Plans for '08

You may have noticed (but probably didn't) that I never bothered to talk about my expectations for 2008. Part of this is because my only new year resolutions were to take life as it comes and try to enjoy as much of it as I can. I didn't want to come off like I had some cycling-specific resolutions. These are simply goals and expectations from myself.

Goal #1:
Pack on at least 5,000 miles total for 2008. That's about 420 miles per month or about 100 miles per week. I won't make 420 for January, but given my riding pattern over last summer, I can pretty much guarantee I'll have several months with 500-700 miles. It won't be easy, but it's less than 800 miles more than I rode in 2007. I'm already ahead of where I was by this time last year, but not by enough of a margin to catch 5,000. I'll definitely need to work hard to meet this goal.

Goal #2:
I will ride a genuine century ride. Last year, I did a metric century in one run of things during the last official C'Dude full moon ride. The ride itself was less than 40 miles, but I rode to and from the start point to put me at 70ish miles in one sitting. Combined with my 30-mile round trip commute, I did ride 101 miles in one day, but I still consider that day as just a metric. I want to ride a real century in '08. Maybe two. I don't care if it's a massive event like the Lone Star Century, just cruising the countryside with Chris, 'Dude, Badger or Dave, or even on my own.

Goal #3: 2007 brought with it 25 car commutes. I want it to be 0 this year, but I'll settle for anything under 10.

Expectations:
I expect that my lungs and heart will continue to get more efficient and that I'll end up more endurance because of this.

I expect to finally start losing weight again. I lost about 50 pounds from when I started riding, but gained 15 of those back this winter. I never, ever dropped below 190, but I bounced against 190.0 several times. Once I clear 190, I expect to never see 200 pounds again. Period. We'll see how that works out. I feel better now at 205 than I felt at 180 when I was bulking up on my lethargy phase, so I'd rather not worry about weight and worry more about how I feel. Weight loss is not a goal, so I'm not tracking it too much. I weigh myself once, maybe twice monthly.