Some Amazing (At Least to Me) Numbers.....

I began cycling in 1992, and my first big ride was the 400-mile Bicycle Ride Across Georgia. I'm so glad we were too ignorant to realize we shouldn't be capable of completing the ride. We were slow, but we made up in determination what we lacked in speed.

I didn't keep up with stats when I first started riding. Heck, it was a while before I even had a computer on my bike to tell me how far I had ridden.

At some point I started using a spreadsheet to keep up with my mileage. I'm not sure when I started that, but the first one I can find is 2005. In that year I rode 1719.86 miles (my goal was 1500) in 128 hours 9 minutes and 50 seconds.

In 2006 I started logging my miles online using a wonderful free site called My Cycling Log (clever name, huh?). I think I actually started using it in 2007, but I went back and entered all my rides I had on my spreadsheet for 2006. I could have entered the ones for 2005 (still could, I guess), but I thought that might be overkill. Or at least overly OCD.

In 2005 I rode 1719.86 miles (my goal was 1500) in 128 hours 9 minutes and 50 seconds.

As you can see, some years have been better than others. I don't know what happened in 2009, but I remember being in a cycling funk that appeared to last the entire year. Funny that I can't remember what caused it, but now I can't conceive of a year in which I would ride so few miles.

Since 2006 I have ridden my bike 355 times for a total of 11,690.47 miles. That's a little less than half the circumference of the Earth. I have spent 838 hours 59 minutes and 59 seconds (really? I would have ridden ONE MORE SECOND today if I had known that was the total) on my bike. That's 34.96 DAYS on a bicycle seat.

Every time I hobble up the stairs on aching knees, I realize a day will come that I will be too old to bike. I hope that's a long, long time down the road. And I think of my friend Rozmo, who is ten years older than I am. She is my inspiration.

Man, I wish I had my mileage totals for all those years starting in 1992. Those would be some REALLY amazing numbers.

Sorry for tooting my own horn tonight.