Thursday, January 05, 2012

I resolve to not make any resolutions

I don't make New Year's resolutions. I like to make my goals on an as-needed basis and not just one time at the beginning of the year. Plus, as any health club employee will tell you, most resolutions don't make it past the first two weeks of the year anyway.

However, last year I did set a couple of goals for myself for 2011. In 2010 I started riding my bicycle more frequently. I finished the year with over 1100 miles. I even rode a 100 mile ride for the first time since 1997, and completed it (see Outlaw Bike Tour 100).

So for 2011 I set some more ambitious goals. I wanted to ride a minimum of 150 miles for each month, and at least 1800 miles for the year. I also wanted to complete two 100 mile bike rides.

The monthly minimum was easy March through May when I was out of work because I could ride several days a week. But when the sunsets got earlier late in the year it got a little more difficult to find the time to ride. However, I did make my 150 mile minimum every month, ranging in distance from 150.14 miles in December to 300.22 miles in March, averaging 204.17 miles per month.

I was also able to complete two 100 mile bike rides (see Are we there yet? and Much more than first place). And with all of my rides I totaled 2450.05 miles for the year.

So, for next year I hope to improve on those numbers. I've set a monthly minimum of 200 miles and a yearly total of 2600 miles, and I want to ride three 100 mile bike rides. It looks like I have my work cut out for me this year.

Hopefully I won't give up within the first two weeks.

2011 Totals
Number of rides: 84
Distance: 2,450.05 mi
Avg Distance: 29.17 mi
Max Distance: 101.92 mi
Estimated Calories: 158,544 C
Time: 174:28:33 h:m:s
Avg Time: 2:04:38 h:m:s
Max Time: 6:08:41 h:m:s
Avg Speed: 14.0 mph
Max Speed: 37.9 mph
Avg HR: 136 bpm
Max HR: 179 bpm