Based on the previous 3 years I felt that another 5000 miles this year would be relatively easy, and this was despite needing to moderate the weekend durations to make sure that I spent time with my wife who is still not over the illness of this time last year. There have been a number of events however that have put reaching the target at a serious risk of failure.
The first was weather. For the first few months of the year it was dreadful and definitely unsuitable for cycling. I barely managed 600 miles by the end of March meaning that the target was challenging already. Whilst the weather started to improve I still struggled to build any serious miles until June.
By now the weather was better and I made a concious effort to cycle to work as often as possible - cycling to work is "like" free miles in terms of time out of the house and hence time with my wife. I get up pretty early anyway and around this time was getting up even earlier so as to be able to leave work earlier. Thus the morning commute is a freebie. The earlier start meant an earlier finish so I could be home barely any later than normal if I started later and drove.
As a result this year I managed a pretty respectable number of commutes and a higher number of 3 days/week commutes. I work on 2 sites - my main site is 18 miles each way and reasonably quiet roads, the other site is 25 miles each way with less quiet roads and is really not a practical option to cycle - so I don't. This means commuting only when I can be sure of being at the main site which is 2-3 times per week, normally Tuesdays, Thursdays or Fridays. Twice a week is OK but I do find the commute home on the 3rd day pretty hard as I am pretty tired. An alternative on Friday is to make an extended commute home bringing the return trip to about 25 miles and over 40 miles for the round trip.
As well as pushing the commuting distances from June I managed to get some reasonable weekend rides in - again by making an early start on Saturday or Sunday. So for June I managed 600 miles, July 700 and August 580 making 1800 miles in 3 months. The 700 mile month in July is the biggest monthly mileage I have ever done in since getting back into cycling. I also went out quite a bit with my son who is keen on cycling (and now quicker than me under most circumstances) and for example we rode the Donington Circuit one evening.
The downside to all this was that by the end of August I was getting pretty tired. And by mid September I was feeling really pretty spent. I managed just over 400 miles for September which is the minimum monthly distance required to achieve 500 for the year, and by September I was just about back on target - that is I had made up for the poor start of the year and caught back up.
Here's some of the data that I manage in Excel:
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| Weekly mileage for each bike with annual cumulative average in orange |
This graph shows that it has taken to about week 40 to get the average 100 miles per week that is equivalent to 5000 per year
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| Annual mileage - total and per bike |
This shows that 5000 miles is possible for me starting from 2010 when I set the objective.
As of mod-October I am at 4000 miles with about 10 weeks left so I need to maintain 100 miles/week. This is going to be hard - previous years I had about 500 miles to go in 10 weeks having got more miles in the first few months as a cushion. Now that its very dark in the mornings I have stopped cycling to work. I have some holiday left but its still a huge ask.
Given a target of 100 miles per week from Oct-Dec is difficult because of the weather and light, but as per title - The huge mileage I have done over the summer has almost burnt me out. Even without commuting a 40 mile run on Sunday morning is really hard, and I have started to look for other places to cycle to rather than push the distance. For example I went over to Mucklow Hill in Halesowen a week or so ago - climbed it twice and also Gorsty Hill. This is the route:
2300ft of ascent in 36 miles isn't bad for round here!
I have also been over to Beacon Hill in The Lickey Hills (or The Lickeys) having been shown it by my son - although we went down it that time and ow I have been going up it. It is the steepest climb locally peaking at 16% and forcing me to use the 34-28 gearing - everything else that I can ride to from home I can manage in the 34-25:
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| Beacon Hill Segment, near the Lickeys |
I am currently 21st so fairly happy with that.
The upshot is that I am getting resigned to reaching about 4500miles this year and will be very pleased with that. I ma pleased because of the challenge of getting time to do the miles and because I am quite tired - I still want to get out and ride but am looking for something slightly different. These shorter routes covering some slightly newer areas have been a refreshing change and have helped maintain interest even if not distance.
Also my new Scott has been really enjoyable and I am enjoying riding that as well.
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