This year's cycling goals

So I suppose this post is my New Year's Resolution of cycling... There are a few goals that I'd like to reach this year, and my hope is that by putting them out there, I'll keep them on the radar, and work towards getting them completed. In no particular order, they are:


Try not to drive when I can bike. I've heard of folks giving up bikes for a full year, on a challenge. I also know that there are folks that are more or less completely car free. Kent Peterson and his family are a great example. I'm not sure I'm ready or committed enough to go completely car free, but I'd like to try and see how far I can shift my default behaviour for local transportation. Cycling to work is one way I can shift that behaviour. Using the bike to get groceries is another. I hate making rules, because inevitably they get broken, and if they're resolution type rules, then it becomes a sign of failure, so I'm not going there. Instead, I'll work with guidelines, which are basically rules with some flexibility built in. The guideline I'm going to try to work with is that I'll aim to ride my bike whenever there aren't any time or physical constraints that would make it impractical or bike.

Don't make every ride a race. In past years, every ride seems to somehow morph into a race of sorts. Whether its following someone down the bike path on the way to work, or going for a relaxing Sunday ride to St. Mary's, time and speed always seem to take on greater importance than they deserve. What's my average speed on this leg? How long did it take us to get here. How does that compare to the same trip last time?

I'm tempted to take my computer off the bike, and simply arrive when I arrive, however I do want to be able to track my overall mileage for the year. Which leads to my next resolution:

Double last year's mileage by year's end. This one is likely do-able, but won't be a slam dunk either. I didn't start riding until almost July last year, but once I did, I rode with a vengeance. And I rode late into the fall. Almost until Christmas, because of the bus strike. My total mileage for last year was 2273 kilometers, or 1412.5 miles. That puts my goal for this year at 4546 kilometers. Certainly do-able, but it will take some serious effort and commitment to put those miles on.

I'm sure I have others, but those are all I can think of for now.