1) don't get hit by a motorist
2) let the rest take care of itself
2013-12-31 17:05:08
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Goals for 2014
Since we had so much fun with the Goals for 2012 and Goals for 2013 threads, I thought I'd start one for 2014.
1) 2,000 miles or 100 days of 2+ miles, whichever comes first. (Goes without saying that every trip will be logged, contest or not.)
2) Every bike on the property will have a purpose or be gotten rid of, and those that are kept will be functional to the extent it can be. (Parts bikes are parts bikes, after all.)
3) Install a lighted and properly equipped repair/wash/maintenance bay in the basement.
4) I will be able to ride 10 miles in wet, snowy, and/or cold conditions without becoming wet, dirty, or cold in any way.
5) I will employ my helmet camera as often as feasible to record my travel conditions and the behavior of fellow travelers.
6) I will memorize PA Vehicle Code as regards pedalcycles, chapter and verse, and as much applicable case law as I can manage.
7) I will blog at least twice a month about my travel experiences, exclusive of ephemeral social media.
8) I will make instructional videos to show others how to do what I do.
9) I will play a leadership role in reinforcing the rights of all cyclists to use any public road.
10) I will continue to support the cycling community through financial donations, volunteering to help on rides, participating in the message board and other social media, maintenance of ways, and other informational, in-person, and/or hands-on tasks as needed.
Sorry to sound so formal, but this is what I think needs to be done to step outside my comfort zone, to push the envelope, to help people get to where I've gotten to with my years of experience. There's no point in gaining info without passing it along to the next guy, right?
2013-12-31 16:53:03
Heh, I was going to joke about not getting hit by a car this year, but Salty already beat me to it.
I only had one hit this year, and although I was checked by an ambulance (out of the presumption that only an ambulance visit results in hit statistics being generated) it was actually minor compared to my previous year's fall (due to my own tailgating on slippery down hill) that resulted in some concussion stuff
This year I'd like to:
actually volunteer at FreeRide instead of just talking about it
organize some kind of non-racing distance ride, that's uh, destination based, like my previous proposed star ride or perhaps going to that field of rocks that make bell sounds when you hit them
2013-12-31 21:11:36
Pierce wrote:that field of rocks that make bell sounds when you hit themPierce, what's that? (tia, V.)
2013-12-31 21:59:14
1. I need to take my dog on more bike rides. She misses it.
2013-12-31 22:09:28
Vannevar wrote:I think Pierce is referring to this, correct me if I'm wrong. http://www.davidhanauer.com/buckscounty/ringingrocks/Pierce wrote:that field of rocks that make bell sounds when you hit themPierce, what’s that? (tia, V.)
2013-12-31 22:19:29
J Z wrote: I think Pierce is referring to this, correct me if I’m wrong. http://www.davidhanauer.com/buckscounty/ringingrocks/Yes, I think I saw that on 'Strange Pennsylvania'. Cool stuff. http://youtu.be/agD7Eu5ggeY
2014-01-01 03:20:51
My goal is to commute / Bike more DRIVE LESS
Volunteer / Help Others where and when possible
Work to make our trails and biking better for all
2014-01-01 07:15:15
Those are some good goals, Cowchip. Mine are somewhat similar,
1. Ride more.
Although I often choose to forget it, my bike commute is faster than my bus commute. I will prepare each evening for a bicycle commute the following morning. I will permit weather, extracurricular activities and work commitments to influence the decision to ride on a given morning, but lack of preparedness will not be an excuse.
2 . Deepen my connection to the bike community.
Participate in at least 6 group rides (such as Flock) in 2014 . Envelope stuffing events or similar volunteer based group activities count toward this goal.
2. Somewhat related, reduced my VMT.
Chain trips better to limit local travel. Travel for work, and longer out of region trips to see/support family and close friends are exempt.
3. Support efforts to make biking (and walking) safer in our communities.
4. Be a better cyclist by being a responsible cyclist.
I will wear clothing and use lighting and other equipment to be visible to motorists. I will ride in a predictable manner, so drivers around me will not be surprised by my behavior. That means obeying traffic laws. This will be the first one I break. Stopping at all stop signs is just really difficult, given my commute route.
5. Ride my mountain bike again.
I need ultra baby steps here. Making sure it is in good working condition would be a good start.
Pretty minimal list, I realize. But, if I keep it simple, I might be able to feel good about the list at the end of 2014 . Hope to see you all out there ....
2014-01-01 08:52:52
-Not have any kind of medical issues for one whole calendar year (i have been hospitalized and off of the bike every year since 2009 for something or other).
- try to do ultra distance cycling again, but we'll see how that goes.
-work up the courage to ride in the woods again when I can.
-continue to support the cycling community.
2014-01-01 18:03:45
1) get Terry B. (aka dbacklover) up 18th street. This was a goal last year too, but it didnt happen. Hopefully calling this out in public will give it more weight. It also means I need to go on more rides with him throughout the year, which I look forward to.
2) stay healthy. I missed quite a few weeks due to a few injuries; one (accidentally) self inflicted. Stop that.
3) do a few centuries. My longest ride was only 74 miles last year :-(
4) try not to yell at drivers so much. This ones going to be hard.
2014-01-01 18:28:39
1. Visit my mother in England
2. Ride my bike all of the miles
3. Get a beater car
4. Don't get hit by carz
2014-01-02 15:59:00
1. Finally implement the silly removable roof idea to turn the sukkah into a more usable bike shed 95% of the year.
2. Haul more. Haul more often. BIG trailer maybe?
3. Bump up the mileage a bit.
4. At some point hit the DD hills I've missed in 2013. Do more lunches up on grandview.
5. Try clipless.
6. Take better care of my bike.
7. Promote the Bike Menorah ride better.
2014-01-02 16:42:32
edmonds59 wrote:1. I need to take my dog on more bike rides. She misses it.That's what I'm doing tonight. Also, volunteer at PTAG some more since I purchased all these cordless power tools...
2014-01-02 17:01:22
1. Ride more than 700 miles
B. Get Pudge set up in the back basket for rides, he'd love that.
III. Get more acclimated to the heat and hills.
lastly, not be so damned socially awkward at group rides.
2014-01-02 19:41:33
My goals are less specific and less numerical than last year's goalsr. Or maybe I'm still just an Occidental 'Boomer who just wants more.
Ride more. Ride more often (more days),
Ride more miles when I do ride.
Ride to more places that I haven't been.
BUT don't lose the Joy.
Ride on the cloudy, windy, chance of rain days.
Ride more in the Jan-Feb-March.
Ride more overnights, and camp rather than hotel more often.
I didn't ride with the Major Taylor or the Decaf folks in 2013 and I want to ride with them in 2014. I'd like to do a longer ride with the Rando folks.
I'm hoping I've got 9 years of riding left and I can't let it slip away.
2014-01-02 21:38:34
RustyRed wrote: lastly, not be so damned socially awkward at group rides.Ha! Come find me next Flock ride--I never notice anyone else's social awkwardness 'cause I'm too busy inwardly shaking my head at my own. :)
Vannevar wrote:...don’t lose the Joy.Well said, Van! That's the perfect 2014 goal (I'm going to try to keep that front and center when I get too disgusted about bike-adjacent things).
2014-01-02 23:00:36
Well I already have many crazy goals....
1)I have an idea where I ride the amount of miles of the temperature
30 degrees = do a 30 mile ride
20 degrees = do a 20 mile ride
10 degrees = do a 10 mile ride
That seems like an interesting riding goal
2)At least one 100mi ride
3)Bike up to a new mountainous high point (2012 climbed Spruce Knob, 2013 climbed Mt. Mitchell)
2014-01-03 21:44:17
I'm picking up last year's again.
1) Ride at least one day each week for the entire year. Last year I only missed three weeks - two in January, one in December.
2) Commute every day possible, including on the studded tires I'm putting on my pink bike. No more driving or busing because of snow/ice.
3) Eat better on the weekends. I failed, failed, failed at this last year. And I've also eaten about 1600 cookies in the last three weeks. It's time to do better.
2014-01-04 07:25:47
Andrew wrote:Well I already have many crazy goals…. 1)I have an idea where I ride the amount of miles of the temperature 30 degrees = do a 30 mile ride 20 degrees = do a 20 mile ride 10 degrees = do a 10 mile ride So not much riding on Tuesday of this week. Does that go for summer temps also, 90 degrees = 90 miles?
2014-01-04 09:31:54
I need to add one more. I don't care if I make a pest of myself, I am going to ask, over and over, every time there is a motorist-on-cyclist crash, a motorist-on-pedestrian crash, and maybe a few others, What was the driver doing driving? IMHO we need to demand that people think before embarking on any journey which requires them to drive. This is fundamentally what's wrong with the roads, that people feel entitled to drive every damn time there is any indication they need to go anywhere. OTOH if they are not behind the wheel -- if they are using any other mode of travel -- then they will not be there to run us over.
2014-01-05 15:54:19
StuInMcCandless wrote:What was the driver doing driving? IMHO we need to demand that people think before embarking on any journey which requires them to drive.Bravo!
2014-01-06 20:52:16
"1. Ride more than 700 miles
B. Get Pudge set up in the back basket for rides, he’d love that.
III. Get more acclimated to the heat and hills."
1 and III: DONE
I've done #1 four times over.
..still need to get Pudge on the bike before it gets really cold.
2014-10-15 09:15:57
I think I have my 1, 5, 6, 9 and 10 well in hand. Doing OK on 2. Not much progress on the other four.
2014-10-15 09:23:48
Getting towards the end of the year. #7 and #8 on my list got some attention. #2 only barely.
Some other highlights:
* Establishing a new brand for Critical Mass. I still do not know of any other so-named C.M. ride that tries to adhere to vehicular law but more importantly, try to ride where bicycles are uncommon or unwelcome. I have high hopes for doing this next year.
...and a shout-out to all those who rode with me at the nearly 10 such rides this year.
* Speaking up about cycling at speech giving opportunities. Most have been at a Toastmasters club meeting, but a notable exception was the Taylor Banks ghost bike ceremony.
* Helping sweep clean the upstream sidewalk on the West End Bridge back in April. Kudos to @pinky, @srpit, @marko82, @RustyRed and a few others who helped.
* Finally outfitting the bike with front and rear cameras, and getting some experience with pointing them properly, charging them, unloading and processing data, and uploading to YouTube.
* I was hoping to hit 2,000 miles, but I exceeded 3,000. At this writing, I just topped 3,200!
Looking forward to 2015!
2014-12-10 21:23:45
My only cycling-related goal for the year was to keep riding my bike most days, including commuting and adventuretimes, and to try to take my bike with me when I'm traveling if I can.
I feel like I did pretty well there. Drove to work when I worked at the far site, biked to work when I worked at the nearby site. Took bikes on adventuretimes (most notably Spain!) and had lots of little adventures.
I think there are two small modifications on that goal for this coming year: a) it now includes mountain biking!!! and b) I'm going to try to document my adventures a little more regularly. I love reading back through them.
2014-12-30 15:26:55
Yay @emma!
Yes, please do write down your adventures. My second favorite recollection of yours through the year, next to Spain, was pedaling to a concert wearing something with sequins.
2014-12-30 15:41:37
I started a little place to collect those stories (a few of which I posted here as well, a few which I'd emailed to my family) here, if anybody is interested:
http://ridingthatbike.tumblr.com/
2014-12-30 16:23:38
^That's a well-written blog; it really captures the simple pleasures of biking, friends, hot food and drinks on a cold morning, new places and adventures, etc. My favorite is the story about that snowy evening last year, which I remember well.
2014-12-31 10:01:48
oh, hey thanks! I feel like that snowy night is one I will remember when I am old old old. It is so crystalline in my memory. I'm glad y'all are enjoying it too.
2014-12-31 10:11:50
1. Finally implement the silly removable roof idea to turn the sukkah into a more usable bike shed 95% of the year.
Technically was working on this today a bit, and there's still more refinement and covering at the edges, but I'm giving myself credit here because it was such a monumental headache. Major thanks to a lot of folks, my brother for the last push.
2. Haul more. Haul more often. BIG trailer maybe?
Not so much. Carry over into 2015.
3. Bump up the mileage a bit.
Check, probably, not measured. I'm ok not measuring and not carrying over.
4. At some point hit the DD hills I’ve missed in 2013. Do more lunches up on grandview.
No, but I blame it on being on a single-speed (and not being freakishly strong) or otherwise with an inappropriately sized and shockingly heavy/awful mountain bike.
Will get something better in 2015 and keep the goal in mind for spring.
5. Try clipless.
Check
6. Take better care of my bike.
Nope, will carry over into 2015.
7. Promote the Bike Menorah ride better.
Putting it out on meetup brought in some new folks, honestly I think I did a terrible job overall, but can't argue with numbers. Carrying further improvement as a goal into 2015.
So, I did, depending on how you count 2.5-4 out of my 7. On the basis of those numbers adding more to my carryover is probably a bad idea. But I'll add just one more, get my oldest riding more and longer distances.
2015-01-01 14:07:03
I think we need a 2015 thread.
2015-01-01 15:27:31
Presence noted, goals carried over.
2015-01-02 10:43:17