[ ignore this post if you only follow the blog for ride planning and photos— below’s just a rare bit of personal New Year’s self-indulgence ]
I biked a fair amount a decade ago, fell off the wagon for a few years, then three years ago started organizing rides (on this blog and a separate mailing list): for fun, to catch up with friends and meet new people, to explore more of the greater Bay Area at the more observant pace a bike allows, to get in better shape (I’ve never enjoyed going to the gym), and because I knew scheduling rides with other people would put pressure on me to actually make them happen and get organized on the mapping/planning front.
And you know— I think I’ve accomplished everything I’d hoped for a few years ago— solo overnight rides, social bike camping rides with a group of friends, big week-long events with thousands of strangers, difficult rides I didn’t think I could handle, rides along abandoned closed-off roads and to quirky tucked-away corners of the Bay Area, taking my bike on trains and planes and bike touring in Europe without set plans, and making various bits of my own cycling gear… and above all, getting into the mental and physical zone where biking is the default and natural way to get around.
Losing 35 lbs (and keeping most of it off) was a nice plus— not that fitness is always tied to weight— but in this case I could tell it was.
So I don’t have any particular biking resolutions for the new year. I mainly want “more of 2011” — more short and long rides with friends, more combinations of biking with food and beer, more self-supported camping in northern california, more cycling in other environments.
Come ride with me in 2012!