Occasionally I tend to geek out on what I’m doing number-wise with my bicycle.  Today, it was passing 1,000 miles for 2018 thus far.  Not too shabby, but not as much as in 2016 (where I rode 5,306 miles) or in 2017 (where I rode 4,714 miles).  At this rate, by the end of 2018, I’ll end up just shy of riding 3,200 miles.  With the weather warming up, I expect I will increase my weekly goal from 50 miles to 75 or even 100.  But as my unemployment money dwindles, I will find myself scrambling for income, and that could diminish my activity level significantly.  A Dude’s gotta eat and have a roof.  But the numbers and what’s behind them are interesting, so click on to read the rest of this post.

Statistics, Schmatistics

The most important statistic for me this year isn’t about miles.   It’s word count.  And so far, it’s  pretty high.  88,000+ words, actually.  (See graphic below.) And that’s not including the 60,000+ I’ve probably written in my book.  Riding 50 miles per week has allow me to write 500 words per day.  And I’m happy about that.

A fellow Texan who blogs about her health journey, JulieCares, made the comment “1,000 miles is further than what most people ever ride a bike in a lifetime.”  I’m not so sure about that.  The temptation is to compare oneself to others.  Buddha said, “Comparison is the death of joy.”   He was correct.  Who needs that?  The only person I or you need to do that to is ourself.  And even then, gently.

Two years ago I made it a goal to bike 100 miles per week.  Somehow, I did it.  I was also two years younger and not having some major issues with iron deficiency.  Although it turns out that most of my lab results like hemoglobin and ferritin are in the normal range, so maybe I’m not anemic at all.  Point is:  do your best.  So sure, have goals.  Try your damndest to beat the hell out of them and do better.  But have a life too.  Have fun.  Just don’t have a cow, man!

From So What to Now What?

What I’ve learned about myself after all this bicycling (10,00 miles in two years) is that I can do far more than what people think, including me.  Being active while overweight is an obstacle and a concern, sure, but it’s not insurmountable or a reason to quit.  I’m a fathlete.  Stop judging from the safety of your couch.  You know who else are fat athletes?  Sumo wrestlers!  Sure they’re heavy, but those guys are fit and strong AF.

My point is that it’s always been my choice to have a hardcore slavish adherence to meet a specific numeric goal, or ride for necessity and also, for fun.  It’s up to me whether I put in the extra time and effort to make it to 100 miles, or 50 miles, or 150 miles.  They are all OK.  Even 0, if I want a break.  I’m walking, I’m doing yoga, I’m eschewing virtually all processed grains and writing daily.  (I appreciate the irony of that word choice — eschewing — for something about eating.)  Goals are great!  But let them be your guide and work for you, not the other way around.

Now that it’s gone from 88 degrees F from my first ride today at 12:30 pm to 57 degrees F after a cool front blew in some rains that have since departed, I know what to do.  Not because I have to, but because I want to:  Ride my bike.  Just for fun.   No errands, backpack, route-plotting, planning for food, clean shorts and Chamois Butter, and no mileage goal, none of that. I’m just going to go for a joy ride.  Because if you’re not experiencing joy while riding a bike, at least some of the time, you’re doing it wrong.  Amirite?  Yes.

Post-Script:  Joy Ride Report

So I went and tooled around, with no particular place to go.  Three cool things came out of tonight, aside from having a lovely time biking.  First, I learned that Nessy sculpture’s eyes pictured above has eyes which glow blue at night.  Second, I was roaming around and passed by the store where I got my TV, so I stopped in.  I complained that it still isn’t let me mirror bike racing videos from my laptop.  They reminded me that I have a five-year service plan, so they’ll fix or replace it for free!  And, after eyeing some slightly worse for wear chicken wings at the 7-11, I bargained for them to be reduced 25%.

My point is that good things happen when you leave the house.  (Usually.)  At least the neighbor dogs didn’t escape from the front door and try to attack me like they did yesterday.  They didn’t because I screamed bloody murder at them and they backed off and then were taken away by the son-in-law who is now on my liste du merde.  But that also helped me to focus on the present moment more, to be grateful that I wasn’t injured, and live to ride another day.  By the way, A Dude loves dogs.  He just can’t eat a whole one.

Thus concludes the rant — and this blog post.

A DUDE ABIKES INVITES YOU TO: 

• Like
• Comment
• Follow
• Email follow – if you need help, email me (see About page)
• Re-blog – permalink to this post
• Share on Social Media

THANK YOU!  www.ADudeAbikes.com

___________________________________________________

© 2015-18 A Dude Abikes.  All rights reserved.

‘