My 2010 goals

Monday, 11 January 2010 06:17 |

Written by Boris

3 Votes here (click stars to vote)

Hi all,

Ok it's the start of a new year, I'll write about what I hope to get done on the bike this year and write updates how I'm getting on each month. Might motivate me to make some progress!!

You're welcome to butt in with comments and tell me what i should be doing differently as the year goes along.

Background for me is that I am 46 years old, work from home (this is good, gives me some time to get out on the bike), and I restarted cycling about three years ago after too many years without doing much exercise. Well OK none at all. I also spent a lot of that time smoking and drinking (I've stopped smoking but still like a drink...).

I also have the advantage that I'm in 'exile' in southern France for the time being so don't have many months where I can't get out on the bike at all. I mostly cycle alone but occasionally with one or two others and a couple of times a year I cycle in a larger group.

We're now in january so I haven't done much cycling so far this year, just a few short 'keep your legs moving' type rides, about 20-35 miles each. I'm hoping that if I tell people my goals that will motivate me to try harder, so I'll report back every month or so.

My goals for 2010 are:

- I never seem to get round to cycling much more than 50 miles in one trip so this year I thought I'd best up that to about 75 miles for my 'longest' ride each week

- Originally I started cycling again because someone told me they cycled 50 miles in three hours - I didn't believe them but thought I'd try. Seems they were telling the truth and I can (usually) manage that OK. By the end of 2010 I'd like to get that up to about 55 miles in three hours

- I would like, just sometimes, to manage 19 mph average on a ride - I come close pretty often but never quite get there...

Wish me luck and please leave any comments, suggestions etc about how I should go about improving

Cheers

9 Comments

Jackie makes this comment

Friday, 05 March 2010

Part 1 - Boris, reading your story brings home how far I have yet to go before I am back into the swing of cycling. I started cycling again this week after 2 years. I have done charity cycle rides of 56 miles before. Ventured out after work on Monday,did 8 miles with my hubby. Did 8 miles Wednesday night in 37 mins (WOW your probably all saying) breaking myself in gently, no aches or pains at the moment, but I do other exercise (pilates, walking, crosstrainer etc). I'm 44 and packed in smoking 2 years ago after my father was diagnosed with cancer and luckily I don't drink, but I do like the odd bar of chocolate, great if you have a manual job, not so great if your sat at a computer most of the week. Hoping to get a 15 to 20 mile ride in at the weekend in daylight/warmer weather and I'm quite looking forward to it.
Jackie makes this comment

Friday, 05 March 2010

Part 2 - We were in France 2 years ago (Loire Valley) but motorbiking not cycling, and again at the back end of August 2009 at Martigny-Courpierre (north of Reims)on our way around Europe, again motorbiking (but I do envy the cyclists when I see them on the roads). Will be a few years before I could contemplate a cycling holiday.

Good luck with your training. I doubt if I can give you any tips on imroving, more likely to be the other way around.

Lets just say I that I have really enjoyed this week and hope to get back into it again pretty soon, build up my stamina, and more importantly (improve my speed and mileage)

J - Lancashire
Boris makes this comment

Friday, 05 March 2010

Jackie, the first year is the one with the biggest and quickest improvements and my guess is most cycling holidays would be OK after a few months of regular weekend cycling.
I don't worry at all about whether I eat chocolate or not since I generally struggle to keep weight on rather than lose it, and yes I drink, but I also cycle most days (very windy and a bit cold so just 15 miles today!)
Good luck and keep on enjoying it
Cheers, Boris
Jackie makes this comment

Saturday, 06 March 2010

Boris, thanks for that. I did a 15 mile ride today just before lunch with hubby, could have done a few more miles and intended to but I still feel it is too early to push things seeing as all I have done this week was the two 8 mile rides and the one today. Will keep it up though and thoroughly enjoying getting back into it.

Regards

Jackie
Olly makes this comment

Tuesday, 09 March 2010

Hi Boris and Jackie,

My names Olly Clarke, I am a student at Durham University. My friends and I love fitness and are wanting to raise money for charity by cycling from England into France, around France and back again. We all have road bikes at the moment but some worse than others. They would prefer to (if possible) hire a better bike for the event. Do you know of any "hire cycling shops" that would allow ourselves to cycle over to france?
Thank you for your time.
Olly.
Boris makes this comment

Tuesday, 09 March 2010

Hi Olly,
I only know if very local bike hire companies that would be surprised to see one of their bikes leaving the disctrict, never mind the country.
Might be worth trying to strike a deal with your local bike shop if they have a good supply of second hand bikes.
I guess Durham has its own local radio station? if so might be worth asking them to mention your appeal. Perhaps your university has one as well, or some kind of newsletter / facebook / website community where you could ask if anyone has bikes you can borrow?
Good luck with your ride, it's a long way round France!
Louise makes this comment

Monday, 22 March 2010

Hi all,
I was really interested reading your messages, my name is louise and i'm 26 and am just getting back into cycling after about 3 years the reason being that myself and two friends are taking part in a cycle ride to raise money for the meningitis trust from London to Paris. We are all from Hull and have decided to make this challenge even more..challenging we are going to cycle from Hull down to London and then join the organised group. Olly this sort of organised ride or something similar is organised by a large number of 'big' charities so routes etc are mapped out for you. One of us is a cyclist and has two bikes so that was the boys sorted and thankfully i was able to borrow a bike from a colleague. It may be worth asking around and maybe at your local gym too as you would be surprised at just how many people do cycle and own bikes. If it wasn't for people kindly offering the use of their bikes i think we would have had to buy them which obviously you want to avoid!
Good luck
terry makes this comment

Sunday, 18 July 2010

This is an extract from my blog.
I have decided to ride the Round Taupo Callenge again in November and see if I can do better than last time. I have been studying my diary and find that I did just 1500 ks in the four months before, which of course was just not enough. I have a problem though, August and September are still very cold months and I only did 273 ks in August and 350 in September. My longest rides in October and and November were just 91ks and the Taupo race is 160 and very hilly. The answer of course is to spend the cold months in Queensland.That would be great but there would be no one to look after the nursery. Its like being back to dairy farming again with no time off.I am 81 years old.
Admin makes this comment

Sunday, 18 July 2010

Awesome story Terry, thanks for sharing it with the rest of us and keeping us motivated to carry on.
Best of luck with your training and ride, I'll be keeping an eye on your blog to see how it's going!