30 days. Is that too much to ask? I suppose living in South Dakota, 30 days might be too much to ask, but I went ahead and asked anyhow.
What did I ask for? Well, I was shooting for riding my bike 30 days in a row. Setting of this "goal" happened organically and purely by accident. I got rides in for 3 or 4 days in a row and I thought "hey, I could go for 30, culminating with my final ride on my 40th birthday". It would be sweet to end my 30's with 30 days of riding. You see, to the non-cyclist, riding your bike 30 days in a row might not seem like such a big deal. "Hell, I (insert your non-cycling activity here...watch TV, drink beer, masturbate, drive your monster truck) for 30 days in a row all the time." But, in reality, riding a bike 30 days in a row is tougher than you'd think. Shit gets in the way, like life, work, family, and more importantly, the weather, trying to drag you down and keep you off your two-wheeled love.
And sure, I could just go for a spin around the block, but I set goals dammit. I set goals of a minimum of 10 miles per day for 30 days. 300 miles minimum for May (actually shooting for 4-500, but anything less than 300 will be unacceptable). I have a GREAT start too, 8 days in and well over 100. But, this all might come crashing down tomorrow.
I don't care if yesterday was Mother's Day or not (is it Mother's Day, Mothers' Day or Mothers Day?), if I run into Mother Nature, I'm gonna kick that bitch right in the slats. No, seriously I am, as the weather this Spring is getting ridiculous. I mean really, we've had like 3 truly nice days since the first of the year and now we've got some bullshit rain in the forcast for tomorrow. After I'd gone and planned a ride with the Ramblers. And if I hear just one old geezer quack that "we need the moisture" I'm gonna trip the light fantastic.
So, now I'm stuck. I'm 8 days into my 30, with a good start going. I've got a ride planned for tomorrow, with eating and drinking planned for post ride. What to do? Well, I'm sure as hell NOT going to put fenders on my bike, get a poncho and ride in the rain, I can tell you that. Oh well, I can just start another goal, maybe ride 40 days in a row to kick off my 40's...
UPDATE: The weather made an about-face, so we got our ride in, and it was REALLY GOOD! So, my apologies to Mother Nature, you know, about the whole "kicking you in the slats" comment.
Ii did a 30 in 30 a few years back, but on the basis you had to ride for a minimum of an hour non-stop every day. It was real tough around day 20, but I managed to get through it even if it meant going out on the bike at 10pm to get the ride in. I never did the exact same ride twice and found a lot of new local trails. Keep it up - my worst day was riding in 50mph winds - I found a sheltered urban area and did 1 mile crit laps on the road bike.
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