What If I Posted My Lifetime Cycling Stats ?

This blog was originally written in 2009 for my 55th birthday, updated with new numbers on 56th birthday. Please note that all numbers are estimated despite appearing to be more accurate.

Age 56 - June 2010

Cycling for 26 years (less a couple of hairy years in the early '90s, not sure exactly which ones).

Current estimated total miles on 56th birthday.

40,165 miles total.

30,000 miles on 1986 Cannondale.

10,000 miles on Trek Madone 5.2

100 miles on 1994 LiteSpeed

4,165 miles last 12 months, 3500 in previous 12 months. As I phase into my next career shift I hope to settle on 5000 miles annually.

As a heads up for people who don't know me - I do not ride for exercise [something I "should" do]. I ride for pure joy, always have. Functionally speaking, that makes me a dopamine addict. I get about 20 minutes into a ride, the dopamine kicks in, and the world turns different. It's quite a good feeling, and lasts much much longer than the ride.

There's a bit of a logic game involved when I have to calculate how often and when to ride to keep in the kind of shape to make it most joyful, but that's just a tactical thing. It's always fun, it's just sometimes a bit more fun when the last one was four days ago than if the last one was six days ago, because the muscles are bit more toned and ready.

The biggest challenge is staying safe. Most of my miles are done on dedicated cycling paths and roads, but I do just enough cycling on normal roads to make that a challenge.