Riding It Out

[ornoth_cycling]

In mid-October of 2000, I bought a bike: my Devinci Monaco. Although I’d done a little riding off and on before then, that’s the date I began logging how many miles I rode. And thus, I consider that the start of my career as an adult cyclist.

A little over 25 years later, today my cycling log ticked over 100,000 miles. Mathematically that averages out to 4,000 miles per year. Or roughly an hour-long, 11-mile ride, every single day for 9,226 consecutive days without break.

That may or may not sound like a lot to you. But as I said in my recent 2025 year-in-review, 100,000 miles is a common expected lifespan of a typical automobile. It’s the equivalent of riding around the Earth at the equator… four times. Or perhaps it’ll make sense if I tell you that it’s like traveling the whole Oregon Trail 46 times, without dying of dysentery!

Of course, it’s not that accurate a measurement. I did a bit of riding – on two previous bikes – before I started my mileage log, so those miles weren’t counted. And some of my riding – such as pre-ride warmups and pre-Zwift indoor trainer rides – never got logged. And all the miles I’ve done on Zwift are only estimates based on their rather optimistic algorithms. And 100,000 miles has no inherent meaning other than being a round number; if you converted that to 160,934 kilometers, then it doesn’t seem like a noteworthy milestone at all.

But despite the inaccuracy, I’m definitely in the ballpark, and 100,000 miles is my best estimate for my total distance as an adult cyclist.

Since that inaccuracy meant I couldn’t pinpoint a precise moment when it happened, I didn’t feel any pressure to commemorate it with some sort of memorable ride. Instead, I just watched my odometer until it ticked over on today’s lumpy but rather typical route into Austin’s Northwest Hills.

But this arbitrary number does capture how long I’ve been committed to cycling as a lifestyle. How many activities have you consistently stuck with for more than 25 years?

Yeah, cycling is a lifelong passion of mine, driven by several different, mostly-healthy obsessions. I will revisit the topic of motivation in full detail in an upcoming blogpo.

With my performance numbers undeniably in decline in recent years, and after my recent health scares, I can’t help but ask myself how much longer will I be able to ride.

The answer is, of course: no one knows. But every mile brings me one mile closer to the end. I try to keep that in mind, remembering that every ride is a treasure. And whatever adversity comes my way, I’ll do my best to “ride it out”…