Personal Challenge Completed

6 months ago I decided to challenge myself.  I decided that I wanted to ride my bike for 180 days in a row. It was tough staying motivated to do something every day for 180 days, but I made it. Its been an interesting ride.

Some days I rode longer than others, but I rode at least a mile every single day. The biggest challenge wasn't getting out and riding in the high heat of summer, but towards the end when the lower temperatures of fall arrived. I've proven to myself that I can set a goal and achieve it over a fairly long time period.

Here are some statistics from the last 180 days:

Total rides: 180
Total distance: 368.7 miles
Total Time: 29.75 hours
Total Burned: 44021 calories

My grandson asked me yesterday when I didn't ride if I was going to do it again.  The answer is yeas.  I am taking a short break but I will start a new 180 day challenge in the next few days and I hop to greatly improve upon those statistics.  This one will be a real challenge with the cold windy days ahead, but I will do it.

What challenge will you give yourself?

Get on your bike and ride!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

90 days in a row

Its hard to believe that I've actually ridden my bike at least a mile every one of the last 90 days.  Besides eating and sleeping, when was the last time you did anything for 90 days in a row?  I know its been a long time for me.

While I haven't been riding very far on any given day, I have been enjoying the ride. Of course this is only the halfway point in my personal challenge. Here are some interesting stats as pulled from DailyMile:

# of rides:     90
Total Distance:     201.95 Miles
Total Time:     16 hours 24 Minutes
Total Calories burned:     24452

From these numbers I calculate the following:
Average pace:     12.31 mph
Average ride length:     2.25 miles
Average ride duration:     10:55

I find it interesting that my average is under 11 minutes per day. That doesn't seem to be very much time out of my day.  Then again this is only measuring the actual moving time on the bike.  I figure a good 11 to 13 minutes additional time per day with changing clothes, pumping tires, waiting for the Garmin to find the satellites, etc. Still not a large amount of time.

All of these statistics will be increasing as I increase the distances ridden per day over the next couple of months to prepare for and participate in the upcoming events like the Viva Bike Vegas Fun Ride and the Pedal to the Medal.

Get on your bikes and ride!!!!!

Of Time Zones and Application Interfaces

From the title you might think this post has something to do with my day job where I am frequently testing applications in various scenarios to make sure they perform as intended.  That is not the case, though.  This has to do with how my data is being displayed for a ride I did Monday evening.

You see, there were some family matters to attend to and since I was running short on sleep I didn't get up and get my ride in before work on Monday. In fact I didn't get in in right after work, either.  I eventually got my ride in at 10:34 pm on Monday.  Now I didn't go far, being so late.  Nor was I out long - the ride was only about 9 minutes. I did get my ride in for the day, though.

I uploaded the data to Daily Mile, Plus 3 and Strava with no issues.  I also uploaded it to Map My Ride which interfaces with the National Bike Challenge to track my progress.  Everything looked good until I went back into the site on Tuesday and it showed that while the ride was on 6/23, it posted to 6/24.  Looking at the National Bike Challenge as well, it showed I had missed the ride on 6/23.

I went back into Map My Ride and attempted to make a change to show the ride on the 23rd.  Unfortunately when I made the change it moved the ride to the 22nd.  I changed it a second time and now it displays correctly in Map My Ride, but from what I understand is that once the data from a ride is uploaded and synced to the National Bike Challenge site, it cannot be changed "for the integrity of the contest."

So I am now left with an empty day where I did in fact ride.  I wrote to the support people at the National Bike Challenge but I know they are going to tell me the fault lies with Map My Ride.  I also wrote the support people at Map My Ride, but don't have high hopes of a resolution.

Is this a big deal in the overall scheme of things - no, not at all, its just that one day stands out like a sore thumb in the midst of all the other days in a row that I've ridden, which at this point stands at 40 days in a row with just under 100 miles in my personal challenge.

Get On Your Bikes and RIDE!!!!!!!

36 days in a row

OK, I have to be honest here, when I put together my personal challenge of riding 180 days in a row, I knew there would be easy days and there would be hard days.  I knew some days just getting on the bike would be a struggle because of... you name it: heat, wind, rain (we can hope can't we???), schedule, etc.  What I have found through the first 36 days is that even with these obstacles (except for the rain) it hasn't been hard at all.  I actually look forward to riding and get a little anxious in the evenings if I haven't ridden yet.

Sure some people might argue that my 1 mile rides are cheating just a bit, but I say I made up the challenge and that a 1 mile ride is just fine.  I didn't start the challenge for the purpose of riding any specific distance, I started the challenge to try and make riding more a part of my life.

I am actually looking forward to the days coming soon when I will ride multiple times in a day with my grandchildren.  Sure those rides will be relatively short, but the fact that I am riding is what's important.  That it's with my grandkids will be quite the added bonus.

Having this challenge coincide with the National Bike Challenge just makes it that much better.  Because of the number of rides I have been doing, I am in the top 10 riders in my company and number 29 locally as of this morning.  that is awesome! I never dreamed that I could do that well in a challenge against some serious riders.  Sure most of them have much higher mileage totals than I do, but my daily riding is garnering me lots of points.

I hope everyone has a chance to get out and enjoy themselves.  Remember to be safe out there but...

GET ON YOUR BIKES AND RIDE!!!!!!!

The Challenge is going well

So, a couple of weeks ago I set a challenge for myself (here) to ride my bike every day for 180 days.  I'm here to say that the challenge is going well and it is working.  It is getting me on my bike, even for short short rides, on days when I would have passed because of this or that.  I know those this or that's are just excuses, but they would have kept me off the bike.

What's nice about the challenge as well is that it encompasses another challenge: The National Bike Challenge.  I am excited to be part of our work place team, which is part of the local team under the Las Vegas Bicycle Coalition.  Personally I hadn't heard of them until I signed up for the challenge.  Through my efforts I have so far earned the Silver Badge.

The National Bike Challenge runs until September 30.  I hope to keep earning many more points and possible improve my ranking as my mileage goes up throughout the summer.  Currently I am ranked 16th in my company, 41st locally and 9118th nationally.  Not to shabby!

I hope everyone can find an activity they love and stick with long term.  Cycling is my activity.

Get on your bikes and ride!!!!!!!