tandempower

LCF can feel like a series of phases in which you feel limited in a certain way for a while, but then you make some discovery or achieve some performance gain that allows you to transcend your previous limitation. This happens with cycling or any athletic progress in general (e.g. for a long time I never thought I'd be able to sustain >15mph for long distances) but for LCF, it also happens in other ways that can't be described in simple terms of average speed, distance, trip-time, etc.

Some examples of accomplishments/milestones might be:
- getting/installing new equipment that made it possible to buy/carry things by bike that you previously couldn't manage.
- figuring out a method for transporting work supplies/clothing that made a commute possible that you were struggling with prior.
- figuring out a new way to do something at home that made it possible for you to get the supplies needed without using a motor-vehicle, and the innovation expanded your horizons for what was/is possible CF.
- Lifestyle changes that made it easier to LCF, which you previously imagined were impossible but something changed in the way you thought about things, and you then discovered that you could live (somewhat or very) differently and LCF became easier and maybe your life also got a little simpler and happier as a result.

Maybe there are other examples I am not thinking of here as well.

cooker

I toyed with the idea of biking to work when my office was 5 miles (8km from home) but in the 1980s when we had one car I always took public transit. Then around 1991 there was a short transit strike and I had no choice but to bike to work a couple of times. It was much easier than I had realized, so I started planning to bike to work and and launched the plan the next spring, biking most days March to November and taking transit the rest of the time.

So milestone 1 - starting to bike to work around 1992.

There was a modest hill on the way home and the first few times I commuted, I sometimes had to walk up part of it, but after a couple of weeks of regular commuting I didn't give it a thought.

Milestone 2 - easily riding up a hill I thought was difficult.

The first couple of years I set start and stop dates - tune up the bike in March, hang it up in November - but then I realized I was missing some good biking days, so I started keeping the bike available and tuned up through the winter, so I could ride any day if the streets were clear of snow or ice.

So milestone 3 - no arbitrary blackout times. Mind you I still don't bike on snow or ice.

Then my office moved to 7 miles/11km from home. Had I not already been a seasoned commuter I don't think I would have thought of riding that distance. However, after years of commuting, it was a no-brainer to just add the extra miles

So, milestone 4, bumping up the distance to what I would have thought was not feasible, before i started bike commuting.

Jim from Boston

Major CF Accomplishment/Milestones

Quote:

Originally Posted by tandempower

LCF can feel like a series of phases in which you feel limited in a certain way for a while, but then you make some discovery or achieve some performance gain that allows you to transcend your previous limitation. This happens with cycling or any athletic progress in general …but for LCF, it also happens in other ways that can't be described in simple terms of average speed, distance, trip-time, etc.

Some examples of accomplishments/milestones might be:…

I basically equate LCF with cycle commuting. I wrote about my earliest inkling.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jim fromBoston

… Back in the 60’s in the Motor City, I had an “English Racer,’and longed to tour at about age 14, but then joined the car culture. In Ann Arbor MI in the 70’s I really realized the utility of bicycles for commuting, and began touring on a five-speed Schwinn Suburban, but soon bought a Mercier as did my girlfriend, later my wife. We toured in Michigan and Ontario.

In 1977 we moved to Boston on our bikes, as a bicycling honeymoon from Los Angeles to Washington, DC and then took the train up to Boston… The Mercier wore out and now I ride a Bridgestone RB-1 purchased in about 1991.

After the birth of our son in 1988, I have pretty much been a year–round commuter only,but in the past few years I have done a century or two a year and I follow a ten week training program for centuries published long ago in Bicycling Magazine.

I have a really great commute that belies, IMO, the image of Boston as a city unfriendly to bicycling….

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jim from Boston

Boston is probably one of the most Car-free cities in the world, and having a car is often detrimental. We live near the transportation hub of Kenmore Square. Our easily accessible Car-free / Car-light modalities at home and work are:

• subway and Commuter Rail
• taxis and Uber
• car rentals, including Zipcar
• shopping and personal services within walking distances
• a convenient place to stay overnight at work
• my cycle commutes are on pleasant routes in the reverse of the usual commuting direction.

As a decades-long, year-round cycle commuter,there have been many improvements, some would qualify as Milestones, but I’m too OCD to take the time and energy to reminisce and list them all. Generally speaking, overcoming the weather has been the greatest challenge.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jim from Boston

… the intriguing challenge of keeping warm is all the planning and innovation that is required…

My initial threshold for riding was about 30°F, and gradually trended down to about 0°.

Route finding has been easy and fun since there are so many streets in urban and suburban Boston, but I have had a few “Aha” discoveries.

I just today posted about a training technique I have used since about 2015 that has made a difference.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jim from Boston

FYA, I posted my own personalized training program (link)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jim from Boston

I formulated for myself my “Time-restricted,Personally Ambitious, but Non-competitive Cyclist Training Routine.”

My main improvements since 2008 when I joined Bike Forums were stated in a reply to this post:

tandempower

Sometimes milestones are measured in terms of what options were available/possible within your mind before or after you accomplished the milestone. Me, for example, I am currently working on moving building materials a little at a time by hand from a hardware store about three miles away. I was building a push cart but it fell apart because the axles weren't well-engineered enough so now I am considering new configurations/options. When I figure them out, I should be able to transport one or more bags of concrete to pour footings for pole-construction, which means I will have established the possibility of constructing a small cottage car-free, which to me equals freedom from both automotive-dependency and mortgage-dependency.

But getting a trailer to do big shopping trips was also a milestone once upon a time, as was installing a luggage rack + crate in order to do smaller shopping trips, which I now do every couple days instead of doing big shopping on weekends with the trailer.