Bike Your Birth Month: A Challenge for the Ages

Not that this will surprise anyone in the least, but I've logged a lot of miles since Wednesday's events. This is partially because of motivation; you know, keeping the spirit of the bike community alive and all of that. It's also partially out of necessity, and my seemingly regular refrain that adventures seem to find me.

Case in point, I had to take the lone company van up to the far northern reaches of West Philly to get routine maintenance on Wednesday. The rental company said it would only take about an hour, so I'd planned to walk down the street to a coffee shop to finish up some office work. Turns out, they'd need to keep the van overnight, so I found myself having to find my way back to Center City from somewhere up near Bala Cynwyd. Luckily, I'd also brought my bike just in case:

This is that strange area of the city that almost doesn't feel like the city. I mean, I was literally across the street from the city line, so it may as well have been the suburbs. Even though the streets still need some work, they're nice and wide, a luxury I don't often have in my neighborhood. Because of the location, the ride was mostly downhill, which I certainly didn't mind. And hey, in a nod to one of my past lives, I stumbled upon the PHL17 station:

I rode back up there yesterday to pick up the van, which was a bit more challenging, but certainly worth it.

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All this to say that I'm just one of many people who continue to ride every day, for whatever reason, or even just because. To bring this all full circle, I wasn't quite happy with my performance (or lack thereof) during Love to Ride Month, and I've also been receiving a lot of invites and signals from the cycling community that led to the decision to follow through on my latest self-initiated challenge, which starts today (!).

I call it Bike Your Birth Month. I actually came up with the idea on my birthday ride last year:

Born out of the spirit of April's 30 Days of Biking, I'm going to try to ride every day during December, which happens to be my birth month. I have a feeling this one will be a bit more challenging than April, for obvious reasons, but that's also why it's going to be fun.

I have no mileage goal or any other goal really, but just as in past 30DoB experiences, I'll be sharing my updates on all my social channels regularly (if not daily). Look for the hashtag #BikeYourBirthMonth.

If you were also born in December, I encourage you to join me. As we move into 2018, I also encourage all my cyclist friends out there to do the same during your birth month, whatever month it happens to be. Lucky you if it also happens to be during April. And with that, let's ride!