For the second year in a row I achieved my goal of riding a total of at least 3,000 miles. That includes three tours of over 300 miles each. That’s an average of a little over 57 miles per week. The tours help to increase the average because they are usually done during a one week period.
I’m always curious about what other cyclists are able to achieve in a year and I meet a lot of people on tours who claim more miles. Since I know what it takes to do 3K, I believe that some of the claims are exaggerated. In the fall I rode with a guy from New Hampshire who claimed 5,000 miles per year. That’s almost 100 miles per week, rain or snow, sweltering hot or freezing cold. The claim probably stretches the truth a bit, especially for New Hampshire.
A couple of years ago I met a guy from Seattle who claimed 6,000 miles per year for an average of about 115 miles per week. I talked with him about that at the time. He was able to accumulated miles by commuting to work almost daily. The total mileage works out to about a 12 mile one-way commute each day at about 45 minutes in each direction. When I was working my car commute was about 45 minutes, so that’s in the realm of possibility.
I’m very certain of my mileage because all of my rides are recorded. I like to keep an accurate record and I like to analyze the data year-to-year. The data is also useful for planning bicycle maintenance. I use the Strava app on my iPhone for training rides and a Garmin handheld for tours. The battery life is much better for the Garmin than the iPhone on tours. I upload the Garmin gpx files to Strava so that my mileage data is all in one place.
It is fortunate that the past two years have had acceptable temperatures during the cold weather riding months and the snow cover has not been a problem. I can ride down to about 25 degrees Fahrenheit. Once the snow flies, I’m done. The major factor is that whether it is hot or cold outside, I love riding a lot.
For many years I averaged 3,000 to 3,500 miles annually, most of which was commuting–about 21 miles round trip most days for nine months (Washington, DC area, where you can do that). The rest was weekend rides and an occasional cycling event tour, where I’d ride 300 to 400 miles or so. So really, that’s not an unrealistic total if you bike a lot, but not necessarily long distances. I ride a bit less now because I’m working part time and will soon retire. I have an in-law in Colorado who is a real fanatic and bikes at least 10,000 miles a year–most locally and none of it commuting. I think he’s a bit too obsessed with wracking up miles.