I have over 6000 miles already this year. All but ~600 of those by August 1st! I'm taking the second half of the year mostly off, as I train to run a marathon in March.

1. What kind of bicycle(s) do you ride?

Custom steel Sweetpea, mostly. I also have a custom carbon Sweetpea and a Felt TT bike. Also a cruiser and a mountain bike don't see much use.

2. Do you do anything except ride during the riding season? (work, clean house, cook, take care of parents, etc.)

Yes and no. 99.9% of those miles are weekend only. So, on the weekends, no I don't do much else. Mostly just eat, ride and sleep. But I don't ride during the week, not even to commute. So, I work, cook and try to scale Mt. Laundry from time to time. Very little housework, though. I mean, the place is generally tidy, but deep clean? Um, no, not so much.

3. Do you ride in bad weather? What kind of weather will you not ride in? (i.e., severe downpour, high winds, temperate, etc.)

Yes. Hot, cold, rain, sun. Everything but ice. Though, I've ridden on snow covered roads as long as they weren't icy.

4. Do you have apparel to ride in all kinds of weather?

Yup!

5. Do you ride at night? (something I absolutely refuse to do)

Yup, all the time. And sometimes all night. Night riding is a wonderful thing, and not nearly so dangerous as you might think. IN fact, I am SOOO reflective and lit up, that I'm way easier to spot at night than during the day. Plus, there's so little traffic at night that I actually feel much safer riding at night than during the day. Good lighting helps, too.


6. Do you use clipless pedals? Does anyone only use plain pedals?

Yes, Shimano SPD.

7. How many mph do you average? If I average between 11 mph and 12 mph do I have any hope of ever achieving a goal of 1000+ during a riding season?

Depends on the terrain. But I keep all my rides recorded on Strava, so I can answer this pretty well. On 200Ks (125 miles), my overall moving average might be anywhere between 12 mph & 15 mph. At 12 it means it's pretty hilly/mountainous terrain and at 15 it's probably pretty flat. Note that this is overall moving, not just what I see when I look down when I'm just cruising along.

Can you ride 1000+ per season? Depends on how you define season, I guess, but really the answer is YES, absolutely. If you rode just 50 miles per weekend at a pace even as slow as 10mph, you'd hit 1000 miles in 20 weekends. That's less than 6 months.

8. Do you ride mostly on trails or on roads?
Almost exclusively on roads.

9. Are the trails/roads or flat, hilly, steep hilly, or mixture?

All of the above. Strava says I've climbed over 234,000 feet this year. It adds up fast!

10. Do you do most of your riding alone, with someone else, or in groups?

This year I rode mostly in small groups or with one other person. But that hasn't always been the case. Some seasons I ride solo more. Depends on my goals. But in general, riding with others is fun, and can help you pace yourself a bit better, or maybe even push yourself to go longer or faster when you might otherwise want to quit.

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As for general advice, perhaps you should think about time on the bike rather than miles ridden as a goal. Maybe make it a plan to ride a certain number of hours every weekend, instead. Let the miles build naturally. Speed will come with fitness and time in the saddle.