Bike Forums - Assess yourself for 2014

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I was unemployed for the first 11 months. However, I did ride to a city 30 miles away to give a talk and rode home, and I also gave a class in the next town over and did a bus and bike commute. Now I have a part-time job and bus and bike to and from it. It's a hilly route and I'm slowly getting used to it.

I did not bike commute at all in 2013 or 2014. :( I bought a house too close to the office for bike riding to be fun (4 very nasty congested blocks), and my start time at work was moved earlier to the worst part of rush hour. I'm not a morning person and have many early morning pet chores to finish so I can't just leave earlier. I've been waiting for them to hire another early shift person so I can return to a normal post rush hour start time and get back on the bike, but they can't get any qualified applicants. :(

My girlfriend (who gets to sleep in and start work at a civilized time) just bought a bike to ride to work, and we're going for a ride in the national park so I pumped up my commuter's tires for the first time in 2 years. I hope my brakes aren't too bad after all this time, because I don't have any new pads in my toolbox that I can install. Maybe I can get back into commuting one day a week until I move back to a normal start time.

I've even completely forgotten the PSI I preferred for my 700x25 commuting tires!!!

Quote:

Originally Posted by bkrownd (Post 17515255)

My girlfriend (who gets to sleep in and start work at a civilized time) just bought a bike to ride to work, and we're going for a ride in the national park so I pumped up my commuter's tires for the first time in 2 years.

We rode the length of Hilina Pali Road, with the return climb in the rain. The bike wasn't out of tune after its long dormancy, and I don't feel like I'm out of tune either. It's a good start. ;)

I was also pleased to see that I still have 6 brand new Continental Grand Prix 4-Seasons tires from a great 2006 deal in my bike parts drawer. :D I'm down to my last Kool Stop pads, though.

For my own reference, 2598 miles on the odometer at the start of 2015.

2014 was a good year for biking. As of this winter, I'm finally equipped to have "no excuses" year round.

Car use goes up and down. It's mainly predicated on my kids activities, such as sports meets, music lessons, etc.

Quote:

Originally Posted by yankeefan (Post 17432153)

Getting back on topic, I only just learned how to ride this past summer and started commuting in the fall so I can't really do much of an assessment. My fitness did improve and I developed some really sculpted quads and calves, and within the first 5-6 weeks I managed to shave 4-5 mins off my commute (24 miles RT, 4 days a week) through improved cardiovascular fitness. The biggest improvement came after I started refueling using electrolyte water instead of regular water (shaved off a whopping 8-10mins!). Unfortunately all my gains got overshadowed by some fat I accumulated during a brief spell off the bike due to an injury. I was averaging close to 100 miles a week before my injury and now I'm doing a lot of cardio in the gym to get rid of the christmas pounds and get back to putting miles on my bike. Hoping 2015 will be as good as my pre-injury 2014.

I missed this part the first time around -- congratulations on learning to ride and starting to commute this past year! That's a huge step, much bigger than the incremental gains many of us hope to make year after year. :thumb: