Week 12

Date
March 22, 2018

Distance
100 miles

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Week 12

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I finally did some climbing, and boy do I feel out of shape. I definitely do not have my climbing legs right now, and on top of that I put on a little extra upper body muscle in preparation for some bikepacking, so I felt very slow. Hopefully I can keep on climbing and get back in the groove again.

Nevertheless, it felt great to be out there today. I can't wait to explore more of the roads around Cloudcroft as the weather gets warmer.

Week 11

Date
March 17, 2018

Distance
100 miles

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Week 11

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As mentioned in the video, I have bad news for my yearly goals already. I decided to take a new job in Alamogordo, mainly because I'll be working 3 12-hour shifts per week. It may sound crazy, but that's been a big goal of mine for a while now because I love the idea of having 4 days off every week. I can take a lot of random trips and ride in new places more often.

The downside is that I will not be doing the Trans Am this year as planned. It sucks to miss out on such a big goal, but I think it's the right thing to do in the long run. I'll be able to have more fun all year long as opposed to just cramming most of my fun into one month.

I'm going to need some new goals, and I have some ideas. I'm thinking of trying a non-stop ride across NM, which would be just under 400 miles. I also want to do some point-to-point rides. The first one that comes to mind is to ride from Tucson to Alamogordo. That's about 450 miles and I could do it in 3 days. I already have a route planned out. Things will be a little busy for a while, but hopefully I can do something in April.

Also, even though I don't live right next door, I do plan on heading out to California in May to watch at least 1 stage of the Tour of California.

Week 10

Date
March 10, 2018

Distance
100 miles

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Week 10

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I went out towards Las Cruces and back again. This is becoming my go-to route. I hope to start doing more climbing soon.

Week 9

Date
March 3, 2018

Distance
100 miles

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Week 9

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I broke 5 hours again on a solo century. That's only the 3rd time I've ever done so but the 2nd time this year. This one was mainly about good timing, though. I managed to leave early enough to beat the wind when I was riding south and then the wind picked up quite a bit not too long before I hit the halfway point and turned around to ride north. Last time I was very tired after the ride. Today's ride just felt like a normal weekly ride. I've timed the wind poorly enough times in the past that I don't feel guilty about today's ride.

Week 8

Date
February 25, 2018

Distance
100 miles

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Week 8

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I went out to Valley of Fires and fought the wind today. As you can see in the video, I get very whiny when it's windy out there.

Week 7

Date
February 18, 2018

Distance
100 miles

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Week 7

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I did something I've only done once before: I rode a solo century in less than 5 hours. Like the last one, this wasn't a planned attempt. I hit my turnaround point at 50 miles, was close to 2.5 hours, and knew that I usually have a tailwind on the 2nd half of the ride, so I went for it. I was fortunate enough to make it.

You never know what's going to happen when you get out there and ride. Sometimes you have big plans and your legs aren't worth a damn. Sometimes you feel super strong when you haven't been training hard or anything. I suppose there's a metaphor for life in there somewhere. Sometimes bad things happen unexpectedly and you just have to keep pushing. The next good day could come at any moment.

Week 6

Date
February 11, 2018

Distance
100 miles

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Week 6

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It was cold and windy today, so I headed south towards El Paso for an otherwise easy ride. You may be looking at the weather graph and asking yourself, "What do you mean, 'cold'?" That's the beauty of living in Alamogordo this year.

Week 5

Date
February 3, 2018

Distance
100 miles

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Week 5

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I'm back from Hawaii and did an easy ride today.

Today is the 4-year anniversary of breaking my hip. If you go back in my archives to 2014 (here) you'll find lots of information on the recovery process. It sounds strange, but breaking my hip was one of the best things that ever happened to me. It made me realize just how lucky I am to have my health and inspired me to take better advantage of it. Ever since I was able to ride my bike again I made it my top priority to make the most out of my health while I still have it.

Get out there and ride while you still can!

Week 4

Date
January 28, 2018

Distance
103 miles

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Week 4

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I spent a week in Hawaii towards the end of January and just so happened to ride my weekly century on my 35th birthday. Getting old isn't fun, but this ride was.

I went to Maui mainly to ride the Haleakala climb. You can learn more about the ups and downs of that adventure here. However, I was surprised at how good the riding is on the island as a whole. This week's video is from a modified version of the West Maui Loop, which is the 2nd most popular ride to do. As you can see, the scenery is spectacular and the traffic was pretty low on the northwest shore there. Most of the main highways have plenty of shoulder and are good to ride on. You could ride the road to Hana, but I wouldn't recommend it if you're not fearless in traffic. The road is narrow and there are tons of sightseeing tourists out there. It is an awesome road, though. It all depends on your tolerance levels.

Maui may have topped Tenerife as my favorite island for cycling. Haleakala vs. Teide is a tossup. Haleakala is longer, but Teide is steeper and has some very difficult sections. Both will wear you out and have awesome volcanic scenery, which I absolutely love. When it comes to riding on the rest of the island, I would have to give that victory to Maui. I feel like there was a wider variety of scenery on Maui and I love how the main roads have shoulders. However, Maui is way more expensive than Tenerife as far as lodging and food are concerned. Both islands have tons of bike rental options and great winter weather. You can't really go wrong either way.

I had a great trip. I climbed Haleakala, which is the longest paved climb and is a must-do for all road cyclists. I did a century in my 31st state. I got to ride in just shorts and a jersey, which is always a treat in January. Hopefully this is a sign of good things to come in 2018.

Week 3

Date
January 18, 2018

Distance
106 miles

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Week 3

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Just squeezing in one of my normal routes before I head to Hawaii next week.

Week 2

Date
January 9, 2018

Distance
100 miles

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Week 2

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I took advantage of some warm weather and did the climb to Cloudcroft for the first time in 2018. I took the rest of the ride easy with a loop on 70 and some extra miles on 54. I'm not in good climbing shape right now, but it's great to be able to do a good climb this early in the year without freezing my butt off. Living in Alamogordo definitely has its benefits.

Week 1

Date
January 1, 2018

Distance
100 miles

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Week 1

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Welcome to 2018. I did an easy out and back on January 1st. It always feels good to start the year off on the right foot.

2018: The Preview

As always, my mission is to make the most out of my health while I still have it.

I made too many goals last year. I'm going to keep things simple this year and only list my most important goals. Here they are, in order:

1. Ride a century per week.
2. Ride a century in 7 new states.
3. Complete the Trans Am Bike Race in 20 days or less.
4. Everest this climb.

That's it. This will be my 6th year riding a century per week, so that's nothing new. As I've mentioned before, I still love doing a weekly long ride and it keeps me in somewhat decent shape all year long. It's my #1 goal because I like the consistency that it requires and as long as I reach this goal I will consider it a mostly successful year.

Goal #2 is something that I've failed 2 years in a row. In 2016 I wanted 5 states, then in 2017 I upped it to 6 just to remind myself of 2016's failure. I'm upping that to 7 in 2018 as another reminder. Also, completing goal #3 would give me 2 new states and I like the idea of doing 5 extras on their own. If all else fails, a week-long trip to the northeast should solve this problem.

The 3rd goal is huge, so it feels weird to put it so low on the list. I'm going to focus the entire first half of 2018 on this goal and it means a lot to me. This is by far the toughest challenge on my list and the one that I'm not 100% certain that I'm capable of doing.

As for the 4th goal, I keep telling myself that I'm done Everesting, but I'm always drawn back. When I moved to Alamogordo and started doing this climb regularly, all I could think about is how it's the perfect long climb for an Everesting attempt. I don't have a specific date in mind, but probably Spring or Fall since the Trans Am is in June.

I'm sure I'll add a few extra smaller goals along the way. I usually have a yearly mileage goal, but I'm not too concerned about that this year. 12,000 is my normal target. I should hit that again as long as I accomplish the 4 goals listed above.

Best of luck to you all in 2018.