After passing 50,000 miles and 9 years, 6 months, and 8 days bicycling, you’d think there wouldn’t be any more milestones for a while. You’d’ve thunk wrong. I’ve been streaking for a while, but not the kind where some idiot is running buck nekkid across a field where they’re playing sports ball in front of thousands of people and more at home watching the ol’ boob tube.

My streak is decidedly more tame, doing some sort of activity every day for 500 weeks which is that 9.5 years. I’m not sure how Strava calculates the streak week, like you have to exercise at least half the week or a certain number of hours.  But I’ve cycled every day for 5 years and 9 months as of today. If I can make it another 3 months, that’ll add up to 6 years. Plus I’ve been walking almost every day for 7.5 years and doing daily yoga for 11.5 years, each for 30 minutes or more.

As always with me, and really everyone if you think about it, that’s a big if. Read on for more thoughts. I can’t promise they’ll be deep, but I won’t promise that they aren’t, either.

This Strava chart shows I’ve got 500 weeks of a streak of doing some activity. Strava recently rolled out this streak chart. They don’t say how many days a week you have to do an activity for it to count, but between my cycling, walking, and yoga (which I’ve only been tracking the last few years on Strava but I’m on my 12th year of that daily streak), I’ve definitely been a busy body.

As I continue to reflect on my two trips around the planet, I do have to wonder if it adds up to that proverbial hill of beans. At first blush, of course it does is the answer. Pondering deeper, one might see my efforts as unsuccessful, Given that I have not:  lost weight, won any races or prizes, been sponsored by businesses, achieved viral level of attention with this blog, let the love of my life, or otherwise achieved any material or outward outcome that could be easily measured, one would be right to ask:  What’s the point, dude?

Well that’s easy. I did it because I wanted to. And it’s trite but no less true, but the journey IS the destination. Yes, I grapple with physical toll all this effort has taken, and which may take me out the bike sooner or later. I’m not complaining, it’s been my choice. (Well, actually I am complaining a little bit. It’s my blog and I can cry if I want to.)

But it’s a fact I’m almost a decade older then when I started this journey. Naturally, I have the consequences to deal with, like them or not. (I do not like them.) I’ve always been aware of my limits, and I have pushes them greatly. They also push back. I’m sure many of you dear readers are aware of this. If you are also exercising, trying to lose weight, trying to eat better, and so on, progress is not linear and sometimes we regress. But I digress and egress I must confess.

Also, I must consider the notion of what would have happened had I done nothing, or much less? In many ways I might have been in much worse shape, not just physically but also mentally and emotionally. The benefits of biking are well documented scientifically and in the pages of this blog over the last almost decade. If it means nothing to anybody else, it’s significant to me. To be sure, It’s been a struggle, but there’s been fun in the effort, too.

My goal is still to get to 5,200 miles this year and 52,000 miles total for the decade ending December 31st, 2025. After that, what next? I don’t know. First I have to get there. I’m pretty sure the streak will end, whether I want it to or not. That will be an argument with my doctor(s). Perhaps I will be forced to take a sabbatical from cycling, or even retire, which is impossible to fathom or imagine, but it could happen.

The First Noble Truth of Buddhism is that life is suffering. Some translate it as dissatisfaction. But things change every moment, even if they are imperceptible but we don’t want them to. I haven’t really envisioned what I’m going to do on October 12th. Am I going to continue the streak or not? It’s much harder to start and sustain one then to quit, I know that. I counted as long as I bicycle a mile even if it’s on an indoor trainer, so why not continue? Well, ego and attachment, the Buddha would say. It’s true that I’m very identified with bicycling. Attaching would be good. The top of the fact of my mantra, make money, not miles. It’s much easier to do the miles than the money though.

The much bigger question is what shall I do on January 1st, 2026? Take a day off? How about a week or a month? Do I keep the same annual mileage goal, have a more reasonable one, or no goal at all? Big phone units only perhaps, as half past Cycling Club practices (despite multiple long distance trips halfway across the country or farther)? Do I set Strava to private? Or just don’t even use it anymore? No one knows the future except we’re all going to die. And with death as a backdrop, I’m quite aware that my accomplishments on the bicycle–while amazing and fantastic and incredible all the rest of the superlatives you can think of–do not  matter. Sometimes I think of my bicycling has a Tibetan Buddhist and painting. The intricate colorful works of art and the end gets swept away. Like all of us will someday. Mortality of ourselves and our loved ones is incredibly sad, but it also is what gives life meaning.

And that brings me to the loss of life due to flooding in Central Texas and the Hill Country. I would be remiss without mentioning the many people who died in the recent floods mostly west of Austin, Texas. People died in Travis County, too. It could be beyond 200 by the time it’s all over. Could and should there have been better warnings and systems in place? Obviously. Does that matter while so many are grieving? To the grieving, no. For those who are in charge of such things, yes. Is it also a political issue that will be hotly debated for years? Certainly. Does Mother Nature care how how about your status, your looks, your socioeconomic level, your education, your political party, how poor you are, or anything else? No. Can anything that bring the dead back? No.

To paraphrase a Mother Jones quote as I often do:

“Remember the dead, and fight like hell for the living.”

Assuming we’re not faced with catastrophic situations like natural disasters, famine, war, or poverty, we can do our best to live our lives, and we must trust ourselves that it is and we are enough. Our detractors, the outsiders, the unsatisfiable, and the perfectionists are people who don’t know what the hell they’re talking about. They most certainly haven’t walked or biked a mile in our shoes. Our best never will be good enough for them. That’s okay. People will judge and say you’re too fat, you’re too old, or get a job, etc. Haters are most definitely going to hate. Let them. That’s about them, not you. Even the inner critic must be put aside and told thank you, I hear you, and you may have a point, but ni thank you, I’m doing this anyway and I’m fine without you.

Whatever your pursuit, whether it’s writing a book, hiking the Appalachian trail, walking 10,000 steps a day, practicing music, creating music or art, participating in your community, etc. as long as it is not harmful to anyone, I say go for it. I wouldn’t really recommend doing an exercise streak, because regular is much more practical and achievable and rest days are very important for the body to recover and to prevent burnout. But if you set a goal, don’t let it define you. Or become the end all, be all. Focus on your next step. And the one after that. Another one after that. The results will take care of themselves.

And if you find yourself like me after 9 years, 6 months and 8 days having bicycled a little more than the equivalent of twice around the equator, 50,000 miles, congratulations! Celebrate a little, you’ve earned it, dude. Just remember, it means everything. But it also means nothing. Be like the Buddha, and try not to attach to it too much. We’re only human, after all.

Butt if you feel like doing the other kind of streaking, taking your clothes off and running butt nekkid across a sports ball field in front of thousands, be my guest, knock yourself out, go nuts, let ‘er rip.

Kudos to @Bikegoddess who is about to achieve a year of daily cycling after retiring from her job out in southern Washington state. Great job! (But take it easy.)