Your rides this year: 2014 Review of the year.

[BrumJim]

Nothing on the outstanding year that was 2012, but achieved the following:

Started with the Sunrise Audax. Plan to do the same again in 2015.
Got my daily 6.5 mile commute back again.
Got a second bike. This is a first for me. All other bikes have been replacements.
Helped a lad do his first 100 miles on an Audax from Tamworth.
Helped a colleague do his first 100 miles on a Sportive starting in Malvern. And we got Gold standard. And met a captain of industry.
Got knocked off my bike. And survived with nothing more than a few (very big) bruises.
Got faster and stronger. Have been doing Strava segments on my heavy bike at the same time as on my road bike earlier on this year.
Had my first ride with my son, sitting in a child seat on the back. Even better, he loved it so much he burst into tears when we stopped for a rest.

In summary - a very good year indeed.

 

[Paul.G.]

2014 has been a cr@p year for me. Having a cr@p job working for a cr@p company has had a massive impact on me phsicologically and the desire to get out on the bike has just gone. I even bought myself a new cross bike earlier in the year in the hope that my "cycling mojo" would be kicked back into gear, that failed although I do have a nice new bike so not all bad!

However, I've just converted my Colnago Master to single speed which has been on my "to-do" list for ages so fingers crossed, the maiden voyage this Sunday might just re-boot my passion. Whatever happens I'm determined that next year will be better.

 

[monkeylc]

Found something I enjoy in life that is actually good for me, got tendinitis in my achilles heel so had a break for about a year and now loving every minute

Not wet n cold minutes though

 

[slowmotion]

I have spent a year having a lot of fun on a Cinelli that I bought almost exactly a year ago. I'm still utter rubbish on hills but I am at peace.

A man has to know his limitations.

 

[ianrauk]

I have spent a year having a lot of fun on a Cinelli that I bought almost exactly a year ago. I'm still utter rubbish on hills but I am at peace.

A man has to know his limitations.

Blimey a year already? I remember you asking if you should buy it or not. And judging by seeing you on rides with it, you made a good choice,.

 

[Fiona R]

I have loved reading the threads, so inspiring and uplifting.

I've been cycling properly for 18 months..started out last year building up to full commuting (just 15km round trip) after moving to Somerset from living on top of a hill in Glouucestershire, but on top of a physical job with back issues and I had a knee replacement 7 years ago age 42, I am quite proud of my modest achievements. Upgraded v heavy steel mountain bike to an alu hybrid (Gert Lush is pictured left) she has done me proud. Last winter I only missed my 6.15 am starts when I had two bad bouts of flu (Nov and Feb Started doing some longer rides in the autumn exploring our new area. It is fantastic for cycling here just south of Bristol.

This year BANG, I am addicted. I worked up to regular 50-60km rides and completed my first sportive (Evans RideIt Wells in Sept) where I badly injured myself 10m from the end of the 115km ride (inc Cheddar Gorge) on Gert. I am sure I was the only one on a hybrid! I push and push but really my average speed is 20km/h which makes me very cross as I'd like to ride more with others, I bust a gut every day trying to improve speed. I bought a Merida road bike in October after recovering from the broken ribs after Wells ride (another month off bike), and am getting used to a proper fitted bike. OMG what a difference! Now the big aim is to improve speed/stamina further and get brave enough to go clipless!

Since I started using Strava in mid July, I have logged 1704km and nearly 10000m of ascent so I think around 3000km....I feel really twitchy if I miss a few days and today I have to go to work in the car, and will hate it!

Highlights were our weekend in Snowdonia in June, perfect weather and 2 big (for us) rides and I walked up Cadair Idris quite easily for the first time in 20 years, 8 years ago I could barely walk 100m, and was in constant pain. The Wells sportive was brilliant up to the last 10m....!!

Next year (a rather significant large birthday!) more sportives, mastering Doris (roadie) and possible going clipless and a touring holiday (Hebredies?) A 100 mile day? Really the commuting and weekend rides are my main guilty pleasures, it has kept me going after moving here and gradually I'm getting to know some other people, whilst doing a very unsatisfying and boring job. No hope of that changing but I'm free outside work! I really want to get my speed up to a reliable 23km/h to have some hope of riding and keeping up with others. Biggest aim is to not injure myself or get ill, I feel like I have started again three times in a year which is hard work!

The physical and psychological boost of cycling have changed my life.

 

[Rooster1]

This post has been the best read of the year.

 

[slowmotion]

Blimey a year already? I remember you asking if you should buy it or not. And judging by seeing you on rides with it, you made a good choice,.

 

[andyfraser]

This was the year I got my first road bike in nearly 30 years. I'd been riding mountain bikes and hybrids since then, with a large gap of 15 years with no bike prior to 2009. This is also the first year I've commuted exclusively by bike. Before I've walked, or on rare occasions used a bus, with a few journeys made by bike.

 

[Supersuperleeds]

I've been very lucky this year as I only had two days were I couldn't ride due to being bitten by a horsefly, and even that had a positive as I got to sit in front of the telly and watch the entire coverage of the first two days of tdf.

Riding wise, at the beginning of the year I targetted15,000 miles for the year and to do the metric century challenge and to do 300 miles every week, plus I wanted to do a 2,000 mile month and finally a 500 mile week.

Jan 1st saw me do my January metric century. The weather was absolutely horrid and I nearly quit the ride, but I struggled on and finished it.

Then for some stupid reason I went and did an imperial century and decided to have a go at that monthly challenge.

Today saw me complete the imperial challenge and break 19,000 miles for the year.

I managed to do the 2,000 mile month and did two 500 mile weeks and so far have done 300 miles each week with one week to go.

I only had one crash with a car which resulted in the bike being written off, this gave me the excuse to buy a Tricross (and I also replaced the crashed bike)

The weather for the vast majority of the year was fine which helped get the miles in.

All things considered it has been pretty much a perfect cycling year for me.

Happy Christmas to all and those who have been/are ill, fingers crossed for a better year next year.

Apologies for any typos, posted this on a tablet and I just can't get used to the thing.

 

[smutchin]

2014 has been a strange and very mixed year for me.

Didn't do much cycling in Jan and Feb. Because winter.

Season started in earnest in March with three 200km audaxes (one of which I bumped up to nearly 300km by riding overnight to the start). However, while March was an awesome month cycling-wise, it was also the month I found out I was being made redundant. Boo!

I had signed up to do two 300km audaxes in April, but for various reasons related to the work situation, I ended up doing neither.

May kicked off with a 400km audax, the brilliant Severn Across, which I thoroughly enjoyed despite finishing at around 3am suffering from severe sleep deprivation and on the verge of hypothermia. And I concluded the month with a failed attempt at the Brimstone 600km audax, which damn near did for me. I can honestly say I have never attempted anything even close to as difficult as that - not just for the obscene amount of climbing but also the appalling conditions: torrential rain for most of the first 200km and a desperate slog into a chilly SW headwind along the coast towards Exmouth being the lowlights. By 430km, I was unable to keep any food down and was stopping regularly to vomit at the side of the road so made the sensible but regrettable decision to abandon.

By mid June, I had found a new short-term job. On the down side, it was a looooong commute and the work was stressful and tiring. On the up side, I got to ride to work through Richmond Park pretty much every day throughout the summer, which was just lovely and made it all worthwhile. Over ten weeks from mid-June to late August, I clocked up 2,500km, which included another 600km audax - the Windsor-Chester-Windsor - which went brilliantly, despite yet more heavy rain at times, and I finished feeling on top of the world.

In September, the focus switched from cycling to running and I completed two marathons, two weeks apart (the second being a trail marathon with 1,500m of climbing). To be honest, I don't think I've fully recovered yet from the toll they took on my body. But at least I've got the marathon itch well and truly out of my system now.

I also started a new permanent job at the start of September - on a cycling magazine, no less. It's been great, although again very stressful and tiring (this situation promises to improve in the new year, TFFT) and partly because of that, partly because of the effects of the running, I actually haven't done nearly as much cycling over the last few months as I'd have liked. However, while the overall mileage is down, I have been fortunate to have had the opportunity to play with some very lovely bikes and kit, including an astonishingly light (6kg) and bloody fast Trek Emonda. We went out for a team Christmas ride/lunch the other day, for which I took a rather swish Giant Propel we happened to have knocking around. I've also had the chance to borrow some Garmin Vector power pedals, which are just brilliant - such a shame I can't keep them as I don't know how I'm going to ever enjoy riding again when I can't accurately measure my power output!

Hopefully I'll get the chance to have a proper rest and recharge over Christmas so I can get back into the rhythm of cycling regularly again in the new year - I really need to as I'm starting to get badly out of shape (I've put on nearly a stone over the past year) and my big target for 2015 is Paris-Brest-Paris...

 

[Pale Rider]

I've been very lucky this year as I only had two days were I couldn't ride due to being bitten by a horsefly, and even that had a positive as I got to sit in front of the telly and watch the entire coverage of the first two days of tdf.

Riding wise, at the beginning of the year I targetted15,000 miles for the year and to do the metric century challenge and to do 300 miles every week, plus I wanted to do a 2,000 mile month and finally a 500 mile week.

Jan 1st saw me do my January metric century. The weather was absolutely horrid and I nearly quit the ride, but I struggled on and finished it.

Then for some stupid reason I went and did an imperial century and decided to have a go at that monthly challenge.

Today saw me complete the imperial challenge and break 19,000 miles for the year.

I managed to do the 2,000 mile month and did two 500 mile weeks and so far have done 300 miles each week with one week to go.

I only had one crash with a car which resulted in the bike being written off, this gave me the excuse to buy a Tricross (and I also replaced the crashed bike)

The weather for the vast majority of the year was fine which helped get the miles in.

All things considered it has been pretty much a perfect cycling year for me.

Happy Christmas to all and those who have been/are ill, fingers crossed for a better year next year.

Apologies for any typos, posted this on a tablet and I just can't get used to the thing.

Me and old super duper here don't have much in common cycling wise.

But I like the guy.

He's a reminder to the few CycleChat members who like to brag about distance that there is always someone who is riding a lot further than you are.

 

[Robeh]

The Ride This Year That stand's out For Me is When i Rode Up Porlock and Countisbury hill's
Going back In 2015 To Inprove On My Time's.....Hopefully..
http://app.strava.com/activities/201414136

 

[Berk on a Bike]

2014 has been my first full calendar year of cycling since taking it up and if one thing stands out, it's the realisation that I've found something which is enjoyable, addictive, motivating and keeps me fit - four things I was missing in my life!

The high point was the Tour de France coming to my back yard. I rode out to the foot of Holme Moss on the Sunday. Setting off early to get a decent pitch, my route included the race route itself from Huddersfield town centre to Holmbridge. The roads were already closed and spectators setting up their vantage points - garden chairs, trestle tables etc - actually gave us a cheer or a clap as we rode past. The atmosphere all day was incredible. Everyone riding up the hill out of Holmbridge got a cheer on, I met some lovely people and the race itself coming past was such a rush. And then? Then I rode home again and the same people, still sat outside their houses, shops and pubs, cheered me again, mostly " ey up, you're going t'wrong way...".

Personally in 2014 I've achieved more than I expected in mileage and altitude. I didn't set myself targets, just to ride when I could and perhaps push myself every now and again. And whaddya know? I've covered over 2,000 miles and 132,000 feet while having a blast.

My exploits this year, as much as anything, have given me motivation for 2015. Further single rides. Start commuting by bike. Invest in a better bike. I'm still on the nursery slopes compared to many of you, but I've got my eye on the bigger stuff. Bring it on.

 

[13 rider]

My highlight is easy ,buying my first bike for 20 plus years in September And rediscovering the sheer joy of riding looking back I don't no why I gave up cycling after buying my first car. Anyway have riden every weekend since September and so far clocked up 460m rides started at 6 to 10m last weekend did my longest ride of 47m Riding out tomorrow hoping to crack the 50m barrier heres hoping for no headwinds like last week they kill my speed on my hybrid. Next year hoping to start commuting on bike 12m each way and generally just enjoy riding plus 100m target in the back of my mind