Bike Speak and the Geek in Me

Fourteen years ago tonight I was putting the finishing touches on one of the best days of my life: a 266 mile (428 km) bike ride from our home in Lakeville to Tammy's parent's home in Babbitt, Mn. I doubt I'll ever attempt such a distance again but I've learned to never say never.

I received a group email from a friend last Thursday inviting me to take part in a longish ride the next day. It would be a ride with some of the riders from Lakeville's Silver Cycling bike group. I first rode with them in the spring of 2005 when our paths crossed on Hwy 246 south of Northfield. Although I'm mostly a solo rider, I rode with them a few times. Steve and others in the group are experienced, competent cyclists and I enjoy their company. I've been lacking any long rides this year so I scrapped my plans for a round of golf and joined the ride. It was a lot of fun! (See embedded video below.)

I appreciate the way Steve (aka Silver) and others in the group sniff out some off-the-beaten-path routes for their rides. Friday's ride was no exception. We worked our way toward Faribault on roads I'd never taken, much less considered taking. I chatted with Steve while we rode and he mentioned their Dawn to Dusk ride, a 200 mile (double century in bike-speak) ride on Saturday, September 1st. Without much hesitation, I committed to the ride. It's been 7 years since I last did a double century but this gives me something to work toward, and I like that. Here's a video from that ride. It's not as slick as my more recent productions but I sorta like the narration aspect of it.

People who know me well won't be surprised to hear that I'm a numbers geek, in that I like to keep stats on all of my workouts, going back to 1984 when I became a runner. My involvement with endurance sports predates 1984 but that's when I started taking notes.

The sort of data I track has changed over the years and varies depending on the activity, but for cycling, I'm currently logging the following: distance; time; average speed; max speed; average heart rate; max heart rate; cadence; wind; temp, and feet climbed. I'll also make notes of how my body felt and any other thing that I think may be noteworthy. It's what I do. Not all of this data makes it onto my online workout platforms (I currently use 3, never knowing when one of them may be axed), I save that for my logbooks of which I'm filling in my 34th this year. I don't expect anyone else to understand why I do this. I just do it.

From my records, I can see where my peak riding years were from 2004 to 2010 (age 47 to 53). After that time is where I began to incorporate walks into my routine along with our elliptical and Concept 2 rower.

2002 -- 1797 miles (2892 km)
2003 -- 3800 (6115)
2004 -- 7552 (12154)
2005 -- 7452 (11993)
2006 -- 9002 (14487)
2007 -- 7529 (12117)
2008 -- 5848 (9411)
2009 -- 5847 (9409)
2010 -- 6884 (11079)
2011 -- 2936 (4725)
2012 -- 2825 (4546)
2013 -- 3896 (6270)
2014 -- 4604 (7409)
2015 -- 3652 (5877)
2016 -- 4975 (8006)
2017 -- 4242 (6827)
2018 so far -- 2363 (3803)

After Friday's ride with Silver and the others, I felt like my desire to crank out more miles again was rejuvenated. I had so much fun out there that I went back for more on my own Sunday morning and finished the week with 310 miles (500 km). A good week of riding.

I was just writing in my blog recently about finding a balance between my outdoor activities but I've got to go with what my heart wants—with what makes me excited to get out of bed for in the morning, and for now it seems that's my road bike. I'll be golfing with some friends tomorrow morning but I'm already looking beyond tomorrow, to Wednesday, when I'd like to spend a good part of the day on my bike doing my homework for Silver Cycling's Dawn to Dusk ride. It's good to have a goal.



Independence Day Ride