Foo - What are your cycling goals for 2009?

For some of you, it might be to:

complete your first Century ride
to climb a particularly hard long mountain climb that you've never thought you could or that previously kicked your butt
to finally be able to hang with the "A" group - for your weekly club ride
to finally "get noticed" by a certain someone in your local or even BF cycling culture, that you've had a crush on for a long time
to finally beat that certain (annoying as hell) person in your cycling club or local ride/race encounters
to beat your best time for a particular ride
to win a particular race
to advance up into the next "category" of racer
or for some of you long time veterans, simply to be around and healthy for another season -- able to enojoy the freedom of being on a bicycle in the outdoors, vs. in a wheelchair, or worse, as casket

Here's my list; some of which I belive are realistacally attainable this year, and others, that are more long term goals I've set for myself:

1) participate in and complete the annual "Assault on Mt. Mitchell" ride
2) compete in and complete, all 200 miles, of the Black & Blue (double century ride "relay" ride) - as a solo "team" (my team name shall be "Notateam")
3) to best the time of "certain someone" from my local cycling club, on one of my Century rides this year. I hold no ill will or animosity toward this person - I simply admire and respect their abilities and accompolishments, and would like to try to elevate my "abilities", even if for only one race/ride", to at or slightly above their level
4) complete a Century ride within 5hrs

1.) to overcome my anxiety of being hit by (another) truck and ride daily like I used to.


2.) see number one.

Commuting to new job in different state :)

Oh...also plan to cycle Paris when I return sometime next year. That should be great therapy for me.

1.) to overcome my anxiety of being hit by (another) truck and ride daily like I used to.


2.) see number one.

Unfortuantely, for many of us, and in many ways, overcoming our mental obstacles can be more daunting than the physical performance ones. Physical training is (more) easily accompolished by spening more time in the saddle - but how do you train you mind to ignore the fears and phobias that hit at the very core of your being?

Never having had the displeasure, I would guess that once you've actually been hit by a truck, the reality sets in that this is no mind game phobia like fear of heights or being in closed in spaces, and the very real possibility exists that it can indeed happen........AGAIN!

Best of luck with reaching your goal.

Commuting to new job in different state :)

...on a bicycle? Kewel!

1) Don't die
2) Look cool
3) If I do break rule #1, Do not break rule number #2.

4) Participate in a charity event.
5) Race
6) See 5

1) Don't die


...but that is so last year.

Hey, you could always do the Harry Houdini Charity ride.

...on a bicycle? Kewel!

......take my Wife, pleasehttp://www.css-spb.ru/forums/images/smilies/dop/cymbals.gif

I guess I don't really like setting those kind of goals.

I intend to find ways to celebrate every little bit of improvement on the path. At the moment I am celebrating a 5w average increase in my L4 interval power. Since it only took a few weeks I feel it is significant and worth celebrating.

There was a guy on another bike site called RapDaddyO who was better at illustrating the concept of celebrating every victory, no matter how small. I am thinking of him often as I train.

great thread, Nota!

I'd love to do a century (only done metrics thus far) but mine is simple:

to keep riding straight through the winter so when spring rolls around I am in shape and hopefully even a few lbs lighter than I am now.

I got tons of great new riding clothes and have some studded knobbies on the way so I should be good to go. So far I've ridden through the nastiest cold and precipitation with no problems and was only stopped two days last week by really treacherous iced roads....hopefully the studs should take care of that last barrier.

Ride without training wheels.

...but that is so last year.



Well, I would like to live to see the apocalypse.

continue to ride with my Hammer group during the week and weekends and be able to hang with them when the pace really pics up this summer.

race.

continue to lose weight.

A tour on the Route Verte

not die.......that's about it.

race

Ride. Lots.

Ride til I stop having fun.

to ride less than in 2008. I am so beat

to not have people yelling, "Speed up, Grandpa!"...or "I thought blue whales were extinct!"

avoid insurance companies.

Cycle in Japan for fun.

Get back into the groove

Just one main goal, complete a 300Km ride.

Start racing is a smaller less significant goal, but that's pretty easy to achieve.

not die.......that's about it.

You've set yourself a pretty lofty goal there; one that can't be truly attained by simply continuing to maintain a pulse.

In order to "not die", regardless of one's age or health, it is necessary that one go out and try to LIVE.........their life - to try to appreciate every moment of it, all its triumphs and tribulations, its joys and its sorrows, to embrace that which makes us "human"; unlike the many simpler life forms, which act soley on instinctual behavior, rather than individualistic humanist fullfillment.

When your cynicism for life grows so great that it completely drowns out the sadness experienced from losing someone close to you, or the joy experienced from a chilly early morning bike ride, where you crest a hill and are suddenly greeted by the warmth of the suns rays smiling at you and lifting you up, much as your mother did when she picked you up from your crib and held you when you were a baby, then you've stopped living - you might as well go ahead and..........die.

I wish you "life".

20,000 miles in my neighborhood.

avoid insurance companies.

Okay, I'm adding that one to my list.

20,000 miles in my neighborhood.

...well if your "neighborhood" is North America.........and the weather cooperates

Cycle in Japan for fun.



Mt. Fooji?

You've set yourself a pretty lofty goal there; one that can't be truly attained by simply continuing to maintain a pulse.

In order to "not die", regardless of one's age or health, it is necessary that one go out and try to LIVE.........their life - to try to appreciate every moment of it, all its triumphs and tribulations, its joys and its sorrows, to embrace that which makes us "human"; unlike the many simpler life forms, which act soley on instinctual behavior, rather than individualistic humanist fullfillment.

When your cynicism for life grows so great that it completely drowns out the sadness experienced from losing someone close to you, or the joy experienced from a chilly early morning bike ride, where you crest a hill and are suddenly greeted by the warmth of the suns rays smiling at you and lifting you up, much as your mother did when she picked you up from your crib and held you when you were a baby, then you've stopped living - you might as well go ahead and..........die.

I wish you "life".

You don't know c0urt very well, do you?

C0urt lives life to the fullest--far more than most of us. He also has epilepsy.

Makes life a bit more difficult, but he manages.

East Hill

You don't know c0urt very well, do you?

C0urt lives life to the fullest--far more than most of us. He also has epilepsy.

Makes life a bit more difficult, but he manages.

East Hill

Nope - don't (didn't) know him at all. Guess I do now; or at least that he has epilepsy.
Truthfully, I don't know much about epilepsy, either. Is it life threatening, or just really-really annoying when the lights start to flicker?:(

I wasn't able to read that into his post - that he "lives life to the fullest"; he comes off as a bit serene. I'll take your word for it.

That's good, that he lives life to the fullest -- especially if you're saddled with a (semi?) debilitating affliction.

Hope I didn't come off as condescending, or too big of an *******?:o

Thanks for the heads up, East Hill.

nah it is cool. and thanks actually.
actually the day before Christmas I had a seizure while riding my fixed gear. and may of ran my head into a parking meter. I look pretty rough. my eye was swollen shut for several days. I have road rash behind my hair line and several other places, I have 11 stitches between my eyebrow and my eye, and the emt's lost my glasses again. makes sleeping kinda hard.

and I am in the process of tracking my bike down. it is not on the police report, and no one knows where is it. still
working on it. you can imagine being separated from your bicycle involuntary with no clues where it is, and the police report says "I left my Beyonce with the UAB security"

Just one main goal, complete a 300Km ride.



Just think, with the exchange rate, if you did that ride here in the States, you'd only have to ride 186 miles.Which is good, cuz I don't think I could ride 300km! :p

nah it is cool. and thanks actually.

*bumps fists with c0urt*

actually the day before Christmas I had a seizure while riding my fixed gear. and may of ran my head into a parking meter. I look pretty rough. my eye was swollen shut for several days. I have road rash behind my hair line and several other places, I have 11 stitches between my eyebrow and my eye, and the emt's lost my glasses again. makes sleeping kinda hard.

and I am in the process of tracking my bike down. it is not on the police report, and no one knows where is it. still working on it.

Well, damn, c0urt!...this feckin condition of yours just isn't cooperating at all, is it. It doesn't appear to want to play nice....like maybe just put you into an uncontrollable syncopated rhythm, whenever you visit a dance club -- noooo, this thing has to go and run your head into parking meter.

Well all I can say is, I'm slure glad your time hasn't expired; and I hope things work out for you and that you get your bike back. If you do, perhaps you should inscribe on it - "If found please deposit in nearest mailbox. Return postage guaranteed. By order of the Dept. of Bikeland Security"

If you ever make it up to North Carolina, I'll do a ride with ya.

Commuting to new job in different state :)

well ... get to it.

nm

I am going to get it back I don't have any other option. so I am not to worried about it.

great thread, Nota!

I'd love to do a century (only done metrics thus far) but mine is simple:

to keep riding straight through the winter so when spring rolls around I am in shape and hopefully even a few lbs lighter than I am now.

I got tons of great new riding clothes and have some studded knobbies on the way so I should be good to go. So far I've ridden through the nastiest cold and precipitation with no problems and was only stopped two days last week by really treacherous iced roads....hopefully the studs should take care of that last barrier.

Oh I have every confidence in you that you can do it. All you need is confidence in yourself, and the iniative to go ahead and sign up for one.

I did 9 of them this past year; 2 of which were back-to-back (one century on Saturday, then another on Sunday) in August, and then again in Sept. And prior to May of this year, I hadn't even been on a bike in 12yrs. If I can do it, anybody can.

I desperately have to get my butt back in the saddle - regularly. This colder weather has really disrupted my routine. In addition to the really schweet new bike the g/f got me for winter solstice, she also got me a much needed: cycling jacket; winter gloves, neoprene shoe booties; baclava lycra mask.

my 2009 goal: make it to 2010.

I am going to get it back I don't have any other option. so I am not to worried about it.

Well, I was just reading where WP said she's dumping the project fixie bike she was building up; thinking about throwing it back on CL for about $35 -$50. If all else fails, that may be a prospect.

my 2009 goal: make it to 2010.

Well if that is your goal, than I wouldn't waste much time if I were you. I'd get right on it starting on Jan 1; the decade is almost over.

I would like to quit falling at stop signs and ride ends....

Jerry

To climb fiddler's elbow on the Pista in 50x15 gearing.
http://www.roberts-1.com/b/u/nj/hills/descrip/index.htm#Fiddlers_Elbow

An Hour Attempt at Trexlertown.

My goal for 2009 is to get on my new Cervelo and vaporize every last Fred and Road Nazi on this stupid board with my mighty might guads made massive by a winter in the gym, showering the humiliation and utter Self Loathing that can only come when you are pwned by some crusty 51 year old crankcase.

You shall all, every last single one of you, Rue the Friggin Day.

To climb fiddler's elbow on the Pista in 50x15 gearing.
http://www.roberts-1.com/b/u/nj/hills/descrip/index.htm#Fiddlers_Elbow

An Hour Attempt at Trexlertown.

I climbed Fidder's Elbow in a 42 x 21 in 1990. Don't ask me how I ever kept that stupid bike moving. It sucked.

step 1, finally get a bike.

step 2 ride bike.

My goal for 2009 is to get on my new Cervelo and vaporize every last Fred and Road Nazi on this stupid board with my mighty might guads made massive by a winter in the gym, showering the humiliation and utter Self Loathing that can only come when you are pwned by some crusty 51 year old crankcase.

You shall all, every last single one of you, Rue the Friggin Day.

Yet will get humbled by a fixed gear rider. ;)

Yet will get humbled by a fixed gear rider. ;)

I ride regularly with Fixed Gear Road Nazi types. They don't humble me. But there are those out there who are capable of doing so. I used to ride a Fixie all winter. Can't do it now with my back.

I would like to quit falling at stop signs and ride ends....

Jerry

...but is that your "goal", or simply a wish? A goal is something you're determined to do (or not, in this case); a wish, OTOH, is something you're hoping the great SPD Clipless Fairy will swoop down upon you with her magic wand and...

I climbed Fidder's Elbow in a 42 x 21 in 1990. Don't ask me how I ever kept that stupid bike moving. It sucked.

I got some good roads close by for training purposes.

Ludlow Station Rd, S fr Asbury + 643 Asbury - West Portal Rd Steep Section Vertical feet: 200
Steep Section Vertical Grade: 16+%
Total Climb Vertical Feet: 500

Iron Bridge Rd, S fr Asbury + 643 Asbury - West Portal Rd Steep Section Vertical feet: 320
Steep Section Vertical Grade: 14+%
Total Climb Vertical Feet: 500

step 1, finally get a bike.

step 2 ride bike.

Well unless your goal for 2009 was to become a bike thief, in which case your steps 1 & 2 would likely have been reversed, than I think you're on the right track; your priorities are in order.

Best of luck with that.