2008 - Year in Review.

The Stats...

First off, I'd like to say that I have ridden more this year than any other year. 1,402.73 miles on the Road Bike, . I'm not sure how. Let see:

I keep a bike log in a MS Excel spreadsheet. I enter the Date, Distance, Time, and MAX. I also have a column entry for which bike I was riding and another column for type of ride (Solo, Club, Paceline, Fun, Commute, and Event).

When it comes to spreadsheets, I am a freak.

You'd have to see my bike log spreadsheet to fully appreciate that statement. With all the reports, finters, and charts that I have in there it is too complicated to export to a Google Doc Spreadsheet.

Mountain Biking

I dragged my mountain bike through the local woods during the winter months of 2009. I really should do more of that.

Biking to Work

In 2008 I started a new job at Monster.com in Maynard, MA. I was no longer working in downtown Boston and a slave to the train schedule (and train delays...). A colleague at my new job was a former bike racer and commuted by bike as often as he could no matter what the weather was. I plotted out a route that turned out to be 25 miles each way. Not ideal for everyday bike commuting, at least for me. My colleague suggested that I drive in, bike home; then bike in and drive home, alternating biking and driving. The times I did that it worked out well.

There was one time that I biked to and from work in the same day. 50 miles in one day with a full day of work in the middle. I was tired. I think it is easier to ride 50 straight miles that to do 25 and 25 with 8 hours of desk time in between.

• Biking to work in 2008

Most of my commuting rides were uneventful with only a few hairy intersections earlier in the year (I had cut those out). I did manage to have a wreck towards the end of June right before my Birthday.

I didn't get to do too much bike commuting in the heart of the summer because of the demands of the project I was working on. Hopefully I'll get more bike commuting in for 2009.

Group Riding

One big change this year is that I have done more "group" riding that in years past. In 2006 and 2007, the split was "77% solo/23% group" for 2006 and "63% solo/37% group" for 2007.

In 2008, my solo vs. group riding is almost 50/50; "54% solo/46% group" for 2008.

Phat Tuesday Evening Training Rides

I logged 300 miles of riding with the Phat Tuesday Rides in 2008. That's almost twice as much as 2007 (176).

For some reason though, it doesn't feel lke I steadily improved over the course fo the year. In 2007 I peaked at 19.3 mph average at the end of August. In 2008, I was all over the place in averages with no clear trend. My fastest ride was 18.8 mph on the 3rd ride at the beginning of June. Wierd.

The Saturday Morning Rides

I connected to an informal Saturday Morning group of rides after running into a neighbor while out on a ride.

These "Saturday Morning" riders are fast. I'll need to ride with them more so I can ride faster (or at least smarter) myself, especially on climbs.

Club Rides

Hmmm... For some reason I thought I did more club rides with the Naragansett Bay Wheelmen this year. It turns out I only did three. Two in August and the TFCE in September.

• NBW-076: Hill and Gully Rider - 70 Miles
• NBW-129: Diamond Hill One - 50 Miles
• TFCE - 100+ Miles

TFCE

Schwinn Varsity

I dug my 1982 Schwinn Varsity out of my father's garage this year with grand plans on doing something with it like fixing it up to be a winter ride, maybe convert it to a single speed. About all I've done with it is thrown on new tires.

It has great potential to be a money pit.

My Birthday Metric

For my 40th birthday I wanted to plan a ride with some close friends. I kept it to a Metric and not a Century as to not scare off too many people. As it turns out, only my friend Mike came along. In 2009 I think I will open it up to more people.

• Marty's Birthday Metric

2009...

Despite all the riding I have done in 2008, I somehow managed to gain weight. I've already been on my bike trainer 5 times so far this year (more than any other year already) and I hope to reverse that trend. I would like to join the Pan Mass Challenge this year, however:

• I don't know what my travel schedule will be like for this summer.
• $4,200 is a daunting amount to raise.

If I do sign up for the ride, I would then have to decide whether to join the local PMC Team (Phat Tuesday) or join the team here at work (PMCMonsters). Registration is soon so I better decide fast.

I think I'll definitely do the TFCE again this year.

Another goal I think is to simply ride more. Even if it means some short rides.