Biking All These Miles, Centuries on My Mind
Since I bought my bike back in 2013 that vast majority of my biking has been commuting to work and back, to the point where when I posted my updated monthly records I only considered commuting miles, because that was 97% of my lifetime miles before this year.
Of course, this year I'm not going into the office. Nor am I going into the gym, so once April rolled around I got on my bike. First I did the old Lakewood resolution, and from there I just kept riding in all directions. I have set several single day PRs, and I put in more miles in each of April, May and June than I ever had via commuting. In fact, if we compare my commuting record miles versus this year:
MonthCommuting Record# of Rides2020 Total# of Rides
April 201470.04168.611
May 2014175.010198.311
June 2018250.614418.921
Throw in my solitary commute in March (not a record) and that puts me at 803 miles on 44 rides for all of 2020. That's almost 2/3 of the 1263.1 miles I did in my best commuting year ever, 2017. Perhaps more impressive, my average miles per ride is 18.25 miles, which is more than the 17.9 miles I go to work. Since the work commute is essentially broken into two rides of just under 9 miles, and the my rides in 2020 have been all at one shot, it's arguably a lot more impressive.
And while we're at it, that 418.9 miles in June isn't just my best June ever, it's my best month, period, eclipsing the 305 miles I did in August 2019 with a higher average miles per ride.
Somewhere along the way I realized that I might as well set some kind of target goal, and decided that I will ride a century this year. To that end, my single day PR keeps rising. Last Sunday, I biked from Lakewood to the Charles Berry Bridge in Lorian, and then back to the Detroit-Superior Bridge in Cleveland, and then back home for what I'm calling the "between two rivers" ride. That took me 55.7 miles in a little under five hours with about fifteen minutes of breaks, and was the third single day record I've set this year. Before this year I had one bike path day a few years ago where I did something in the low 30s with a lunch break This year I've pushed it from 35.0 miles to 43.9 miles to 55.7 miles, none with more than 15 minutes of breaks.
I felt pretty good after riding 55.7. My knees were fine, my hips a tad sore, my right foot (weirdly) was quite sore, and my butt was a bit saddle sore. I'm pretty confident I can do 100. We'll see how it goes. I haven't had a physical goal like this in quite some time, and I'm remembering how nice clarity of goal can be!
Of course, this year I'm not going into the office. Nor am I going into the gym, so once April rolled around I got on my bike. First I did the old Lakewood resolution, and from there I just kept riding in all directions. I have set several single day PRs, and I put in more miles in each of April, May and June than I ever had via commuting. In fact, if we compare my commuting record miles versus this year:
MonthCommuting Record# of Rides2020 Total# of Rides
April 201470.04168.611
May 2014175.010198.311
June 2018250.614418.921
Throw in my solitary commute in March (not a record) and that puts me at 803 miles on 44 rides for all of 2020. That's almost 2/3 of the 1263.1 miles I did in my best commuting year ever, 2017. Perhaps more impressive, my average miles per ride is 18.25 miles, which is more than the 17.9 miles I go to work. Since the work commute is essentially broken into two rides of just under 9 miles, and the my rides in 2020 have been all at one shot, it's arguably a lot more impressive.
And while we're at it, that 418.9 miles in June isn't just my best June ever, it's my best month, period, eclipsing the 305 miles I did in August 2019 with a higher average miles per ride.
Somewhere along the way I realized that I might as well set some kind of target goal, and decided that I will ride a century this year. To that end, my single day PR keeps rising. Last Sunday, I biked from Lakewood to the Charles Berry Bridge in Lorian, and then back to the Detroit-Superior Bridge in Cleveland, and then back home for what I'm calling the "between two rivers" ride. That took me 55.7 miles in a little under five hours with about fifteen minutes of breaks, and was the third single day record I've set this year. Before this year I had one bike path day a few years ago where I did something in the low 30s with a lunch break This year I've pushed it from 35.0 miles to 43.9 miles to 55.7 miles, none with more than 15 minutes of breaks.
I felt pretty good after riding 55.7. My knees were fine, my hips a tad sore, my right foot (weirdly) was quite sore, and my butt was a bit saddle sore. I'm pretty confident I can do 100. We'll see how it goes. I haven't had a physical goal like this in quite some time, and I'm remembering how nice clarity of goal can be!