In 2005 I joined Team in Training to raise money for research into Leukemia & Lymphoma by riding 100 miles (a century) at Lake Tahoe. The training was a lot of fun and caused me to regret not bicycling more seriously before then. I ended up riding seven centuries that year and my buddy Doug Huskey convinced me to ride a “century a month” in 2006 but I ended up riding 20. Each year the number of centuries grew until I decided that for my 60th birthday on October 25, 2013 I would ride a “century a week” and that year on October 24th I rode my 52nd of the year. Check it out!
The next goal I set for myself was to ride 62 100K rides by my 62nd birthday (i.e. 62 62s by 62 since 100K is 62.5 miles). I completed that goal on my birthday, October 25, 2015.
A month later, Millie and I moved to Colorado and even though I owned nine bicycles I barely rode 2000 miles a year in 2016 thru 2021. I plan to remedy that pathetic mileage in 2023 by riding 71 71 milers by my 71st birthday October 25, 2024. My goal was 70 70s by my 70th birthday but due to pulmonary embolisms in September 2022 I was put on blood thinners and will be on them at least until March 2023. I’m hoping to be off the thinners by June or July 2023 so I can get back to outdoor riding.
Completing 71 long rides in a year won’t be easy since riding in Colorado from October thru March is challenging so I’ll need to ride in California and elsewhere a few times to meet my goal. The biggest difference in this goal is that I plan to start on my 70th birthday October 25, 2023 and may have to keep riding into December to complete 71…hopefully I’ll finish by my 71st birthday.