Why put all of your focus on one event/trip. Make it a year long goal. How many miles do you want to ride this year, how many centuries do you want to ride this year, etc.
Let me give you an example from some of the stuff that has kept me on the bike year round here in New Hampshire, where it gets cold and snowy during the winter.
The craziness all started for me knowing I wasn't driving anymore, now I don't even own a car. My family all lives in western Ohio. I had no other way to get back there other than biking. I hadn't seen my mother, brother or sister since 2004. I knew I had to get use to riding high mileage days. I didn't realize at the time it would be feasible to 'easily' build up the mileage base while on the trip. I was figuring I would be riding 100 miles a day on the trip. I couldn't ever remember riding 50 miles back to back days. Sure I had ridden 200 miles in one day even 192 miles solo in one day way back in 1995/94 respectibly. I rode 7-7.5K miles in 1994. Still I hadn't been doing any kind of high mileage days back to back. I knew I needed to get back to doing high mileage days and needed to start making them happen daily.
My first goal was to see if I could ride at least one 100 mile day each week for 52 consecutive weeks.
Prior to starting my way toward that goal I had started riding a lot more miles and even doing it back to back days, but I still wasn't anywhere near 100 miles a day. The first of my 52 consecutive weeks, July 27, 2011, I rode 202 miles on a ride I thought I had to be crazy to even try given how late in the summer it was and how hilly the ride was going to be, 13,000 feet of climbing. I was surprised I made it with 45 minutes of daylight left. This was a solo ride. The following week I rode another 206 miler. The next few weeks I was out doing 100 milers.
Early in September I started looking back at the Excel spreadsheet and I was noticing I was doing a crapload of miles. I decided to add them up and found I ended up riding 1529.3 miles in August. I thought that was a fluke. I also noticed my 60 day average was 47 miles a day. Heck prior to July I hadn't ridden any 50 mile days back to back and now my average was 47 miles a day over the past 60 days. I decided to see if I could catch the 50 mile a day average. I figured it wouldn't last long, OOPS!!! I caught it on September 21, 2011. I figured it wouldn't last long since I had the 202 and 206 mile rides from July 27/August 3 coming off the 60 day stretch shortly. I figured I might have the 50 mile mark for a couple of days. I put in one weeks effort:
September 21: 125.08 miles
September 22: 23.42 miles
September 23: 62.46 miles
September 24: 120.36 miles
September 25: 48.24 miles
September 26: 71.21 miles
September 27: 127.03 miles
At the end of that stretch I had just removed both 200 mile rides and replaced them with nothing over 127 miles. I now realized I may very well be able to hold onto this 50 day average stretch for a while. Now my September mileage ended up being 1704.28 miles. I knew their was no way I was going to hold any of this through the winter. I would be lucky to hold the 100 mile day each week through the winter yet alone hold everything else through the winter.
La Nina came and tamed out the winter weather, at least snow wise, I still had the cold but didn't have the snow to help take me off the bike more than one day a month.
Spring arrived and I still had all streaks in tact. I still had the 100 mile day once a week, 1500 miles a month(actually ended up riding 1606 in December), and still hadn't fallen below 50 miles a day average. I knew I should have no trouble holding onto them.
Summer came and things got even crazier. By July 17th my 60 day average was 85.4 miles a day. I rode 2000+ miles in each of May, June, July and August. Yes, I finished off the 52 consecutive weeks as well. Now it was on to trying to see if I could keep the 1500 miles per month alive for one calendar year. I had to change things up slightly. I did lose the 52 consecutive week streak right after week 52 due to a trip I took to Texas where there was no way the bike was going to be able to go with me so I ended up with 15 straight days off the bike, almost doubling my time off the bike over the past 14 months.
I did, briefly, lose the 50 mile per day streak thanks to the the stomach flu while on a bike trip out to St. Louis and back right at the end of the year long stretch. It has come back up over 50 miles a day after only being slightly below for two days.F
inally in October I tallied up the number of the feet I had climbed this year and saw that I had climbed 892,000 feet. I thought why not try for 1 million of elevation gain for the year. Then the idea hit, why not try for 200 miles of climbing and add another 200 miler to your belt for the year, only this one is a vertical 200 miles. I've popped up and over the 1 million foot mark already and after today I should only have another 4-4,000 feet to go to make the 200 mile mark. Then the big idea came...the challenge for 2013.
The next big thing after 200 miles. What can you think of that is over 200 miles up. The International Space Station. The target/goal for 2013, climb enough vertical that I would be at ISS by the end of the year. I deemed it trying to join the ISS Bike Club. Simple goal, look at any of the website that show the position of ISS, n2yo.com, nasa.gov, etc on January 1. While ISS if flying over the United States see how high up it is flying. That is high many miles of elevation gain you have to ride by the end of the year to join the ISS Bike Club. Currently for example ISS is flying 265.5 miles above planet Eareth give or take slightly. That means I would have to climb 265.5 miles. Here around New Hampshire, typically 50-55 feet per mile of climbing is the average around here, that means I would have to ride 26,000+ miles next year to join the ISS Bike Club.
See, the problem with most people is they try to set a goal that has short period of existance and that is why they give up so easily on their activity. My goals last all year and generally will take all year to complete if I can even pull them off.
One other thing about my goal for next year. I plan on doing it without ever riding a single 100 mile day all year long. I plan on making it a goal that anyone, including those that are working can achieve. I don't plan on cheating and going out and doing a bunch of 200 mile days, or even 100 mile days. I plan on being on the bike 4-5 hours a day on average next year. Even though I have been unemployeed for almost 3 years now, I want this to be something where with a little bit of creativity anyone could do...granted they would need to live in someplace that isn't flat. I want this to be an inspiration for other people to set high goals to show them that all it takes is some creativity, not only to come up with the goals but also to come up with ways on how to achieve the goals. I have several things next year I need to get done and need the time to be able to do them. This year has been a year where I have spent so much time on the bike that it hasn't left me any time to get anything done other than biking. Next year will be different.
Set yourself some challenging yearlong goals and not just goals for one particular day. It will keep you on the bike all year long and will help spur on more goals that will help support the goals you have already set for yourself.
Oh and my goal is all outdoor riding. I do no indoor riding whatsoever. I climb real hills not make believe hills.
I do plan on keeping a blog throughout the year to show my progress and give daily reports on the rides I have did with maps/elevation profiles/gains from ridewithgps.com. Since I don't own a car and don't have internet access at my house I always end up posting a day after the fact.
You don't need other people to be involved if you make yourself accountable for the goal. I figure the blog will be a way of doing that and also a way of inspiring others. Use a blog. This naturally only works if you have a long term goal and not just a short term one day/one week goal like rando-ing, riding BRP, etc. Everyone can watch your progress/lack of progress throughout the year and it will make you more likely to stick with the goal rather than putting it aside and go watch more tit-television. By the way my blog will be:
www.issbikeclub.blogspot.com. Their isn't anything there yet. Granted it isn't 2013 yet either. I do plan a couple intro posts in the next couple of weeks but the real action should be starting January 1st.
You can use my example to help you set better goals for yourself. Their is plenty you can do, even when employeed if you learn to think outside the box and not follow the crowd. Remember to ask yourself this question: Would this be something I would want/want to do if I was the last person left alive on the planet? If the answer is yes, then proceed, if the answer is no then rethink your goal/rethink the purchase of the product in question. Why do you really want it?