Long Distance Competition/Ultracycling, Randonneuring and Endurance Cycling - 2008 Challenge - 1000 mile month!

Note: I know this won't fit into everyone's training plans, or life plans, and I know this will not interest everyone, so there is absolutely no pressure to participate in this challenge. If you don't want to participate in this one, that's OK. But it is do-able (I've done it many times) and may encourage some of us to get out there and ride more. :)


The challenge: Ride 1000 miles in at least one month this year ... or as many months as you want ... go for all 12 months if you have the time and energy!! :D


I know lots of you ride this amount and more during your "season", so let us know how it's going. I've posted this challenge in Bikejournal for 2 years now, and there are a lot of enthusiastic participants over there. So I thought I'd post it here too this year. :)

I am in ummmm for all summer (:...

The challenge: Ride 1000 miles in at least one month this year ...

What, a WHOLE month?
If you do The 1001 Miglia Italia Randonnée (http://www.audaxitalia.it/1001/rules.php?lang=en) then you'd do it in 130 hours, or less... :D

Tal.

I wouldn't mind trying it for one month, but when you do that, how do you take care of your house or other things that life requires. I'm retired and I can't seem to get enough time to ride as much as I would like. I'm going for 5000 miles this year and I'll be pretty happy with that, at the age of 67/68.

I wouldn't mind trying it for one month, but when you do that, how do you take care of your house or other things that life requires. I'm retired and I can't seem to get enough time to ride as much as I would like. I'm going for 5000 miles this year and I'll be pretty happy with that, at the age of 67/68.


In the past two years, the closest I've come to a 1000 mile month was just over 900 miles last May, but I hit the 800 mile mark several times. However, in the 9 years prior to that, I have cycled more than 1000 miles in a month 17 times, with my longest months being 1648 miles in October 2004, and 1583 miles in July of 2002.

It's definitely do-able!! :D

When it comes to long distance cycling, with the exception of the last two years, I put all my "life stuff" into the winter. In the winter I take care of all the little projects around the house, I stock up on groceries, I take night classes or work two jobs, I socialize, etc. etc. etc. Then in the summer, I cycle. It's all about time management ... or time compartmentalism.

Now the past two years, I've been in University full time and have been working 1-2 jobs in addition to that ... and have been working 60+ hours a week in the summers to save money to support myself through my next year of University, so cycling as much as I would like has been more challenging, but the quantity has only dropped by 25% overall, and in two more years I should be right back at it again. but nevertheless, I'm still going to aim for at least one 1000 mile month this year! :)

I see these goal posts all the time but there is no way to make the 1000 miles I ride equal in effort to the 1K someone else rides. Where I live, 1000 miles would mean 100,000' of climbing. Someone else might have 1000' in 1000 miles. Get an accurate power meter and try for a 30,000 Kj month on the bike. That way at least the amount of work would be the same. ;)

I see these goal posts all the time but there is no way to make the 1000 miles I ride equal in effort to the 1K someone else rides. Where I live, 1000 miles would mean 100,000' of climbing. Someone else might have 1000' in 1000 miles. Get an accurate power meter and try for a 30,000 Kj month on the bike. That way at least the amount of work would be the same. ;)

They don't have to be equal to someone else's miles! These are your own miles.

And what's stopping you from getting into your car, a plane, a train and going somewhere else to ride for a month? I do that just about every year!

Enough excuses ... let's RIDE!! :D :D It's January 1st, who is up for 1000 miles this month?? :D

What, a WHOLE month?
If you do The 1001 Miglia Italia Randonnée (http://www.audaxitalia.it/1001/rules.php?lang=en) then you'd do it in 130 hours, or less... :D

Tal.

Yep, and if you do a 1200K randonnee, that's 750 miles in 90 hours or less, so all you need is an additional 250 miles that month. :)

I wouldn't mind trying it for one month, but when you do that, how do you take care of your house or other things that life requires.


Speaking from experience you don't. Over the past couple of years, I've had a few 1000 mile and greater months and it's very tough to have a normal life. The best way to accomplish this is to combine a 1200K Brevet with other rides to get the mileage.

I did 1000 miles in 8 days in 2005; 1400km Edinburgh-London on my Frezoni and a 225km route check the following Saturday on a borrowed tandem.

Steve Abraham route checked EL, rode to the start of the Mersey Roads 24hr, did well over 400 miles and rode to Thorne (all on fixed) in less than a week, something well over 2000km...

That will be a goal for me this year.. At least 1 month with a thousand miles.

I did a 1000 mile month last year. Doing a two-day 500-mile time trial really helps :-). We'll see about this year.

Steve Abraham route checked EL, rode to the start of the Mersey Roads 24hr, did well over 400 miles and rode to Thorne (all on fixed) in less than a week, something well over 2000km...

yebbut, Steve is nuts. He was complaining about frame longevity on another cycling forum - he checked a manufacturer's warranty, it was for 17k miles. Steve's complaint was "that's not even one season's riding."

I'm up for it. Barring changes to work, I usually clock just over 1000 commuting miles each month.

In 2004, I did 1950 km (1210 mi) in 11 days to join Paris to Athens with the Union des Audax Français.
Since Olympics Games of Roma in 1960, each time the Summer Olympics Games take place in Europe, UAF organize a Paris to the Olympic City (Rome 1960 / Munich 1972 / Barcelona 1992/ Athens 2004) (in 1980, impossible to cross the soviet border to join Moscow with a group of cyclists)...

I'm certainly going to try for a couple of 1000 milers in the summer. I'm planning to do a stage of the Tour de France (not the etap though) and do three weeks of touring in the canary islands.

I managed 6000 miles this year but most of that was commuting - I need to work less and ride for fun more!

Good luck with your goals everyone!

I am with George. Back in the '70s I routinely did 1000mi months
all summer- pre marriage, pre career, pre house and a body that
could recover from heavy exertion magnificently. Now 3-4d in a
row leave me trashed, and that would involve 200 or so mi at most.
Most I've done in modern times was 820 about
5 yrs ago and I averaged 630 each month June-July- Aug this yr.

I did one of those in 2007. That was the month of June, the first month I felt good after coming back from a knee problem. 1644km. I did a century on June 2 that got things off to a good start. Pretty good feeling looking back at the numbers, I must say.. :)

I had a 900 mile month last year. Count me in for this year.
I would need to commute to work everyday for a month. :eek:
56 a day = 1100 in a month.
I think I would rather commute 3 or 4 days a week and take a recreational ride on the weekend.

I'm up for it. Barring changes to work, I usually clock just over 1000 commuting miles each month.

If you break 1000 miles down over 30 days, it is only 33.3 miles a day. Last summer my commute was about 40 miles round trip. I didn't do it by bicycle very often, but if I'd gotten my butt out of bed and on the bicycle, I could have likely hit 1000 mile months for 3-4 months running mainly with commuting miles.

I'm going for the century a month. With regards to this crazy stuff. The flèche Paris-Marseille is about 1000 km (about 10 days) 600 km more to ride the same month in 20 days. Could be feasible.

I commute 400km/week so I'm in if commuting miles count. If you're only counting miles on long distance rides I might manage it once or twice this year.

I did 900 in May, but it kind of burned me out.
It involved an early morning ride & a commute every day, plus early morning rides both weekend days, plus a couple of longer weekend rides, and the occasional ride after putting the kids to bed.
Balancing life with that mess wasn't fun, and as a consequence I rode less than 200 miles in both July & August. I believe July was the fewest miles and days ridden of any month last year. Even February outscored it heavily. It was mid August before I rode more than a commute again.

You'll forgive me if I decline the opportunity until the kids are grown :-)

Historically, the most I've ridden in a month was between 1900 and 2000 miles, and I've done that a couple of times, but I had few commitments or responsibilities then.

If you break 1000 miles down over 30 days, it is only 33.3 miles a day...


Right. And if you choose a 31 day month it's only 32.25 miles/day. Then there is the possibility of manipulating the International Date Line to gain yet another extra day (31.25 miles/day). That's how us old geezers can accomplish this.

Count me in.

Does this count (: its my first pilot run of the summer with one day rest ...Ohhh yeah no power tap lol ,the hills are later on during the longer rides ...1500 miles in 6 days ...

Body in motion ....GOV

Steven..

Wow, a 1000 miles in a month, what a wacky idea! You go girl!

I commute 400km/week so I'm in if commuting miles count. If you're only counting miles on long distance rides I might manage it once or twice this year.

Of course commuting miles count ... all miles count. If you ride around the block, it counts.

a tad over 32 miles a day....very doable ;)

I commute 400km/week so I'm in if commuting miles count. If you're only counting miles on long distance rides I might manage it once or twice this year.


that's the same distance as me. I don't get in many long-distance rides, just 400km a week getting to work and back.

I'm sure I had a couple of 1,000 mile months last year, I just haven't been doing the whole "forum" thing for a while. Count me in.

Been there and done that . . . before some of you kids even thought about riding a bicycle!
In 1984: 13,000+ miles on our tandem.
Now at ages 75/72 we've slowed down to 100+ miles a week.
A good challenge for anyone!
Pedal on TWOgether!
Rudy and Kay/zonatandem

Crossing the International date line you can also loose a day! And don't forget the short month of February . . . complicxations?!

Crossing the International date line you can also loose a day!

That depends on which way you are pedaling.

I think i might be able to give this one a bash as over the last 20 days i have ridden roughly 960 km but i am off work all week next week and am pretty confident of riding at least 100km minimum per day so i reckon 1620km (1000miles ) should be pretty achievable although i wouldnt think in a normal month it would be.
I usually do around 320km min per week

Been there and done that . . . before some of you kids even thought about riding a bicycle!
In 1984: 13,000+ miles on our tandem.
Now at ages 75/72 we've slowed down to 100+ miles a week.
A good challenge for anyone!
Pedal on TWOgether!
Rudy and Kay/zonatandem

I hope I'm riding 100+ miles a week when I'm that old, errr young..

I created this training goal for me several years ago as a means to "come back" from running a marathon each Spring. While it is a great idea for accomplished cyclists to spend one month - early in the season - to build a "1000 miles base" - this goal is not a good idea for novice or less experienced cyclists.

"Forcing" a 1000 mile month early in the year will cause less developed cyclists into a tired or "flat" training state for the rest of the season. Anyone who has not achieved several 1000 mile months in the past should schedule this goal for later in the season.

Cycling is seasonal?

I created this training goal for me several years ago as a means to "come back" from running a marathon each Spring. While it is a great idea for accomplished cyclists to spend one month - early in the season - to build a "1000 miles base" - this goal is not a good idea for novice or less experienced cyclists.

"Forcing" a 1000 mile month early in the year will cause less developed cyclists into a tired or "flat" training state for the rest of the season. Anyone who has not achieved several 1000 mile months in the past should schedule this goal for later in the season.

I agree ... which is partly why I proposed this now, rather than bringing it up in April or something. Less experience cyclists who would like to do this have several months to start building up toward it.

1609 kilometers in a month? i hope so!

i'll be doing a 600k brevet in june, so that just might be the month.

and if i'm feeling crazy there's the cascade 1200 (http://www.cascade1200.com/), but i don't think i'm quite there. yet.

just clicked over 1620km all pretty good quality riding as well, hills and rail trials so im pretty pleased with that, of course there's a few hundred k of commuting to big up me

Count me in! I did more than 1600 km in a month 3 times already, and this month I'll try to do more than 2000 (1903 so far).

I keep forgetting to reset my comp, so I'm not sure how much I've done in Jan. Prob less than 1000; the weather has been foul.

I check the total distance, and was surprised to see that I've done 12 000miles since the end of March. Not bad, seeing as nearly all of it has been done commuting. I've ridden more miles than my partner has driven in the car . . .

Lesse- Sept has MS150 first weekend, then Ill Great Rivers Ride@ 500 mi, and two centuries- that's 850. Yeah, maybe...

Rules question: If you're on a tandem does that count the same or do you divide by 2? Or what?

Rules question: If you're on a tandem does that count the same or do you divide by 2? Or what?

If a couple on a tandem rides the PBP, they each get credited for doing a 1200K. We'll do the same here. After all, you're both pedalling .... right? :)

2109 km for January.

about 1100 for January. Hit 1000 on the 28th.

Congratulations Reynolds and ***!! And welcome here! :)

Yeah, I finally did one! ;-)

Last year I broke my bottom bracket on my Ti bike and picked up a new bike the first weekend of May. I needed to train for a double century (The Longest Day - CJBC) in June. I rode Centuries on the weekends and commuted during the week. I ended up with 1100 miles and a pulled right quad (grrr). I was able to do the double but couldn't ride faster than 19 mph. I made one mistake and that was I didn't spin (that is, keeping my rpms above 90, preferably for me about 100 rpm). I'll be commuting soon (as soon as I get my lights setup) and hope to be able to get my rpm and miles up. ;-).

And yes, my legs work best above 100 rpm.

I couldn't remember if this was supposed to be a 1000 month, or 1000 a month, so I dug up the thread. I may as well add that I hit 1000 miles for Feb on Tuesday 2/26

I had 8 of 12 last year and my highest month was 1256. So... I'll go for beating that once this year.

Probably July if I do RAINSTORM (http://www.triri.org/storm.html). 5 centuries followed by Ride Across Indiana. Then at the end of the month I'm doing a solo cross-Ohio ride on my birthday. That's 900+ miles in 7 rides. Commuting alone will cover the rest.