Back in Blog

Well, I've had an eventful several months since my last post. I've been keeping my stats on MapMyRide so I've estimated that I've gone about 250 miles since my last post, either on foot or on bike. The number of miles I have traveled each month in 2009 has surpassed the previous month. I plotted the data and it seemed to fit, with an R(squared) = 0.9874, to an exponential function.

If I extrapolate 10 months into training (which coincides with October 2009), I should be averaging 570 miles per month. We figured that could be achieved by doing 30 miles x 4 days per week. Sounds reasonable! It wouldn't be out of the realm of normal serious training to do such a thing. That's why I colored that part of the plot with the California State flag. I think at the end of that, I'd be ready for a cross-state trip. Lake Tahoe? Hmmmmmmm.....

But how about my goal to "ride across the USA"...? I read about Matthew Klainer's 4,200 mile trip (http://www.rideacross.com/) in 63 days. Then I used my graph and extrapolated it to the month I am hoping to take my trip (June 2010). By 18 months into my training, assuming exponential growth, I could do 4,500 in a month. Hey, it sounds ludicrous, and it probably is, but everyone's got to set big goals, right? And that would definitely get me across the US.