Bryan, the benevolent dictator of Renaissance Bicycles, has a new goal for the New Year — 5200 miles in 2010. Here’s the when, why, and how in his own words:

Like many people, my traditional New Year’s resolutions are like bad Christmas presents: well intentioned and quickly forgotten.  I would like to think that I am on a constant trajectory of personal improvement, but more realistically, I “grow” like a puppy … lots of awkward leaps and stumbles.  And without exception, I can never remember my original resolutions by the conclusion of the year.  This is usually not because I have attained that lofty goal, but because I have “accepted” it … and by “accepted” I mean “forgotten”.

So for 2010, I decided to try a more formal, attainable, and measurable goal — simply to ride a bike 5200 miles in the course of the year.

I’ve ridden that kinda miles in the course of a year, so in the big picture, 100 miles a week is a very reasonable goal.  Heck, I can ride a 100 miles in a day (well … I have ridden a 100 miles in a day).  But the real challenge in this challenge is to accumulate the miles.  An average of 14.25 miles a day works out to be about a one hour casual road ride each day.  Easy enough … but what about those days when riding is just not really an option?  And those couple of days in a row when travel / work / family / illness demand my attention?  And what about when I have “one of those weeks”?  Do I just go out and suffer to “make up the miles”?  Hardly.

This goal is really about spending more meaningful time on the bike. For me, that means riding at my pace for that day, riding a variety of routes and bikes, riding solo and with others, and riding when I need it.  I am not a racer, I don’t follow a training schedule, I don’t have any lofty aspirations … I just really enjoy riding a bike.  I hope to make many of these meaningful and memorable rides … not just a quick blast out the door (though it’s better than nothing).   In other words, the implied sub-goal is to make sure that these rides are not sandwiched between other events, but rather the main event themselves.

And although I’ve already taken some friendly ribbing for it (what did you expect from a recovering Math teacher?) I put together a spreadsheet to keep everything organized.  I borrowed heavily from the Johnson County Bicycle Club MS Excel template and basically paired it down to only the “essentials” … miles per week, simple averages, etc.  Like I said, this goal is about enjoying the miles, not getting lost in the cycling minutia.

Basically, my purpose in making this goal public has three facets:

1. Now I have to follow through with it … or else get tangled-up in an elaborate web of excuses.
2. Invite anyone else in participating in this goal (and you can email me for a copy of the simplified spreadsheet).
3. And if you call Renaissance Bicycles and I’m not around … I hope you believe me when I call back to say, “I was just out riding my bike.”