2006 Miles

The end of the year has brought numerous entries from good blogs delineating their '06 mileage. I can't deny that I like reading this stuff, so I have to do my own, albeit with far fewer miles than from MnBicycleCommuter or from Fixedgear.

My mileage is as follows, with most mileage decreasing to least mileage. I could've also done most trips, but instead included that information in parenthesis to the side. I also include a miles averaged per/ride just for kicks. None of it is important, but, hell, why not?:

Mileage-bike (#trips/miles per average trip)
  • 1,044- Surly Long Haul Trucker (61/17m)
  • 537.5- Litespeed Blueridge (21/25.6m)
  • 273- Redline 9.2.5 fixe (25/11m)
  • 224-Trek 400 Elance (12/18.7m)
  • 188.5- Surly CrossCheck (10/18.8m)
  • 120- Rans Rocket 'bent (6/20m)
  • 69- Bridgestone RB-1 (5/13.8m)
  • 55- Redline Monocog mt.bike (8/6.9m)
  • 38- Rivendell Bleriot (1/38m)
  • 20- Cannondale (2/10m)
The first impression is that I'm embarrassed. I have too many bikes. Most have a certain kind of purpose, but really the many years spent buying these is rather more symbolic of my search for fitness and being comfortable with myself. One of these, ANY of these, could've carried me to enormous numbers of miles and great fitness. Instead, like so many Americans, I choose to try finding this inner peace buying buying shit instead of just facing my inadequacies. Back a ways I should've just ridden more and bought fewer bikes. That said. They all do have different uses.

The LHT has become the commuter bike I always idealized. It is an ideal commuter. And I used it by far the most, respective of # of trips. The Litespeed, a gift from around 1999 or so, was to be the ultimate "do everything" bike. It was to be the potential commuter, century, comfort bike. It hasn't really turned out like that, more due to my actions than by bike design. It is obvious that when I want to go on a longer ride, that's the bike of choice, hence the much-longer average distance. The 9.2.5. is admittedly the "fun"bike. I often don't ride it very far, but it's a great bike for bouncing around the neighborhood. I do commute on it some as well. I will never convert to "full fixie, full time", but I will ride it often.

Now we get into bike that I didn't really ride that often, and of that I'm embarrassed. The Trek became something of a fall project. I think the impetus was from reading and incorporating some of the Rivbike ethos. The now 20 yr-old Trek is a classic steel bike with a comfy ride and gears that work. I can mount a rack and generally beat it up. I didn't ride it that much, but managed to get some decent mileage out of it. It has become something of the "nasty" bike, and I intend on adding legit fenders to it to make it more so. That's why I'm running the old, 30C Panaracer tandem tires that came on the Litespeed. Big tires for mucking about. The most unfortunate result of this list is the pathetic effort as made on the Surly CrossCheck. It's a great bike. In reality, I should probably trick it out for what I now call "mixed" riding instead of just as a 'cross bike. I ride more than I used to, but I don't ride off-road more. I need to face that fact OR ride off-road more. I really like the CrossCheck and will ride it more in '07, even if that means putting road tires back on it, OR riding off-road. The Rans is what it is, a 'bent. They're comfortable. I bought it when my prostate was bothering me. Now that it doesn't bother me, I don't ride the Rans. I just don't naturally gravitate to the 'bent thang. It IS comfortable too, and the Rocket is pretty nimble. Still, I won't necessarily ride it that much more this year than the previous. Maybe I should make it a goal to ride it every other week. That would give me 25 rides, which isn't too bad. Ah, the RB-1, the cherished and honored Bridgestone. It's a classic steel road bike with a racing cluster. The lowest gear is a 40x25. For climbing, that's not very small. I like triples. I like spinning up climbs. Due to this fact, I will never put appreciable miles on the RB-1. I DO use it for indoor spinning and Turbo riding, but increasingly it's warm in winter and I would rather ride in the elements. I think I should sell it, but the good wife says "It's the Bridgestone!", so we'll see. The Monocog was cheap. I used to use it for the neighborhood beataround rides that I now use the fixie on. Again, I don't ride off-road, so it's prob superfluous. BUT I think in a few years the Older will be big enough to ride it, so I'm not getting rid of it anytime soon. The old C'dale is junk. Not, it's not junk but just old. It needs a new drivetrain, shifters, and probably updated or rebuilt wheels. It was the long-term commuter and as it got tired, I began looking for what is now the LHT. I really don't know what the long-term prognosis is for the C'dale, but I would like it to have a home and be used as a commuter. It's good for that.

And finally the Bleriot. The Bleriot will get many miles this year. It will become the distance machine and will carry me to several of my 2007 goals: the ride to Lexington, my first century, and the ride to family camp, to commute as much as possible, and to reduce my carbon footprint by doing as many small trips by bike as possible. I had a pretty good '06 in that respect, and will try to have a better '07.

So, I guess I have two bike-related 2007 Goals: To Ride More and To Better Document my Mileage. My numbers are pretty wiggly, and none seem to match up. That's fine though.

Now if someone would just read all this colorful data!

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