Keeping Score

[pooks]

I've been logging my miles (and fractions of miles) on bikejournal, and then decided to also keep them on my blog. I also went out on a limb and stated that I planned to ride 1,000 miles by the end of the year.

Today I added something new, "Green miles." While they are also included in the total miles cycled, I'm keeping track of how many miles I ride that replace a car trip. For example, I can ride to the post office every day to check our p.o. box, instead of driving. That's what I did, today.

My goal is to ride to the p.o. daily and save my health and the planet at the same time. By putting it on the blog, I hope it keeps me motivated.

Does anybody else keep some kind of public record? Or even private?

What kind of record do you keep beyond total miles? Miles on a stationary bike or road separate from dirt?

[SadieKate]

Pooks, I thought you were registered over at bikejournal.com? You can see how everyone who logs there (with a public journal) tracks miles.

[pooks]

I am registered there and I log my total miles there. I also log my weight there and keep it private, ahem. But to keep the pressure on myself, I am keeping the records on my blog where people who know me personally can see them, and ask my why I'm slacking (if I am).

And I was really glad that I decided to log the green miles. That's one of my reasons for getting a bike, and it's sometimes hard to convince yourself that the .5 mile here or 1.6 miles there is worth the effort, but I think that seeing the miles increase will make it more real and important to me, and maybe inspire some of my friends to do the same.

[Deanna]

I log all my miles on bikejournal.com and my commute miles also get logged on my clubs website: http://www.srcc.com/cgi_bin/commute.pl . They have a raffle at our year end meeting--the number of entries you get is determined by the number of trips and miles you commute by bike. Maybe you and your friends can do something similar.

[yellow]

pooks, I log my cycling on bikejournal but since I do lots of other stuff, I also keep a private Excel spreadsheet that is much more detailed. I heard (read?) a rumor on BJ a while back that maybe, just maybe, the database might be altered so that we can include other activities (such as running and swimming). So stay tuned in to BJ.

[mimitabby]

I am on bikejournal too. Before i heard of team estrogen, i watched my husband recording all of HIS miles on bikejournal and thought he was being really silly.

Then i got the idea of team spirit and i've been hooked ever since!

[pooks]

I log all my miles on bikejournal.com and my commute miles also get logged on my clubs website: http://www.srcc.com/cgi_bin/commute.pl . They have a raffle at our year end meeting--the number of entries you get is determined by the number of trips and miles you commute by bike.

That's a really cool idea. I admire people who bike-commute, too. That would be really challenging, between battling rush hour traffic and arriving (in my case) dripping with ... um ... a ladylike glow.

[Deanna]

That's a really cool idea. I admire people who bike-commute, too. That would be really challenging, between battling rush hour traffic and arriving (in my case) dripping with ... um ... a ladylike glow.


We define "commute" pretty broadly--any thing you do by bike instead of car. Including riding to the official start point of a club ride. So your green miles all count as commute miles. Trips add up pretty quickly too: a round trip counts as two trips. If I stop at the store on the way home, that brings the trip count up to three.

[dachshund]

Bikejournal allows you to specify a club, like TE, I take it? I wandered over there once, but you have to register to see anything. I guess that was 30 seconds I didn't have at the time. :)

[Geonz]

Go ahead, register! And count your miles for Team Estrogen! We're still in the top ten, I think... I"m shooting to get in the top 250...

I'm just trying to keep bike miles greater than car miles, which includes a lot of commuting and errand running. (Of course, with the Xtracycle, I don't have to do a lot of thinking about errands.) The trip to Maryland (1500 miles at least) will make things a little closer... hard to guage which miles are "green" when I turn a 15 mile commute into a 44 mile one 'cause it's a nice day. If I pick up a few aluminum cans to recycle along the way it's even greener :-)

Every mile counts! And every time somebody sees you, RIDING, they just maybe might think "hey, that's something to think about!"

http://www.bicyclinglife.com/PracticalCycling/index.html has some neat info & inspiration :-) I *love* waiting two months between visits to the gas station. I s'pose I could be getting my hair cut more often.

[KnottedYet]

Dachshund - the various Different Spokes clubs are also on bikejournal.

[MomOnBike]

I love the idea of logging Green Miles. Now, to figure out how to add it to my logs (yes, plural, sigh).

The miles do add up. And remember, the short, stop-and-start, sitting-in-traffic, never-quite-warm-the-engine-properly miles are harder on your car's engine & use much more gas than long highway miles. Hmm, do you think that Green Miles should count double? I've talked myself into it.

[chickwhorips]

thanks to this thread i found out about bikejournal.com

i am now registered and added team estrogen to my "clubs" considering i have no club where i live, i now feel special.

i logged my miles on https://www.polarpersonaltrainer.com/frontend/ but that was a combined running and cycling. now i have a place just for cycling... though is there a place to log miles online for running too just like bike journal?

[Tater]

Hey, Chickwhorips, try www.coolrunning.com to log your running miles. I have been there for six years now and like it. You can do graphs of your miles and a whole bunch of stuff, free.

[Grog]

I like Beginner Triathlete for logging everything, but still log on BikeJournal for the TE club. :) http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/

Also free.

[chickwhorips]

thanks tater and grog. i'll check them out.

by the way, tater - your little saying about head winds and tail winds got me through a tough head wind the other day! thanks! :D

[tulip]

I like the Green Miles concept. Most of my 1200 miles this year so far are from commuting 28 miles RT. I really enjoy commuting--it is not a chore at all. I am very fortunate to have an employer who provides a shower and an indoor bike rack.

I need to boost my weekend ride miles that are not commuting. The only thing that keeps me from riding more on the weekends is that I usually have to DRIVE to get to the ride start...and I don't like that setup! I'll have to find some locals to ride with.

[pooks]

Maybe we ought to figure out a way to log Team Estrogen green miles and see how much good we're doing the planet as a group effort?

Would we set something like that up here, or is there a way to add it to our bikejournal stats?

[hirakukibou]

I log my miles, ave. speed, etc. . on bikejournal, and also keep a hard copy of my miles on my desk. I have a revised goal of 3,500 miles for the year (I started with 2000, but when it was clear that I was going to reach that by July or so I revised it.) I have over 1800 right now. I want to work on my average speed too as it varies quite a bit.

[Dogmama]

I note my weekly miles in my weight lifting log every Sunday or Monday. That way, if I'm having trouble with the weights, I can look back & say, "No kidding dummy - you road 135 miles last week!!"

[CycleChic06]

This might be slightly OT for this thread, but it definitely falls under the Keeping Score title.

So...while riding, is it considered cheating to stop the clock, in a sense, when stopped at long traffic lights? I think avg speed is really important when tracking my prorgress and I don't think it's fairly relfected if I just let my computer run while I'm stopped for longer periods while waiting for traffic lights.

What are everyone's thoughts on this?

Emily

[Grog]

So...while riding, is it considered cheating to stop the clock, in a sense, when stopped at long traffic lights? I think avg speed is really important when tracking my prorgress and I don't think it's fairly relfected if I just let my computer run while I'm stopped for longer periods while waiting for traffic lights.


Many bike computers have an automatic start/stop feature. I've never had anything else. It stops counting time when your wheel stops turning. So I would guess that it is a "fair" thing to stop the clock whenever you are stopped!

If my average speed included all the stops I make to look at the ocean or talk with a deer having lunch by the road, I would get quite depressed at my slowness!!

[Bike Goddess]

Pooks- I think Slantz over on the BJ would love this idea! I'll bet he could figure out a way for us to do it.

We'd have to have another category in our own ride journals so we could separate out green from just riding!

Why don't you start a thread on the BJ and see what kind of response you get???? (I trust you know how to do this!)

[pooks]

Thanks for the suggestion, BG!