Ringing out 2020, Goals for 2021

[ascpgh]

I haven't had an odometer on my bike since March so I fall short of any tally or objective to quantify for this year. I am simply looking forward to more and better next year and wonder how many others have let their minds go forward for consideration of next year's opportunities.

Bicycling has been my balm for this past year, my hospital unit became the COVID-19 unit and I have been in that trench since March, bike commuting to and from each shift appreciating all of the conditions the seasons have thrown along the way. In the warmer months I actually commuted with my Rambouillet, stopping when the season obviated its less than optimum preparation for full darkness. I've brought it to safety in its beausavaged condition, I'll clean it up when I can. 

Next week I'm getting pre-procedure COVID swabbed for reconstruction of my shoulder, as long as the Thanksgiving surge doesn't bar elective interventions. No injury involved, just the remnants of an interesting life lived so far. I'll be in a sling for some time, they'll tell me after the extent of surgery how long it's going to be. 

Nothing prepares you for having to step off the line. It happened to me in the military and not being able to walk provided easier rationalization. I feel the same for stepping away from my year round cycling cohorts who ride regardless of season or weather, chasing personal objectives, practicality or persona demons. I feel the same way for stepping away from my work colleagues as this pandemic surges. My vocational physical ability hasn't been affected much but this shoulder is intruding on other things now, mostly sleep. I can't fall asleep for long before relaxed muscles lets alignment sag and the cold steel jabs of pain shock me awake. It's what got the orthopedist's attention and an MRI ordered. it's a mess. 

I'm going to be back to having my bike in the room as an icon of luck and motivation to get through post-op and rehab. I have other good hands in the house for support through this, including a new nurse, so I don't feel so obtuse looking forward to getting back on track and having riding goals by spring.

Andy Cheatham

Pittsburgh

[Chris L]

My goal is to get back to riding an actual bicycle.

A major health issue in January kept me off the bike for much of the year.  I rode my Hunqapillar about 75 miles, all 1-3 miles at a time, but did put over 600 miles on a stationary bike I bought for conditioning.  I went months riding the stationary bike and not touching the Hunqapillar and once I got back on the real bike, it was so totally different that it was shocking.  My rpm & cadence on the stationary don't apply in any way, shape or form on a real bike.  Also, I had some (maybe) symptoms that might have been related to my earlier health issue, so I backed off on riding the Hunqapillar.

If I get back to riding a real bike, I want to spend a lot of time riding my 1984 Trek 830.  If I am comfortable getting back into riding, I plan to go forward, at some point in the future, with a custom frameset and thanks to Jan Heine's commitment to 26" wheels/tires, I plan to go that route on my design.  His recent book just affirms my suspicion that 26 x 54 is the right combo for me.  

[Jason Fuller]

Sorry to hear about these health issues, and I don't take for granted that I had a pretty healthy 2020 which allowed me to put in about twice the annual mileage I normally do (5000km). I tracked my riding quite meticulously this year for this goal, and my 2021 goal is actually to not worry so much about keeping track; just getting rides in when I can.  I am working from home currently but when commuting again, I have a goal of riding as much as possible vs. driving (it's 16km / 10 mi each way, and pretty hilly to boot). 

Another goal of mine is to buck the trend of the past two years of spending so much on bikes! Time to enjoy what I have and try to save some money for a change. 

[EricP]

Sorry to hear about the health issues. So far, have been lucky and my health (other than weight) has been good. It's been one of those years though, while my riding time was up to a modest approximately 1000 miles, it meant that other things (playing and performing music) took a back seat. The last three years were busy enough with music that I barely got 500 miles a year on the bike. Now the mileage may have been a touch higher. There is no computer on the Clem. That might change this winter. It was the only bike I rode after getting it, the Hillborne being relegated to the hook in the garage until it came inside.

Am hoping to get more time in on the winter "bike to nowhere", aka the Hillborne on a trainer. Finally splurged for a real trainer tire and that seems to make a big difference in noise and tolerance. 

Goals for next year include hoping to at least keep up the same amount of miles and maybe, just maybe get back to playing with others and performing again. The city has been adding to the bike trails the last couple years which make things a bit easier to get around. Roads were okay before the paths, but not so much during the construction. 

Eric Platt

St. Paul, MN

[aeroperf]

My goals are the same as 2020.  I managed to get my 1275 miles this year (actually made 1300 before taking the Sam down for maintenance), but we didn’t get to bike the Canal du Midi.  Something to look forward to in 2021.
I do need to thin the herd by two bikes, a Homer and a Team Fuji road bike, so I’ll add that to the new year’s goals.

In addition to making 2021 goals, it would be interesting to see how everybody came out with 2020.
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!searchin/rbw-owners-bunch/2020$20goals%7Csort:date/rbw-owners-bunch/EL86zshgWxY/18bm7vz_BQAJ

[Bill Lindsay]

My 2020 goal had been to put up a legitimately "big" year.  My 'achievable' goal was 10,000km, and my 'stretch goal' was 10,000 miles.  I'm in the phase of life where I want to remain fit enough that I feel equipped to enjoy the next phase of life where I'm not working so much.  

I did 200k brevets in January and February with San Francisco Randonneurs to start off the year, and had 300k and 400k brevets on the calendar. Later in the Spring, I had a week-long California coast tour planned out.  The 300k got cancelled due to a logistical household crisis at home that kept me up all night the night before.  The 400k and the Coast Tour got cancelled due to Covid.  

I spent the first few months of the pandemic hardly cycling at all, fell way behind target for 10,000km and got a little bit discouraged about it.  It was July when I think I started snapping out of it and started back up.  I had fairly big months in August and September.  I did several solo 100km rides, including a summit of Mt Diablo, and did a solo 200km out my front door and through Marin.  After some serious catch up, 10,000km came back into the realm of possibility.  

I had a two week vacation planned in October, which was to include some travel.  The travel was out, due to Covid, so I was going to substitute a staycation with a lot of riding. The first week worked out well, and the second week did not, and that kicked off another comparative lull that continues to now.  10,000km didn't happen, but I did get past 4,000 miles.  My riding always features a good amount of climbing, and I've got over 300,000 feet of vertical for 2020, which is a decent ratio for my mileage.  The number I use to categorize a "hilly" ride from a "flat" ride is 100ft per mile, so 75ft per mile in 2020 tells me I did a lot of 'hilly' riding.  

For 2021 I'd like to execute a do-over for my 10,000km goal.  That's just over 6,000 miles, so a solid 500 miles per month gets me there.  That means riding just about every day, and sprinking in one or two 'long' rides each month.  I don't have a suitable time slot to plan another week-long tour, so I won't have that opportunity to rack up a ton of miles.  I'll need to spread it out more evenly.  

Bill Lindsay

El Cerrito, CA

[Brady Smith]

I was fortunate enough to slightly exceed my 5000 mile goal this year despite a lot of disruptions and some nagging injuries—sitting at about 5500 right now. 

For a brief period early in the pandemic I was on track to hit almost 7000 miles, but childcare fell through, and longer solo rides turned into various park trips with the 4 year old on the back of my touring bike. I probably hit 1000 miles with the kid, which was one of the silver linings of an otherwise rough spring/summer. 

I had a few long rides on the calendar that fell through due to COVID, but I did finish my first 200k in February, and managed a few trips up to Bear Mountain and back (I live in North Jersey). 

I commute about 100 miles a week, and that looks to continue through the winter. I teach at a private school in NYC, and we’re not closing unless the state mandates it, so on we go. Hoping for 6000 miles in the coming year, including a pair of 200ks, the Princeton 300k, and D2R2, pandemic-depending. I sort of doubt those will happen, but you never know. 

Best of luck to everyone on their 2021 aspirations!

-Brady Smith

[Bill Lindsay]

It's now the 4th month of the year, and I'm checking in on my annual goals.  I had two cumulative goals for the year:

1. Distance:  10,000km.  So far ~200 miles ahead of pace.  I've tried to stay ahead of pace by averaging 20 miles per day.  That means riding every single day -OR- working in some long days.  I've been doing mostly the former.  I haven't had any >100 mile days.  I'm slightly behind averaging 20 miles per day, but I think I can get back on that pace

2. Climbing: 500,000ft of vertical.  So far ~35000 feet ahead of pace.  I've tried to stay ahead of pace with a stretch goal of 200km of vertical for the year, which averages out to ~1750ft per day.  I'm slightly behind that stretch goal pace, but it is also within reach

The real highlight of my 'pretty good' results so far has been my use of wandrer.earth to add a few new aspects of fun to my riding.  Wandrer.earth maps your unique miles from your strava data, and incentivizes riding roads you've never ridden before.  By seeking out rides that maximize my coverage, my rides turn into micro-adventures.  I make mini-cue-sheets, take a lot more pictures, and am surprised almost every ride to make new little discoveries.  Sometimes a mileage goal gets me into a rut of forcing myself to grind out miles, and it becomes drudgery.  With my wandrer rides, I'm never trying to "get it over with".  

How are your 2021 goals going so far?

Bill Lindsay

El Cerrito, CA

[Jason Fuller]

That's huge!  Being that I'm currently working fulltime from home still, so no commuting miles and very little 9-5 riding, I'm really pleased with my mileage so far (about 1550km YTD). This puts me ahead of schedule on my 2021 goal of 6000 km. Also, I love the focus on exploring new roads and paths - that has definitely been the highlight for me as well, even though I haven't been using an app to encourage it. A lot of people I know ride the same loops almost every ride because they don't want to have to think about where to go - I much prefer to try new roads as much as possible, and have found innumerable interesting things that way.  I would say that's been my greatest joy during the pandemic.  

[Steven Sweedler]

Bill, after riding 6850 m. last year I decided to go after 7000 m. this year to coincide with turning 70. I usually get about half my mileage on trips, and Covid is making that rather difficult. Last year I rode more local miles than usual, probably more if the same this year. 1350 m. in the  first three months while visiting friends and family in warmer climates. Our snow is gone and temps in the 50’s F this week.   

Steve

Plymouth, NH

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bun...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/9761d8a7-862b-4490-aed1-6146ac1d6847n%40googlegroups.com.

--

Steven Sweedler
Plymouth, New Hampshire