A Strong December

Perhaps you've seen my Instagram/Twitter/Facebook posts featuring the hashtag #bikeyourbirthmonth. Perhaps you haven't. Either way, if you're reading this, thank you for stopping by. I'd like to let you know a little bit about what I've been doing this month and why I'm doing it.

Born out of the spirit of April's 30 Days of Biking, I've been attempting to ride every day during December, which happens to be my birth month (in case you didn't guess that by now). I have no mileage goal or any other goal really, other than riding a bike at least once a day.

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Back in 2016, I was inspired by my friend Todd's tradition of riding his age in miles on his birthday, a tradition I was able to join in that year, and also in '17 and '18. This led me to attempt an annual birthday ride of my own starting in 2016 as well.

Even though that ride went off mostly without a hitch, it was difficult to plan around weather in late December. The next year, I decided instead to attempt to ride every day for the whole month, and my new favorite birthday tradition was born. I realize that riding every day sounds more difficult than riding just once, but if you think about it in terms of daily routine, it's actually much easier to tackle 31 short rides as opposed to planning out one big ride.

This is my third attempt, and as always, every successive attempt is a little different. The big adventures haven't really come out of nowhere like they typically have for me during these challenge months, but there is something satisfying about riding every day and realizing you've logged over 40 miles without really noticing. Rest assured, I'll be sure to post if anything crazy happens. I did convince the family to join me for a couple quick rides this month, so who knows?

I don't do this for the adventures, though they are a nice cherry on top. It's really about doing what makes you happy, and the holidays are supposed to be a season of being thankful and rejoicing and all of that. Biking makes me happy, and...

The biggest ulterior motive is to encourage all of you to do what makes you happy, especially if it involves cycling. If you feel so inclined to join me, join me, not just in December, but during your birth month too. I realize we're already more than halfway thru the month, but it's never too late to jump off the deep end hop on your bike, provided you haven't already packed it away for the Winter.

There are still 15 days to go in 2019, and with that, plenty of time to ride. Let's do it.