So where’s my podium girl?

[ornoth_cycling]

Never let it be said that my friends aren’t ambitious.

Back on April 15th, my friend mybikeandi decided she was going to do her own personal Tour de France. As she indicated in her post on the topic here, her goal was to bike an equal distance—2,261 miles—between then and the time the real tour ended in late July, or at least by the end of August.

Unfortunately, that dream didn’t last very long. But then, how many women actually ride the Tour de France, anyways? While working? And pregnant? Bit of a flier, that.

Well, I decided back then that I’d see how long it would take me to do the same feat, so I’ve quietly tracked how many miles I’ve done since mid-April.

Now, you know that I ride quite a lot. Over the past four months I’ve spent about seven and a half hours a week on the bike, and despite that, it still took me 19 weeks to do what the pros do over a mere three weeks. Oh, and they go over the Pyrenees and the Alps, just to make it a bit more scenic. After all, the McGrath-Monsignor O’Brien Highway (where I passed my 2,261th mile) isn’t exactly the Champs Elysées…

Looking back at previous years, if I’d started on April 15th, here’s when I would have finished Le Tour during each year:

2001	2,146 miles	29 weeks	November 2
2002	2,039 miles	48 weeks	March 14 (2003)
2003	2,081 miles	23 weeks	September 26
2004	2,130 miles	17 weeks	August 13
2005	2,241 miles	21 weeks	September 9
2006	2,261 miles	19 weeks	August 23

This year, I’m on pace to break 4,000 miles per year for the first time in my life. I’m commuting anywhere from 85-150 miles every week. I’ve done as much as 275 miles in one week, and over 150 miles in a single day.

So, next year am I going to set a goal to finish my personal Tour earlier? Heck, no! At this point, I don’t feel like I need to set any more ambitious mileage goals, because honestly I’m already at the point of diminishing enjoyment.

Of course, that might also be end-of-season fatigue talking. But there’s really no need to spend more time on the bike, particularly if it’s starting to become a chore rather than a pleasure. The only unrealized goals I have are to do a bit of cyclo-touring, and maybe do a 300k brevet. I used to dream about doing the annual Mt. Washington Hill Climb, but that will probably never happen.

But for now, I’ll just enjoy my victorious commute down the Champs Elysées, as it were…

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