10,000KM challenge log

DanDublin1982

At the start of the year I set myself a challenge of cycling a total of 10,000KM during the year. I then didn't even sit my arse on a saddle until some time in February. It won't seem like a lot to some but it's probably about 3 times more than i've ever done in a year before.

It was mostly commuting up until mid April or thereabouts so in reality I'm way behind. Hence the log, hopefully it will help keep me focused!

Stats so far:
Total KMs: 1,727
Hours in the saddle: 84hrs 4mins
Elevation Gain: 4,582


So 8,273km to go in the next 214 days meaning I've to average 38.5km evry day between now and the end of the year.

I've also joined the 115km June Gran Fondo, the June distance challenge (1,250KM to get the badge) and the Climbing chellenge on Strava in the hope of keeping myself going also.

Anyway, thanks to anyone who bothers looking in.

Edit: I'll add one more stat actually as it's my main motivation for doing this. Current Weight 93kg. (down from 101 at the start of the year and have yoyo'd between the two since then).

nilhg

Well , you haven't made it easy on yourself but f it was easy it wouldn't be a challenge......

If you can commute regularly and maybe extend some of those the km's will soon be rolling up, a few long weekend spins and sportives will be a help too.

Best of luck with it.

CapnHex

Big challenge alright!
I'm trying to increase from 4500km last year to 6000km this year, a 33% increase (not 300%!).
I have a 20km each way commute, that I managed to do 48 times last year and hope to do 64 times this year.
The added change is that I've added 10km to the journey home on a number of occasions.

The personal incentive I've added is a €5 bonus for each commuting day (kept in a secret envelope!).
I'll have €300 to splash out on cycling kit come October when I stop commuting, maybe even a Brooks saddle from Santa.

I can't do the long rides at the weekends so that's where you'll rack up the KMs!

Best of luck and get out there every opportunity you get.

DanDublin1982

CapnHex wrote: »

Big challenge alright!
I'm trying to increase from 4500km last year to 6000km this year, a 33% increase (not 300%!).
I have a 20km each way commute, that I managed to do 48 times last year and hope to do 64 times this year.
The added change is that I've added 10km to the journey home on a number of occasions.

The personal incentive I've added is a €5 bonus for each commuting day (kept in a secret envelope!).
I'll have €300 to splash out on cycling kit come October when I stop commuting, maybe even a Brooks saddle from Santa.

I can't do the long rides at the weekends so that's where you'll rack up the KMs!

Best of luck and get out there every opportunity you get.

I really like the fiver idea. I'll replicate that for each 100km I cycle I think.

Cheers for the encouragement

DanDublin1982

Had hoped to break the 2,000km mark by today but didn't quite make it, not too far off but just had a little bit too much going on over the weekend including an NCT (passed )

Stats so far:
Total KMs: 1,952
Hours in the saddle: 93hrs 4mins
Elevation Gain: 5,199m
Weight: 92.5kg

Leaving me 8,048km to go and 209 days to do it which is till 38.5km per day.

DanDublin1982

A good week on the bike, not so good on the food front as I was working out of the office this week so was tending to buy a lot of rubbish. Should be back to the norm this week though and have a couple of days lunches already sorted so hopefully if I have another week like this i'll see a bit more progress on the scales.

Managed my first 100+ of the year so far, definitely need to be posting them a bit more regular to have any hope of completing this. I was trying to wrap up the 115km ride challenge on Strava but I got caught in showers twice on the spin yesterday and at 105 done I was just too cold and too close to home to keep going

Stats so far:
Total KMs: 2,305
Hours in the saddle: 107hr 22m
Elevation Gain: 5,866m
Weight: 92.5kg

7,695 km to go in 202 days =38.1km per day.
Hoping to do the Swords 150km route next weekend but might not know until mid week if I can make it.

Borderfox

Keep it going, I have a personal goal of 5000km for this year. 3000km done last year but that was after a fractured pelvis that wrote off about 4 months.

Will keep a look in every now and again to see how you are doing.

DanDublin1982

Not a great week on the bike (in terms of this challenge at least). Had two punctures early in the week and the bike needed a service too which cost me a good few kms. Signed up to the 150 McNally spin but ended up on the 100 after the drowning we took on our way to Tayto Park. Still an enjoyable day out and at least brought me up to more or less breaking even for the week.


Stats so far:
Total KMs: 2,566
Hours in the saddle: 118hr 31m
Elevation Gain: 6,547m
Weight: 92kg

7,434 to go in 195 days which is still 38.1km a day.

Stats for the week:
260.6km
11h 19min
680m

Donie75

Keep up the good work. I'm hoping to have some free time to up my cycling significantly in the next month or so.
I saw something online that there is a Strava challenge during the Tour de France where you have to cycle every day that the tour is on.

DanDublin1982

Passed 1,000km for the month today, hopefully make closer to 1,400 by months end. Had a slight mishap on the way home though. A taxi driver took out another cyclist right in front of me and I just didn't have enough time to stop so sort of "stumbled" over his bike at about 10km/h.

No obvious damage to me or the bike, the other lad was a bit scraped up but looked grand also and we both took off on the rest of our journey after a little bit of a rest.

DanDublin1982

Had a decent week on the bike despite the incident mentioned above but I haven't gotten out today and won't either. The knee is giving me hassle this morning so i'm giving it a break for a day. I spent a lot of time standing about yesterday and the knee is often a bit dodgy after that so if i rest up today i should be back in business tomorrow.

Stats so far:
Total KMs: 2,863
Hours in the saddle: 131hr 1m
Elevation Gain: 7,019m
Weight: 91kg

7,137 to go in 188 days which is 37.9km a day. (good to see that beginning to come down )

Stats for the week:
296.8km
12h 30min
469m

DanDublin1982

A great week on the bike despite the knee keeping me out of action on Monday. I did two 100k+ cycles two days in a row which was a first for me. I have lots of free time until the end of the month and apart from 8 days away I'll be spending a lot of it cycling so hoping to hit 800-1000km one of the weeks in July. I'm mostly keeping to flat rides which is helpful in getting the km in but im not sure im improving my fitness at all. Will do one or two trips around some of the climbs in Wicklow during the next few weeks to try improve that. Also planning on doing the tour de Kilkenny 160 at the end of the month. Aiming to do about 2,500km over the course of the month. I just hope the weather gets a bit better.

Stats so far:
Total KMs: 3,333
Hours in the saddle: 150hr 18m
Elevation Gain: 7,494m
Weight: 90kg

6,667 to go in 181 days which is 36.8km a day.

Stats for the week:
470km
19h 17min
470m

C3PO

DanDublin1982 wrote: »

Stats for the week:
470km
19h 17min
470m

Great week .... I wouldn't have thought is was possible to cycle 470kms in Ireland and only do 470mts of climbing ... are you sure that's correct?

DanDublin1982

C3PO wrote: »

Great week .... I wouldn't have thought is was possible to cycle 470kms in Ireland and only do 470mts of climbing ... are you sure that's correct?

Ha-ha it's almost certainly not, but im going off what Strava is telling me. Strava seems to penalise you if you do the same climb twice and not give you the credit. I have done a great deal of my cycling last week around the corkagh park cycle track which although mainly flat has a couple of Metres climbing at least in a lap. Garmin is giving me different stats, yesterday's 75km Garmin has clocked at 186m compared to the 54 Strava is giving me.

C3PO

DanDublin1982 wrote: »

Ha-ha it's almost certainly not, but im going off what Strava is telling me. Strava seems to penalise you if you do the same climb twice and not give you the credit. I have done a great deal of my cycling last week around the corkagh park cycle track which although mainly flat has a couple of Metres climbing at least in a lap. Garmin is giving me a stats, yesterday's 75km Garmin has clocked at 186m compared to the 54 Strava is giving me.

Weird ... I find Strava is usually more generous than Garmin! Are you using a phone app or a Garmin device?

DanDublin1982

C3PO wrote: »

Weird ... I find Strava is usually more generous than Garmin! Are you using a phone app or a Garmin device?

Edge 200, upload to Garmin connect and it then syncs over.

Thud

DanDublin1982 wrote: »

Ha-ha it's almost certainly not, but im going off what Strava is telling me. Strava seems to penalise you if you do the same climb twice and not give you the credit. I have done a great deal of my cycling last week around the corkagh park cycle track which although mainly flat has a couple of Metres climbing at least in a lap. Garmin is giving me different stats, yesterday's 75km Garmin has clocked at 186m compared to the 54 Strava is giving me.

I noticed that last week when trying to finish the June climbing challenge, had a Garmin app that showed ascent of 420m up to the feather beds viewing point, it was starting to rain so came back down and did the first half of kilmashogue, total after that was 440m, bit annoying only getting 20m for that

DanDublin1982

Off on the hols tomorrow but managed to get a good few kms in this week as I was off. Managed to do the Gran Fondo too. They didnt rob me of it this time.

Stats so far:
Total KMs: 3,688
Hours in the saddle: 1644hrs 18mins
Elevation Gain: 7,731


So 6,322km to go in the next 177 days meaning I've to average 35.6km every day between now and the end of the year.

I've more than doubled my total since the end of may so happy with that. Definitely looking to be close to do another 1,900 this month which I plan to round off with the tour de Kilkenny 160km ride.

DanDublin1982

So back from the hols about ten days.The bike came with me but i only got out on it twice so only managed about 60km. Been busy since though and am up the guts off 1,000km in total since my last update. I've been doing most of my miles on the Corkagh cycle track whihis generally flat. Strava won't give me any climbing credit for it though so i am switching my climbing stats to what Garmin is telling me instead (hence the rather large jump there).

Stats so far:
Total KMs: 4,643
Hours in the saddle: 198hrs 56mins
Elevation Gain: 13,460
Weight: 89KG

So 5359 to go with 159 days = 33.69km per day.

DanDublin1982

Had a really enjoyable week on the bike. Hit a couple of targets I thought i'd struggle with around this time two weeks ago. Didn't do the tour de KK in the end but managed to get an equivalent cycle in on the day all the same.


Stats for the week:
Total KMs: 1,001km
Hours in the saddle: 36hrs 40mins
Elevation Gain: 3,191m

Stats for the month:
Total KMs: 2,552km (currently has me just outside the top 500 for the month on strava)
Hours in the saddle: 94hrs 27mins
Elevation Gain: 7,654m



Stats so far:
Total KMs: 5,644
Hours in the saddle: 235hrs 37m
Elevation Gain: 16,651m
Weight: 88KG

So i've 4,356 left to go in 153 days = 28.5km per day


Probably the only disappointment is that the weight hasn't dropped a bit more but the diet has been crazy with all the cycling I've done and I've certainly given into sugar cravings a bit more than i generally would over the last 2 weeks. I'm hopeful that with heading back to work next week i can get that back on track and keep bringing it down.

C3PO

DanDublin1982 wrote: »

Stats for the week:
Total KMs: 1,001km
Hours in the saddle: 36hrs 40mins
Elevation Gain: 3,191m

Great week!

CapnHex

DanDublin1982 wrote: »

Stats for the month:
Total KMs: 2,552km (currently has me just outside the top 500 for the month on strava)
Hours in the saddle: 94hrs 27mins
Elevation Gain: 7,654m

And for that reason, I'm out!

I can't compete with that level of commitment.

Well done.

Gives me something to aim for as a goal for next year.

DanDublin1982

CapnHex wrote: »

And for that reason, I'm out!

I can't compete with that level of commitment.

Well done.

Gives me something to aim for as a goal for next year.

July was always make or break month for me. I had the entire month off work and as you can see I spent a lot of it on the bike and have at least given myself a fighting chance of hitting my target. Im lucky to have the Corkagh Park cycle track nearby as its just a pleasure to cycle around kilometer after kilometer. Its boring obviously but the surface is perfect and because theres no traffic I can even plug in the earphones and listen to my favourite podcasts.

How is your own target going? You're probably still closer to yours than I am to mine.

Wishbone Ash

Fair play to you!

DanDublin1982 wrote: »

....
Stats for the week:
Total KMs: 1,001km
Hours in the saddle: 36hrs 40mins
Elevation Gain: 3,191m

I had very similar figures a couple of weeks ago - 1,001km in 37h 44m with 8,500m elevation.

It is the most I have cycled in a single week to date.

DanDublin1982 wrote:

Stats for the month:
Total KMs: 2,552km (currently has me just outside the top 500 for the month on strava)
Hours in the saddle: 94hrs 27mins
Elevation Gain: 7,654m

Great going!

You're well ahead of me for July - I ended it at 2,302km with 18,600m of elevation. (Don't know how many hours in the saddle).

(I had 2 weeks off work in July which helped!)

CapnHex

Not to hijack your thread ... but you did ask.
I managed 735km in July, about 40 hours in the saddle. As you can tell, average speed is the real issue here!
I'm at 4337km for the year so far, so barring injury, I should make the 6K with a bit to spare.
I'm ahead of schedule on commutes as well. 54 done and target is 64, so hoping to get nearer 70 at this stage.

C3PO

DanDublin1982 wrote: »

Stats for the week:
Total KMs: 1,001km
Hours in the saddle: 36hrs 40mins
Elevation Gain: 3,191m

Stats for the month:
Total KMs: 2,552km (currently has me just outside the top 500 for the month on strava)
Hours in the saddle: 94hrs 27mins
Elevation Gain: 7,654m


Stats so far:
Total KMs: 5,644
Hours in the saddle: 235hrs 37m
Elevation Gain: 16,651m
Weight: 88KG

So i've 4,356 left to go in 153 days = 28.5km per day

Nothing like your figures for last week/month but I'm still well on target for 2016!

Stats for July:
Total KMs: 1,290km
Hours - Moving: 70hrs
Elevation Gain: 22,969mts


Stats for 2016 to date:
Total KMs: 6,800km
Hours - Moving: 350hrs
Elevation Gain: 120,000mts

Weight: 79KG (down from 90kg at New Year)

Spending about 60-70% of the hours offroad on the MTB still so average speed/distance quite low!

This is the time of year where I usually start to tail-off so need to keep focused!!

DanDublin1982

CapnHex wrote: »

Not to hijack your thread ... but you did ask.
I managed 735km in July, about 40 hours in the saddle. As you can tell, average speed is the real issue here!
I'm at 4337km for the year so far, so barring injury, I should make the 6K with a bit to spare.
I'm ahead of schedule on commutes as well. 54 done and target is 64, so hoping to get nearer 70 at this stage.

Prior to June id never done more than 1,000 in a month. Planning on breaking that for August and September too which isnt going to be easy what with being back at work.

DanDublin1982

C3PO wrote: »

Nothing like your figures for last week/month but I'm still well on target for 2016!

Stats for July:
Total KMs: 1,290km
Hours - Moving: 70hrs
Elevation Gain: 22,969mts


Stats for 2016 to date:
Total KMs: 6,800km
Hours - Moving: 350hrs
Elevation Gain: 120,000mts

Weight: 79KG (down from 90kg at New Year)

Spending about 60-70% of the hours offroad on the MTB still so average speed/distance quite low!

This is the time of year where I usually start to tail-off so need to keep focused!!

Those elevation figures are something else!!

C3PO

DanDublin1982 wrote: »

Those elevation figures are something else!!

Try to achieve 300-400mts per hour - training for an MTB Marathon in October with about 2,600mts of climbing in 83kms!

DanDublin1982

Brutal week. Didn't even break even for the week and only managed 178km in total. I knew the first week back at work was going to be tough but I expected a bit better than that.

Total is now 5822. I wont bother with full stats this week.

DanDublin1982

A better if not spectacular week this time round. Punctures are my enemy right now and I had a couple in the last week. Currently doing some upgrades on the commuter and looking into those Tannus solid tyres. The commute is 13km into Dublin City so it should be grand.

Stats for the week:
Total KMs: 294km
Hours - Moving: 12hrs 27m
Elevation Gain: 897mts


Stats for 2016 to date:
Total KMs: 6,117km
Hours - Moving: 255hrs 27m
Elevation Gain: 18,030mts

So that leave me with 3883km to go in 139 days which is 27.9km per day.

I'm away drinking next weekend so hoping to get a bit extra in over the course of the rest of the week to make up for that, then i need to hit it hard in the final ten days of August to make my 1,300 - 1,400km target for the month.

Edit: weight 87kg.

DanDublin1982

No update last week as I was busy drinking and sleeping which meant last weeks numbers were terrible.

Stats for the week:
Total KMs: 362.8km
Hours - Moving: 14hrs 272m
Elevation Gain: 956mts


Stats for 2016 to date:
Total KMs: 6,638km
Hours - Moving: 277hrs 27m
Elevation Gain: 19,342 mts
Weight: *87kg

So that leaves me with 3,362km to go in 125 days which is 26.9km per day.

DanDublin1982

Right. I didn't hit my August target and ended up with just below 1,100km in total. Not bad in fairness but that extra couple of hundred would have been nice. I had a day missed during this week as i had to travel for work. Not ideal and even with taking a day off on Friday I couldn't make up for it as unfortunately that day was Friday and it just wasn't suitable to be out in so i ended up calling it a day after 20km. This weeks stats are made respectable by the GDBR 100k I put in this morning.

Stats for the week:
Total KMs: 257.6km
Hours - Moving: 10hrs 35m
Elevation Gain: 951mts


Stats for 2016 to date:
Total KMs: 7,106km
Hours - Moving: 297hrs 31m
Elevation Gain: 20,879 mts
Weight: 85kg

So that leaves me with 2,894km to go in 111 days which is 26.1km per day.

Wishbone Ash

DanDublin1982 wrote: »

...So that leaves me with 2,894km to go in 111 days which is 26.1km per day.

Just prompted me do my own figures - have to do an average of 44k per day for the remainder of the year to meet my target! :eek:

smacl

DanDublin1982 wrote: »

So that leaves me with 2,894km to go in 111 days which is 26.1km per day.

You're an inspiration Dan, no doubt that you'll do it even if involves spikes on New Years Eve.

DanDublin1982

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

Just prompted me do my own figures - have to do an average of 44k per day for the remainder of the year to meet my target! :eek:

What is your target? 44 per day doesnt even sound bad, its when you miss a day here and there that it feels like it might be slipping away from you. If you spot me on the corkagh cycle track i won't mind if you draft me a little bit.

DanDublin1982

smacl wrote: »

You're an inspiration Dan, no doubt that you'll do it even if involves spikes on New Years Eve.

You're very kind. More than anything I just feel great about myself that this is something ive stuck to for such a long time and can clearly see and feel the benefits of what with being down almost 20 kilos since the start of the year. The GDBR was probably the first time ive felt "that was handy enough" when going up a tough hill and as I haven't been training climbs at all thats got to be heavily (excuse the pun ) down to having so much less weight to carry up there.

I'd like to be going for a new year's eve cycle alright but hopefully the 10,000 will be reached well in advance of that.

C3PO

DanDublin1982 wrote: »

..... being down almost 20 kilos since the start of the year.

That's brilliant well done! You can't beat cycling for taking the weight off!!

Wishbone Ash

DanDublin1982 wrote: »

What is your target?...

20k (I got to 19,850 in 2015 and I'm approx 1,000 ahead of last year at this point so it's doable barring any mishaps).

DanDublin1982

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

20k (I got to 19,850 in 2015 and I'm approx 1,000 ahead of last year at this point so it's doable barring any mishaps).

And i thought I was nuts

Thats agonisingly close you came last year, hopefully you make it.

RobFowl

This thread is an inspiration, WA does mad mileage ! Great to see though.

My aim was 12K and after falling behind after a racing crash in March I hit 9K last weekend so back on target with a little to spare.

That said I'm pretty much cycling non stop since I was 12 (not yesterday).

The mileage you are coving is fantastic but the weight loss of 20 is just superb, keep it up and see you on the road

DanDublin1982

Thanks Rob.

Didn't get a chance to update at the weekend as i was on a Stags which also negated getting on the bike for a couple of days.

Stats for 2016 to date:
Total KMs: 7,472km
Hours - Moving: 313hrs 56m
Elevation Gain: 21,889 mts
Weight: 84kg

So that leaves me with 2,528km to go in 101 days which is 25km per day.

C3PO

DanDublin1982 wrote: »

So 8,273km to go in the next 214 days meaning I've to average 38.5km evry day between now and the end of the year.

DanDublin1982 wrote: »

So that leaves me with 2,528km to go in 101 days which is 25km per day.

When I saw your first post I didn't think you had any chance ..... but looks you're going to prove me wrong now ... well done Sir!!

DanDublin1982

C3PO wrote: »

When I saw your first post I didn't think you had any chance ..... but looks you're going to prove me wrong now ... well done Sir!!

Thank you.

I just did some more sums and it works out as 50.8km on average per day between those two posts.

DanDublin1982

Never got near the bike over the weekend so that made it two weekends in a row without any cycling. Not ideal but thankfully i'd done enough over the rest of the week to just about break even. Managed another 50 today so this week is already looking respectable.

Stats for 2016 to date:
Total KMs: 7,599km
Hours - Moving: 320hrs 9m
Elevation Gain: 22,175 mts
Weight: 84kg

So that leaves me with 2,401km to go in 96 days which is 25km per day.

DanDublin1982

A good week and managed to get out every day. Was stuck with the hybrid (i say stuck, I love that bike) all week as the road bike needs a couple of repairs so the choice was to do them or to get on the road. I'll hopefully have a couple of hours this evening to sort it out. I'm aiminto be at 9,000km by the end of the month. It's starting to get cold out there on the morning spins though. I was checking back on last years stats and the bike had already gone into storage at this point so taking the equivalent date i stopped last year i've done about 650km more this year.

Stats for the week:
Total KMs: 302km
Hours - Moving: 14hrs 15m
Elevation Gain: 680mts

Stats for 2016 to date:
Total KMs: 7,850km
Hours - Moving: 331hrs 56m
Elevation Gain: 22,746mts
Weight: 83kg (i'm aiming for 70 but not expecting to hit that before the end of the year).

So that leaves me with 2,150km to go in 90 days which is 23.88km per day.

DanDublin1982

Another good week, what i like seeing is the average coming down. Today was an absolute cracker of a day and i'd liked to have got out for more than the 40km i managed but it wasn't to be. Hoping we can get another weekend like that next week when i should be a bit freer time wise. I'd like to hit 400km next week as i've three days away the following week where i won't even see a bike so if i can get 550-600 between the two weeks combined i'm going to be very well set.

Stats for the week:
Total KMs: 266.2km
Hours - Moving: 12hrs 33m
Elevation Gain: 693mts

Stats for 2016 to date:
Total KMs: 8,117km
Hours - Moving: 343hrs 49m
Elevation Gain: 23,439mts
Weight: 83kg

So that leaves me with 1,883km to go in 83 days which is 22.68km per day.

DanDublin1982

Didn't quite reach my goal for the week but it definitely could have been worse. I find it very difficult to get on the bike when its raining heavily like it was when iwoke up Saturday morning (different if i'm already out and it starts or even if it's just the commute) and i didn't. But i was rewarded with a great afternoon weather wise without even getting hit by a drop of rain.

Aiming for betwenn 200 and 250 this week, i'll miss at least 2 and probably 3 days on the bike this week so i'm probably being a bit optimistic but we'll see.

Stats for the week:
Total KMs: 313km
Hours - Moving: 14hrs 3m
Elevation Gain: 793mts

Stats for 2016 to date:
Total KMs: 8,430km
Hours - Moving: 357hrs 52m
Elevation Gain: 24,232mts
Weight: 82.5kg

So that leaves me with 1,570km to go in 76 days which is 20.6km per day.

Wishbone Ash

DanDublin1982 wrote: »

...So that leaves me with 1,570km to go in 76 days which is 20.6km per day.

Just looking at my own figures - 2,779 to do in 71 days so I have to average 39k per day for the rest of the year.

(Apologies for hijacking your thread).

PS - the Veloviewer figure in my sig includes a few walks/runs hence it showing a bit higher.

DanDublin1982

Just a totals update this week. Not including weight as I was away eating and drinking myself stupid since Thursday so that would be artificially (i hope:D) inflated if i was to weigh myself now.

Stats for 2016 to date:
Total KMs: 8,619km
Hours - Moving: 367hrs 1m
Elevation Gain: 24,505mts

So that leaves me with 1,381km to go in 69 days which is 20.01km per day.

DanDublin1982

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

(Apologies for hijacking your thread).

.

I'm invested now. Please continue to do so.