• Sometime in the last couple of weeks, I reached 1,000 miles of cycling for the year. This feels odd because from January through March, I actually rode more miles than in any previous year. But, nearly all of it is commuting and other utility cycling. Very few recreational rides. So, it doesn’t feel like I’ve been riding as much. I tend to not count commutes when I’m thinking about the riding I’ve done, but truthfully at 11-12 miles per day, it adds up to a lot.
• That said, I don’t anticipate the huge upswing in mileage in April/May this year that I had last year.
• I commute on the fixed-gear bicycle on Monday. I found it a lot of fun riding around campus, and town, on the fixed-gear bike. The biggest downside was, I worked up much more of a sweat than I normally would, on a geared bike. Also, I had to carry my backpack on my back instead of in my milk crate. Not very comfortable.
• On my way home that day, I thought I felt more play in the chain than I should. On closer inspection, I noticed my chainring is coming loose. I’ll have to fix that before I ride the fixed-gear bike again.
• That made three fixed rides in a row (or four, if you count morning/evening commutes separately). The next day, I commuted on the Trucker. Coasting felt really VERY odd. I was a little surprised at how tricky it was to switch back.
• Yesterday I found time for a brief evening ride on the Bianchi. After riding the slow Trucker and pedaling harder on the fixed bike, the Bianchi felt even faster and smoother than usual. And, I managed to push up the hills in a bigger gear, too. It just felt GREAT riding such an efficient bicycle. This was the most refreshing ride I’ve had in a while.

General

I’ll talk about the goals I set at the beginning of the year in a minute. I did pretty well overall, but most of the best stuff that happened this year wasn’t directly connected to a goal.

Most importantly, people. I rode with others more often this year.  I rode with Bill a couple more times, and I started riding with Tim and David, when we are able to connect for a ride. I rode with my other friend Dave when I could, but we didn’t get to ride as much this year. I also did some club rides, although I found that most people in the club have a much different riding mindset than I do.

I also rode my first centuries this year, and got more interested in long-distance cycling. I didn’t pursue this as much, later in the year, but it’s something I’m definitely still interested in.

Probably the best two rides of the year were the two days of riding in Big South Fork with Tim and David. (Part 1 | Part 2)

I also got significantly better at riding in various inclement weather conditions, especially snow, ice, and night riding.

I didn’t do a lot of mountain biking this year, but I did ride my mountain bike a lot in the snow, and on gravel roads.

Goals

Here are the cycling goals I set last year, and how I did:

1. Ride 3,000 miles.
   I far exceeded my expectations, and rode 5,007 miles. In fact, I just hit 5,000 miles on the very last day of the year. Pretty exciting way to wrap up the year!
2. Ride a century (100 miles in one ride).
   I rode five century+ rides, including the 160-mile Ride Across INdiana.
3. Do at least three overnight bike camping trips (S24Os).
   I didn’t do any bicycle camping at all this year.
4. Do at least one longer bicycle tour, two nights or longer.
   I didn’t do a tour.
5. Ride my bicycle in at least two states other than Indiana.
   I rode in four new states: Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee.
6. Explore new roads and trails.
   I did.
7. Continue 100% bicycle commuting.
   Not quite 100%, but close.  Occasionally I will have to drive; mainly if there is a car problem, I drive the car to the shop, ride my bike to work, and ride back to pick up the car. Also, I drove for a couple of weeks after my foot surgery.

Basically, I exceeded my goals in every way, except that I didn’t do any loaded bike camping this year. For whatever reason, I never really felt the urge this year. Next year, I hope to do better. I’ve enjoyed bike camping every time I’ve done it, so I’m not quite sure why I didn’t go this year.

More miles than ever before

There are two main reasons for my huge mileage increase over previous years (my previous record was 3586.5 miles, back in 2007):

1. I moved further away from work, but continued to commute each day.
2. I bought a road bike, which allowed me to rack up miles faster, and made longer rides more doable.

Mileage Breakdown

• Road: 2753.45
• Commute: 2010.28
• Mixed terrain: 758.98
• Mountain: 210.91

Bikes

• Surly Long Haul Trucker: 2911.23
• Bianchi Imola: 1540.80
• Fuji Tahoe 29 Comp: 337.84
• Miyata Street Runner: 217.50

I was easily on track for a 500-mile month, with 483 miles going into the weekend, but I didn’t ride at all over the weekend. It feels sort of wasteful now, but I just didn’t. I did rest a lot, and I’m finally starting to feel rested again after that exhausting camping trip. Really it was a lack of sleep that had me exhausted more than the riding, but both played a role.

Now that I’ve had a bit of a break, I’ve got it in my head that I need to be more proactive about evening rides. Normally, I try to do two evening/training rides each week. This gets more difficult as the days get shorter, and realistically I haven’t stuck with this plan for a while. But I need to try harder. Some weeks I haven’t even done ONE evening ride, and commuting itself is not really enough training to stay in shape for the longer rides, which I want to continue doing. A better light is in my future, hopefully, but not immediately. I’ll have to make do with what I have for now.

So, October stands at 483 miles. Not bad. I’m at 4,120 total for the year so far. I’m close enough that I really think it would be great to hit 5,000. That would take a real push, so we’ll see! I’d also like to do at least one, if not two more, century rides before the year is up. That would certainly help move me toward 5,000 miles for the year.

I’ve acclimated to the heat better this year than ever before. It’s a combination of riding more in the heat, and being more aware of hydration/nutrition on the bike. The most useful thing I’ve discovered to that end is Endurolytes. They’re little capsules for electrolyte replenishment. I take a couple capsules per hour, and they help keep my electrolytes in balance. This helps immensely with hydration, and also makes recovery go smoother. I have also been using gels and blocks occasionally, but only as a supplement to real food. I used to eschew most of this stuff, but I find it really helps, especially on longer rides in the heat.

I’m still commuting by bicycle, of course. I’ve found that my commutes have not been much fun lately. It’s just been too hot. I don’t mind getting hot and sweaty when I ride, but I don’t like showing up at work that way. I find ways to deal with it, but it’s just not a lot of fun. I’m not going to stop commuting by bicycle, but I’m not enjoying it as much right now. I’m sure once it cools off a bit I’ll be feeling better about it once again.

Tuesday night, I did a hard training ride. It wasn’t a particularly difficult route, but I rode harder than usual. It felt good, I really pushed it more than usual, but I wouldn’t want to ride that way all the time.

I got contact lenses. They are so much better for riding. I have peripheral vision again! And, now I can wear any sunglasses I want. I picked up a pair with interchangeable lenses. I’m amazed at how much better they are than my old glasses + clip-on sunglasses. It used to be any time I hit 30 mph, my eyes would well up with tears and it’d be hard to see. I’ve passed 47 mph on downhills a couple of times in my sunglasses, with no tears in my eyes whatsoever.

I’ve also found that I really like the red lenses. They’re dark enough to help in bright light, but I can still see in the shadows. And, they just make things look nice.

The weather has been gorgeous the past couple of days. Naturally, it’s supposed to heat up again for the holiday weekend. I’m planning on doing a club ride for sure, and some other riding, but I’m not sure yet what else I will do. We’ll also have houseguests, which will be a lot of fun.

Here’s how the miles broke down:

• Commute: 188.46
• Mixed terrain: 59.25
• Mountain: 15.80
• Road: 375.11

I also rode my first century ride and got a new road bike. Plus, I got to ride with a few other like-minded riders. Wow, what a month!

I’m hoping that June will be as good, or better. There’s another organized century ride on the radar … this one is a lot hillier, and it will probably be hot, so it will be significantly harder. There are shorter routes available if it gets too brutal, but I’m hoping to go the whole 100 miles.

My bicycles have been shifting roles. When my commute was shorter, I used to commute on The Beast, but since we moved and my commute is longer, the Trucker, which was my road/mixed-terrain bike, is becoming more of a workhorse, seeing commuting duties as well. Now that I have a road bike, the Trucker won’t see as much pure road duty, but will still be used for mixed terrain, and of course camping trips, whenever I finally get around to doing another one.

My mountain bike hasn’t seen a lot of action recently, but I intend to use it to heavily explore more trails and gravel roads in Hoosier National Forest.

The new road bike continues to impress me. It’s just a dream to ride. I realized after my ride on Sunday that I hadn’t struggled as much with the hills on Popcorn Road. I think that this lighter, more efficient bicycle is making climbing easier, which I hope will help extend my range as well.

I especially like this particular number: as of this evening, I have ridden 10,011.07 miles since I started keeping track.

That number is still baffling me. 10,000 miles on a bike? Wow!

Let’s see how that breaks down:

• Road: 6971.86 or 69.7%
• Mixed-terrain: 1814.40 or 18.1%
• Commuting: 1977.97 or 19.8%
• Mountain Biking: 977.96 or 9.8%

Yes, that adds up to more than 100%. “Mixed-terrain” miles are often also tagged as road or mountain bike miles, depending on the kind of riding. The 10,011.07 total is still correct.

On a side note, we are having a very beautiful spring. I love spring in Bloomington … the town earns its name. Here are a few recent shots. First up, the weeping cherry in our front yard is a gorgeous!

And here are some photos from some commutes and a road ride.

I have some other activities to blog about, but I’ve been having a hard time finding time to write about them. Soon …

Total miles: 2628.91
Road biking: 2016.74
Mountain biking: 301.32
Mixed terrain: 1447.62
S24O: 99.59

In 2008, I rode over 3000 miles; in 2007, it was over 3500 miles. So these stats aren’t that great overall, but they do show a lot of variety. In particular, I did a lot more mixed-terrain riding in 2009 than ever before, and I absolutely loved it.  I also had variety in that I got to ride in various places in Pennsylvania and Indiana. And there was a lot of beautiful scenery in both states. It appears I  also took over 20,000 photographs in the process (OK, a lot of those are duplicates).

I also got a new commuter (for $40!), and a new mountain bike toward the end of the year, though I did not get to try it on any serious trails until January 2010.

I usually do a “top 10 rides of the year” — I’ll try to write that post soon.

Here they are, in chronological order. This is highly subjective — I have no specific criteria, so each ride might be memorable in a different way.

1. An Unintentionally Epic Ride
   
   This ride was in Fort Wayne. I intended to ride about 40 miles, and ended up going close to 70. I rode from Fort Wayne up to Chain O’ Lakes State Park, expl0red the park, and rode back. One of my first mixed terrain rides, and it was on the road bike. A little sketchy and a lot of fun.
2. First Bicycle Camping Trip (S24O)
   
   My first bicycle camping trip. And sadly, the only one I did this year. It was great, and I hope to do more trips like this when time permits.
3. Mixed Media Ride
   
   This ended up being a defining ride for me. Probably my first intentional/serious mixed-terrain ride, I rode from Bloomington out to Yellowwood State Forest, and through the State Forest lands on gravel roads. I intended to ride back, but a sidewall blowout stopped me. Sarah saved the day. This experience was a revelation: riding on platform pedals, wearing sandals, stopping to wade in the creek to cool off, taking in the gravel roads — all these things made me rethink how I approach my rides.
4. Bloomington to Jackson-Washington State Forest
   
   This was an experiment. Sarah and I were going camping at Jackson-Washington State Forest. I rode there, she drove, and we met once we arrived. It was a fun trip and a great ride.
5. Brown County Breakdown
   
   This has been my favorite ride of the year the past two years, and the same was true this year. It covers a lot of fantastic trails, and it’s a great way to spend all day out mountain biking.
6. Lehigh Gorge
   
   This was the most fantastically gorgeous ride of the whole year. I loved the rushing Lehigh River, the brilliant fall foliage, the mountains, and 40 miles of rather easy yet very enjoyable riding.
7. Bunker Hill, Mt. Zion, Lake Louise, etc.
   
   My first longish road ride in Pennsylvania, this was a real eye-opener. I saw a lot of beautiful scenery, but this ride really reinforced for me how much more difficult the riding is in this area.
8. Harvey’s Lake
   
   Even though I had to ride a shorter distance than I had hoped, this was a breathtakingly beautiful ride. Brutal in terms of climbing, though.
9. Black Friday Mountain Biking – Inadvertently, Snow Biking
   
   My friend Dave and I typically do a ride on Black Friday, but since I moved, I had to find another option. I rode with the Hubbard Bike Club near Scranton. I wasn’t expecting snow at all, as there was none at home, but I arrived to find several inches of snow on the ground. This was a very difficult ride, but also very scenic. It was a great group of riders, to boot.
10. Larksville/Plymouth Mountain
    
    This ride had me inadvertently riding some gravel roads that I was very happy to have found. It was warm-ish in the valley, but on top of Plymouth Mountain the trees were covered in a good layer of ice that crackled as limbs swayed in the wind and refracted the sunlight like thousands of frozen prisms.

Monday night, I rode on Shilo Road after work. It felt great to get in about a 25-mile ride after work, I haven’t done enough rides like that lately. Shilo Road is always a fun challenge, with lots of twists and turns and a very rough road surface where you must choose your line very carefully. I stopped by Bean Blossom Creek to rest for a moment.

Bean Blossom Creek

An interesting gate alongside Shilo Road that I hadn’t even noticed before

After Shilo I was on Anderson Lane for a while, where I saw a wild turkey and a couple of deer. As I was heading back on Old 37, on the big climb near the fire station, another rider passed me. He was going a lot faster than I was, and I was impressed with his climbing abilities. I greeted him as he passed, but he didn’t say anything.

Old 37 climb

Wide open space

To keep things interesting, I decided to go home a bit of a different way than usual, going by Lake Griffy. I often avoid this because of the big climb on the other side of the lake. The lake looked gorgeous as the sun was getting low in the sky and reflecting off the lake. Lots of people were fishing, both in boats and on the shore.

Lake Griffy

The climb wasn’t as bad as I remembered it being, and also served as a reminder of how far I’ve come in the last year or so. It was still tiring, but it was a lot easier than it’s ever been before. I passed another rider on the way up and said hi, but he didn’t return my greeting.

Reaching the top of the hill

Thousands of dandelions by the Bypass

Overpass

Part of campus


Plaque

The rest of the trip home followed my commute route and was easy and relaxing. A great post-work ride.