Shooting for 7500

[lph]

So I made up my mind yesterday - I did some numbercrunching, and found out that with the weekly mileage I have going at the moment, and with the weather staying bikeable, and IF I stay healthy and flu/bugfree... 7000 km this year is gonna be too easy. So I upped my goal for 2007 to 7500 km.

Just wanted to brag

Posting it here because almost all of the miles to go will be commuter miles. I'll be needing some motivation in the dark mornings coming to not just sleep as late as I can and bike the shortest way in, hoping this will do it!

Anyone else set some final goals for the year?

[Melalvai]

Not a goal so much as instituting some common sense. Until I get better clothes, 25 deg F is my cut off. At or below that I won't bike.

Last year I biked through the winter and nearly put the bike away after the coldest couple weeks. It just doesn't get so cold here that I'd wear extra-cold-weather gear very often, and I can't justify the expense when I have bike repairs waiting for money. Maybe by this time next year I'll cold weather clothes and rain clothes.

[RoadRaven]

Worthwhile brag, lph
Well impressed!

I was aiming for 4500km this year (thats 2663 miles) but I think I'm gonna fall short - I was at 3462km at the end of October.

I am really looking forward to being able to commute more when my kids no longer need rides to high school... but I am not looking forward to them all growing up and being gone...

Way to go, though lph... those commuting miles are not only excellent miles... they are green miles too and that appeals to me on so many levels

[Voodoo Sally]

Nice, lph. I have really gotten into bike commuting this year. Lately I've been breaking the old barriers, by riding in the dark, rain, and now cold. I've even been figuring on "icebiking" later on. I hope to have done about 1,300 commuting miles (2,100 km) by Dec. 31.

[coyote]

Wow, lph that is a lot of riding! Great job. If it weren't for commuting, I probably would not be riding at all. Do you stop bikeing when it gets really cold (what is really cold there)? Or do you stop because of ice or snow? Here winter is the best time to ride but the days are so short.

[onimity]

That's awesome, lph.

I'm at ~3,750 miles right now and figure that I can probably make it to 5,000 since I'll be cycling in South America for the entire month of December and commuting until then.

I am not sure what % of my miles are commuting vs. non-commuting, the majority have to be the commute, though.

Hopefully this thread will motivate me through the dark commute home until I leave.

Anne

[Tri Girl]

Wow LPH, I'm seriously impressed!!! That's some monster miles on your bike. I bow down to thee, the ultimate commuter... I want to be you when I grow up- or when I finally decide to commute all the time

[Geonz]

I'm committed to commuting since a car hasn't found me yet and I am too lazy so far to figure out which bus I'd have to take. Still don't know if I'll make my ridiculous goal that will require more than commuting (have another 1.5K to go).

[lph]

How nice to have a place to brag

Melalvai - I know what you mean, riding when it's cold can be ok but it does require really good clothing. If you already run or xc ski in the winter you'll have most of the stuff, but if not buying winter bike gear sure does make it a lot more comfortable.

My goal requires commuting the long way (but not the Really Long Way ) to work every day between now and Christmas, and one ride in the weekend, but it accomodates the short way home and one day off a week. I have this all tallied out in a really nice spreadsheet...

But I might get sick or the weather might turn really nasty, so I'm trying to work up a little headstart now that everything is peachy. We rarely get snow (that lasts) before January, so I'm kind of counting on that. I don't try too hard to ride below -10 deg. C, it's possible but I have to put on yet another layer and my bike has been real cranky for a while by then. Oslo gets cold snaps down to -15 -20, but they don't last more than max two weeks, and usually in February. The last few winters have been depressingly mild and wet!

Now the next numbercrunching I have to do is to find out if I can afford that nice Gore rain jacket I've decided I'm worth...

[onimity]

For what it's worth, my Gore rain jacket is absolutely wonderful. We get a lot of wind and have unpredictable weather so I wear it almost every day, I just wear a couple of layers and my down shell under it if it is particularly cold. It was *so* much more than I wanted to spend but it is a very versatile/packable jacket. I much prefer it to a ski jacket because it is so good for layering and is long in the rear for when it is wet!

Anne

[kfergos]

...and IF I stay healthy and flu/bugfree... 7000 km this year is gonna be too easy. So I upped my goal for 2007 to 7500 km.

Just wanted to brag

OK, I admit, I can't resist throwing in my $0.02. The last year I estimate I've commuted 4,500 miles (7,242 km). That includes all winter last winter, in down to 10 degrees F (-12 F). BRR! This year I expect to do more than that with a 26 mi/day riding schedule and a somewhat nicer bike.

About riding in the cold: You don't need that many special clothes. If you have long spandex pants, layer those up and you can ride well into the 20s. Same thing with gloves -- put on a pair of $10 Old Navy fleece gloves overtop your regular riding gloves, and you'll be all set down to about 20 degrees, too. Jackets are pretty expensive, but if you get one with lots of zippers and breathebility, you'll be able to wear it in warmer weather. It's not so much about high-tech, expensive clothing (although a high-tech bottom layer helps for wicking sweat), but just layering up a TON and being willing to look like an Eskimo.

[lph]

Way to go kfergos! And everybody else riding for that final finish line (I'm in AWE of Geonz here)

yeah, I'm fussy about bike clothes. I like wearing as little as possible if I can get away with it - I sweat a lot and hate having to peel off layers of wet clothes at the other end. I LOVE my Gore Phantom jacket for winter riding, but it's not very waterresistant, especially now that it's been through the wash a few times. I know I'd use a real rain jacket very seldom, but... it sure is a nice jacket...

My dh laughs at me, because I'm very frugal when it comes to everyday and work clothes, and he often ends up buying me stuff just so he can see me in something different, but I'll spend any amount of money on biking clothes that promise to give me a better and more comfortable ride.

Recently it looked like I was going to overshoot my 7500 goal by a bit, so I tried working out how much I'd have to add to reach 8000 (which is 5000 miles as well, another nice number!). That would be a stretch, so I don't think it'll go this year. And suddenly it's time for studded tires, and the Long Way to work feels like a *really* long way. And both my commuter bikes are starting to mumble about the cold, and shift gears when they feel like it... we'll see.

[kfergos]

lph, so you've used studded tires in the past? Last winter in Massachusetts was very mild, so I didn't need to switch from my slicks, but who knows what this winter holds. I'd be interested in hearing how the studded tires work and feel.

What is it about cold weather that makes riding your normal distance feel excruciatingly hard? I ride the same route every day, and some days, it's a (relative) breeze; then when the thermometer drops, it's this slow agony. Also, why do bikes not work as well in the cold? After a certain temperature, I just can't shift as well. Plus lately my steel road bike has been making this sort of creaking noise when I ride it in the 20s; I'm hoping that's just adjusting to the cold, not some horrible indication it's going to go kaput on me.

[lph]

Well I can't remember minding riding with studded tires in the past, but suddenly this winter it feels like a HUGE effort. Part of it is due to that I've gotten my first road bike and inherited a lighter mtb from my dh this year, so I'm spoiled with riding faster. The studded tires are on my old Trek 6000 commuter bike, which is significantly heavier than the other two even without the studs. But having two mtbs I can switch from studded bike to non-studded bike to bike with studs just in front in a matter of minutes in the morning - oh joy!

Studded tires weigh more and corner badly, but they can keep you biking blithely up hills you can't walk up. Just don't stop and get off, falling over and skidding down to the bottom is so embarrassing... I ride Nokian Extremes front and back, and they're held through more than 5 winters.

I find that when I drop below a certain speed I don't want to even try to ride faster, I just settle for grinding along slowly. Icebike has an excellent article on why winter riding is slower - I find it really noticeable commuting and doing the same stretch every day.
http://www.icebike.org/Articles/SlowerWinter.htm

[helena]

Nice going with the distance lph! That's hardcore.

I'm going to chip in on the studded tires subject: I got slicks this summer for my mountain bike for the commute to school and I didn't realise what huge difference they made until I had to go back to studs - it sucks!

I actually prefer riding below -10C/14F because that layer of "water" on the ice that makes the roads slippery freezes so you have more traction. Any colder than that though and the grease in my hubs starts complaining and it's more like pedalling a lawnmower. Apparantly industrial type grease that they use in cars has a lower freezing temperature - haven't tried it yet but I've heard it makes a difference.

We had freezing rain today - I was sooo glad of my tires