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Cycling Goals............How you doin' ???


Mr. Beanz

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Just over a year ago, I told myself I need to pick up my riding to keep myself healthy. So many family illnesses, issues and deaths 2-3 years back, it took my time and concentration away. I slacked big time and I felt it. I did a few consecutive 30 mile rides and felt lousy. I wondered if something was wrong with my legs, bone cancer, something bad because I never felt like this before.  Nothing like that though, just felt bad overall. So I decided it was time to take back my time and concentration. So over a year ago, I set a goal of 300 miles per month to get back on track.

Riding more, feeling great again! 

Thanks to Garmin Connect for the cool graphs.

 

 

Pfft! 2018-2019 sucked. A 250 mile month tops and a few really low ones.

 

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This was the time I decided to take back my time and keep myself healthy. April was when I decided 300 per month should be good and did just about that and more the rest of the year.

 

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This last year, I crushed my 300 just about every month. Feeling great, my number rolled up to 400 for a few. Can't believe the difference between riding enough and not riding enough, Feel like a totally different person. Spending your time caring for others is almost like a MUST DO situation but then you look around and other people don't help so sometimes, you just have to say screw it and take care of yourself.

Anyway, back on my horse for quite a while and feeling the benefits! :party:

 

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Neat.  Nice to commit to a focus on health!

In Sept 2019, I started using a Wahoo to see if I liked it (so the Garmin site loses that info):

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...by April of 2020, I was done with the Wahoo experiment (I hated it) - so the Strava graph can show those missed months and that they were also lower mileage ones:

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Feb and June were the months I was driving back and forth across the US, so those declines were expected.

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All things considered, I'm pretty much the same year over year - dip in winter, climb through summer, start the dip again.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I had a rough couple years and this year was all heart trouble and Leukemia. I set a goal in August while I was still getting chemo treatments that I would do the September challenge for kids cancer and ride 200 miles. My strength came back rather quickly once I started riding on September 1st. I rode over 400 miles in September and raised $1,300 for children’s cancer research. Thanks in a large part to you guys.

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15 hours ago, Longjohn said:

I had a rough couple years and this year was all heart trouble and Leukemia. I set a goal in August while I was still getting chemo treatments that I would do the September challenge for kids cancer and ride 200 miles. My strength came back rather quickly once I started riding on September 1st. I rode over 400 miles in September and raised $1,300 for children’s cancer research. Thanks in a large part to you guys.

400 miles in a month is HUGE LJ, so you still "have" it even after a lay off and all the health stuff!

Darned impressive.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Lousy. And I can’t blame COVID. A year ago we decided to buy instead of rent. Lease was up in April but we set March 1  as the move out date. This coincided with the surge in home buyers creating a sellers market where we were outbid on all offers. At the last minute we snagged a house but it was 30 miles from where we wanted to live. We used the time to sell, donate or toss a lot of stuff as we were downsizing also. Graduate courses began in September 2020 and ran until May 2021. Late start, new area to learn routes. I’m at 650 miles right now and should be closer to 2,000. Maybe next year. 

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On 10/22/2021 at 3:45 PM, Old No. 7 said:

Lousy. And I can’t blame COVID. A year ago we decided to buy instead of rent. Lease was up in April but we set March 1  as the move out date. This coincided with the surge in home buyers creating a sellers market where we were outbid on all offers. At the last minute we snagged a house but it was 30 miles from where we wanted to live. We used the time to sell, donate or toss a lot of stuff as we were downsizing also. Graduate courses began in September 2020 and ran until May 2021. Late start, new area to learn routes. I’m at 650 miles right now and should be closer to 2,000. Maybe next year. 

Yep - you can't easily build a routine around a lot of change.  That house hunt and the move and then the moving in and sorting things out stuff takes time and energy - time & energy that is taken from cycling :(

Hopefully, the rides out there are just the balm you need!

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 9/28/2021 at 3:00 PM, Mr Beanz said:

Spending your time caring for others is almost like a MUST DO situation

It was definitely a must do with me caring for my wife. I couldn’t put her in a nursing home. Her mind was still good and we could talk about the good times and we could have the grandkids come over for visits. Nursing homes all shut out visitors so that was not an option I would even consider.

On 10/22/2021 at 3:45 PM, Old No. 7 said:

Lousy. And I can’t blame COVID. A year ago we decided to buy instead of rent. Lease was up in April but we set March 1  as the move out date. This coincided with the surge in home buyers creating a sellers market where we were outbid on all offers. At the last minute we snagged a house but it was 30 miles from where we wanted to live. We used the time to sell, donate or toss a lot of stuff as we were downsizing also. Graduate courses began in September 2020 and ran until May 2021. Late start, new area to learn routes. I’m at 650 miles right now and should be closer to 2,000. Maybe next year. 

wow, I guess I had so much going on in my life this year that I didn’t notice your mileage drop off. You were still posting stuff and the rides you did do you posted. Time flies when you get old and I remember all the rides you were doing on the C&O it seemed like almost every day. Maybe that was when you moved back and left your wife and son in Cincinnati?  How long ago was that?

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5 minutes ago, Longjohn said:

It was definitely a must do with me caring for my wife. I couldn’t put her in a nursing home. Her mind was still good and we could talk about the good times and we could have the grandkids come over for visits. Nursing homes all shut out visitors so that was not an option I would even consider.

wow, I guess I had so much going on in my life this year that I didn’t notice your mileage drop off. You were still posting stuff and the rides you did do you posted. Time flies when you get old and I remember all the rides you were doing on the C&O it seemed like almost every day. Maybe that was when you moved back and left your wife and son in Cincinnati?  How long ago was that?

Five years ago, 2016. I liked living alone, I had more flexibility and opportunities to do things and eat better. I need to find a way to balance the demands that I am feeling. 

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  • 1 month later...

I’m not sure what my total is for the year but it’s not a whole lot.  I’m guessing less than last year.  My riding has been somewhat sporadic this year.

I know how it is with me and my health though so I don’t really set overall goals as I know I’ll get knocked on my ass 3-4 times a year that will force me off the bike. 

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  • 1 year later...
10 hours ago, Longjohn said:

My main goal is to stay healthy. I have been getting PRs on segments I have been riding over ten years. I find that hard to believe because I’m riding a gravel bike with big tires.

My main goal too. I ride for fun and for fitness, but at this point in life, my PRs seem fewer and farther between. Some of it is due to me just "riding" more rather than pushing it, but I do think my body is at a plateau with less upside than I had a decade or more ago. Good or bad, it is what it is. :dontknow:

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