Eventually, I got into a routine of riding the same loop each time I went out. The loop was about 16.5 miles long. As I got comfortable with my loop, it became a game to try and finish the loop in one hour. The closest I came was 1:03.
I never finished my loop in under an hour, as I moved to a different goal. Instead of trying to beat the clock, I started looking more at my total time on the bike and my distance. During the summer, most of my rides were between an hour and an hour and a half. The rides gradually became longer. I still remember what a rush it was to finish my first 20 mile ride. That led to my first group ride, a Fourth of July ride with both a metric century and a 50K ride. I rode the 50K and had a blast. Which of course, put in my mind the thought of eventually doing a full century.
As a great procrastinator, I kept that in my thoughts for a few years. Last year I thought it was time to get serious about what it would take to do a 100 mile ride. My goals needed to become a bit more concrete.
I set two goals. One, cover at least 2,000 miles on my bike during the year. Two, start going on longer rides, with at least one ride of 75 miles. I targeted the Bike MS ride in New Bern, NC as the place to do my 75 mile ride. I also starting riding with a group.
The group I starting riding with was Team CBC, a great group of cyclists sponsored by the Carolina Brewing Company. They do training rides about every other week during the season, with the goal of raising money for the National MS Society. Their training rides usually have multiple distance options of 26, 42, or 72 miles. I started out with the 26 mile rides, and worked my way up to the 42 by the end of the summer. I also learned about how to ride in a pace line and spent some time going over my position on the bike. All in all, a very good season of riding.
I came close to reaching both goals. At Bike MS in New Bern I finished 75 miles on both days. However, I did not get in my 2,000 miles. I finished the year at close to 1,650 miles. In looking over my monthly statistics, I really slacked off once I finished the goal of doing the 75 mile rides. Here is what my monthly totals looked like.
Month | Rides | Distance | Time | Avg Distance | Avg Time | Avg Speed |
Jan 2009 | 3 | 51.5 | 3:42:03 | 17.17 | 1:14:01 | 13.9 |
Feb 2009 | 4 | 78.39 | 5:28:48 | 19.6 | 1:22:12 | 14.3 |
Mar 2009 | 4 | 107.87 | 7:02:10 | 26.97 | 1:45:32 | 15.3 |
Apr 2009 | 9 | 180.62 | 12:01:5 | 20.07 | 1:20:12 | 15 |
May 2009 | 6 | 130.44 | 8:37:33 | 21.74 | 1:26:15 | 15.1 |
Jun 2009 | 10 | 193.83 | 12:43:30 | 19.38 | 1:16:21 | 15.2 |
Jul 2009 | 13 | 330.57 | 21:12:27 | 25.43 | 1:37:52 | 15.6 |
Aug 2009 | 13 | 301.43 | 19:48:17 | 23.19 | 1:31:24 | 15.2 |
Sep 2009 | 7 | 239.24 | 14:55:39 | 34.18 | 2:07:57 | 16 |
Oct 2009 | 1 | 9.51 | 0:42:57 | 9.51 | 0:42:57 | 13.3 |
Nov 2009 | 1 | 17.77 | 1:10:3 | 17.77 | 1:10:39 | 15.1 |
Totals | 71 | 1,641.18 | 107:26:00 | 23.12 | 1:30:47 | 15.3 |
I found this pretty revealing. I had no idea I had slacked off so much after New Bern.
For this year, I am stepping it up just a bit. I want to push my total mileage up to 2,500. At the Bike MS ride in New Bern, I want to do 100 miles at least one of the days. Those are the new goals.
So, how is the year starting? I looked at my stats for the first three months of this year and compared them to the first three months of last year.
This year.
Month | Rides | Distance | Time | Avg Distance | Avg Time | Avg Speed |
Jan 2010 | 4 | 53.06 | 03:59:43 | 13.26 | 00:59:55 | 13.3 |
Feb 2010 | 3 | 48.08 | 03:28:59 | 16.03 | 01:09:39 | 13.8 |
Mar 2010 | 7 | 118.69 | 08:04:25 | 16.96 | 01:09:12 | 14.7 |
Totals | 14 | 219.84 | 15:33:08 | 15.70 | 01:06:39 | 14.1 |
Last year.
Month | Rides | Distance | Time | Avg Distance | Avg Time | Avg Speed |
Jan 2009 | 3 | 51.5 | 3:42:03 | 17.17 | 1:14:01 | 13.9 |
Feb 2009 | 4 | 78.39 | 5:28:48 | 19.6 | 1:22:12 | 14.3 |
Mar 2009 | 4 | 107.87 | 7:02:10 | 26.97 | 1:45:32 | 15.3 |
Totals | 11 | 237.76 | 16:13:01 | 21.61 | 1:28:27 | 14.7 |
In general, I am off to a slow start. My rides are shorter, and I'm slower. Perhaps I'm getting old. Or maybe just a bit lazy. Either way, I've got work to do.
See you on the road.
