2024 In Review
 

Just a few more days left in 2024, so how did your year go?

For me, it was my first full year of retirement, so I managed more time on the bike than in decades. I spent about a month off the bike after a crash (bruises no breaks), but even with that mishap I managed over 500 saddle hours. Life is good.

You've got me beat! Before retirement, I was riding 34 miles a day, and that really piles on the miles. I did about 10K miles a year.

I'm riding fewer now (~20-30 a day and about 6500 for the year so far), but the elevation is up. I passed 100 miles of vertical. Yea, baby.

I retired about two years ago. A few medical issues have interrupted riding for a few weeks at a time, but I was getting about 20-30 miles per day in 4-5 day stretches. Just ending a few weeks with a 'hip flexor' muscle pull so time to get back at it in the cool morning air.

You’re just ahead of me on vertical. I’ll probably cross over 100 miles on the next ride. That’s less than half my yearly record of 200+ miles, set in 2004.

Moving on in my 70s and still riding them all without much change.
That meets my goal.

oh yeah, N+1 for 2024.
Clive Stuart frameset, late 1960s.
The only unfinished 'project'. If one doesn't count upgrades/modification/maintenance of many roadies as 'projects'. :twitchy:
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...4cfa7632b.jpeg

Work gets in the way.

~3500 miles and ~300 hours in the saddle so far.

60 years old - missed my yearly goal because I was off the bike for eight weeks for knee surgery. Next year is not looking much better as I'll probably need my shoulder fixed.

Sixty-three years old. Last week I surpassed 4000 miles for year. Only the second time I’ve done that in my 40+ years of riding (2020 the other). I’m only about 100 miles from surpassing that number so 2024 may end up being my biggest. It’ll probably happen, but I’m not pushing real hard for it. With the holidays upon us…short winter days…there’s always things popping up that prevent me from getting on the bike. I’m also at 138+ miles of swimming for the year. And, even with an artificial hip (2017), and artificial knee (2023) I’ve still managed to run/jog a couple hundred miles.

Dan

r.e. bold -- My experience with shoulder issues is that having a *FIX* on a shoulder is lots more hassle than just having a shoulder replacement. My replacement was done on a Monday, saw the P.T. on Tuesday and was back riding on Thursday. Actually had the OK to ride Wednesday but since I'm a klutz I figured to give it 1 extra day.

it was a rough year. mostly health but also work and moving/remodeling. should end up around 3,000 miles and around half my "good" year mileage, maybe 200k feet of climbing. but hey, i didn't spend much time in the hospital and am still riding!

I think we’re doing pretty much the same. Just got this from Strava.

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...5f338ea84.jpeg

Biggest RUSA year (my 15th) at 5450km, which is hilarious since I started the year thinking less rando, more normal rides with normal people.

RUSA rides included a fixed-gear SR series and a (not fixed) domestic 1200, plus keeping P-12 and R-12 series going. So much for normal. I did (finally) ride Seattle to Portland, after living here seven years. That was fun.

No bikepacking, no leisurely Saturday morning rides with the oldsters, no HIT rides with the hotshots. Just long-assed days in the saddle on brevets, and 3x per week commuting. Not quite 500 hours, almost all of those solo.

Occasionally, out in the wild on a long ride, it will occur to me I'm 64 years old, and I recognize I'm pretty darned fortunate.

A good year. I put together a couple great bikes, rode them when I could, and lost 20 pounds to boot. I’m not retired, business keeps me running, and I have young kids, so getting any time to ride is a blessing.

A great year. Full time worker, kids, life and all the other stuff.

Will end up with just over 6k miles (road/zwift combined), 370+/- hours and 250'k+/- ft of climbing. It's pan flat where I live, so my climbing comes from trips to the mountains or on Zwift.

(Zwift miles. YES, they count!!!! All winter = leave for work in the dark, come home in the dark. Zwift is the only option.)


And I clicked off the #1 thing on my cycling bucket list. 3 HC climbs in the alps, including Huez. This will be hard for me to beat...

Good thread and some good years here! I'm still working and don't have nearly the miles of others, but 2024 was the year that I got my cycling groove back. I did that GAP/C&O in the Spring and the Finger Lakes of New York. I also started producing bicycle content for my YouTube channel, which was one of my goals for the year. I'm as inconsistent as ever though; there are months with a lot of cycling followed by fallow months. I do a lot of utility cycling around town though, so that's my base sanity.

All in all, it's been a good year. And since I signed up for the Unbound Gravel 100 lottery and got in last fall, looks like there'll be more riding in 2025!

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...5ad385836f.jpg

My year frankly sucked. Weird weather got me off to a slow start; I was about to overcome that when I lost my desk at work, followed by back to office mandate. Commuting became very difficult without a place to store shower gear. Reservation system for desk space is a piss-poor experience. Still, hit 4,000 miles in September, and 6,000 for the year was still possible.

Then came September. Travel for a week, came home and rode the local century (metric, in my case). Came down with Covid two days later. About the time I was recovering and looking forward to a week of riding the Blue Ridge Parkway, Helene hit -- Stay Away! The end of that week, I fell and broke my wrist. It's getting better, but I'm rehabbing for flexibility and strength.

Bring on 2025!

Sort of a banner year for me and riding.
Got back into road bikes in early August, and since then, my mileage has gone way up.
I haven't rode this much since I was 12 years old- 67 y/o now and almost 4 years retired.
By my most conservative, non scientific guesstimate, I've done at least total 2200 miles since getting the Sekine, and then the Motobecane.
I figure total riding for the entire year to be about 2600 miles.
Not likely to do much more by the end of the year.
The MTB which is more suited to this weather and riding conditions has drive issues on one cog, and I am sort of doubtful on the chain at this point.
I'll probably get one or two more rides in before year's end, but they won't amount to much mileage wise.
I'm still happy and impressed with the way the riding has turned out for me.
If anyone had told me earlier I'd be riding like this at this age, I would have had a good laugh.
Back to the LBS in January for at least a new chain, and hopefully a cog-set.
Did have two spills- one sort of semi-serious resulting in a sprained wrist. The other I managed to land on my shoulder with, and little in the way of damage to me or the bike.

-D.S.

This was a down year for me due to a crash and hospitalization in September 2023. First half of 2024 was meh. I had a much better second half 2024 with more riding, Zwift and track. Track cycling miles are not captured by Zwift.

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...02f9a0221.jpeg

I turned 64 in 2024. Not retired though I’ve been on leave pretty much since May 1 (I’m an academic), so more time to ride this fall than usual. Total mileage for the year was about 4,500, 404 hours in the saddle, 192k feet of climbing. I have some nagging physical issues I need to attend to (mostly chronic pinched nerve in my neck), which prevented me from getting more serious about distance riding this year, but I went on several multi-day tours, which was a lot of fun.

Doh! That estimate was way off. I still need another 6167 feet to hit 100 miles.


https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...0df381fe79.png

Surgery and a heart scare knocked me off the bike, not helping me hit 5K. There is always next year - but it was a very good summer all in all

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...9145085ae.jpeg

It has been a challenging year, starting with the death of my twin sister on January 2. She had a stroke sometime the night of NYE, then another incident in the hospital the night of the 1st.
I had a bad crash on May 28, 3 fractures in my neck, 2 broken ribs, and a full tear on the right rotator cuff. Surgery on 10/2 for the cuff, no surgery for the neck, as of yet. Shoulder is coming along well, ribs are healed, but my neck continues to have issues. I had another x-ray done this week, it shows the Dens fracture on C-1 has not completely healed. That is worrisome, probably looking at another MRI in the near future.
I still hit the 4000 mile mark, despite a lot of down time. My streak of consecutive years of at least 5000 miles is coming to an end.
I did acquire a frame set, late 70's Madison Cycles mixte, which I call my rehab bike. Once I was healed enough, I started on prepping and building the bike. The upright set up I have on it is just about perfect, geometry wise, for riding with my present limitations. It has become my go to ride for now.

I have not even swung a leg over my road bike, but got out on the mountain bike regularly. I make it a point to go go out rain or shine, but did miss quite a few days this year. Between cataract surgery, a family trip where I didn't take a bike, a nasty bout with covid, and taking care of my wife and my dog when they had health issues I wound up missing 42 days this year. That after making the first 6 months without missing a day.

That said my mileage is pretty low these days since I usually hit the trails for only 45 minutes to an hour a day. At 73 I have started to try to emphasize getting out regularly more than racking up big mileage. Also enjoying the trail experience more than focusing as quite much on the workout. I do watch my time in zones to be sure I am getting a workout, but tend to focus a little more on what wildlife I spotted and how the scenery was.

My mileage was down, but my wrenching time was up. I bike commuted a little less than last year, and rode less on the weekends. But I completely rehabbed and modded old 16" folder into a fast, viable commuter. And my snow bike's frame broke a month into winter riding season, so I bought another old 90s MTB. Although it was very nicely restored, I had to up the gearing and add a rack, fenders lights, etc. I also have the drop bars from the old bike's conversion ready to install.

I think the weekend wrenching cut into my ride time...

Easy peasy! You have a couple of weeks left. :thumb: