Stumon

I'm not bragging... but I have to share this:

My YTD mileage was 6,010.7 as of the end of my morning commute today.

I'm very proud, but my coworkers have no idea what that means. I coulda said 60,000 and they wouldn't know if that was a lot. I called my SO, who, in her I'm-not-really-bored voice says "um-hum. that's good." She plays tennis. What the h*ll does SHE know?

So I thought I'd share it with my bikie buddies.

I have these little Ride Sheets that I printed up & reduced on the office copier. I keep a few of them paper-clipped in my Month-at-a-Glance pocket calendar, and I fill out the ET/AVG/MAX/TRIP/ODO data after each ride, along with day, date, time of day, and weather, then I calculate the rest. Once a week, I key the data into a Lotus 1-2-3 spreadsheet. I've been doing this since about 1991, but I have paper records on back to 1975.

I've posted around 7,600 - 8,200 miles per year over the last four years, and 2000 saw me spin up 9,062... but if I can keep up this pace for the rest of 2001, I'm lookin' at maybe 11,000 - 11,500 or so!

That's a BUNCH of trips around the block. And, for any Road Warriors that may be reading this... They're ALL Junk Miles!

I've ridden Evans-to-Locks Rd. so many times that I've worn a groove down the right side of the lane...

mike

WOW, let me be the first to say, "ZOWIE"!!

That is fantastic. As a person who breaths the air you are protecting by not driving, "Thank You".

nebill

WOW!! Congrats! Now that is an accomplishment! And I thought my 1k was something...guess I better keep spinning!!

Don't know why you call them junk miles though, any miles that I put on my bike are great miles, although some are better than others!!

RonH

WOW Stumon,

That is something to REALLY brag about!! There are lots of folks that don't put that many miles on their car in a year.

Do you even own or need a car?

Ron

JonR

Congratulations! The environment is just that much cleaner because of your effort--and you enjoyed it, into the bargain. Win-win situation in my opinion.

And I nominate you for the Evans-to-Locks Groovy Cyclist award, 2001.

Chris L

Congrats! There's no such thing as junk miles in my opinion.

Chris

Stumon

Thanks, everyone!

I have no car.

I just recently gave it away to a family member. It was an '87 Nissan pickup, paid off in 1990, and was costing me very little. Still, there was the hassle of oil changes, replacement tires, and the garage space that it took up.

I handed it over to my baby brother Rob on a Sunday, and on Thursday of the following week, a tree got in his way and finished off the poor old truck. Rob's a car-killer. He's had seven of 'em, but has never had to sell one. (Dealership > Me > Rob > Crusher.)

Meanwhile, my SO has a new-ish car that I'll sometimes use on the weekends, (whom do ya think maintains it, hmmmm?) and if I want to drive to lunch, run an errand, or attend a meeting, I can walk back to the Fleet Services Garage at my office complex and check out a Ford F150 or Taurus. Cost of rental is only $12/day, and mileage is free as long as it is business-related... so I make sure that my lunches or errands have business reasons!

Vacation times, or just for the h*ll of it, I'll rent a car. I rented a Ranger pickup from Budget in April, for $19.95/day and went to the mountains... bike in back.

As for "junk" miles, these are what Serious Cyclists call any distance travelled that isn't part of a carefully monitored training plan or a race. "Junk miles" supposedly tire you out without contributing to improving your speed, climbing, sprinting, or drafting skills. To hardcore racer types, it is the equivalent of playing tennis all afternoon without working on your swing, your serve, or your strategy. "Just having fun" is a CWOT.

Now, I feel a kinship with ALL two-wheelers, regardless of their sub-genre. I know guys in their teens or early twenties who are very serious about their training. They're working towards a goal, be it TdF, GdI, RAAM, or Olympics, and I salute their courage and dedication.

Me? I go out for a ride, go as fast and as far as I want, just generally have an adventure, and maybe find some cool treasure by the side of the road.

I'll get asked sometimes "what sort of training plan are YOU on?"

I'll answer "Ride to work. Work. Ride home. Eat. Sleep. Repeat."
They don't know about THAT plan.

RainmanP

DUUUDE! :thumbup:

Those aren't junk miles! They are part of a carefully planned program of recovery rides.

Rainman

jramsey

The expression "junk miles" raises debates among runners and cyclists alike. Super-serious, hardcore athletes use the expression a lot for miles that don't "do something".

Among the experts in exercise physiology, the usefulness of this expression gets debated. Some say that miles that don't "accomplish a task" (raise VO2, increase endurance, etc.) are junk miles. Many, though, would argue that no mile accomplishes nothing. Tooling about town at 10 kph will ultimately contribute to your overall health, even if that's all you ever do. Think of how many people can't even do that.

I think the expression overemphasizes the "do nothing". If you tool about town at 10 kph for half the day, when you should be doing sprints and hills to prepare for le Tour de France, then, yeah, that's counterproductive. If you're just interested in keeping your fitness level at a reasonable human, non-couch potato form, then it's perfect.

In the end, I think the expression is useless. A more useful one should be more contextual. Doing hundreds of pushups would be "junk" for someone trying to win a body building contest. For a marine, however, it's useful.

Jonathan

JonR

Since I'm in one of those gr-r-r moods today that Avatar Bear understands only too well, I'll keep my observations on junk miles brief and acid:

1. JRamsey is right in saying "no mile accomplishes nothing."

2. Those who maintain that the only valid purpose for a bicycle is to be competitive and, in the final analysis, inflate the ego, are sorely misguided.

The heart of much that is wrong with society today--world-wide--is unrestrained competition. It is a form of violence.

RainmanP

It's all relative. I remember reading years ago, with regard to starting an exercise program for cardiovascular fitness, something like the following.

Sitting up is better than lying down.
Standing is better than sitting.
Walking is better than standing.
Running is better than walking.

The point was not to push running. The point was that ANYTHING you do that is more than you are doing now, assuming for this purpose that you are sedentary, is going to be some improvement and not to get hung up that you are not able to walk out the door and run 10 miles. Just walk out the door and around the block. And do it every day. Then two blocks, etc.

And of course, we all know that cycling is the best of all. At any speed.
Rainman

AlphaGeek

Stu, you ARE the man! Whoooooaaa! I can just tell I'm in the presence of greatness here! Salute and keep up the groovy spin! Junk or not, that's a bucket load of miles!! :thumbup:

Stumon

A few comments about JUNK MILES:

I ride because I'm addicted to the sensation... it's like flying, only closer to the ground.

I love that "gyro effect" when I go around corners. I can't quite get my knee down, as I do on my Yamaha, but I'm working on it.

I like getting the "hole shot " on traffic when a light turns green. Ain't a street-legal car out there can touch me & my Shimano RX100 power... for the first 25 feet or so.

I especially like being able to gobble up huge chunks of horizon... on a vehicle that I can lift over my head with one hand.

I love it so much that I'd continue to ride even if it was proven to be a hazard to my health. Even if it was bad for my heart. Even if it made me fat. (Okay, I might draw the line at the prospect of impotence, but so far, that hasn't been a problem. Leather saddles and strong glutes are the obvious solutions.)


As Regards my own JUNK MILES (I treasure each & every one of them!):

I maintain a fairly consistent 15.3 to 15.7 mph average when I look at MTD or YTD numbers.

I can knock out a desperate-to-get-home-before-the-storm ride and average 16.8, 17.0, even 17.3 mph, then again, occasionally I have one of those "Bataan Death Rides" into a gale force headwind and average 13.7 mph for the ride.

I'm reasonably satisfied with this, though it is frustrating to remember that I used to be faster. I was never what you'd call race-material, but 20 years ago, I could blast off a 30 miler around the lake and average 18.8 mph for the trip.

Age takes its toll. Or, maybe today's bike computers are less optimistic than those of the early '80s.

AlphaGeek

Maybe, you just need a NEW bike!!!
Well, it seemed like a good excuse!

mike

quote:
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Originally posted by Stumon
Age takes its toll.
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Right, indeed, AlphaGeek. We never get old. Only our bikes and sports equipment gets old.

jramsey

Now, that's what I'm talkin' about.

:-D

Jonathan