livedarklions

I suspect all of us who do a lot of riding set some weird goals for ourselves to keep the pedals turning. I've ended up riding 6500 miles in 2018, but to do that, I needed to set and make a number of smaller goals.

The most ambitious of these this year was my New England project. I live in Nashua NH, which I realized this year is not far off from being the geographical center of New England. So the project was to do a round trip to each of the New England states from my home. The rules were that I had to do each round trip within one day, I could only accomplish one new state per day (no going to the RI/CT/MA border and calling it for two states), and I would have to eat a meal in each of the states. Since I can only do my long rides on weekends, this took me a little more than a month, but I had a lot of fun doing it. I actually enjoyed riding in RI so much that I've now done it twice, and I saw what may be my favorite LBS ever in Brattleboro, VT.

So, I figure this is a good time to start a thread where people brag about their amazing and/or weird biking accomplishments for the year, maybe tell some stories, and swipe ideas for challenges from each other. If all you want to do is just brag on something you did that you think is cool, feel free, we should let ourselves do that one in a while. Sure beats arguing about Lance's down tube shifter.

I'm totally stealing the idea for this thread from the guy bragging about his 5000 miles this year. I really like that thread, everybody is being nice to each other.

indyfabz

St. Albans to Philly tour, with a stop at my 35th high school reunion in Western Mass. Fully loaded. Spent two nights in a dorm during the reunion, the next night in a restored caboose and one night in a motel. Camped the remaining nights. Cooked most dinners. On the penultimate evening a very young bear cub crossed my path as I was headed back to my campsite after showering. Saw lots of junkies on the way to my campground just outside of Brattleboro, VT.

Milton Keynes

Not really amazing, but I accomplished my second century this year. To train for that, I rode 72 miles on a rail trail which I at one point had the idea of riding from end-to-end up & back in a day, but those 72 miles riding roughly half of it (up & back) were enough. Maybe some time in the future I'll ride the whole trail one day, grab a motel, and then ride the whole trail the next day heading back south.

livedarklions

I've never come across a bear cub in the wild. I'm sort of picturing myself thinking "how cute!" followed quickly by "uh oh!"

As far as Brattleboro, I'm taking the bike shop over the junkies any day. Otherwise, the barbecue is disappointing, the cell phone service terrible, but the borscht was quite good.

You've posted pictures of some of your camping cooking before. The pictures make me hungry.

Leinster

livedarklions

Pictures?

Troul 

Biked from a drop point in the ritzy suburbs thru to the city of Detroit then out the other end in to a different kind of suburban lifestyle living. Was just under 95 miles & no bike troubles nor feelings of fatigue. The next day brought on some muscle soreness. Might try doing something similar in 2019.

jefnvk

Not so much a goal, but I got to cycle France and see the final stage of the Tour. Both were a desire of mine even before I got into cycling.

mstateglfr 

Learned to build a frame in '18. Took a class that met about 13 sunday afternoons during the winter/early spring.
built the frame into my now favorite road bike.

and the experience convinced me to start building a gravel bike this coming fall.

Leinster

Leinster

Where and how much did it cost? How much outside-of-class commitment was there? Sounds like a blast.

79pmooney

Had I not had my big crash in my racing days, it would have been fun to do a one day ride to touch all the New England states. I think doing it from Boston/Cambridge would have been doable. Something like go SW to the MA/RI/CT intersection, N to the VT/NH border, E to Maine and home. That summer before the crash, I rode 175 miles twice and neither was a challenge. (Rode up Pack Madnock on the first one.)

Last year I rode considerably less than recent years - a little burned by missing Cycle Oregon the year before due to the fires when I was set to make it an epic ride. Instead I worked on the house. It needed the work so it was good. I just followed a link to RondePDX, the crazy 50 mile in Portland that climbs 7000+ feet including several brutal climbs. Brynewood for one. So I think I just found my motivation for next year. (Maybe I'll even think about doing the eastside version the next day)

Ben

livedarklions

The New England loop you describe would be over 300 miles, so I could realistically do it in 2 days, but definitely not one. I rode 168 miles in one day this year to do the Nashua Providence round trip and I rode another 50 miles the next day, so it would be a reasonable stretch. I might try this next summer, thanks!

livedarklions

Beautiful!

livedarklions

Hate to repeat myself, but got any pictures?

livedarklions

I think riding through cities is way underrated. There's just so much to see and often cool stuff to stop at. It's generally not great for the Strava junkies because you usually don't get speed or elevation, but I think people underestimate how much exercise they get accelerating after stops. I do a ride to Gloucester that takes me through several old mill cities, and riding through the old warehouse areas is really interesting in a desolate sort of way. It's almost like riding in an isolated canyon.

TimothyH

Turned 55

Raced bikes for the first time. Beat some young guys.

Rode seven centuries including one fixed gear @ 16.3 MPH and and one organized road ride @ 18.4 MPH which was my fastest ever.


-Tim-

livedarklions

Wow, that's a really good year!

I'm loving the fact that I can do things on a bike at age 57 that I never even tried in my 20s.

Nachoman

That's a great shot!

Flip Flop Rider

no goals

264 activities

7,622 miles

633 hours

still have over a week left in December with no school. Didn't realize the number until I saw this thread and checked

livedarklions

I'm really jealous because there's no way I could focus my eyes to read that while riding.

livedarklions

7700 miles has a nice ring to it!

Also, think you hit the goal of riding the hell out of your bikes. Good stuff.

Rides4Beer

I just started riding a few months ago, so that's my accomplishment for the year! lol

I like the OP's idea, I live in upstate SC, and could reasonably bike to NC, GA and TN (separately of course lol). That would be fun!

Other random goals are to ride a century (probably multiple) and ride 5,000 miles.

livedarklions

No kidding, getting started is a big accomplishment.

I went from riding approximately 0 miles two years ago to riding 33 centuries or better this year (longest was 168 miles). If you increase your max distance by about 5-10 miles each week, it doesn't take long to build up to a century (depending on geography, of course).

Good luck on the 4-state project!

Leinster