Where do I stand?

[ZenBiker]

I understand your interest in comparing, I wonder the same things and won't be able to resist reading the responses. At the same time, I'm trying not to think too much about how I compare to others. I have a tendency to get too caught up in the numbers and end up feeling bad about myself. For example: I'll be riding in an event this coming weekend with a bunch of friends who are all better cyclists than me and have been stressing over that. So every time I start out on a training ride lately I remind myself, out loud, to have fun. There will always be someone (in my case many someones) who ride further and faster and that's OK. As long as I'm progressing and enjoying it, it's all good. (Of course if I were training for a race it would be different, then the whole point is to compare - but I'm not).

Edited to add: just saw your reply about looking for motivation. Makes sense. I like maillotpois's suggestion about tracking your own stats and working to improve on them, or training for an event to give your rides structure.