by 2021 was a year with a lot of cycling miles and lots of consistency, as you can see from the weekly riding total chart.
Those two weeks in July with no rides were when Mrs. Doug broke her leg. Caring for her was more important than cycling. (But apparently only for two weeks). The big spike in mileage in August was my Pan Mass Challenge. Ten days of riding and a lot of miles, raising money to fight cancer.
Putting my rides on a map shows that I did indeed do a Pan-Mass, covering Massachusetts from west to east and north to south.
That blob of activity in the northwest corner of Massachusetts was the Sky is the Limit ride. I was on that when Mrs. Doug broke her leg. I had to cut that ride short when I got the emergency call.
The ride starting just south of Pittsfield was the Sweet Baby James stage of my PMC, riding from from West Stockbridge to Boston.
The ride heading north off the map into New Hampshire was the B2VT ride, that stayed in New Hampshire instead of heading to Vermont.
As you might guess all of that riding added up to a lot of total distance.
It was a 10% increase from 2020. Of those 9585 miles, there was 105 miles of running and 2470 miles of indoor riding on Zwift, putting me at 7009 miles of outside riding for 2021. Back to my initial statement about consistency, those miles included a long streak of riding.
Part of those 125 days were the 100 days in a row to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the discovery of insulin for my JDRF 100.
In addition to putting in miles on the bike, I’ve gotten active with some cycling organizations off the bike.
In October I worked with MassBike and the League of American Bicyclists, putting in many hours of study time and work to become a League Cycling Instructor. Look for me to be teaching classes to help riders become better cyclists.
I also became more active with the Charles River Wheelmen, a recreational cycling group. I became a group ride leader and helped organize the Cranberry Harvest Century Ride.
I joined the board of directors of MassBike, a state-wide organization dedicated to advocacy and education for cycling in Massachusetts.
That is a lot for 2021. I’m not sure I can top that in 2022. For me, it’s not about achievements. It’s about enjoying the ride. RIde with Joy.
