MattTheHat 

2019 was my first complete year riding. I'd hoped to make 8,000 miles but fell short significantly. I have the same 8,000 mile goal for 2020. Longest ride was just over 100 miles. Maximum days ridden in a row was 33. I rode the equivalent of Dallas to Naha, Japan.



I'd really like to get a short tour in somewhere, but I just don't know where or how that would work with my schedule. I think it would be really fun, though.

Please post about your riding experiences in 2019. How did you do? Are you planning anything different for 2020?

masi61

That is a really snazzy dashboard with all of your valuable stats for the year on it. I like it. Is this from an app?

7300+ miles is amazing. Quite impressive when I see folks figure out how to discipline themselves into getting quality miles like that. Maybe you could comment on your general fitness / performance you were able to graduate up to average speed wise or any other relevant metric.

My riding for the year in 2019 put me at about 4,100+ miles between my 2 road bikes. I live in a river area with a lot of regular moderate climbing in & out of the Little Miami Valley here. I like mechanic work and experimenting with upgraded wheels and tires and honestly ride mainly just to road test and perfect the bikes. I did do many, many spin classes in 2019 as well. Had I not done all the spin classes, my regular road mileage would maybe have matched last year’s 5,000+ mile total.

I did almost 75% of my 2019 mileage as a club member on recurring weekly rides that took place on Tuesday and Thursday evenings and Saturday mornings. It made for a good structure to keep a person on track to where all the rider needs to do is keep going to the rides and doing your best.

sdmc530

Nice stats!

aplcr0331

Wow! Great job.

2019 was my lowest mileage since 2015. I blame moving over here to England. Such a rough year for me and my family.

Also the cycling where I am sucks ass. Boring, flat, ****ty roads, lame weather, flat and everything looks the same.

My goals for 2020 are; 3,500 outside miles. Mount Ventoux X 3 challenge, and perhaps a race or two.

Most of my riding with be done on my twice a week commute from April to October. At 21.75 miles each way I can get a decent amount in.

Also I’m hoping to not be such a fat **** this year. This is the highest I’ve weighed on Jan 1st since I hit 305lbs in 2015.

Really great job on those miles, super impressed.

mkadam68

It's VeloViewer, a website (app) that plugs into Strava. Very cool, and a whole ton of more info than Strava. Worth a paid subscription.

And congrats, Matt. I remember a few years back, when I was much younger, I had missed 10,000-miles one year by like 600-miles without really making it a goal or anything. So the next year, I made an actual effort and did 10,000+. I had one month+ (Sep--Oct?) that really was the cornerstone of the year as I did like 45+ consecutive days where I rode every day, averaging 70 or more miles each day. My recovery day (Fridays) during that period was usually around 2-3 hours (50 miles), too. I was in much better shape, then.

MattTheHat 

Yep, mkadam68 beat me to it...VeloViewer. If you like data, it’s a very cool plug in. Probably my favorite part is watching the mileage add up once you get a couple of months in and see where it reports you could have ridden, miles-wise.

As far as fitness and speed goes, it’s weird. I had a couple of months that I road right at 1,000 miles. That’s probably too many miles for me to be productive. When I do that many miles my average speed drops (which isn’t the best metric anyway) and my average power drops. I can work through with some active recovery and my power comes back in a few days but I probably don’t gain any strength. Now, as far as my heart goes, I’d guess it’s all good. The more I ride I can see my average heart rate slowly decline for a given power level over the month.

My average moving speed probably went from about 13.6 MPH to 14.1 miles per hour while my average ride length went up to about 25 miles and average feet climbed per ride steadily went up to about 800 feet. My weight over that time probably actually went up a bit, so I definitely became a slightly stronger rider over the year.

When I started riding in May 2018, I would have never thought I would have been able to have made over 10,000 miles in that time. It’s amazing how well the human body responds to a little training. I’ve lost 40 pounds since I started riding and would like to lose another 50 pounds this year. I wish I took to controlling my diet as well as I do to riding.

TheDudeIsHere

So true! Though my best year was 7300 miles, I don't think I was as strong as the years I backed off to 4,000. I could ride but most rides I felt like I was a little on the tired side.

A few other years I planned to do some big climbing rides so my mileage went down but my gain went up. I was doing 30,000 ft to 40,000 ft gain every month over a period of 6 months. I was training to do some big rides called Ride Around The Bear (100 miles/ 10,000 ft of gain/completed 4 times) and Breathless Agony (114 miles,/12,000 ft of gain/ just once to see if I could).

Though 2 to 3 thousand less miles those years, I was stronger.

good4u

My 2019 Riding Review:

1. Made my goal of riding a century. That was my 2019 riding goal.
2. Became slightly less of a Clyde but not nearly enough.
3. Highest mileage of last three years or ever at 2100 miles. This wasn't a goal but rather just happened. A lot of the miles were from trying to follow the Ride Across Iowa training plan.
4. In April I lost a month of riding for a bad back from lifting and twisting while cleaning the basement on a day too rainy to ride. From mid-July to mid-September I didn't ride for most of eight weeks due to a minor surgery and doctor-enforced recovery period. I just had some more minor surgery to try to fix July's surgery so I'm out of the gym for now and been off the bike waiting out winter even though some days are temptingly warm.

For 2020:

1. In March I will pick up the Ride Across Iowa training plan again even though I won't be doing that ride; it gives me structure and short term goals. Now that I know it works it gives me more than hope that the process pays off. The thing about doing increasingly long rides is that it takes longer and longer away from home and all the other stuff I could/should do.
2. I would like to do more than one century.
3. I would like to do 2-3 days of century or near-century consecutively. This strikes me as perhaps overly ambitious and I haven't worked out the logistics but the idea intrigues me. Call this my stretch goal. Do they still say "stretch goal" at work? Been retired three years since I had a stretch goal.
4. I will add hills on some regular basis even though that means getting out the bike rack so I can drive there and suffer the climbs. I live in northern Illinois and ride a lot of rail trails so hills are not a regular event. Hills must be like eating oatmeal;I know it's good for me but I don't have to like it. But on my century all the hills came after 50 miles or so.
5. I will explore some other trails to relieve boredom. Midway through 2019 I bought a nice bike rack so there's no reason not to see something new.
6. Related to the riding is becoming less of a Clyde.

Whoa. That sounds like resolutions but I think I'll leave it as 2020 plans.

TheDudeIsHere

Very nice stats! But was wondering about the big elevation gain ride. How miles were covered while gaining that elevation?

MattTheHat 

The 2,587 feet of elevation was during the one century ride I had. It was the 102 mile ride shown in the graphic.

jadocs

Well done!!! You beat me, I only got 7,020. Awesome job!

MattTheHat 

Thanks, but 7,020 miles is nothing to sneeze at! Just a hair fewer miles. Most folks are pretty mind boggled when they hear about someone riding a couple thousand miles in a year.

TheDudeIsHere

I am just curious if you have any major climbs in your area? I did my mega mile year some years ago. 23 consecutive riding years so I've done most of what I've wanted to do on the bike. One year was 7,300 miles with 23 centuries. A couple of 6,000+ years, a few 5,000+ years and many 4,000+ years. Life has taken a turn for the worse by family members who really affected my cycling and cost me big bucks. Like $15,000 in 6 months. Can you imagine what kind of bike I could have for that much?! But instead it was wasted on family members who won't care for themselves. Last 4 years really sucked, thanks a lot! But 2 have died so now sad to say, it's a big relief on us. Sounds a bit cruel but when we try to take care of ourselves but have to care for others who chose to abuse alcohol and drugs claiming it's their lives, it really sucks when it sets us behind financially, emotionally, and health wise.

So anyway, I really sucked the last 3 years at 2,000 but plan to pick it back up this year. As you can tell, I am not happy about my life being dictated by abusers.

So anyway, while doing my high mileage years, I decided the next year would be about elevation gain. I went down from 7k to about 5k but I did some major climbing. One ride was 114 miles with 12,000 ft gain. Another 100 miles with 10,000 ft gain. training rides were weekly for 6 months at 5,000 ft gain. About 3 months were 40,000 ft gain months. The training it takes to complete these rides is awesome and really fun. I remember really struggling to do a one mile climb at 5%, thought I was going to die.

Though I had some really lousy past years, as this past year, I didn't even think I climbed much but I see that in my 2,000 miles, I had 65,000 ft of gain. I thought it was really low but after reading posts in other forums, wow, I am not far behind many as they have 15,000 but over 150 rides whereas mine was a low count like 50 rides. I am actually surprised but hopefully getting back to climbing this year.

So I wonder, now that you have had a wonderful mega mile year, I wonder if you plan on increasing, or if it is possible to increase the amount of elevation gain on your rides? Like I said, it was really cool doing the climbing rides. I remember my first timed climbing ride, I was told I was too heavy to climb. That is the reason I did it, 6'1, 240 pounds. I did it with a buddy and actually dropped him on the ride, though he claimed to be a better climber and 50 pounds lighter.

I did wait for him on the last climb but after the ride, I felt great. I asked if he wanted to do it the next year as I felt like I still had a lot left in the tank. He declined the offer but I started climbing more and more. The next year, I did the ride again and took off my wish. Exactly one hour and 2 minutes better over the 100 miles/ 10,000 ft gain on the timed event. I was actually surprised. Official results I was #123 out of 400 serious climbers. I ended up doing the ride 3 more times because it was so much fun. Later I did the timed event of 114 miles/ 12,000 ft gain. I completed it no problem but not as fast I would have liked but not as much training so I was happy.

Not bad for a 230 pound clyde that was told he was too big to climb.

So I wonder if you have any plans of doing some big climbs or more gain this next year? I suggest you do, it's a blast! I hope I can get back into shape and do some more epic rides now that my availability has taken a turn for the better. You have the base miles, you should hit it now!

MattTheHat 

I don't think there's much in the way of serious climbing in the parts, at least not in my immediate area. I am actually trying to increase climbing feet on some rides. The only way I can really do that is by riding more miles, or finding a hill and riding up and down the various residential streets that are all on the hill. I'll be honest and say I don't care much for climbing. Well, to be honest, it's not the work involved, its the slower pace which gets a little boring, and my knees object a bit from time to time as well.

I got a trainer last month and have been doing some shorter climbs on Zwift. I'd like to do some of the longer ones, but I really don't enjoy being on the trainer more than about an hour. I can ride outside all day, but on the trainer not so much.

You mentioned 23 centuries in one year. That's impressive!

Sorry to hear about the family issues. That sounds like it would take its toll on many levels. It's funny how some folks say "It's my life" and then expect you to take care of them. Hopefully things will get back to normal for you.

I'm hoping to drop 50 pounds this year. It will be interesting to see how that affects my view of climbing. At under 200 pounds, I think I would enjoy it much more.

TheDudeIsHere

Not sure how tall you are but at 6'1, 230 pounds, I did really well on the timed events as far as official time.

At first, yes the knees will get tender. The climbing is slower paced but once you get beyond the beginning segment of your training, you will feel like you are flying up the hills. As mentioned, I went from one mile killer hills to 7,000 ft training rides. Of course it's tough to keep the same fitness level for year after year but the few you have in between are incredible! Once you get to a certain level, you wonder why you ever thought that one miler was tough. It's just something that I think is an exceptional experience as far as cycling and especially being a Clyde.

In 2019, not having much riding, I still managed a few mountain climbs. I wonder why I even ride the flatter regions while I'm up there. I hadn't ridden much but one day was a 13 mile climb with 4,000 ft. It was tough, I was slower but it was still great.

Also, I do think climbing increases one's speed going back to the flats. One year I did a ton of climbing. Then I signed up for another organized ride in another state. (Cali here, ride was in AZ). I did a metric century 62 miles. I did 2/3 of the ride solo then ended up riding with one guy who insisted I ride with him after his partner dropped out with a damaged wheel. So we rode the final 1/3 together. Still a big guy, I ended up with a 62 mile ride at 20 MPH average speed. Gold medals to the first 100 riders in, that is why I was pushing myself ha ha!

But whatever you do, don't discount attacking the hills. You seem to have the go get 'em attitude in cycling and you would benefit greatly from the hills at this point!

frogbiscuit

Impressive, I went over 2000 miles which is huge for me after only seriously riding for a year and a half.

chadtrent

2019 was my first year riding. Well, I say "first" but I guess I should say "first year back". I used to ride a decent amount, but in 2015 my wife was diagnosed with cancer and I stopped riding to take care of her. She has finally beaten it and I'm now able to ride again. But I'm basically starting over.

The first part of 2019 I didn't have any way to record data, so I'm not sure what my yearly total was. But here is what Strava says...

Total mileage: 1286 miles
Total elevation gain: 69,183ft
Highest elevation gain in a single ride: 7247ft
Longest ride: 103.2 miles

I don't think that's too bad for being 275 pounds. Aiming to double each of those numbers for 2020 (except the weight of course).

skidder

I don't keep track of miles with a computer, but my 'weekly' routine is pretty redundant, so I'm reasonably confident I got around 4000 miles in the saddle in 2019. Elevation is negligible; on either Saturday of Sunday I ride repeats on a 1.5-mile-long/800 ft-gain hill about 10 miles from home (10 mile ride to it, hill repeats, 10 mile ride back home).