One thousand miles

I’m just about to 1000 miles on the bike this year. I took the bike into the shop for a checkup and nothing needs to be done at this time. There was a little wear on the chain, but not enough to replace it now. I’m to bring the bike back in for another check at 1500 miles. That should be just in time to get it looked over before my century.

With the 1000-mile milestone near, I took a look through my logs to see when I hit or approached that mark in previous years.

Miles	Date	# rides	Avg ride (miles)
995	6/20/11	30	33.1
998	6/26/10	39	25.6
1022	8/01/09	35	29.2
1007	8/13/08	36	27.9
990	7/20/07	41	24.1
1006	9/22/06	43	23.4

Last year, I remember starting the year with the goal of riding more often than in previous years even if my average ride length was shorter, and I accomplished that. The weather was also very cooperative last year.

With my century ride coming up sometime in late July or early August, it is no surprise to see the increase in my average ride distance this year. But the weather has not been as nice thus far as last year and with a couple of bouts of mono in the house, I’m a little behind last year’s ride frequency.

 

A look at Aprils

2006	Indoor	0.0	0
	Outdoor	50.7	3
	Subtotal	50.7	3
2007	Indoor	72.7	5
	Outdoor	117.7	5
	Subtotal	190.4	10
2008	Indoor	18.1	1
	Outdoor	164.5	6
	Subtotal	182.6	7
2009	Indoor	62.9	3
	Outdoor	179.1	6
	Subtotal	242.0	9
2010	Indoor	0.0	0
	Outdoor	166.5	7
	Subtotal	166.5	7
2011	Indoor	215.3	8
	Outdoor	215.8	8
	Subtotal	431.1	16

 

Need some inspriation?

Cycling totals for the year:

Indoor (stationary): 1384 miles, 58 rides, 23.8 miles average ride
Outdoor: 124 miles, 5 rides, 24.8 miles average ride
Overall: 1508 miles, 63 rides, 23.9 miles average ride

Numbers not inspiring enough? The Fat Cyclist is running guest-written posts this week. Tuesday’s post was pretty good. In fact, don’t just go to that one entry, add Fatty’s blog to your list of daily reads.

Still need more? Check out this article from Joe Posnanski from last month.

 

Get up and get some exercise!

You know who I’m talking about. Don’t deny it.

Bike summary for the week ending Sunday, 20 February:

121 miles
5 days in the saddle (missed on scheduled day)
All indoors
54 miles, 2:59 longest ride (one whole disc, four episodes, of Lost)

Do you have to do a 54 mile ride? No! But get off your duff and do something!

 

Weekly update

140 miles, all indoors

6 days

2:27 longest

 

Motivation is an amazing little thing

Until hooking up with nephew Ben on plans for a century, I had a mental barrier of about 90 minutes on the indoor exercise bike.

Today, I crushed that — 44 miles in just under two and a half hours!

That was enough to get through the entire disc from from season 4 of Lost and then some.

I’ve been working my way through the Lost series, working my way to season 6, which I have yet to see. Last year I was working through Heroes, making it through season 3. When that series was cancelled without wrapping things up, I lost interest in it and final season remains unwatched.

What do you do to help pass the time while riding indoors?

 

Century motivation

I’ve been thinking about doing a century ride (100 miles in one day, one single ride) but because I ride solo the vast majority of the time, the thought of that distance all by myself has always discouraged me.

Then late last year, my nephew Ben added “Cycling” to his list of activities on Facebook. Over the holidays, I asked him about it, and it turns out that he really got into cycling last summer. Then he says he’s thinking about riding a century sometime in the summer od 2011! So we agreed to ride one together. We’re both psyched!

I mapped out a couple routes and pending visual inspection, we’re leaning towards a ride that takes us around Lake Delta and Oneida Lake.

I also found a couple training programs here and here (both are pretty similar).

In the past, I’ve been very much a fair-weather rider. I’m going to have to get out there and start riding on days that aren’t perfect. (Once spring hits and the weather at least warms up some, of course!) And on days that I don’t ride outside, I’m going to have to make sure I do so indoors on the exercise bike.

Miles last week: 134.

This week’s inspirational message:

What does not destroy me, makes me stronger.
—Nietzsche

 

Man killed in upstate NY while riding a bicycle

Bicyclist killed Madison County crash

A tradegy, no doubt, but what gets me mad about this story is the quote from the Madison County Undersheriff:

“Unfortunately it takes something bad like this to happen to learn that you can’t be doing this,” Ball said. “It was just a very tragic accident, that’s the bottom-line.”

Yes, it sure sounds like the old “blame the bicyclist” routine. Dumb thing to say, Undersheriff Ball. Can an undersheriff be censured?

There are no restrictions against riding a bicycle in any season in the NYS Vehicle and Traffic (VAT) code, and in particular, the VAT states:

The operator of a vehicle overtaking, from behind, a bicycle proceeding on the same side of a roadway shall pass to the left of such bicycle at a safe distance until safely clear thereof.

To be totally fair, there is nothing in the story on whether the cyclist was complying with NYS laws on the operation of bicycles, including the use of lamps. (The article states that the incident occurred at 5:40 pm, or after sunset at location.) But irregardless, I still think that was a dumb thing for an undersheriff to say.

Relevant links:

• NYS VAT
• NYS VAT, Article 25, Section 1122-a. Overtaking a bicycle.
• NYS VAT, Article 34, Section 1236. Lamps and other equipment on bicycles.

 

Brilliant!

Motorist honks and mouths off at bicyclists. One of which is a police officer! Hahahah!

From the CommuteOrlando blog, Dude! Who do you think you’re honking at?

 

Lockout ’10

I boycotted Major League Baseball last summer. The Metsies being pathetic was probably a big reason, but the huge salaries, egos, and PED use also contributed. I rarely checked scores and standings and probably watched only a few innings over the entire summer. MLB was locked out.

What will the summer of ’10 bring? I checked the Mets roster yesterday.

It’s a disaster. There’s a head-case at short and a power-hitting 3rd-baseman who hit 10 homers last year. Catcher? They’d be better off signing Today. we could be seeing an outfield of Sullivan-Pagan-Francouer (with Beltran missing the start of the season and questions about Bay’s durability).

Hey Omar! Sign me! I once played right field next to Andy Van Slyke!

Mets catchers and pitchers report on February 18 to kick off spring training. Lockout ’10 starts the same day.