I try to ride 100 miles a month through thick and thin. But life got very thick in November. Is the streak over?

I was finishing up my 100 miles for December when I ran into a guy out riding and enjoying the weather on the day before Christmas. I complimented his fancy carbon wheels and he surprised me by shrugging.

“These are my beaters,” he said. “They are ok.”

He went on to explain that he grew up in Roanoke but moved away. He was back to visit family and brought his extra bike.

“I can’t ride my race bike here. Your roads are too rough,” he said perhaps referring to the nearby Blue Ridge Parkway which suffers from a bit too much chip seal. “I get beat up on my race bike, but I can go out and do 75 miles on this and feel great.”

About this time I noticed his legs, which looked like cannons, compared to the rest of his slim physique and I started to understand he was a different class of cyclist.

So I prodded him a bit.

“Yeah, I try to ride 200 miles a week when the weather is good,” he said, explaining that he also raced quite a bit.

All of which makes my silly streak of 100-mile months seem kinda lame.

What’s 100 miles in a month, when this guy is doing 200 in a week?

But it’s my streak. My rules. My life.

The back story to the streak

It started back in the 1990s. I was new to cycling, riding mostly mountain bikes, and Mary and I were raising three small children while working full-time jobs. All the things young professionals have to deal with.

The kids’ sicknesses. Our sicknesses. Knee rehab. Going to the plays at nursery school, whatever it was.

At that time, an 8-mile mountain bike ride was a big deal, not just because of the effort it took to complete the ride, but because of scheduling in and around a very busy life.

But somehow I managed to do it. 100 miles every month.

For 15 years.

For the record, I took up distance running in 1996, and some months I substituted running 100 miles for cycling, but since that was harder — I thought it to be ok.

And after all, it’s my streak. So I make the rules.

Yes. I logged every ride and every run. It was an obsession. And it still is.

One streak ends, another begins.

Then in November of 2008, I just let it go.

I was at about 92 miles and needed just one more ride, but decided it was time to let off the gas.

The streak became a pressure point. I forced rides when I shouldn’t have just to keep it alive.

I’d be leaving the TV station for a new career in public relations and decided I was over the constant 100-mile worry.

The streak was over.

Fast forward to 2013.

In July 2013, I returned to the anchor desk at the TV station.

It all seemed so familiar. After almost five years, it felt like I had never left. I even sat at the same desk in the newsroom.

But, something was missing.

Along with that familiarity came the old itch to return to endurance activities. Maybe there is just something about reporting on the world’s tragedies and injustices that makes one want to ride off into the mountains.

Whatever it was I set off once again to reach 100 miles every month. And through some considerable health issues, snowstorms, the pandemic, and other obstacles, I got it done.

Until November of 2021.

A hundred miles isn’t hard anymore.

A few things have happened. I gave up running because my body really doesn’t like it. I now ride a variety of bikes, and most of my miles come on the road. It’s also worth pointing out that Mary and I are empty-nesters, and (until the recent arrival of six grandkids,) we had a lot of time to ride.

My focus on cycling was perhaps stronger than ever in 2021.

We rode two centuries. The Cap 2 Cap Ride from Richmond, Va. on the Capital Trail, and the Horsey Hundred in Lexington, Ky.

We took a trip to Arizona and Utah to ride and hike in and around The Grand Canyon, Zion National Park and Bryce Canyon. We also visited family and rode in Vermont and central New York.

I routinely ride 20 miles on my dinner break at work.

Gravel bikes have created a new excuse to explore. My mountain bike is outfitted with fancy, custom carbon wheels, and we have a great group of cycling friends who keep rides on the weekend schedule.

We have a Peloton, meaning I can gain miles even when the weather is bad.

So for most of 2021, my mileage was waaay above 100 miles. In fact, I set a personal record in May with 524.

Then came November

There may have been a bit of burnout from so many months on the bike. Early in the month, I failed to accumulate many miles. But it seemed like enough. As Thanksgiving approached, I could see 100 miles on the horizon and I knew I would find a way to get over the hump created by slacking off for the first two weeks.

Then came a combination of life’s situations that derailed my plans.

My elderly parents would be arriving for Thanksgiving and the house needed some readying.

Ok, more than some.

I was busy getting stuff done and missed a few opportunities to ride. Still no problem.

The real issue came when a routine doctor’s appointment revealed that I would need to have minor surgery on my bladder.

I won’t go into all the details, and please know that I’ll be ok, but it was no party.

They scheduled the surgery for the Tuesday after Thanksgiving. Outpatient, but with general anesthesia, so I would be down for two days.

And since surgeons had to access my bladder with that scope thing, they entered through a place on a man’s body that is not designed for entry.

Meaning I was tender “down there” even after I recovered. The doctor said no riding for at least two weeks.

And, honestly, there was no way I could sit in the saddle anyway.

I would not get to 100 miles. I was stuck at 88.

Almost 8 years. Poof.

Unless I take a mulligan.

This is where rationalizations make us question whether our situation is real or our minds’ attempt to control the narrative.

I struggled with a way to keep the streak alive even though 88 miles is obviously a fail.

Thus, I reasoned, how could I know I would need surgery? How could I know that surgery would specifically make it impossible to ride a bike?

I mean is it really my fault?

Yes, I could have ridden more early in the month.

I could have forced a ride or two before Thanksgiving instead of helping Mary get ready. But would it have been worth facing divorce just to keep the streak alive? (Ok- I’m being a bit dramatic here.)

(We’ve been married since 1985 which is kind of a streak in itself right?)

Can I reasonably say, that I get a mulligan like golfers when they get a free extra stroke that doesn’t count against their score?

Wouldn’t it be a shame to throw 8 years of diligence and determination away, because of something as unanticipated and serious as surgery?

Oh, sure I reassure myself. Who would hold it against me? It’s not like it was a cold, it was an actual medical procedure in the operating room.

But on the other hand, there were sooo many months when I got it done anyway. I banked miles early in any given month just in case something happened.

Like surgery.

What’s a streak if the rules don’t have some rigidity and integrity?

To me, the streak lives.

After much consternation, I’m taking the mulligan.

I rode more than enough in 2021 to justify missing out on 12 measly miles in November.

I can say with some certainty that I am getting too old to start another meaningful streak. Who knows how many good bike years there will be?

If you see me beside the road and ask if I ride much, I may not say I ride 200 miles in a week, but I might say that I’m going on eight-plus years of riding at least 100 miles a month.

I won’t say, “except for that blip in November of 2021.”

After all, it’s my streak, my rules.

Thanks for reading the blog. As you might have guessed, it’s my guilty pleasure.

In 2021 I inched forward with a partner project called Biking 4 Boomers, a YouTube channel that features some of the bike rides I do that may appeal mostly to my generation. I hope you’ll give it a look, and stay tuned as I roll out some new videos of my adventures in 2022.

Go to Biking 4 Boomers: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGVORmLXIla3Pav0tLz2ewA/featured