And With Some Laziness & Rain The Kibosh Has Been Put On My Fantasy Of Topping The 7,000 Bike-Mileage Mark

I knew going into this month I’d have to pedal like a possessed person if I was to cross my 7,000th biking mile by the end of the year. So Saturday I got up before the dawn to ride — but let the reeeally cold morning temps be a dissuasion. Same thing again Sunday morning. Basically that’s about 50 miles lost.

There were the forecasts of an ominous amount of rain this workweek, but I still wasn’t ready to sign off on my hopes of breaking into such previously uncharted cycling territory. But as prognosticated the wet stuff has landed. And while I’ve been known to insanely bike home from work with water falling all over me and the city, I’m really not a big fan of arriving there cold and soaking wet, drying off putting in a full day and then potentially saturating myself again on the ride home.

Even I have limits to my insanity.

On top of that while stringing up our Christmas lights along the roof last night I contorted myself at some point and today my lower back ain’t at all happy.

So. What I’m trying to say is I’m throwing in the towel and putting an end to a pursuit that would now — rain or shine — involve me pedaling an average of 33.3 miles a day over the course of the 21 remaining days I’d be able to ride in December. Instead I’ll just ride when I can and want and when weather permits it and let’s see where in the 6,000s I finish.

But I gotta tell ya: If for some reason December 31 rolls around and I’m, say, 120-150 miles away from 7K? You know it’s gonna be hard for me to resist going that distance in a day.