Commuting - using the mileage thread

just a word of caution. do not rely on the mileage in that thread for your records. this week I realized my total was not accurate. maybesome was copying and pasting the wrong day's info in, so when I added my daily miles it didn't jive with my personal records. then even after correcting my miles yesterday, they are incorrect again today. someone is really messing up the numbers!

happily I am just over 900 miles commuting and if I add the 100 mile this spring and few other things I'm well over 1,000 miles this season! I almost can't believe it. I never kept track before, but also I never rode so much, except when I was a kid.

I won't post to that thread. It's kinda like a peeing contest. :P I log all my rides, but not for bragging rights.

some of those numbers are amazing. I didn't start to brag - it was more of a "oh look, there's a way to keep track, and wouldn't it be fun to see how many miles it all adds up to ..." but now that I see it's accuracy depends on how others use it, I'm tempted not to anymore ... :-(

some of those numbers are amazing. I didn't start to brag - it was more of a "oh look, there's a way to keep track, and wouldn't it be fun to see how many miles it all adds up to ..." but now that I see it's accuracy depends on how others use it, I'm tempted not to anymore ... :-(

I dropped the coin for the Cyclistats program. It's not the be-all end-all, but it works well to use for data points to determine how you're doing if you're goal oriented. That way any "competition" is with myself.

I figured if I posted my real mileage to that thread I'd just either serve as a demotivator or be called a liar, since I (truly) ride nearly 50 miles a day every day.

I'm on a mission to get my one way trip (24.8 miles) below 1 hour. I'm close, but you don't realize until you race yourself what it takes to lop that 3 minutes or so off your PR. I need a day with about a 40mph tailwind I think :P

interesting program

about cutting your time: a runner friend advised me when I first started running and asked him about shaving some time, he told me that in order to shave even just a few minutes over a relatively short distance (for me that was 3 miles) I would have to increase my speed by a lot.

I was commuting 17 miles each way and fantasized about getting it done in 45 minutes. That never never happened. Now I've got a 13 mile one-way and I can do it in 50 minutes pretty much every day. I think I did it in 45 minutes one day but I was using 2 different clocks so that doesn't count. my new (cheap) bike computer turns off if I stop at a light so I have to use the clock to check my time. if I get another lighter bike tomorrow, I might fly again if the weather ever clears up. my lighter LeTour developed a creak and I'd rather just beat up another bike. I have my eyes on an '80s era Schwinn World 10-speed. My current Varsity is great but not light and fast. I want to develop a biek just for weekend rides when I want maximum speed and not have to carry lunch and laundry ...

Why would numbers that you record in one place be any less accurate than numbers you record in another place, assuming you did it correctly in the first place? Other people can't edit your comments, can they? So what would cause your numbers to change?

if they did a copy/paste but didn't copy my the last post, you know like if they copied an earlier post by some mistake

I’ll update my value in that thread once in a while, but the slippery definition of “commuting miles” kinda bugs me. What about the distance I ride to the starting point of a club ride? What about a trip to the LBS that I wouldn’t have made if still a cager? Sometimes I pack my speed skates and ride somewhere to go skate. Are those commuting miles? So I just take my YTD total and subtract club rides and Critical Mass.

But honestly, considering some of the misplaced hero worship I get from some friends and coworkers, it’s nice to see people doing two or three times the mileage I do. Helps to keep perspective.

Yeah, what he said. I enjoy that thread well enough; I've posted to it twice. When I do, I have to do some math --current odometer on my main commuter minus the Jan.1 reading, that's easy enough since I don't use that bike for non-commuting purposes. But then I also have to go through my records and figure out how many times I commuted on a different bike, so it's a fair amount of work to get the mileage right at any given time. But I'll update it again every now and then.

I post to the mileage thread. It's all in good fun, as far as I'm concerned. To me, it's interesting to see how much some people ride. It's also motivator if I'm thinking about wimping out one day.