Tuesday 31 December 2013

Bye bye 2013!

Seven hours of 2013 left in my timezone, and as I've taken the day off work I thought I'd use the time wisely and eat muffins, crisps (chips for the U.S.A.ers) and chocolate. I also thought I could use some of that time (between handfuls of crisps) to look back on 2013 and see how I did on the ol' exercise front.

In previous years I've written out the stats - you know, "5 hours of running, 35 hours of country dancing". However, given most young people these days have trouble comprehending the written word and instead need "infographics" I've done some simple graphs for the hard of thinking.

First, time spent doing stuff.


440 hours of exercise in total, mainly road biking. This was almost exactly the same amount of time on the road as last year, but a decent increase in mountain biking. What's pretty clear though is how much I did in 2010, which was my Lands End - John O'Groats year. Running this year - non-existent.

Second, distance.


I had a target for the year of 10000 kilometers, which I managed to smash through about a week ago. 10130 km in total. The increase in mountain biking is almost certainly due to my Sardinia holiday - you can rack up a fair distance in a week.

Third, I set myself some goals at the start of the year.

Ride at least 10,000km: Tick!

Enter at least one 12 hour mountain bike solo: Tick! Although my attempt to insert my handlebars into my chest cavity ended the ride early. I also failed completely to blog about it, but I assure you you can find my name under "DNF" in the 12 Hours of Exposure results.

Haute Route again, complete within the time limit and finish top 40%: Vague Tick! I completely well within the time limits but failed to make the top 40%. I put it down to faster people being there and me not trying particularly hard. Hell, I even tried to enjoy myself.

Do a minimum of three (3) rides that I'd consider stupid and worth blogging about: Well, there was the week of procrastination leading up to a January ride, the review of the Sufferfest Rubber Glove and the Longest Day. So, another tick.

Other highlights of the year were the trip to Paris-Roubaix (not as a rider, but as close as you could get), the three day company organised charity ride from Newbury to Manchester, the training weekend in the Pyrenees with Dangerous Dave and Greasy Dave and the Sardinia week. Looking back, not a bad year.

Next year... no Haute Route this time but I've entered the Tour of Wessex (3 x 100+ mile rides), the 300km Dragon Devil and the 24/12 12 hour MTB solo. Lots of endurance needed so I'd like to see 12,000 kilometers in 2014!

I've got some other exciting plans too, but I'm not going to reveal them here...

Anyway, Happy New Year to you all and I hope that 2014 is a cracker.