Just curious...miles per year?

[SadieKate]

I really want to offer encouragement to everyone who is concerned about how her yearly mileage compares to others. Remember that it isn’t the number of miles a year you ride but that the miles you ride are satisfying and help you attain your goals. I’ll offer an example. Over the last 7 days, I rode 141 miles. Sounds wimpy by some of the posts above, right? But those were all mountain bike miles at 5,000 ft or higher altitude. I would have to have ridden about 300 road miles over the same 7 days to come close to the same effort level. In other words, my mile is not the same as your mile or anyone else’s mile unless you were there with me under the same conditions.

The miles I rode prior to these 7 days were what I needed to ride to accomplish my goal of having a sufficient fitness level to ride a very hilly metric at the end of March and to enjoy my mountain bike trip. I rode the mountain bike trip at a leisurely and fun pace but used the hills as training for a double metric I hope to ride at the beginning of May. This all builds to another mountain bike trip at the end of May and a flat century in June. Pardon me, but I really couldn’t give a rat’s patootie about the total mileage for the year. Yeah, it is a fun number to see building but the really important numbers are the ones you need to hit organized rides, general fitness goals, conquering that hill, lessening the puke factor, whatever. Focus on the intermediate goals and ride your ride. You’ll remember those accomplishments more fondly and have better stories in your old age.