1y ago

Plans for next season. (cross post it didn't federate correctly)

sopuli.xyz /post/7446709

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As a good "new years resolution" i want to get more often by train and bike to work than last year and also ride to the nearby lake for a swim more often.
Also want to do some cycle holidays again and just the regular cycling i always do.

My goals this year are 2000 km, completing my first century ride, and a multi day bike packing trip.
There are cycling trips that a friend and I were talking about; there is a car graveyard, different tourist locations, provincial and national parks. I don't really do new year's resolutions, but I am intending to ride more consistently when I need to go somewhere and not mainly using it as a means of recreation.

Bike to work (25mi/40km). I'll start small by taking the train halfway (10mi/16km).
- Oh wow. That is quite the tall order. Is it one way? I have 30km to work and it's too long for me, other than do it occasionally. With the train i do like 8km one way.
  A client of ours goes i think 35km, but he is riding 30+ km/h average on his 10000€* road bike, i don't see me ever doing that on any of the bikes i have.
  *edit: that may have been an exxageration.
  
  Yup, each way, so 50mi/80km total per day perhaps a little more since I'd be going on side paths instead of on the highway.
  I used to go about that fast on my old 11mi/17km commute and finish in 30-45 min, depending on wind direction. So with some training, I could probably do my new commute in ~1.5hr each way. It's not going to be a regular thing, just a goal I have. Maybe I'll do it more regularly if I get an ebike, and I probably will if I like the route.
  For the train route, it's 3mi/5km to the stop, then 7mi/11km to my office. That's pretty reasonable, and I'll use that to train myself up to the full distance (e.g. skip a stop, then skip the train entirely). My office only has one bus that goes to it, and it's awkward to get to. If I did transit only, it would take >2 hours (car is 30-40 min), so the bike is a time savings.
  
  While I don't think someone would commute on a bike that expensive, I wouldn't say it's out of the question.

In 2023, I rode 4,500 miles (7,200 km), of which about 3k was outdoor and the rest indoor on Zwift. My goal was 4,000 miles, which I hit at the end of November. I was on a road trip for about 4 weeks in 2023, and I knew I wouldn't be able to ride much during that time (I got a few rides in, but nothing like I would have at home), so I'm surprised I hit the goal so soon.
Failed goal: I like to do at least one imperial century each year, but in 2023 I did not achieve that goal - I was all ready to go, building up my endurance for long rides in the preceding weekends, then I got sick AND the weather was miserable the weekend I would have done it. Dang. The ride was rescheduled, but we were out of town that day, so I couldn't join. My longest ride in 2023 was 92 miles (148 km).
Achievement, aside from the miles: Since late July, I've been riding a metric century or more each weekend, except for about 5 weekends when other things intervened (the sickness and weather above was one; one was a mechanical issue where I still got ~55 miles; the rest were other commitments that didn't allow time to ride). I don't know why I'm doing it, other than because it's kind of interesting. There's no larger overall goal.
Goals for 2024:
Same mileage goal, 4,000 miles. I just don't see how I could increase that significantly without dumping oodles of extra time into it that I just don't have. Fortunately the 4k isn't a major motivation for me - it's useful to see where I am throughout the year compared to what I now "usually" ride, but I didn't stop riding when I hit it early in 2023.
Finish building my rocker plate for Zwift (that should be in the next week or two, hopefully) - I have the major components but will need to get the hardware to assemble it yet.
Continue my weekly metric-or-more riding, as much as possible. I know there will be some I miss, but that's okay. If I accomplish, say, 42 of them (missing 10 weekends), that's roughly 2,600 miles right there.
Go on a bike tour. I built a gravel/road touring bike a few weeks ago, now I need to use it. I haven't figured out what I want to do yet, maybe Cumberland or Pittsburgh to DC.

I’m going to get back into riding again. I had a small accident last August which put me out for a little while the bike was in the shop, then life happened and I put cycling on hold. I’m now a few kilograms heavier than I was when I stopped and even more from my goal weight. I’ll be going on my first (easy) ride of the year today.

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