It’s been a year of ups and downs as far as my cycling activities this year. Here are some quick stats, courtesy of Strava …
Distance | 5,033.9 km |
Time | 246h 17m |
Elev Gain | 19,203 m |
Rides | 149 |
That works out at :
- Average ride length for 2014: 33km.
- Average elevation gain per ride: 128 metres.
- Longest ride: 104km.
Compare that with the cumulative total of all rides I have logged in Strava so far:
Distance | 7,957.1 km |
Rides | 248 |
- Average ride length for total time on Strava: 32km.
So the average ride length has gone up by a whole 1km per ride this year compared with the total cumulative distance average ride length! But that doesn’t give the true picture of what happened during this year. The graph below gives a more in depth look at my bicycle ride patterns.
The year started well, with a fairly intense few weeks of riding in January and a new personal distance record on a single ride of 76km up to that time. That ride also was beyonf mobile phone range for about 40km which gave me an increased sense of adventure! In the months that followed I did a number of 100+ km rides, and the longest of them, at 104km, is still my personal distance record. For the 1st half of the year things seemed to be going quite well, with my highest kms in a week ever occuring in March, but then after July the wheels seemed to come off my cycling efforts (excuse the pun). This was because of a number of things occuring around me and as a result me getting to the point where I had trouble finding the time and losing my motivation almost totally by September. That motivation came back for a few weeks in October, then the motivation went south again. And only really returned after the long weekend I spent in the Kosciosko National Park a couple of weeks ago.
But I still made it to over 5000km for the year which is still a pretty good effort.
The highlight of the year would have to be the cycling holiday I did in March which included:
- Various trails around Melbourne (Victoria).
- The Goulburn Valley High Country Rail Trail (also called the Great Victorian Rail Trail) between Alexandra and Cathkin.
- The Foster – Meeniyan section of the Great Southern Rail Trail.
- The full length of the Warby Trail between Lilydale and Warburton.
Who knows what 2015 will bring. I had planned to do the 25000 Spins Great Ocean Road ride in February but I think it’s unlikely that I will be fit enough to do that ride now – it’s going to be hard to get to 125km and decent elevation gain in a single ride (as has been suggested I try to get to). It’s also unlikely that my minimum fundraising target will be met.
I have a vague plan to try another multi-day bike ride maybe after the snow season in 2015, but that plan might also come to nought like my plan to be involved in the Great Ocean Road ride. Only time will tell. So the New Year approaches, and we tick over to the New Year. What will 2015 bring?