Mileage goals
Today’s ride crashed through 163% of November’s mileage goal and with four days left in the month.
With all of them forecast for good weather, there’s no question that miles ridden in November will exceed those ridden September. If I average just 16 miles a day in the next four days, November miles will exceed October’s, and I’ll be within 22 miles of my total goal of 2,500 for 2006.
(Note that this does not include the estimated 300 miles ridden in March, April and early May before I got the cyclometer.)
And I still have a whole month left to go.
Riding those two metric centuries helped a lot. They helped make up for missing goals three months in a row. But for next year, those sorts of rides will count in a separate column.
2007 Mileage Goals
I’ve decided that with the one change, I’m comfortable applying the same formula I used to manufacture this year’s mileage goals for next year.
100 miles in January, February and December
200 miles in March and November
300 miles in April and October
400 miles in May and September
500 miles in June, July and August
Total “routine riding” miles: 3,600
Moving to a separate column will be special rides. Centuries, for instance. The Bike Journal Reunion Weekend in June is another.
I haven’t yet decided if miles ridden on trips will count as routine or special. I’d like to take the bike to Long Island to ride with CBC. And I’d like to take it to my parents’ place in Canada. While they would be out-of-the-ordinary trips, they’d also displace time I’d spend riding at home.
I may even use the bike to travel. Touring is a tantalizing option, especially since I now know I can ride all day. However there’s the issue of camping, which I don’t care for. We’ll see how that bit goes on the Bike Journal Reunion weekend. There’s always credit-card touring or joining a supported tour.
As with this year, club rides will be included with routine miles. Except for the ride I’ll lead, which will fall into special.
I haven’t yet decided on a goal for special miles. Testosterone wants me to put it at 1,400 for 5,000 on the year, or even 1,600 for an even 5,200. But I liked that this year I set pragmatic, achievable goals and was able to achieve them. Yeah, I fell short in three separate months, but I never beat myself up over it and, coming into this month, I was cool with the possiblity that I’d fall short on the year as a whole.
What I don’t want is to get to the point I’m riding for the purpose of recording miles. I therefore reserve the right to change any of this—or chuck it entirely—should I judge it to be interfering with my riding enjoyment.
