N_C

I did it!!! Hit my goal of 1,500 miles for the year! While some of you may think this is no big deal, for me it is. Considering I never got above 900 miles last year. To what do I owe the credit of reaching my mileage goal this year too? The answer is amazingly simple. SLEEP, yes sleep. Remember me stating I use CPAP to sleep at night? Well as a result I have all kinds of energy to ride, thus being able to reach my goal. In fact I am now at 1,550 miles for the year. So it is now a matter of seeing how far I can go before Jan. 1st of 2005.

And yes I will be counting trainer miles too when the time comes. I plan on riding as much as I can out side. Provided there is enough day light, this means when it get's dark early I'll only be riding on the weekends. And I'll only ride if the temp. is 35 degrees F or above & if the streets are dry. So when the temp. drops to low & the snow comes then it's trainer time.

oaxacarider

nice job! 1500 is a lot of miles, what kind of bike do you ride and where do you ride it? why not get more miles when it gets dark early by getting a lighting system on your rig?

DnvrFox

Good job! I keep track of trainer miles also. Helps motivate me, and to keep track.

N_C

Thank you. I ride a Vision R40 recumbent. I've thought about getting a lighting system for riding after dark & do have a head light that is enough for traffic to at least see me & the street lights would probably be enough for me to ride at night but it is still a little risky, IMO to ride at night.

Plus it is not just a matter of being 35 degrees or warmer. It is also the wind chill as well. Not just from the blowing wind, but also from the wind created when I ride. At night it is a lot colder then during the day time, during the fall & winter months because of the wind chill.

I know it sounds like I am coming up with piss poor excuses to justify not riding at night, & maybe I am. But I prefere riding during the day. Even in the spring & summer I only ride during daylight hours, despite the warmer temps. I live & ride in Sioux City, Iowa. Except when I travel to do an organized ride, like I did this weekend.

My wife & I came to Des Moines on Friday night so I could do a ride called Tour De Rock in Pella, which was yesterday, 9/11/04.

BeTheChange

W00T! Great job.

HereNT

Congrats on the 1550 miles. I'm probably close to that many miles this year (rough estimate from commuting is : 7 miles round trip, 20 days a month, 8 months done this year = 1120. There's been a lot of other riding that should put it up there...)

My commute is almost always at night, and I actually feel a lot safer at night. I don't know how it is on a bent - I know that you already have a lower visibility, but traffic is usually lighter and slower, plus the cars are easier to see with their lights on. The trick is looking at the street signs for reflections from the headlights. You can be coming up to a blind intersection and know there is a car a half block away off to the left just because the street sign is lit up... I generally ride city streets, so that might make a difference too. But the more that you do it, the easier it is.

Winter riding is my favorite time of year, actually too. You get a big sense of satisfaction from making it to work when it's -20 before windchill. The right clothing makes a big difference, and knowing your limits. They're really good about the roads here in Minneapolis, so that makes a difference too...

Anyways - keep up the good work!

dfchatten

Congratulations ! I'm rolling up to 2000 (road), and I hope to nail it the next few weeks. My goal this year is 3000, and if the weather stays in our favor (NO snow), then I hope to come close before November/December. I have about 500+ trainer miles in easy, but I'm keeping that separate. I did 1700 last year.

Happy peddling!

my58vw

My job is bike patrol and I ride about 25 - 30 miles conservativley in a day 5 days a week... approx 5000 miles a year theoretically. I actually ride about 4000 per year or something like that. I remember hitting 1500 this year, it is quite an acomplisment.

Rev.Chuck

Thats great, beats me by quite a bit. Don't worry about the cold. We ride after work all winter(In the dark, dark) and even down below 20 it is not to bad if you are layered up. We go fixed which helps keep the speed down and also the wind chill. So just moderate speed.

fujibike

Congrats on 1500! I hit 2K today. Also rode my first full century this year. I don't know what I'll end up doing in terms of miles but it will certainly be the most I've ever done. I'll ride during the winter but I am a bit fair weather - 40+ degrees.

Prosody

Congratulations! For as weird as it is, the CPAP is a wonderful device. I started using one two-and-a-half years ago and it has made a world of difference. We can thank some Aussie scientists who were trying to see if muscles in the airway could be strengthened with the air pressure; they could not be strengthened, but the subjects in their study slept so much better with the rudimentary CPAP machines used in the study that a new treatment for sleep pnea was born.

gills

Congrats on the 1500 miles.
I just turned over 4000 miles on my road bike. I get off work at 7 am so can get a lot of day time riding in. This Sat at Hills Iowa I'm looking at doing my third Century, hoping for good weather