I'm 64 years old. My goal for 2021, set early in the year, was to ride 7,300 miles. That's an average of 20 miles per day. I achieved it. I finished the year with exactly 7,300 miles. This makes 2021 my second-best year ever, in terms of miles ridden. (My best was 2018, with 7,500 miles.) I pedaled 685 miles in December. I rode 30 times in 31 days, for an average of 22.09 miles per day and 22.83 miles per ride.
I rode 324 times in 365 days this year. My shortest ride was 10.5 miles and my longest was 41.3. I rode when the wind-chill index was 32 degrees and when the heat index was 109 degrees. I rode in rain and wind. I rode bundled up and stripped down. At one point (23 June to 30 September), I rode at least 22 miles on 99 days out of 100. (Actually, one of them was 21 miles.) The only day I didn't ride is the day I had dental surgery (18 August). I was going to ride after the surgery, but it was raining. I took it as a sign to take a day off. I wish I had ridden.
I've now pedaled 125,157.3 miles in my lifetime, in 40 years of riding. That's 5.02 times around the Earth at the Equator.
I'm going to ease up in 2022. My goal is 6,000 miles, or 500 miles per month. I'll get back into the 7,000s in 2023. I ride; therefore I am.
Keith Burgess-Jackson, J.D., Ph.D. 