12000 miles on a bicycle

jcs356

jcs356

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As some of you know I set myself a little challenge when I got back from cycling the Tour de France route in the early summer. Having covered nearly 7,000 miles in 7 months training for and then riding Le Tour, I decided to try to maintain the momentum and ride 12,000 miles on my bike in 2012.

Well last night, and with 2 weeks spare, the odometer tripped through to 12,001 miles. Here are some stats:
• 12,001 miles covered at an average of 16.4 mph and a maximum of 44.1 mph
• 732 hrs on the bike (or 30.5 days)
• Burnt an estimated 528,000 kCalories which equals 614kWh
• 361 separate rides at an average of 33.25 miles or just over 2hrs per ride
• Furthest single ride of 146 miles; longest ride over 10 hours
• Commuting accounted for 5600 of the miles (40 mile round trip a day – in all weather - since May)
• I used 4 different bikes
• I had 1 serious crash where I broke a carbon bike frame, plus I fell off twice
• I’ve broken 2 wheels, snapped 2 spokes, had 15 punctures, replaced 9 tyres and fitted 2 new chains.

But I did it. And guess how I celebrated today? I cycled to work :yahoo:
 
I rode 2km's on an exercise bike last week, burning 9 calories in the process, only took me 5 minutes!... and 2 days to recover! lol :haha:

So to say I'm impressed is somewhat of an understatement Jase, nice work! :superman:
 
oooooh! squarearse.com! :ninja:
well done
ninja.gif
mate!
 
Congratulations, you've covered more than i do a year in my car!

Now what we're all wondering.. How many drivers have you ****** off?! :whistle2: haha
 
Mmmm. New year reso is to buy a road bike and start cycling. I used to do it a lot to get to work before I could afford a car. 20 years later and 4 stone heavier I need to do some form of exercise and gyms bore me. Any tips for a newbie. Budget of around 300 to 400 quid to get me started.
 
I'm one of the extremely rare cyclists who tries to ride on the left, I stop at red lights and I only filter through traffic if it is stationary having been knocked off too many times by moving cars. I'd much rather arrive a few minutes later than not arrive at all.

Having said that, I is quite fun whizzing past all the cars queueing to get out of Reading each evening.
 
Fair play mate!!!
thought I was doing well with 600 miles this year haha
I'm a mountain bike so I have an excuse.
 
lgooch said:
Mmmm. New year reso is to buy a road bike and start cycling. I used to do it a lot to get to work before I could afford a car. 20 years later and 4 stone heavier I need to do some form of exercise and gyms bore me. Any tips for a newbie. Budget of around 300 to 400 quid to get me started.
Click to expand...

Halfrauds have some nice carerra bikes. Big discounts on line esp after xmas. Cos I'm getting one!
 
lgooch said:
Mmmm. New year reso is to buy a road bike and start cycling. I used to do it a lot to get to work before I could afford a car. 20 years later and 4 stone heavier I need to do some form of exercise and gyms bore me. Any tips for a newbie. Budget of around 300 to 400 quid to get me started.
Click to expand...
Biggest problem is having the courage to get out on the roads these days. I have friends who I wanted to get into cycling but they won't go out saying it's just too dangerous. But I've been doing it regularly since my mid teens - so 25 years or so now - so I've just got used to it. As per earlier post, I cycle sensibly as much as I can and try to anticipate as much as possible.

You can get a reasonable bike in that price range, especially if you go for last years model. My elder brother was also looking at a bike and I found this one for him:Merlin Maven Road Bike | Merlin Road Bikes | Merlin Cycles £650 knocked down to £400, although they've only got 53cm size left now at that price. But there are other similar bikes out there from retailers. I also saw that a bike from Decathlon at £399 got a suprisingly good review by Cyclingweekly.

Oh, and don't forget to ask if your employer runs a bike to work scheme as you can buy a bike via salary sacrifice, saving income tax and NI on the cost of the bike.
 
Thanks. I am waiting for the Mrs to get me the details of her companies discounts on cycles. Just been looking at Halfords at the moment but I don't know where her company gets discounts as yet. Cheers for the advice
 
That's awesome mate. Kudos. Any fat people wondering why they are fat just need to put down the cake (me included :))and look at the amount of calories you've burned so far!
 
That is indeed a superb achievement mate, I doff my hat to you :yes:

Got back on my bike three years ago and covered 770 miles that year. Last year I surpassed 1000 miles and this year I've managed to do over 3000 miles which I'm reasonably proud of. Have now build myself another bike with carbon frame, aero wheels, latest Shimano Ultegra groupset, managed to get weight down to 8.4kg, which has helped with climbing! I've lost 1 1/2 stone and got much fitter and saved petrol on the commute to work. Here's my ride :)

559069_10150968957216886_1082332170_n.jpg



What are you riding?
Do you use Strava at all, I've logged most of my stuff on there - Graham K. | Cyclist | Strava - say hello if you're on :thumbsup:
 
Amazing acheivement, the figure that strikes me most if the average ride of 33.25 miles! I know as an average it's somewhat meaningless but the fact that everytime you go out on your bike it's for an average distance of that I find amazing, especially as a mountain biker!

I'm tempted by a road bike next year, as much as I love my Mtb it would be nice to go out for an hours ride sometimes and not spend the next hour getting clean...
 
jcs356 said:
I'm one of the extremely rare cyclists who tries to ride on the left, I stop at red lights and I only filter through traffic if it is stationary having been knocked off too many times by moving cars. I'd much rather arrive a few minutes later than not arrive at all.

Having said that, I is quite fun whizzing past all the cars queueing to get out of Reading each evening.
Click to expand...

I think the difference here is Jase, you have a driver's license, and own three cars. So whilst you are pedaling, you have have the anticipation of a motorist!
 
Well done mate that is amazing.

I really need to get fit and dust my bike off, stop eating crisps and get on the road!

Problem is can't really bike to work unless I can manage 70mph on the M1!


Cheers,
Nick
 
mookster said:
That is indeed a superb achievement mate, I doff my hat to you :yes:

Got back on my bike three years ago and covered 770 miles that year. Last year I surpassed 1000 miles and this year I've managed to do over 3000 miles which I'm reasonably proud of. Have now build myself another bike with carbon frame, aero wheels, latest Shimano Ultegra groupset, managed to get weight down to 8.4kg, which has helped with climbing! I've lost 1 1/2 stone and got much fitter and saved petrol on the commute to work. Here's my ride :)

What are you riding?
Do you use Strava at all, I've logged most of my stuff on there - Graham K. | Cyclist | Strava - say hello if you're on :thumbsup:
Click to expand...

Thanks. Nice bike - liking the wheels & decals.

Scarily, I subscribe to the 'optimum number of bikes = 1 more than you currently have' way of thinking. Hence I have, in no particular order:
Focus Izalco expert, my best bike, the one I rode the Tour de France route on. Plenty of carbon fibre...
Focus Mares cx bike, setup as my winter commuter with full mudguards
Felt F5, only got this in August to replace a Focus Cayo I crashed and cracked the frame. This will be my good weather / summer everyday bike
Quintana Roo Seduza time trial/triathlon bike with some tasty FFWD carbon fibre wheels
Trek 2300, a future classic, from 1991, the first carbon framed bike that Trek made
Giant OCR, my old winter bike, now permanently on the turbo trainer in the shed
Brompton, for when I go into London
Kona Muni-Mula, well, one of them had to be an MTB. I haven't ridden it for at least 5 years....

Anyway, here is the Izalco at the end of the TdF back in July
Paris.jpg


I'm not on Strava - yet. I have recently bought a GPS computer but I've not set it all up yet. Will check you out when I get an account setup.
 
audi upgrades
Nice collection of kit mate, must be nice to have that kind of choice. Happy with my two at the moment, and next years budget will go on the motor.

Be good to hook up on Strava when you're sorted. I'd love to be fit enough, and have the mental strength, to do the etap du tour one day, or at least a cycling holiday out there tackling some of the famous climbs. One day :)
 
Brilliant acheivement and good to read some of the details and background you have posted !

I am a keen mountain biker myself with bikes to suite various off-road terrains and my local cheshire back roads etc.

Cycling is definately something which is benefiting from exposure and hopefully more awareness and understanding between motorists and cyclists.

Martin
 
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