On Thursday I should break 150,000 feet of climbing for the year and on Saturday I should break 4,000 miles for the year. This is despite having about four months off for one thing or another. For six weeks I had to take my older brother in to his eye doctor every other day. Then I had glaucoma surgery. Then it rained for almost a month solid. Then I got the flu despite having gotten the shot - it was a different kind.
Back before 2009 when I suffered a concussion I did 10,000 miles a year and so much climbing that I didn't even bother keeping track. That was nothing though since we commonly rode with Dan Tonelli, Danimal to his friends, who did 20,000 miles a year, year in and year out. And he worked 9-12 hours a day. He always rode all days on weekends and he was at all of the rides after work. He was a bookkeeper so you can bet every one of his figures was not only accurate but he probably never rounded any of his mileage up.
From the concussion I can't remember much of the start of the cycling group but I'm told that I was one of the founding members. For the first couple of years there were more women than men in the group. And we had a guy that was in his 80's that could ride away from the entire group. He was still riding like that in his 90's.
We also had one guy who took it on himself to teach routes and how to climb to new riders. Most of these people have now passed on to a better place - or else they were issued an accordion if they didn't go to a better place.
Keeping track of mileage isn't a very important thing but it does give you a little more excuse to ride more often and longer. Though the Death Ride and 300 mile tours and double centuries with over 20,000 ft of climbing are no longer my cup of tea. Maybe Seattle-Portland but no longer Seattle-Spokane.
In order to monitor your climbing you need to get an altimeter, but getting a speedo with an altimeter in it is more convenient.
So start keeping track of your mileage and you'll find it dragging you out on still another ride.
