Scenic Route

Rolling in to 2008, I feel pretty good about 2007. Seldom has this happened. Ordinarily I look back thinking, Thank God that’s over, or, Maybe I’ll do better next time. But 2007? I can look back with satisfaction.

2007 was the first year since 1997 that I was on firm financial footing. There were sufficient extra funds around that I bought a bike worth more than many cars.

Actually, Yellow Bike counts up there too. Although it was a project bike, I put far more money into it than either I expected, or that I can reasonably expect to recoup. And I don’t regret a dime of it. It was money well spent. I learned a lot in the process of rebuilding it myself, and I just love riding it.

I did all of that with cash. And I’ve even begun to put some away for a rainy day. I still choose to not have any credit cards or loans. Yet offers come in every week. They go into the round file.

This coming year, I don’t see spending much at all on bikes, as compared to 2007. The big ticket things this year will be new glasses, a new computer or significantly upgrade the ones I have, and the trip to Colorado for BikeJournal Reunion 2008.

I’m halfway through my eighth year of sobriety and things have really come together in that arena. I also passed the one-year mark on not smoking. That one’s a bit tougher because I miss it. Last year I had fewer dark periods. And the ones I’ve had have been shorter and not quite so dark. All this without medication or professional help—a first since the early 90s.

I feel much more settled in the ways one ought to be settled, and more flexible in the ways one ought to be flexible. Very little upsets my apple cart. There are a couple of things remaining, but even those things blow over pretty quickly.

I’ve let other things and people go that just don’t fit the type of life I live today. It was hard, especially the people bit, but I’m tired of the drain of one-sided relationships. Without them, there’s more left for me and for more balanced relationships, should one happen along.

I’ve also worked on restoring things with my family. It’s a long-term thing and most of the remaining difficulties are on my side, but there’s movement.

In short, 2007 was a year of growth and consolidation. From here, it looks like more of the same to come.

By the numbers

In cycling, I met nearly every goal I made last January. I exceeded most of them.

I wanted to get a road bike. I got two. I rode my first century, went on my first cycling event, and my first cycling vacation. My skills, speed and stamina improved markedly. And of course, there are the miles:

0976.4—2006 Giant Cypress DX Hybrid, “The Old Gray Mare”
2263.1—2000 Trek 1000, “Yellow Bike!”
1093.9—2006 Trek Portland, the new commuter rig
4333.4—Total miles

This was on a goal of 4,000 miles. When I crossed that on Thanksgiving day, I had to set a “challenge goal” for the rest of the year.

An additional 5% seemed too easy, but another 10% seemed like too much, especially given it was December. I decided on “Goal plus Tax” and used Monroe County’s 8% sales tax for my figure. I beat it by 13.4 miles.

Goalsetting rehash

We discussed it pretty throughly in this thread on BikeJournal, but for those who aren’t members, it was suggested that the goals I’d set for 2007 were too easy, since I’d—apparently—achieved them so easily.

First that apparent ease is only when looking from the outside. The view from the inside was much different. Just leaving my apartment is still challenge enough for me.

Then again, I’ve gotten to the point where I don’t even think about what other people think when I waltz into the grocery store in clipless shoes, cycling tights, hi-viz jacket, and then attach my helmet to the handbasket while shop.

Second, this is the first time in my life goals of any sort have worked for me. It’s because now I understand how I respond to them and set them accordingly.

Dart-board goals or big impressive numbers are counterproductive for me. They don’t make me try harder. They make me quit. Place a goal outside my reach or my grasp, and I’ll do something else instead.

Knowing this about myself, I set my goals by what I could reasonably expect to be able to achieve. I started with basic transport for each month (about 100 miles), then added the extra rides I figured I’d do.

Some months, for example February, I didn’t figure had much opportunity for extra riding. In-season months I put down 500 miles. After some rounding, I came up with 4,000, or roughly 11 a day.

Even that seemed unachievable. I fell way behind during the third quarter. Partly because I ran out of steam, partly because that’s generally a “dark” part of the year for me, and partly because I was taking so many extra shifts at the library. I spent three months feeling guilty about not riding enough to meet those monthly goals. Feeling bad is not the way goals are supposed to work.

Finally, I also won’t ride just for the sake of racking up miles. A ride must get me to a destination, or be towards a specific training goal, or for enjoyment. I need to feel better at the end of the ride than I did at the start, and riding just turn over numbers on the odometer doesn’t do it for me.

In other words, I ride because I want to ride, not because I should ride. The easiest way to get me to quit something is to say I should do it. For example, for 35 years I knew I should quit smoking. It was only when I wanted to that could could do it. Should means shit to me.

That said, it’s because my goals were based upon reasonable expectations that they looked easily achievable. Good goals get good results.

2007 Ranking

So, where in the BikeJournal rankings did my 4333.4 miles get me?

• 987 out of 7548 riders overall, or 13.08% Goal was the top 15%.
• 836 out of 5711 men, 14.64%
• 298 out of 1288 men aged 50–59, 23.14%
• 21 out of 183 riders in New York State, 11.48%
• 18 out of 135 male riders in NYS, 13.33%
• 7 out of 31 male riders aged 50–59 in NYS, 22.59%
• 2 out of 14 in Club IceBike. This is where I post miles ridden below freezing or with the snow tires.
• 1 out of 10 in the Rochester Bicycling Club. Don’t confuse this with the club’s rankings. Only ten of us posted any miles to BikeJournal.

On to 2008

Looking ahead, I’ve posted my goals on my profile page at BikeJournal. You’ll see a few interesting ones there.

There’s an apparent contradiction between the first two goals, learn to bunny hop, and learn to do a wheelie, and one later in the list, no crashes. I don’t count low-speed, no-injury falls as crashes. (If I did, I’d have two of them last year.)

I’m talking about things like getting knocked off the bike by that rottweiler earlier in the 2007, and when I crashed completely by my own fault in the middle of East Avenue. Looking back, I should have bitten the bullet and gone to the hospital for that one. My left wrist still isn’t right.

Mileage-wise, the biggest influencer is the BikeJournal Reunion 2008 in Colorado. I’m going to have to do some serious training if I’m going to make a realistic attempt at The Epic Century ride there. The route map and elevation profile tell the story here. The ride begins at 5,000 feet and includes 30 miles (!) of relentless climbing to not quite 10,000 feet.

Yes, there are four softer, easier rides that day. But The Epic Century includes about half of the Peak-to-Peak Highway, which is rated among the Top 10 rides in the world by this site and in the Top 10 rides in the US by this one. It would be a shame to go all that way and not go on a world-class ride.

This means doing some serious work. The trouble is, the geography around here is flat compared to the Rocky Mountains, and we’re at less than a tenth of the elevation. The best I can do is work on VO2Max, Lactate Threshold (LT), and basic strength and hill climbing. That’s going to involve some miles.

Better climbing involves improving my power-to-weight ratio. I need to address both sides of that one. It’s about time I lost my spare tire. I haven’t seen my abs in nearly 15 years. Since November, my 33” waist pants have gone from droopy to needing to be unbuttoned when I sit down.

Other planned trips

Besides BikeJournal Reunion 2008 in Colorado, I’m planning three other trips this summer with the bike.

In early June there’s the Great Finger Lakes Bicycle Tour. I enjoyed this ride last year when BikeJournal Reunion 2007 was held there. I’m planning to return.

Somewhere in June or July is another week at my parents’ place in Canada. This time I’ll be taking only one bike (the Portland) and two wheelsets—one for road and one for off-road.

In August, I haven’t decided yet between the Ididaride in the New York State’s Adirondack Mountains, or the Lancaster Covered Bridge Metric Century in Pennsylvania. They’re the same weekend, so I can’t do both. Coming off riding the Rockies two weeks earlier, I’m leaning towards Ididaride. In the end, it will depend on which I can get a ride to.

Other stuff

Not really a goal but two things I’ll need to do in service to one, are get a driver’s license and join the AARP. The AARP travel discounts will knock some off the flight, lodging and car rental on the trip, and I’ll need a license in order to rent a car.

And with that, it’s on to some more immediate goals. I have some client stuff to get out today, laundry to do and I have to put the snow tires on the bike in preparation for tonight’s Tuesday Night Urban Assault.

Addendum

Here’s a quick-and-dirty table showing my 2008 mileage goals versus 2007 goals and actual.

	2008		2007
	Goal	Cume	Goal	Actual	Cume
Jan	200	200	100	228.75	228.75
Feb	250	450	200	146.10	374.85
Mar	350	800	300	314.73	689.58
Apr	450	1,250	400	380.33	1,069.91
May	550	1,800	500	550.14	1,620.05
Jun	550	2,350	500	446.02	2,066.07
Jul	550	2,900	500	555.97	2,622.04
Aug	550	3,450	500	293.83	2,915.87
Sep	450	3,900	400	360.63	3,276.50
Oct	400	4,300	300	462.43	3,738.93
Nov	250	4,550	200	341.21	4,080.14
Dec	200	4,750	100	253.12	4,333.26
miles	4,750		4,000	4,333.26
days	366		365
miles/day	12.98		10.96	11.87

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 1st, 2008 at 12:37 pm EST and is filed under Bike, Generic. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.