Machka 

... for those of us in the northern hemisphere ...

Did you attain all your goals for the season? Did you ride in all the events you wanted? Did you reach the distances you planned? Did you cycle in all the places you thought you would?

And ... any thoughts on what might be in store for next season?

timmhaan

i made it within 2 races of cat 4. then got hit by a cab, which brought the racing season to a halt. so, that part sucked. the good parts were near daily riding, and sucessfully following a training program.

now i'm entering my favorite part of the cycling season... the carefree part. ride if i want, if i don't want to then it's not a big deal. the weather is a little cooler and the leaves are changing. so far i give this cycling "season" an 8 out of 10. i put season in quotes because i like to ride most of the year.

Cromulent

Not quite. I have yet to do a century this year, and I'm hoping to before the middle of October. And my wife and I will do at least a few rides together as the leaves change. I can't think of a better way to spend an afternoon in Fall.

There are always more events than free weekends. My wife and I are new to road cycling and we spent much of the year figuring out what was out there to do.

I raced twice, which was an incredible experience. It was also an incredibly humbling experience. I'm still trying to figure out if I want to do it again next year.

I think next season we'll get out more and explore more of the state. We may go to Italy next year, and I want to try riding up some of the mountains there.

All in all it was a good summer. I challenged myself more than I thought I would, but not as much as I needed to. And there are always more things to see, places to go, roads to ride, and hills to climb. There may be such a thing as too much time on a bike... but I haven't found it yet.

garysol1 

I sure did.......I changed my life! I became healthy and active. I went from being obese to stocky I went from fat man clothes to a 36inch waist(34 real soon). I went from huffing after 5 miles to doing metric's and ready for more after that.I went from eating fried chicken and soda to grilled chicken and water and I enjoy it. I have more goals in mind for next season and if I can meet of them I will be a happy guy.

ImprezaDrvr

Close, but no cigar. I wanted to get a couple more races in my legs this year in anticipation of training to be competitive next year. But, no biggie. I'm way ahead of my mileage goal for the year and we've still got good weather here until at least January when the snow starts up. I'm slated to do one century yet this year, may see if I can't find one in southern AZ to do before January 1 as well. The bonus was a new mountain bike which is a helluva lot of fun and gives me more goals for next year. the best thing may very well be the tweaking I've done with my saddle position. I realized that I may have cost myself much better placings in race by having it way too low and too far forward. I can spend the winter getting it perfected and getting the legs used to it. All in all, I call the year a success in spite of my pitiful performance in the few races I did make it to.

Warblade

9/10, At the beginning of the season I upgraded to Cat. 3 (theres only one other 15 yr old in Cat. 3). finshed top 10 a couple of times. Did really well at Nationals in Park City, Utah. Now my month "off" is coming to a close as I will be starting a very vigorous winter program (400 or so miles/week...ugh). Great year though.

BillyD

No . . . . No . . . . and No !!

It was too freakin' hot here in the Northeast. By mid-August it was already the 3rd hottest summer on record 'round these parts. I work outdoors and did so much sweating this year at work that I was seldom in the mood to sweat more after work when I usually ride.

Bottom line . . . My miles are WAY down this year. I'm going to have to ride like crazy the next 45 days to make up.

Yeah, right, like the rest of my life is going to just step aside.

ivan_yulaev

Huh? Season's ending?

Funny, mine's just beginning. School year has started, so commuting is in. Gotta get in shape for the 2006 San Diego Brevet Series!

Down in SoCal, we don't have "seasons".

Hipcycler

Hang on there Campy breath....I don't even want to hear about the end of the season yet!

In MY neck of the woods, Oct. is one of the nicest months to cycle. Wonderful color on the trees....crisp, clean air....break out the arm warmers and tights by the end of the month...

There will be no talk about season goals/accomplishments here until the first freeze in November!

bigbossman 

What he said.....

Here in San Francisco Bay area, we get a little more rain than our neighbors down south. But if it's not raining, it riding time any time (I'm a fair weather rider - I admit it. So shoot me).

Actually, I more than exceeded my goals. I started out this season doing 10 mile loops around the house, and set my sites on doing my first century. I did that in April, and this weekend will be my 7th. I'm pleased..... The first one was the very flat "Bike Around the Buttes", and the last one I did earlier this month was the "Sierra Fall Classic", featuring 3 passes at 8,000+. All on a 1988 Miyata.

Not only did I get my ass in gear, I got my wife and 10 year old daughter to ride with me. They happily do metric centuries on the tandem I bought them.

It was a good season, indeed, and I plan rewarding myself with a new bike very soon......

John D.

CastIron

Screw that. I just got winter bibs, softshell jacket, wool hat, and gloves. BRING IT ON!

va_cyclist

I had three goals for the season: buy a new bike, ride my first century, and ride on the Blue Ridge Parkway. I completed all three.

Goals for next year: complete two or three centuries (maybe one on the BRP!), including at least one unsupported, and generally raise my average speed.

Stv

YES and then some.

Problem is, every couple of weeks the goals had to be moved further and further out !

I stayed OFF the vices, 2 packs of cig's a day and stayed "dry" too !

After twenty years out of the saddle, I thought 1,500 kilometres for my first season was a tough goal. Well, I managed to pump out a dozen or so Metric Century Runs at a decent clip. Since March, I've logged 4,732 kms. today. Now I've moved the goal to 7,400 kms. before this season is over.

Today I purchased a set of shoe coasters for the SPD's to keep the toes toasty warm'n dry. Also got a Minaura rim mount indoor trainer for the nasty days ahead.

Lastly, I cycled some of the sweetest miles, across some of the best landscape in Northern and Southeastern Ontario, Canada and the cool thing is, there is lots of it left yet for next season.

Cycledoc

Started cycling September 2004 after buying my daughter a bike. Went from a Target special to a hybrid then to a road bike in 3 months. Now I have 2 road bikes!(good to have a backup.) Dabbled in mountain biking (multiple falls, but became a much better, balanced rider in the process). Rode an imperial century (100 miles) in April, and also in at least 2 other organized rides. Discovered my neighborhood and the beautiful surrounding countryside within an 80 mile radius of my home. I was able to ride on average 3 times a week and about 280 miles a month. Rode the Long Leaf Trace twice. Pretty much gave up golf for cycling. All-in-all, an awesome year of riding, but it's just getting started...

GuitarWizard

Well, considering my "season" started in August when I got my new Trek, I'd say I'm a bit behind .

The next two years should be interesting; I have some big plans. I will be on the CycleOps Fluid 2 all winter (I hate riding outside in cold weather, not to mention I get bronchitis easily).

TheKillerPenguin

Nope nope nope!

I got taken out of commission when my racing season was really starting in august, so I didn't have a chance to win a race (one of my goals). I had too little experience before then, and definatly needed more races under my belt before I could get competitive. Also, I have to skip the Tour De Pain (200km 12K ft climbing) because my bike still isn't fixed . Finally, I didn't avg. 1200 miles for any 4 week period. Meh, its all good.

Anyway my bike is going to be fixed this week so who says the season is over?? Still have another month-month and a half before I have to come inside and ride the trainer!

mirona

Cycling goals: mostly yes. Other goals: no.

I started commuting to school on my bike. I guess this goal is "in progress" because part of it was attempting to commute in the winter for the first time.

I wanted to do a century a week over a two month period (from mid-August to mid-October). I missed the first weekend of September, so I won't get 100% but close enough. I also did my most mileage at once with 135.

Another goal I wanted to do that's not cycling-related was to complete a marathon. After numerous injuries and doctor visits, that dream went out the door.

operator

I got about 2 more solid months of commuting. 60k each day. For school.

puddin' legs

hmmmm. yep, pretty much. I wanted to get in enough base and lose weight to ride competively again next season. So far, so good! No new bike yet though.

DocRay

hoser... its only september ! The ontario time trials are saturday. The season ends in late November.

OC Roadie

I'll know after Everest Challenge this weekend, then I'll come back and tell

linux_author

- and i have to wait at least another month before it gets cool enough to ride without carrying a gallon of water!

:-)

- i can hardly wait until nice weather rolls in... i'm tired of the early rides on 95F+ days!

(riding against 35-knot winds on flats makes up for no hills)

mollusk

Still in the spandex season in north Florida. I'm really looking forward to the wool season when I can become an uber-retrogrouch.

Actually I have surpassed my expectations this year by a wide margin. While I have never really stopped cycling (multidecade everyday commuter), my recreational/fitness road biking had fallen WAY off in recent years. Since my 51-year-old joints no longer like to play basketball I needed another cross training sport and I decided that I needed to get back into road biking like I used to do.

I started serious work in late May and have gotten myself into much better riding condition than I thought I could achieve. By June I decided that I should set getting in shape to ride a local century. While I have yet to ride it (it's on Oct 2), I have done several training rides of 85+ miles in faster times than I did when I was much younger. My latest long training ride was 93 miles and it took me 5 hours 15 minutes elapsed time/5 hours saddle time on my really old (1986) Cdale. I've been riding at least one metric century every week since mid-June and my times have fallen dramatically (First one in 3 hrs 50 minutes, last one 3 hrs 12 minutes.) As you might guess, it's pretty flat around here so these times are not super impressive, but I feel good about them. They are WAY faster than I thought possible a few months ago.

The funny thing is that I plan on riding the planned for century ride very slowly! This particular century ride is the 25th annual edition and while I didn't ride the first one, I rode an very early one (3rd, I think) as my first century ride and actually was the organizer of a number of them in the mid-1980's. It was also the last century ride I ever did (1989?) and I was the very last person to finish. On that day I decided that I would ride it on my commuter bike and ride with the very last person out on the course offering them encouragement. It didn't help that her husband appeared on the side of the road about 15 miles from the end offering her a ride home. I also made damn sure that she rode into the parking lot at the end of the ride before me so that she wasn't in DFL place. It was a really great ride and I felt great helping someone accomplish their first century ride. Anyway, I'm hoping to see a lot of (now) old friends and hope to make this a special social ride. I know that at least three of my old riding buds will be there.

KevinF

I haven't crashed (knock on wood). I've had more days then in any previous year, and more miles. I missed one or two events due to pouring rain. My new bike is everything I ever dreamed a bike could be. But most importantly, I made a few new friends and I got to spend a lot more time with old friends. The older I get the more important that last bit becomes.

Terex

Seasons??? I'm looking more at epochs. After a brief 30 yr layoff from road riding, I'm celebrating the first anniversary of coming back to riding. I feel like I've just begun to develop the level of fitness I'd like to experience. Where I ride, the measure of a cyclist is hills. A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of riding with a couple of guys who were at a much higher level of fitness than me. One of them was commenting about some cyclists that he admires. He said that he was in a group, riding up a good sized hill, when these guys "took off like gazelles". That's what I want to be able to do. Take off up a hill like a gazelle in flight. No objective performance measures are necessary. I'll know it when I feel it.

Next season? Well, next season probably starts tomorrow. Drop 10 lb., get into the gym over the winter and develop some core strength, ride twice as much as this year - and be safe.

I've read in several places that you need to ride about 8,000 mi per yr to really develop a high level of fitness. I did about a third of that this year, with much of it really struggling to develop cycling specific muscles, coordination and energy transfer systems. I hope to double my mileage, and get to the point where I develop some "gazelle like" qualities in the coming year.

Also, as KevinF stated "I made a few new friends". I hope to make a few more.