The ancient Chinese proverb, “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step,” was insightful. Maybe that’s why it’s a proverb and Lao Tzu is quoted so often. A huge or daunting task starts with a small action and as progress become consistent it leads to results over time.
It’s hard to believe that today is #499 and I’ll open the door to the 500s tomorrow.
Now going from Day 1 to 365, a year is far more that going from 400 to 500, but still there were probably more obstacles in the 400 to 500 that the first year. I can’t really calculate why beyond the basic fact that I traveled more to other places this year versus the first year of my challenge.
Loaner from my cousin.
The last 100 days, even the last 25 days required infinitely more thought and intention that I expected. Being so close to 500 consecutive days of cycling made it more important that ever to get to that milestone. The weather has been a huge factor. If I wrote a book about it, the weather would be a prominent character. You know the type. It’s been like a pesky, persnickity, grump of a character that reminds you of its presence but offers no help or consul.
I thought I’d wrap it at 365, even a leap year, 366. But I just kept pedaling and some of it was to just see if I could keep it up.
Bundled up for my Divvy ride in Chicago.
Then 400 and a perfect number to stop. But why not one more day. And another. It’s worse than a bag of chips. Yet, it’s not. It’s good for me and it makes me happy and I’m out in the world and taking it all in and that’s good.
There may be a few regrets I have in my life. Some choices that I rethink, but biking is not one of them. Every day I can physically bike, I will. 500 is a good number, but so is 501.
Bike the Lights. An Events at PIR, Portland International Raceway
I’m still streaking. I’m closing in on 500 consecutive days of cycling, and lately the obstacles and challenges have been… interesting. I thought I’d check in today—Day 495—because this has been one of the most unusual things I’ve ever done on a bike. This feels like a real tortoise moment, and I kind of live by that story.
Here are some photos of the last few weeks and rides. Details to come and more about the complexity of a streak few understand.
Recap. August 8th was a year. 365 days in a row or cycling. I just kept going. I mean why stop? Why not keep the momentum and see if I can get to 400 and then 450 and now I can see 500.
I haven’t written much about it since my last post. Is that because I don’t want to jinx it? Maybe. Now it’s time to spill. Now, it’s time to say unequivocally that I’m a cyclist. Own it! Of course, I know that, but admittedly, I have stuggled with others knowing it and respecting it.
There’s some unpacking of the proverbial pannier that needs to happen. Why did I do this? Why bother continuing? Is there some deeper issue to uncover? Maybe. But maybe I just love to ride!
Until 500, I’ll keep on pedaling and I hope you follow along.
My 365th consecutive day of cycling is today. I’m not stopping or taking a day off. I’m planning to continue the streak until I can’t for some reason. Here are some of the questions I’ve been asked the most while cycling my streak.
Has it been hard? Not terribly, no. At first I was recovering from surgery on my heel and my streak was broken in July 2024 because doctor’s orders. Then it was hard to remember that I was setting a schedule to ride in the summer when usually I wouldn’t be commuting to work anyway, so setting new routines was challenging for a month or so.
The most challenging aspect of riding consecutive days is traveling and there’s bicycle uncertainty. Can I get a bike in a 24 hour period? While it only happened twice in 365 days, first in April when we were taking the Amtrak to and from Vancouver, B.C., and we had to clear customs at the Canadian border near Seattle. I was counting on a ride when we got home but also knew it would be late, so I was full of anxiety over how this would play out. Seize the cycle is the best way to handle it. You make the most of an opportunity. We ended up having a layover in Seattle at King Station so I rented a Lime ride and it all worked out as if I’d planned it.
The second time was a few weeks ago. We took a trip on the Columbia and Willamette rivers on our sailboat. I brought my Brompton onboard. My husband tied down the bike at the stern and when we docked we’d unload it and I could pedal around the city. It requires the tiniest bit of planning, but completely worth it.
Did it get boring? Absolutely not. I love riding and even though I was mostly riding in my area, it’s a treat to see how many different ways you can get from point A to B. Plus I didn’t have to commute to work so I could break the route to and from and just go, go, go. There are a few decent climbs by my house and now I can say without hesitation that I don’t mind them now, much. Since going to and from some of my trusty routes I must go down the hill, then I’ll have to come up said hill again later. a portion of the hill is has a 10% grade and you know it’s just before a stoplight and traffic to the north and south and you feel vulnerable and hidden and it’s hard. I don’t love the main hill on days when the sun is a broiler and the pavement is so hot you can hear your tires sizzle. But I got over it or planned it so I wasn’t doing the climb in the heat of the day.
Do you have a favorite route? Not really. I’m not bound to a commuting route like when I was working, so I just go. I go wherever I want and try different routes and explore. I am reminded that this is exactly how I rode my bike as a youngster. I’d wander and see what was around the bend. Just riding. It’s less about the miles and pushing myself than it is the consistency of riding every single day. I did make a point of documenting it with photos along the route. It was part of the journey to find a good backdrop for my bike to pose.
Did you set a minimum number of miles every day? I get this question the most. I wanted to ride every day for the pure joy of it. Going from commuting 22 miles a day, 4-5 days a week to potentially nothing because I don’t have to commute any longer could have been the end of my riding. I could have turned my bike life into a hobby and less of a daily obsession. I didn’t want that to be the case. I wanted to ride just for the satisfaction of riding. The challenge of doing the thing every single day and not so much for miles. I didn’t wanted to overthink anything related to my bike life. Sure, maybe by the time I was 6 months into it I’d shoot for at least 30 minutes or 5-10 miles, but I also embraced the Grant Peterson cycle philosophy and showed up for my ride. Anything else is frosting. Old habits die hard is a cliché for a reason and it challenging to silence your inner critic and not let the commuting habit boss you around. Whoever coined the phrase “Follow your bliss” had to be a cyclist. The feel of my legs moving and my eyes taking in all that is around me is exactly what draws me to cycling. It feels amazing!
Did you participate in any group rides? Nope. There was a time for that in my life, but I prefer solo riding. I wouldn’t rule it out but no, I did not participate in any organized rides in the 360+ days of riding.
Did you use an eBike? Me-power versus e-power is interesting to ponder. I have nothing to prove and I have bikes because I’m a cyclist! I did occasionally use my eBike. My 2012 Kona mixte was my primary ride. It’s not one OR the other, it’s both. There are some days I didn’t have the legs to deal with hills or heat or rain and it was safer to eBike, so I went electric. It kept me in the saddle where I might not have had the me-power to ride. I also used my Brompton (foldy bike) because it’s easy to take on and off train or bus. This always makes me think of the iconic line about having more insurance coverage in the movie “Fried Green Tomatoes”. The character Evelyn Couch, played by Kathy Bates utters the line, “Face it, girls, I’m older and I have more bikes!” She actually says insurance. She has more insurance. I have bikes and for the first time in my life I can ride whatever I want. Evelyn agrees!
Why? Or as my husband says, “You keep telling me why, but I don’t understand it!” It is a good basic question and while I could quote the phrase “because it is there” which is a famous quote attributed to George Mallory, a British climber who perished on Mount Everest in 1924. That quote certainly encapsulates the inherent human drive to explore and conquer challenges, particularly in the face of formidable natural obstacles like mountains, or biking up 10% grade hills.
I don’t have a therapist, but I guess if I was on the couch and talking about the why of my riding, I’d say it’s one of those things I can do. It all started in gym class when I was a wee lass and I couldn’t climb the rope or was told I’m not good at sports. I’m sure I’m not alone. I’m not a runner and I’m not a lot of things that physically fit people look like they are. I am not slight of build and I have been told, “You don’t look like a cyclist,” whatever that’s supposed to mean. Simply put, I wanted to see if I could. I was inspired to do so by a cyclist in Toronto. An added benefit is that my legs are toned. My gastrocnemius muscle, both the medial and lateral are defined in a way I envied on “serious cyclists.” Just the other day I sort of noticed this definition on my own legs and I really wanted to set up a photo shoot because for the first time it’s defined enough for me to say Hello!!Legs by cycling. If you follow this blog, you know I’m not one to have a gym membership and I don’t run and while I do enjoy swimming, that’s not my thing either. I ride my bike.
One comment from a Strava follower was “You must be so strong after this experience.” I do feel good and I want to hold on to that zeal of just doing the do and riding as much as I can for as long as I can.
What’s next? I’ll keep on doing what I do. Getting out there and riding my bike! I wish the same for you.
Thanks for reading and get out there and ride your bike. Tomorrow will be day 366!
Noticing the light and the leaves on my daily commute.
In the astute words of Jean Hirstfield in The Heat of Autum, “The heat of autumn is different from the heat of summer. One ripens apples, the other turns them to cider.”
My go-to fall recollection is riding my bike through leaves usually near the college campus where my father worked. I would dash from home across the forbidden busy streets and ride to the college and wander like a dog off a leash through neighborhoods and around the campus looking at how it all turned into a Crayola box of colors. I’d ride around taking in the sights and sounds of my little town as if it was all there for my pleasure. Possibly I should have been working on homework, but I knew that I’d have time later for such tasks. The ride was the most important thing and I’d seize the time to explore. Watching the shadows dance on the fences or make the gravestones in the cemetary tall and ominous was part of the pleasure of riding.
Can you see Mt. Hood in the distance?
For me, it’s the light of the season. Autum light is golden and everything it touches appears gilded. It’s the upspoken star. The supporting character of the day that doesn’t realize how much it’s needed. Autumn light works to compliment the colors around it.
Don’t get me wrong, we’re still experiencing the summer temps of 80s and up, however, the morning commute is a different part of the day and it summons light to come out and play. I can’t get enough of it. I look for excuses to make the commute last a moment longer while I frame a photo or think about how it all interacts to set the day alight. It’s dazzling!
Fog in valley makes a beautiful veil.
The leaves are starting to change but for the most part the light ripens my smile and puts me in a great mood.
Signs of change. That fence! I stopped to catch the light on the fence. It’s lit!
The mornings forshadow the cool temps ahead and with my jacket and gloves it feels as refreshing as jumping into a pool of cold water. The observation of Victoria Erickson, “If a year was tucked inside of a clock, then autumn would be the magic hour.” My mornings are filled with magic and my commute has been a wonderful time to ponder as I pedal.
How is it where you live? Tell me in the comments.
Thanks for reading my blog. I hope you have an amazing week.
It’s the four day weekend and I’ve been waiting for it like it’s a long lost love. Four gorgeous days to not work. Four spectacular, wait what is this pain? Why does my head hurt and did Rocky give me a right hook on the, holy mother of pearls, this pain is like a brain freeze married a migraine and this was their offspring. Needless to say my stunning four day weekend kicked off at Urgent Care where I haven’t been since long, long before Covid and it will end Wednesday with a root canal.
It’s hard to fully capture all that was for the last four days but I will say thank the gods of Olympus and science for drugs because pain associated with teeth is torture hence the whole Marathon Man movie and I can’t even comprehend how people got by without the powers of numbing.
It didn’t start out with my tooth however. I’ll say that things were off a week ago. I didn’t feel myself and my neck and head were not feeling full range and normal. I felt tired but doesn’t everyone feel just a little off? I pushed through and by Wednesday last I had done myself in. I missed lunch and didn’t drink any water at school because masks and Chromebook pandemonium and classes and yeah, I did not take care of myself and I should have done something but what can you do? The long and the short of it is simply that there’s not enough me to go around and everyone is pushed to the max. I messed up. Thursday I felt like I would do better but my jaw was aching and I thought TMJ. I’m grinding and gnashing at night and that’s also part of the package right now. I’ll make it and it’ll be okay. But it didn’t get better.
On Friday I was moderately better. I went for a 10 mile bike ride and took some banned books like Maus and New Kid to the Little Free Libraries near my house and the ride perked up my soul, but not my body. I thought maybe the cold will loosen up my jaw. Maybe I should chew some gum? Sure, let’s put my whole face in the cold air like a big dog with its head out the window of a truck. I felt fleeting relief. Once I got back home and got inside the house, my head felt like it was imploding and exploding simultaneously. I was balled up and whimpering and once “the episode” passed I called the Advice Nurse to find out why I hadn’t heard from my doctor and then they suggested going to Urgent Care.
This is one thing we haven’t done during Covid. Thank goodness that we’ve been pretty healthy and all so this was a first. Husband drove me and waited. I didn’t get seen right away, but they did get an EKG and then like dinner at a fancy restaurant they texted me when my “care team” was ready to see me. By this time the pain feels like it’s starting to pool on the right side and settle in my jaw.
I’m escorted back and wait behind the curtain and I’m feeling okay but there are these waves of excruciating pain that are definitely not okay. What the heck is this? Of course I’m an expert on all things TMJ because I’ve read six articles on WebMD and I’m massaging my jaw. In the faux room across from there there a man who’s had a work related injury and a small cut is becoming a “gusher” and I think to myself that pain seen is easier to treat and mine so I’m wondering what happened to him and he’s talking about tourniquets and clotting blood and the nurse says in a gentle tone, “I can’t tell if you’re looking away because of the pain of the blood.” Oh dear Athena, what is going on over there. I want to fling open the curtain and offer my help but my only training is Gray’s Anatomy, so I’m probably no use to them. I hear muffled sounds and grunts and I’ve been waiting for 35 of the 15 minutes they initially said. I have determined that my pain seems to be most intense below my right ear. Is that my tooth then? Hmm?
In my curtained cubical a nurse pops in to apologize and she gives me an ice pack and I practically dive for the plastic bag of joy. She says it won’t be much longer but they’ve had some emergencies. Yeah, I get it I say. Bleeding sounds bad.
Veins take blood away from the heart and arteries to, so look at me. Maybe I can help over there? Nah, let’s not offer. But now the person says that a vein was nicked and they’ll tighten the tourniquet until the doctor can come and advise.
Oh, my gods!
Now the nurse asked if the guy has to work on Saturday.
Mumble, mumble from the guy.
“You need to take it easy. We can give you a note. You don’t want to stress this and you’ll need to take some time to heal.”
Swoosh. My curtain flies open and it’s all about me now. He’s Dr. Matt (I thought only chiropractors introduced themselves by their first name. I’m processing the blood guy and the wait did he say Dr. Matt or did he just say Matt? Why can’t I concentrate in here? He’s very tall. Like 6’5″ and he assures me that he’s there to help me. “Tell me more about how you’re feeling?” Turns out his wife is a Gnasher so he can tell but he’s pretty sure that it’s not TMJ because those symptoms don’t just come on like this did. No elevated blood count that would reveal an internal infection. Lymph glands are fine. Heart is great. Blood pressure is great. Yeah, nothing left but the teeth.
Appears that my right molar is discolored and that’s where his expertise ends and I’ll need to make contact with my dentist.
Saturday was spent on pain killers and penicillin with some fitful naps and not much eating. Sunday I begged for some relief. Thank goodness I wasn’t pushed so far over the edge that I sold a bike to relieve my pain, but I had a partial root canal to relieve the pressure and he said the words I was most afraid to hear, “No bike rides for a few days.”
Sunsets on another month.
There’s truth in teeth. Seriously if someone wanted to torture me they’d have to go through my teeth. It’s so sensitive in there and even when you’re given some relief you start to confess things. When I was getting my partial root canal and the dentist was numbing and novocaning, he said he’d go give my husband an update on how I was doing. I called after the dentist about my husband and cautioned, “Be careful, he’s prickly and he bites.” When it comes to teeth and pain in the mouth regions I will cave.
Wednesday I get the real deal and the tooth of the matter is that I’m looking forward to putting this four day weekend in the rear view mirror. I know there are better ones ahead.
As far as the guy in the room across from me I can only hope that he took a few days off and his days are brighter also.
Happy Lunar New Year! I like that it’s a new month and another new year. January was intense for me. January is usually the one month out of the 12 that sort of comes with too many expectations and it has this never-ending quality which is overwhelming. It was challenging to ride and you’ve read my ongoing complaints about rain, so January was a slog.
January is all business. I usually set some goals like how many books I want to read this year (100) and how many miles I want to ride (5,000) and other than that I’m going to enjoy the days and the seasons and see what comes. Not too many plans. I’d like to post more on my blog, but that’s a very indefinite goal. I noticed I posted the first part of last and I’ll admit with my Tigers shirt I felt a post coming on. I know if I’m too definite I end up disappointing myself so when the muse speaks I listen and try to write.
What else? Maybe traveling will come back into view, but if it doesn’t I’ll have to be okay with that. Maybe I’ll get the basement of the house finished but it’ll have to be okay if that doesn’t pan out either because I’m content and I’ve learned over the last two years that that’s a gift all by itself.
I won’t hedge my bets this year on anything and I’ll tame the tiger in me a bit and try to nurture the calm instead of getting riled up. That’s important for the Tiger born since we’re often “hungry for excitement” and I agree that I often look for mischief and even when I try to avoid it, well, it comes my direction anyway.
January night ride.
Ox and Goat are considered the “luckiest” signs in the Chinese zodiac and apparently wearing red will bring you luck in your birth sign year. Maybe I should buy a red bike? Riding a red bike would certainly be the luckiest way to celebrate, don’t you agree? Red isn’t my favorite color, but let’s agree that red bikes are attractive. Have you ever owned a red bike? My first bike was red. It also had three wheels, but it was a beauty.
Too funny! One of only a few sunnyish days in January.
I am superstitious. I’m Greek, so I was trained in the ways of my grandmother, my yiayia, that itchy palms mean money coming your way and you enter a house with your left foot and you always spit to bring good fortune and toss salt behind an unwanted guest and they’ll leave. I think a red bike for good luck makes sense. There’s one Greek superstition that involved the color red. If you and someone else are talking and you both same the same thing at the same time, like when you say, JINX, well to the Greeks that means that you and the other person are going to have a big argument so you touch red cloth to bread the spell. I know, right? You can’t make this stuff up. A red bike seems to make the most sense.
As the sun sets on one month and we get closer to Spring, life starts to feel less dark. Yes, there’s more light and we’re waking up out of hibernation and it feels good. Winter won’t last forever and we can all roar into another month. I may not see the sun often enough but when I do I try to take a picture so I can remind myself that it’s going to be okay.
Thanks for reading. Greeks also like to say, “Good month” or “Καλο μηνα” at the start of each month. That’s less a superstition than it is a good omen. Now where’s my evil eye? (called το ματι in Greek. Wards off the bad stuff.
I ride my bike. I ride many places people don’t bother to drive. I ride and I ride some more. I don’t love riding in the rain but I do because it’s the Northwest and sometimes the forecast says it won’t rain but it does anyway. I draw the line at ice and freezing temps because we get this stuff here called black ice and it’s every bit as nasty and treacherous as it sounds. Black ice is unseen because it blends in well with the pavement and then suddenly you’re on your arse spinning like a dervish and wishing you’d never ventured out into the wild. You get the gist. If my safety is compromised I won’t ride outside that day. I’ll Zwift in the safety of my basement. That’s called a “virtual ride” and I’m prone to doing those when the weather is having a hissy fit and I feel like something less complicated.
Which brings me to the topic of miles. Do you log your miles on Strava, MapMyRide or similar type of app?
Strava and I became acquainted awhile ago back in 2015 at about the time I bought myself a stunning carbon fiber Cannondale, named her Luna and decided she was just too dang pretty to be outside in the rain all the time. She’s so pretty with a lavender frame and white rims. I know. I need a therapist. Luna now is my Zwifty bike. I do enjoy the maps and the data Strava provides albeit for a price, but that’s fine. I like that it does the number crunching for me and overall I’m a satisfied customer. But..
Something seems off.
Data doesn’t lie. I might FEEL like I had my best year ever in the saddle and I count any day that I can bike as a big win, but the data tells another story. Strava says that as of this writing I biked 4,586 miles. Which is a pretty low number for me. Also that there were 77 days in which I did not ride or I’ll say, I didn’t use Strava, which happens. But 77 days seems really high. In find that inconceivable. I wasn’t injured this year. I didn’t take any vacations or huge swaths of time off. I doubt that number, yet it’s there. It adds up even though it does not add up in my mind. Which means that somehow something is amiss. I bike everywhere and on average 77 miles per week. That means 4,004 miles a year. Given that, Strava nailed it and then some. Even though it feels like I logged much more. Strava doesn’t measure feelings. Like many things right now in an ever on-going pandemic activities feel different for inexplicable reasons.
Is this some weird algebra where solving for WHY means I need to compute my commutes differently. People who know me find these numbers a little off, so it’s not only me. I don’t care, but yet I do, you know? I know I ride and I ride for my life and I don’t have anything to prove (except maybe to Strava) but still it’s like getting an B+ instead of an A-. Or worse yet the teacher hands you the paper and says the dreaded, “You can do better.”
July was hot, but still that’s really low for summer.
Here’s what I remember. I usually set my annual goal at 5K. I’ve reached it twice and even exceeded it. Sometime last Spring I recall that my miles were really off in Strava and I eliminated the “goal” and it said something to me like by doing this I was resetting the Strava-odometer, so maybe that had something to do with it. I’m trying to spin this in a positive light because sometimes effort isn’t measured in Strava in the same way it’s measured in life. How about I’m down 20 pounds since March? That’s kind of a big deal and even though I changed the number in Strava it’s not like someone emailed me and said, “Whoa there, that’s excellent and you must feel lighter on the pedals now too.” I have two bikes that went over the 10,000 miles mark and one of those bikes I’ve had since 2019, so that’s an accomplishment.
Measures of success are data driven but when we interpret the data there are factors that the data doesn’t document. Like, I just remembered that a bike I ride to and from the grocery shopping I don’t often record that data. That right there could be a few miles. See, I’m doing it again.
I know that many bloggers I follow cite their Strava stats often. We do that in part to show how easy it is to rack up the bike miles over being in a car or on mass transit. It’s a way of evangelizing about how much we love to bike and how easy it is to replace day-to-day activities of four wheels with two.
Ride in the city.
That means I’m going to take this as a lesson in data keeping and I’m going to keep on spinning and continue to ride, ride, ride into another year of riding. That’s the point. Don’t let the data get you down. Let it drive you to new goals and then I guess the other lesson it to check in on the data and see what it says about your riding. I started my day spinning the data negatively. How could I have failed so badly? It’s not what I feel I did, but I know I commuted and I rode and I did all that I normally do on a bike. This year Strava didn’t capture all that I accomplished, but what app really can?
Have you ever experienced a data disconnect? How did you handle it? Did it change anything about what you do?
Get out there and ride your bike!
Thanks for reading my blog. I appreciate it! Bike Goddess
Bike Goddess 