1000 mile challenge

B

BenTheMan

Dr. of Physics, Prof. of Love
Valued Senior Member
Ok. I just moved to Palo Alto for 6 months---it's this town in the Bay Area south of San Francisco.

I also recently bought a mountain bike.

So here's the challenge (to myself, at least): put a thousand miles on your bike between October 1 and March 31. The reason for this is threefold:
-lifestyle change. I've never been a particularly fit person, and I want to be.
-gas prices. I love my Toyota Tundra (2008, 5.7L V8, 381 ponies), but it really drinks the gas.
-and my new bike. Specialized Rockhopper 29. I plan to get into the Santa Cruz Mts. which are immediately to my left as I am typing this.

Including today, I'm up to about 60 miles, just around town. I figure that if I put 50 miles a week on my bike, in six months I SHOULD do 1200 miles. But there's Christmas, rainy days, etc. So we'll see what happens.

Anyway, if anyone else wants to post their own health challenges here, go for it. It can be a sort of "keep you motivated" sort of thing.
 
Good challenge, wish you luck with it. I think I will give myself a challenge to do ad join you. I will stand in horse stance for 100 hours from now until Xmas.


peace.
 
BenTheMan said:
Ok. I just moved to Palo Alto for 6 months---it's this town in the Bay Area south of San Francisco.

I also recently bought a mountain bike.

So here's the challenge (to myself, at least): put a thousand miles on your bike between October 1 and March 31. The reason for this is threefold:
-lifestyle change. I've never been a particularly fit person, and I want to be.
-gas prices. I love my Toyota Tundra (2008, 5.7L V8, 381 ponies), but it really drinks the gas.
-and my new bike. Specialized Rockhopper 29. I plan to get into the Santa Cruz Mts. which are immediately to my left as I am typing this.

Including today, I'm up to about 60 miles, just around town. I figure that if I put 50 miles a week on my bike, in six months I SHOULD do 1200 miles. But there's Christmas, rainy days, etc. So we'll see what happens.

Anyway, if anyone else wants to post their own health challenges here, go for it. It can be a sort of "keep you motivated" sort of thing.
Click to expand...

Am I supposed to try and ride my bike in a Michigan winter or can I use the stationary bike I have in the basement?
 
BenTheMan said:
Ok. I just moved to Palo Alto for 6 months---it's this town in the Bay Area south of San Francisco.

I also recently bought a mountain bike.

So here's the challenge (to myself, at least): put a thousand miles on your bike between October 1 and March 31. The reason for this is threefold:
-lifestyle change. I've never been a particularly fit person, and I want to be.
-gas prices. I love my Toyota Tundra (2008, 5.7L V8, 381 ponies), but it really drinks the gas.
-and my new bike. Specialized Rockhopper 29. I plan to get into the Santa Cruz Mts. which are immediately to my left as I am typing this.

Including today, I'm up to about 60 miles, just around town. I figure that if I put 50 miles a week on my bike, in six months I SHOULD do 1200 miles. But there's Christmas, rainy days, etc. So we'll see what happens.

Anyway, if anyone else wants to post their own health challenges here, go for it. It can be a sort of "keep you motivated" sort of thing.
Click to expand...
Seems pretty easy. In fact I currently do about 1,200 miles every six months on my treader.
 
Steve100 said:
Seems pretty easy. In fact I currently do about 1,200 miles every six months on my treader.
Click to expand...

Easy for you maybe, but it's a major lifestyle change for me :)

Week 1: 62 miles. I'm pretty happy with myself, and I tightened up my belt a notch.
 
Good job then.

How far and how often do you cycle?

I don't think I'll be doing any cycling today, my feet are wrecked from skating for five and a half hours last night.
 
I'm aiming to catch 100 fish by June.
I've got 11 in the last three weeks which represents about 5 or six hours in the water.
I also plan on swimming about 100 kilometres in that time but I don't measure these things.
I'll probably also catch a thousand waves but again, I don't count those, just catch and enjoy.
I do keep a fish tally though.
Ben, good luck with the plan, sounds great.
 
I used to ride 15 to 20 miles a day, commuting in highschool. I really miss being able to ride a bike, though.
 
I'm aiming to catch 100 fish by June.
Click to expand...

Damn I'm jealous. I've got to buy a cheap fly rod and check out the mountains to see if I can find any trout around here.

Update: 45 miles this week. Total 107.
 
Well done Ben.
My update-no more fish, no waves, swam 100 metres(water still cold) long way to go.
 
I've only been catching tench and bream recently. I think I'm going to go pikeing soon though.
 
Ok, I haven't been diligent about posting in here.

220 miles total! I think 1000 is a bit out of reach, but what the hell, right?

My calves are REALLY freakin toned, as are my legs, and my average speed to work has increased from 9-10 mph to 11-12. Progress!
 
Over the summer I rode about 60 a week on average, with some weeks being over 100 miles. It really does get a person into shape. I haven't had any time lately for recreational rides, but I shop for groceries on my bike, and do whatever other errands I have to. I will try to keep doing that through the winter, but I'll probably condense my errands a little bit to avoid riding with a subzero windchill.
 
Any updates for this Ben? How are you progressing toward your goals?

I've read in some places online that you live in (or near) some of the best areas of Cali for mountain biking, so when it warms up a little more you should hit some trails. You'll get a new excitement for the sport once you have some dirt in the treads.
 
Good for you. I'm trying to get in better shape, too. I've always been a really active person, but the past year or so... not so much.

How do you like Palo Alto? I may move there eventually because I wanna go to Stanford for graduate school. But I'm not sure I'd love it as much as San Diego.
 
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