Leah, Brava! I also planned on riding 2020 miles in 2020 but then, well, 2020 happened.
Strava says 149 miles in January, 153 miles in February and...18 miles in March. Hmm, what happened then? April was my best month with 204 miles, but (and it took several months for me to figure this out), I started losing fitness as the year went on. You see, I normally walk or bike the 2 miles each way to work, and changing to work-from-home 4 days out of the week removed a significant part of my weekly exercise. I don't track commute miles on Strava, so those wouldn't have counted towards 2020 anyway. I started walking a 1.5 mile loop in the neighborhood to "walk to work" on days I work from home, and it's helping. 1264 miles so far, not terrible, not great. 2021 miles for 2021 seems possible. Enjoy the Platypus! Everyone needs a fun red bike in their life at some point (mine is my 1999 match-built Rivendell) Drew On Sunday, October 11, 2020 at 1:01:39 PM UTC-7 Bicycle Belle Ding Ding! wrote: > At the beginning of 2020 (back when we were so naive and hopeful) I set an > ambitious goal for myself: 2,020 miles in 2020. This may seem small to some > of you, but I live out in suburbia, surrounded by punishing > hills/mountains, and there are few places to go out here. Most trips > require a car. The one bike commute that gave me 4 miles/day was to the > boys’ school, but by March, that was gone - replaced by virtual school. > > Having everyone at home all the time was a blessing and a challenge. I > started going out in the evenings, looking for places to go by bike to > clear my mind and wear out my body. I rode down the mountain and began > exploring the development there. They had thoughtfully put in bike lanes > and a blacktop bike path, and I discovered that I could make a 10.1 mile > loop, start to finish. The thing was, I only had my stock Clementine - the > 2019, super-long model, set up to be a school commuter. Beautiful and > capable, but heavy. I ordered a new wheelset and dyno lighting from Analog, > and that really changed the game for me. Lightened up (in weight and > lumens!), I could venture further from home, regardless of elevation or > sunlight. I began to rack up miles. > > I pedaled through a global pandemic. I pedaled through triple digit heat. > I pedaled through the entire Hamilton soundtrack, memorizing it. I pedaled > through wildfire smoke and record-breaking temps. I pedaled through rain. > And wind. When a pulmonary embolism robbed me of my young, handsome, > healthy dad in July, I pedaled (sometimes sobbing) through that, too. I > pedaled in Minnesota humidity with my basket full of stuffed animals, my > tiny niece shadowing me on her little bike. I pedaled through springtime, > when entire trees exploded in blooms, and I will pedal through fall when > the leaves are a riot of color. On October 9th, I hit my mileage goal. > > 2,020 miles in 2020. > > I’m going to keep pedaling, but I may finish out the year on a raspberry > Platypus, depending on when the wheelset gets here. Until then, I’ll keep > using this Clem, stout and dressed as a commuter, as an exercise bike. > Don’t let anyone tell you you can’t - you can, and you’ll have muscles, to > boot. > > Leah > > > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/ade264d8-d8ec-4f06-b5f7-4fc9d6412877n%40googlegroups.com.
