I set a personal record in 2011! I logged 3240 km on the bike with my GPS. That beats my previous best of 3138 km in 2009. The most striking difference is the amount of climbing I did those two years. Last year I did just ten vertical kilometres of climbing while I did over 25 km in 2009. The main reason for all my riding was commuting. I rode most of the winter months which I didn't do in previous years. In total I commuted for nearly 2800 km. I didn't race very much in 2011 which is why I only logged 277 km of training and 95 km of racing, all of that cyclocross. My highs in training and racing were 290 km and 459 km, both in 2009. The final 68 km I classified as recreation and that mostly consisted of pulling my girls around in the bike trailer. Other than commuting, those are some pretty bad numbers for someone who likes to race bikes.
In 2012, I think I can set another personal best in total distance. I'm just one week into January and I'm already near last January's total will lots of more good cycling weather in the forecast. I'm planning on commuting a lot more for the rest of the Winter and into Spring. I didn't do much in January, February or March last year. It should be easy to beat 277 km of training. Thursday hills are about 35 km for me and a weekend ride is easily over 60 km; 80 km if I start from home. I'll have to see about racing but I would like to at least do cyclocross again in the Autumn.
