Rolling Averages

I think I actually rode more before I was ever a bike blogger. You see, when I lived in California, I got into cycling basically as a way to spend time with the guy I was dating at the time. But, then we broke up and two weeks later I was back in Texas. I was heartbroken, depressed, and my entire life had vanished in a blink. Life was pretty much sucking, and that would have been a great opportunity to say screw it to cycling.

But instead, I decided that I was just going to ride until my heart stopped hurting and life was good again, so that's exactly what I did. Over the course of the next year, I put in many, many long days in the saddle on my Cannondale, and as sure as the sun rises, my mental state improved. I also lost a ton of weight and got into amazing distance cycling shape.

Time passed, I moved to Austin. Since I've lived here I've converted from a skinny-tire road cyclist to riding the Surly just about everywhere in a mostly utility function, and stopped tracking miles. For one thing, I don't have a bike computer any more. I also hate a lot of the roads here, which have high speed limits and TONS of cars (lookin' at you, 360. And you, Parmer).

However, in the aftermath of my most recent ridiculously traumatic event (the whole pulmonary embolism thing), I seem to be back to tracking miles, and my rolling average has been going up ever since I got out of the hospital. I hit a new milestone in the last week, 50 miles. While admittedly I used to ride that much in a day, 50 miles in a week is far more than I've done in a long time. So I'm pretty happy with myself!

Next week I intend my "recreational" ride to be a bit longer, around 20 miles, bringing my weekly total up to around 60 miles. Then just add a bit at a time, and by Wurst Ride, I should be able to cruise right through the 40 mile distance in high comfort and style. I'm not training for anything, but I'm not NOT training for anything. Just seein' where my legs take me.