Milestone reached.

It has been a much better year on the bike for me this year, so good in fact I have just surpassed the 4008km I rode last year. And along the way I've also managed my 300th post on this blog. To celebrate I'm having a rest day!

To all who have shared this online journey with me, as well as the many journeys in the real world, I hope 2013 is treating you well too.

A perfect morning's excursion

I rode a very pleasant 18km to the bus this morning. It was warm, though the sun had not been up long. The blanket of fog I descended through zooming down the hill from home didn't quite reach the valley floor. Just three cars passed me in the 40 minutes it took me to ride along the rough dirt road to Huonville and the bus. I knew all the drivers and all of them waved as they slowed and gave me a wide berth passing. The wide Schwalbe tyres on the Crosscheck soaked up the bumps on the gravel road beautifully. The ride home was about the same, but without the traffic. We're a one car family for a while and though it means some minor inconvenience, it also means I'm able to get a some more time on the bike. 


It's February, which means FebFast: a month off the grog. As a challenge, my household has cut its alcohol consumption from a case (or two) of beer a week to zero. Into the bargain I've given up soft drink and bacon and egg rolls from the work canteen. If it's going to be a month of abstinence, it might as well be a good one.


As I've probably complained here before I have struggled to find a regular ride that isn't so hilly as to make daily riding exhausting or too clogged with traffic to be enjoyable. Apart from a 300m hill at the home end, the road from here to town is pretty flat by Tasmania standards. It's a nice ride: slightly harder coming home because of the hill, but pleasant enough to do every day. I've racked up 200km this week which is about twice my average. I can read on the bus - and the paper I work for pays reporters $50 for book reviews, which means my travel almost pays for itself.


Normally I'd be buggered after a week of work and riding. But the exercise and improved  diet means I've dropped about 4kg in three weeks and suddenly I'm riding faster and with less effort. I feel good when I get out of bed in the morning and don't seem to be as tired in the evenings. Diet and exercise huh? Who would have thought it?


I'm wondering how long this pleasant experience will last. I'm pretty committed to see out the next six weeks until I ride the 360km Opperman All Day Trial Summer in Tasmania is brief. This year hasn't been much of a summer at all but even so in a week or two as the days continue to get shorter I'll be leaving home in the dark, which isn't too big a problem because I have lights and sunrise won't be too far away. It will cool down, but I have warm enough clothes for that. Daylight Savings ends at the end of March, so it will be dark at both ends of the day, which means a man has to be pretty determined to push on. And I'll get my car back in a week or two and I'll have to ride past it each morning to the gate. It's temping, always tempting, despite the pleasures of the ride. We shall see. It's easy to make rash promises when its warm and dry. 


570km so far this year.

Cold comfort.

Kev, my friend in Tasmania, and I have been in a sort of mileage 'duel' this year. He bought his bike about the same time I bought the Surly and he's been putting in the serious miles. We swap totals from time to time, not in a competitive way, but more by way of comparison and encouragement. The lead has changed many times, although of late with a couple of the century rides I've done I've drawn away just a bit. He'll probably overtake me in the next week or so as I'm off the bike for a few weeks due to work commitments interstate and then holidays.

It's not something I'd take too seriously though, because Kev wins by a mile on moral grounds. He does all his miles at night, in the dead of a Tasmanian winter, on the way to and from his night shift job. It's in the minuses most nights and he rides rain or shine. They make them tough in Tassie.

3,185km so far this year.

I started out riding again about 18 months ago, after not doing much cycling for many years. When I say about 18 months ago, I can say with some certainty that my first ride of this cycling incarnation was 18.12km down the Merri Creek Trail on January 31, 2005.

Being an obsessive type, I keep a spreadsheet which keeps track of all my rides. I now have a detailed record of my recent cycling history which provides all sorts of interesting information that satisfies my craving for trivia. It may be common among the cycling fraternity to keep a training diary with this sort of detail, but on the other hand, I am willing to admit to being a little eccentric. Ah, my lovely numbers.

For example, I can tell at a glance that my average speed on the 56 rides I did last year was 21.15km/h, while this year I'm motoring along at 22.67km/h (a 7.1% increase, not to be sneezed at). I can see my all-time top speed (74.2km/h) and note that my average kilometres per week has risen from 50.62km to 107.86km. For the 59 rides I've done this year, my average outing is a trip of 43km in a shade under two hours. And there's two double centuries and three century rides in there too.

My previous attempts to do much riding tended to stall a bit, as I'd lose motivation. Keeping the averages up, gradually increasing my mileage and speed and achieving long term goals has made a big difference this time. The big goal for this year is 5,000km or 100km a week. It will be double last year's milage. Next year I'll be aiming for at least 8,000. The best thing is that my enjoyment is increasing to the same extent.