Hello and happy 2021, everyone. It may seem odd to be reading a happy new year wish on January 27th, but believe it or not, this is my first check-in on this blog since November of last year. Consider this an attempt to "catch up," if you will.
So, what have I been up to? In a nutshell, the holiday season was quite busy, and it began shortly after my most recent post. The family and I went on a memorial cruise over the Thanksgiving holiday. The travel and lack of available outdoor cycling options for parts of the trip resulted in my decision to end my consecutive days of biking streak on day 608:
And so just as the streak began unceremoniously, so it ended in the same fashion. No big celebration, just a normal ride around the neighborhood. Forgive the pun, but it was quite a ride. I do not desire to pore over the thousands of photos I took during those 20 months, so here's an abridged list of some of the random places I've visited on 2 wheels since March of 2020, in no particular order (and associated blog posts):
Of course, there were many more in between (including Columbus, of course). When I first posted on
Instagram about the streak potentially ending, I received quite a few messages telling me to keep it going, but I gotta be totally honest with you, I was ready for it to be over. I was actually thinking those thoughts once I passed 500 days, and yet I somehow kept going for another 108. Simply put: by the end of it, a daily ride had started to feel more like a chore than an achievement, and that ruined the spirit of why I started the streak in the first place.
That said, I still had an appreciation for willing myself to get outside every single day, even if only for a couple minutes. I also accomplished the only real goal I had at the start of the streak: riding a bike every single day for 365 consecutive days. I'd wanted to do that for years, and I totally smashed it. I did a much more in-depth write-up of the first 365 days
back in March of last year, if you are interested in reading more about the experience.
I began another streak as soon as we returned from Thanksgiving. I mean, would you expect anything else? If you're new to this space, I have a tradition of
riding my bike every day in December to celebrate my birthday, and I kept it going this year. Some photos for your enjoyment:
You may have spied a 63-mile route in those photos. I noticed that I was close enough to hitting 2,500 miles for the year entering December that I decided to push the envelope in hopes of reaching it. I'm happy to report that I did indeed get to 2,500 miles, which was 500 miles more than I'd set to achieve on January 1st, 2021. Go me!
As we headed into early 2022, I took an extended holiday break to recoup, relax, and spend some more time with family back in Pennsylvania before returning to my full-time life back in Ohio. Oh, and I've continued riding. In full disclosure, I have taken a day off here and there, but I've been on a bike more days than I haven't. You all know by now that single digit temperatures don't frighten me:
I probably won't ever attempt another 600-plus day biking streak again (at least not on purpose), but you can believe I will keep riding. One thing I would like to be better about in 2022 is
writing about my adventures on my two-wheelers. Consider this my pledge. I fully expect you to hold my feet to the fire on it. As I type that, I'm realizing that we are about to go on a long-anticipated Disney vacation on Saturday, so I will be absent from this space once again for a brief time, but after that...I'd like to return to the spirit of why I began this blog
way back in 2015 - seven years ago today, if you can believe it.
So, happy new year once again. I hope your holidays and your January have been stellar, and here's to a healthier and happier 2022!
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