The start of 2014 saw poor weather and priorities still elsewhere and by the time the weather started to get better in March I'd decided that 4000 miles was a more practical and acceptable target for the year. However a set of circumstances came together and I did a lot of commuting to work in 2014 and these are a relatively easy 36 miles a day. As well as this the weather was pretty good for a lot of the year and I rode most weekends as well. By week 20 (April/May) I had done more than enough miles to get back on target for 5000/year and from then until the end of September I was able to keep turning the miles out with a mix of commuting and riding. We also had a few UK holidays when I was able to get some riding in which included a week in the Lake District and the 2014 Ride London. I was pretty tired however by this time and a big ride at the very start of October saw the 5000 miles roll past. I then had a long weekend away for our 25th Wedding Anniversary and it was the first weekend I'd not ridden since March and a much needed break it was.
At this point I felt "mission accomplished" and that whilst I would not stop riding I could take it easy and any more miles would be a pleasant bonus. However a continuation of reasonable weather meant that I was still doing more miles that I realised and by the start of December 6000 miles was very possible. At this point I tried much harder, and with the benefit of some days holiday to burn before Christmas I was able to bank more miles in. By the last weekend before Christmas I had just over 100 miles to go, so I pushed on and finally, with a 50 mile ride on Boxing Day passed the 6000 mile mark. (In actual fact I'd passed it a few weeks before by the target is Strava miles and I have a 3rd bike that I don't record on Strava but barely does 1-200 miles per year).
Here's one of the graphs I generate with my Excel sheet :
And here's the source data (by month)
The green cells are where I have cycled more miles that the target requires (based on amortising the miles evenly over the whole year)
The other motivator was the Strava Grand Fondo challenges - the problem I had this year is that I missed the first 3 (Jan to Mar) but after than I got all of them up to Octobers and then felt motivated enough to push for the Nov & Dec ones - although the Dec one was about 10 miles too far in all honesty - after the miles I had done earlier in the year by the time Nov came around 60 miles was pretty close to my limit - especially when the weather is cold.
Interestingly (?) according to my Excel spreadsheet the split of miles between my Giant (commuting and bad weather riding and with mudguards) and my Scott (shiny summer bike) is this year is an almost 50:50 split within 100 miles or so. I think this reflects a lot more commuting miles and a reluctance to keep cleaning the Scott after winter rides - and the value of mudguards even if they are only Crud RoadRacers.
Here's the split of mileage between bikes:
I am ecstatic with 6000 miles - its a fantastic personal achievement. However it came at a bit of a price because by October I was pretty well exhausted and needed a rest. I think 5000 miles is a much sensible target given the time balance with the family. I consider commuting miles as "free" in terms of family commitment as I am out before anyone gets up anyway and back home only 30 minutes or so later at most. Next year, while I want to try for the 5000 again I'd like to try and push average speed up by 0.5mph or so which I think is a much tougher target
Here's the Strava data:
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