be as flexible as I want them to be from here on out, and that means I’ll be able to fit in rides during the week — rides that I haven’t been able to do because of my work schedule.

I’m looking forward to it. After my October blahs, I rebounded a bit in November and put on more miles, but I’m still not where I think I should be. The next two weeks should take care of that. And then in January, I’ll have another two weeks off (I’ll be preparing classes for spring semester during that time, but once again, my time is flexible), so I can rack up some more time in the saddle. In fact, in January of this year, I had my fourth-highest mileage month of the year. If the weather holds, I can do that again.

I’m not going to ride for the sake of piling on the miles — I’ve already ridden farther this year than ever before — but I do want to work on endurance, which has suffered this year. I’m going to be riding long, I hope, but easy. I’ll wait until late February before I start thinking about whatever riding goals I might have in mind for 2013.

I lived my first 50 years in the north, and I can honestly say, I enjoyed those winters. But I’ve lived here for 12 years now, and I must also say, I don’t miss them. December — in my book, that’s bike riding time!

New Personal Mileage Record

I reached 4,000 miles for the year last week.

It’s not the first time I’ve ridden that far — I finished 2010 with 4,100 miles. But it came more than a month sooner this year, and I’m guessing I’ll finish around 4,500 for the year this time around.

It sounds like a monumental achievement. It’s not. In fact, finishing the year with over 4,000 miles is relatively painless. Consider: There are 52 weeks in a year. If you ride 100 miles a week, you’ll have gone 5,200 miles in a year.

Now, living where I do, I have an advantage over many of this blog’s readers. Just this morning, for example, I rode in shorts and a short-sleeved jersey — no base layer, no arm warmers, none of that stuff. Temperatures were in the mid-70s (low 20sC) and the biggest problem I had to contend with was the stiff wind from the southeast. So I have a better shot at racking up 100-mile weeks throughout the year than most.

I don’t do it, of course. Stuff happens, like my ridiculous month of October this year. But even with a setback like that, I find that if I make an effort to stick to some sort of routine, I can get in the miles I need.

I try to ride Tuesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The Tuesday ride will likely be around 15 miles — just an hour on the bike after work. With the return to Standard time, that might be cut out soon. My Friday route is about 20 miles, Saturday 25-28, and Sunday 30-50. Add those all up, and it gives me about 100 miles, give or take. Realistically, it’s more like 85-90. Still, that’ll get you over 4,000 for the year.

I don’t set a mileage target at the beginning of the year. I just let the miles pile up as they will. This year, I dabbled with the idea of doing a metric century ride every month, not to add to my total mileage, but to increase my tolerance for longer distances. That lasted four months, then I lapsed back to a 30-45 miler for my long ride of the week.

I suspect next year’s riding will be a lot like this year’s. No big plans, just steady pedaling. And if I find I wind up with even more miles than this year, well, it’ll just be something that happens.

Getting to 3,000

Since I posted on Twitter the other day that I’ve now passed the 3,000 mile mark for 2012, I’ve had some inquiries from Bike Noob readers about my mileage goals. Had I planned at the beginning of the year to ride 3,000, 4,000, or 5,000 miles?

Actually, no. My high mileage year is just happening. I just ride.

Now, it’s not quite that simple. I was helped by the fact that as an academic, I get the first 2 1/2 weeks of January off. That let me rack up well over 400 miles in a month when lots of folks are cocooned in front of their fireplaces with steaming cups of hot chocolate.

In May, spring semester ends, and I could start riding more often for the next four weeks. I pedaled more than 550 miles that month — my highest monthly total ever.

But I think the main thing that helped me get as many miles as I have is following a more or less regular riding schedule. here’s how mine usually shakes out:

I ride Tuesday evening, for the shortest mileage of the week. Often, I’ll do fast laps around the Veloway. Sometimes, I’ll opt for easy laps instead. In either case, I’ll wind up with only 15-18 miles. I don’t often ride on Wednesdays or Thursdays, because I’m on campus later those days. Friday, I usually ride 20 miles; Saturday, 27-29 miles; and on Sunday, it’s the club ride. That could mean a distance of anywhere from 30-60 miles, most often 35-45. That routine gets me in the neighborhood of 100 miles a week on a regular basis. Heck, I should be riding 5,200 miles a year at that rate.

Of course, that won’t happen. Shorter days and colder weather in the winter months means I cut back on my weekly totals. I’ve ridden a 4,000-mile year only once, in 2010. It looks like I’ll do it again this year.

That pales next to the mileage totals some of my fellow club members post. Several are over 5,000 miles for the year already. Of course, they ride 30-40 miles on weekday evenings, and both of their weekend rides are long — anywhere from 60-100 miles.

Well, I don’t even have any desire to churn out that many miles. If anything, rather than piling up my mileage totals, I should concentrate on getting better. There’s lots of room for improvement. I could be faster; I need to build my endurance; I ought to spend more time riding hills than I do.

What I’ll probably be doing is the same old thing I’ve been doing all along. Just riding.

But I did some figuring the other day, and calculated that if I keep up my 100-mile weeks for the rest of the year, I have a good shot at reaching 5,000. Hmmmmm……

 

Highlights of 2011

Well, here we are again — at the end of another year. I suppose it’s as good a time as any to take stock of my biking, where it is, and where I want it to go from here.

It looks like I’ll finish the year with about 3,750 miles. I thought I would fall well short of the 4,000 I rode last year, but it turns out that if you ride a lot, even if the rides aren’t all that long, the miles do pile up. And since I hadn’t set a mileage goal at the beginning of the year, I have to be satisfied with what I’ve done.

Today was a good example. Nice day, 67 degrees (19C), sunny, moderate wind from the south. My wife wanted to go for a ride, and suggested a Mopac loop. That’s a tad over 13 miles round trip from our house — a good ride for her, but not enough for me. (Funny story about today’s ride: Before we left the house, she noted it was 66 outside, and was anxious to get going. I was a little surprised when she wore her new long sleeved jersey with the windstopper panels and the brushed insides. Then, about five miles into the ride, she asked to stop so she could shed her neck gaiter and her full-fingered gloves. I suggested that when temps are in the 60s, she can get by with a short-sleeved jersey and arm warmers, and maybe shed the arm warmers halfway through the ride.)

However, as we were wrapping up, we got into an involved conversation about her work, and the next thing you know, I’m pulling into our garage and putting the bike away. I hadn’t even realized that I was supposed to take off and do another 10 miles or so. Okay, today will be my easy day, and I’ll ride a little stronger Friday and maybe Saturday.

I’ve already blogged about my relatively short rides this year compared to 2010. And looking back, it seems I had planned to ride longer this year. One resolution by the wayside.

In addition to not riding long, I realized that except for a metric century way back in March, I never really pushed myself on the bike this year. I never felt really done in after a ride. The rationale for that is that I’m a recreational rider, and I’m not out to kill myself by training hard. But no training means no improvement. I do enjoy riding for riding’s sake, and not pushing really hard, but it’s obvious I have to do more.

So, what are my resolutions for the New Year? I don’t do formal resolutions as a rule, but I think we all have to have some idea of accomplishments we’d like to pursue during the year. So here’s what I’m thinking:

  • Some century rides. At least two. I did none this year. Targeting a goal like that will force me to train more.
  • Randonneuring? The shortest brevet is 200 kilometers (about 125 miles). I’d like to try one once, to see if it’s something I’d like to do regularly.
  • New routes. My riding is predictable. I need to get out and ride in areas I haven’t been to before. I can do that and still stay reasonably close to home.
  • More organized rides. There’s a 180 for you. I decided I’d do fewer this year, and I did. But I found that I missed them. I always enjoy myself on these things, and they often provide the exposure to routes I haven’t ridden before. My wife and I will be doing one on New Year’s Day.
My weight is exactly where it was last year at this time, and two years ago at this time, and…you get the idea. So is weight loss a goal for the coming year? Nah. If I say it is, then don’t do it, it will be another unachieved goal. If, by some stroke of good fortune, I do lose some weight — well, then I’m ahead of the game.
So, that’s where I’m headed in 2012 — more time in the saddle. I hope you’re able to ride a lot, too. Have a happy and prosperous new year.

The Mileage Obsession

Barbara on a ride earlier this year.

On an almost summer-like Hill Country ride this morning, I caught up to my friend Barbara with several miles to go.

“I want to do 100 miles this weekend,” she said. “I’m at 91 right now. It’ll be close.”

I knew she had done a 60-mile organized ride the previous day. I thought our ride today would finish at something less than 40 miles.

With about a mile to go, I was in front of the group. I turned into the circle drive in a park where we start our rides, and stopped at my parked car. Our ride leader, Debra, was right behind me.

As I loaded the bike into the back, it occurred to me that something was odd.

“Where’s Barbara?” I asked Debra. Then I saw her.

She had ridden past the circle drive entrance and headed out to the highway. Then she turned around and headed back. Once again, I watched her ride past the circle drive.

“She’s trying to get her 100 miles,” said Debra.

Barbara came back to our circle drive, but rode past our cars and did another lap. Then, with thumbs up and a smile on her face, she pulled up to her car and dismounted.

“Got it,” she said.

She showed me her computer. It read 40.6 miles for the day’s ride. My computer showed 39.6. She squeezed one more mile out of the ride to reach her goal.

“I wanted to ride 5,200 miles this year,” she said, “but I’m out of town several weeks, so that’s not realistic. I’ve got 2,500. I want to see if I can get to 4,000 by March 1st. I think I can do it.”

I looked at Debra. “She’s mileage obsessed,” I said.

We all went out to lunch together after the ride. Barbara and Jerry, another member of the day’s group, compared ride data from their smart phones. She uses an app called My Tracks. Both were upset that they had forgotten to turn off the app at the end of the ride, and it was still registering data during their drive to the restaurant.

“Top speed, 51 mph,” Barbara said with a grimace. “That’s no help.”

I asked if they log their mileage apart from their phone apps.

“Well, it’s on the cyclocomputer,” she said. “That’s how I know what I rode this weekend, and how I’m doing at reaching my yearly goal.”

“I enter my ride data on Bike Journal,” I said.

“Oh, that’s a good idea,” she replied. “Then, if my cyclocomputer goes haywire, I still have the data.”

“And then I enter it into a separate Excel spreadsheet,” I added, “because Bike Journal doesn’t record everything I want.”

Everyone around the table looked at me.

Who’s mileage obsessed?” Barbara asked.

 

Riding Longer

When I saw Don Blount’s post about his riding stats, it spurred me to look at my own. I knew I wasn’t putting in the miles this year to bring me to last year’s total of 4,000 plus — but I’m at about 3,100 for the year at this point, and I’m pleased with that.

The Bike Noob riding a century on the first day of the MS150, 2010.

What surprised me about my numbers, though, was the lack of long rides. The longest ride I have done this year was a metric century — 62 miles — and that was way back in March. My traditional long ride days with the club haven’t turned out to be that, because I ride with the B group, and we don’t go as far.

In fact, when I pored through the overly obsessive riding stats I keep, I found that I’ve done a whopping FIVE rides of over 40 miles this year. Just five. Disgraceful.

Why would I consider that disgraceful? Purely for personal reasons. I don’t really care if anyone else notices I’m not going long. But two things apply here: I like long rides, and I know they help me get better (better = improved endurance, which also means somewhat faster speeds on shorter rides).

I probably should have done something about it earlier. I even posted in mid-summer that I’m the King of the 25-Milers, and mused about the need to stretch out my rides back then. Never did.

And I’ll bet I know why I haven’t done the longer rides this year: a lack of goals. Another post from early in the year dissed the organized (or t-shirt) ride as something I didn’t need to do, because I could ride those routes on my own most any time I wanted. The trouble is, I wasn’t riding those routes on my own.

So, I’m setting a goal for 2012: More long rides. Wait — that’s not specific enough. How about: Two century rides, and four metric centuries. It’s likely I would have to target organized rides to force me to train for them. I can also see that another advantage of the organized rides is that they occur on a set date. That kind of targeted training has worked for me in the past. I could also target different group rides that I haven’t done yet. I’m a member of the Austin Cycling Association, for example, but rarely go on their rides — and they do between two and four every weekend. All of them have at least one distance of over 50 miles.

Again, I’m pretty happy with the total mileage I’ve done this year. But I just feel that my cycling has been missing something. Adding more long rides in the coming 12 months will fill the void. I hope.

 

The King of the 25-Milers

My riding so far this year hasn’t been anywhere near the level of last year, when I racked up over 4,000 miles. That hasn’t particularly bothered me, since I’ve been riding regularly and have been enjoying myself on the bike. But I did a ride today that put things in perspective.

I met some B-level friends out in Dripping Springs for a ride in the country. Debra, who is a fellow club member, lives out that way so she doesn’t come into town a lot for rides (last weekend was a welcome exception). Joining us were Debra’s husband Russ, her friend Barbara, and Beth Ann, a newcomer to our rides.

We decided to head out on a favorite route, mindful that Beth Ann wasn’t used to riding with us. She kept up without much trouble, but when we reached a four-way intersection about 10 miles into the ride, she opted to turn around and head back to the start. Russ rode with her.

Barbara is training for some long rides at the end of the summer, and wants to get as many miles behind her as possible. I was only too glad to join. Looking back over my ride log, it appears the bulk of my rides are shorter than 27 miles. I’ve ridden more than 30 miles only 10 times since the beginning of the year. Like I say, I’m not riding at the level I was last year.

The three of us had a lot of fun riding over the irregular hills. At one point, I led a three-person paceline for over a mile, as we flew through a level-to-slightly downhill section. Another spot had us roaring down a big hill at about 34 mph into a ranch that straddled the road.

We stopped for a break and opted to take another road that would lead us farther away from the park where we started our ride. By this time, it had gotten hot. I had no snap in my legs for the uphill sections. Debra lagged back with me, while Barbara– the “Energizer Bunny” — kept a steady pace and was soon well ahead of us.

We were past the 30-mile mark by now, and I was having trouble on the uphills — none of which was especially challenging. I found myself in really low gears much of the time. The energy bar and water I had taken in at our last stop didn’t seem to have much effect. I watched Barbara and Debra as they pulled steadily farther ahead of me.

But then, I hit a nice downhill section. Gravity is my friend, since I’m a bulky guy compared to those two. I flew past them and kept up my momentum — a good strategy in rolling hills. Soon both were out of sight to my rear. I kept up my brisk pace, and felt as though the food and drink were starting to kick in. When I reached a twisty section with a poor road surface, I pulled under the shade of a tree to wait for them.

We rested and chatted a bit more, then headed out. All the energy I had displayed in the past several minutes must have stayed under that tree. I couldn’t get going. I rode well enough to keep them in my sights, and even stood to pedal on hills, but I didn’t make up any lost ground.

The last mile or two into the park is slightly uphill, and I crept along the road thinking only of the cool of my air-conditioned car when I got there. I think I was going a whopping 7 mph. I saw Debra make a turn into the park, and I could see Barbara who already had her bike on her car’s rack. I was about as blown out at the end of the ride as I have been since the LBJ 100 last March.

I don’t think this ride qualifies as a bonk. I had kept myself fueled with a Clif Bar and frequent (for a change) swigs of the water bottles. But at 41 miles, this was the longest ride I had done in months — and about 10 miles farther than I’m used to.

My typical weekend rides have been in the mid-20 mile range. I’m usually fresh when I’m done with those. Twenty-five miles is easy for me. But I might be in a rut with rides of that distance. I’ve got to start riding farther, and getting used to being in the saddle longer. I might be the King of the 25-Milers, but it’s a dubious honor.

Four Grand

My wife said, “Hey, let’s go out for a bike ride.  I don’t want to go long – I have to get back and do some cleaning.”

“Fine,” I said. “I’m not up for a long ride today, anyway.”

We set off on one of her favorite neighborhood routes.  It’s got some easy hills, and I can get in a quick workout, then wait for her at the tops and bottoms.  On a mid-December 54-degree day (12ºC), we had a good ride.  And when we got home, I was able to confirm what I had expected:

I had 4,002 miles for the year.

Three years ago, when I was just getting into riding, a new riding friend told me he had ridden 2,200 miles the year before.  Based on the riding I was doing at the time, I projected I’d end the year with 1200-1500 miles.  The mileage he was talking about seemed out of reach.

But that year, I wound up with over 2,500 miles.  Last year, I topped 3,000.  Now this.

It wasn’t hard.

I have never set out expecting to ride a certain number of miles in a year.  Based on my experience, I could project what I might end with, but each time I’ve done that, I’ve been off.  The miles accumulate at a faster rate than I can imagine.

I’m a record-keeping type of person, and I have records of my rides going back to my first year on the bike: 2007.  That year, I averaged just over 17 miles per ride.  The next year, it jumped to 21, then 21.5.  This year, I’m averaging 23.6 miles per ride.

My usual weekly riding goes something like this: I’ll get in a quick 15-18 miles on a weekday.  During the summer, it might be more, but most often, not.  On Saturday, I have a 26-mile route in my neighborhood, and on Sunday, I’ll either do a club ride or another longer ride in the area, anything from 30-60 miles.

Keep doing that week after week, and take advantage of nice weather during those temperate months, and the miles pile up in no time.  You don’t need to constantly strive for 100-plus mile weeks to hit 4,000.

I have a feeling that in the coming year, I’ll be concentrating a lot more on improving my cycling skills than building my mileage.  But it’s nice to know that I’ve hit a number that most non-cyclers – and even some who do bike – have trouble imagining.