Some of you know that I was able to acquire a great bike (Cannondale R200) last year, and have been trying to set up an exercise regimen for myself. For the longest time, I found that whenever I would bike, my 5 year old (now 6) would tag along. While the Father/Son time is wonderful, and I wouldn't trade it for anything, I wasn't getting any real exercise. So, since my wife and I are both trying to take control of our health, she's working out in a program led by a friend of ours, and I decided to start riding my bike at night once the kids are asleep. There is a well-let street with a bike lane nearby, and about 2.5 miles down that road, I can get on the nicely paved Mississippi River levee (which is not lit, but there's no traffic).
Taking a queue from a "Walking to Disney" thread I saw on a popular Disney World forum, I decided to set a goal for myself:
According to Google, WDW (Magic Kingdom, specifically) is 697 miles (cycling route miles, not interstate/driving miles) from my house. Assuming an average of 7 miles per ride, it would take 99.5 rides for me to get bike there. With 10 months, 3 weeks, and 5 days till our next WDW trip, I should be able to ride 7 miles per trip, 2 times a week and "arrive" on time!
I took my first official "Cycling to Disney" ride last night and easily rode 6.83 miles in 43 minutes. It was rainy and foggy, so I was a little slower than what I'll likely achieve on subsequent trips. As I condition my body to these rides, my time and distance is sure to improve.
If there are any other cyclists here, I'd LOVE for you to either join me in my journey, or set your own destination and track your progress here!
I'm still pretty new to cycling, and can use all the advice and motivation you folks can offer!
Here's my progress through one night (prepared in Excel... if anyone is skilled at creating HTML progress trackers, I'd be interested in learning!)
Taking a queue from a "Walking to Disney" thread I saw on a popular Disney World forum, I decided to set a goal for myself:
According to Google, WDW (Magic Kingdom, specifically) is 697 miles (cycling route miles, not interstate/driving miles) from my house. Assuming an average of 7 miles per ride, it would take 99.5 rides for me to get bike there. With 10 months, 3 weeks, and 5 days till our next WDW trip, I should be able to ride 7 miles per trip, 2 times a week and "arrive" on time!
I took my first official "Cycling to Disney" ride last night and easily rode 6.83 miles in 43 minutes. It was rainy and foggy, so I was a little slower than what I'll likely achieve on subsequent trips. As I condition my body to these rides, my time and distance is sure to improve.
If there are any other cyclists here, I'd LOVE for you to either join me in my journey, or set your own destination and track your progress here!
I'm still pretty new to cycling, and can use all the advice and motivation you folks can offer!
Here's my progress through one night (prepared in Excel... if anyone is skilled at creating HTML progress trackers, I'd be interested in learning!)