Doing alright...ish

I'm a couple of days late with this (again), but here's the quarterly update of progress against annual cycling goals which, slightly revised because of this, are now:

1. Complete 1,750 miles distance
2. Complete 54,500 feet of elevation
3. Record an annual Eddington of 17 miles (requiring 17 days of 17+ miles)
4. Increase lifetime Eddington from 45 miles to 47 (requiring two days of 47+ miles)

Sit-rep after Q2:

Yes, I did change the graph colour scheme. It looks nicer on my new, dedicated Stats page.

Anyway, the goals: I'm mostly doing alright but, as with the last update, I need to have some long days in the saddle. No surprise there.

See you in three months for another update. Try to contain your excitement.

It's a numbers game

I've mentioned my Google Sheets tool that consumes all my Strava data via an API, and let's me slice and dice everything the way I want. There's nothing new there. But drilling down into some figures last night, I noticed some anomalies. It was a lot of elevation in 2019, more than I could remember doing. So I started investigating... and found multiple rides that year that were duplicated. There was even a pattern - rides recorded on my Wahoo Elemnt Bolt, synchronised to Strava and then edited to change the name. So these rides were effectively stored twice, once with the default name, once with the edited name. I've been through Strava and deleted all the duplicates, and whatever the problem was it didn't seem to happen after 2019, at least not for me, so my stats are in a better place now even if I haven't cycled quite as far as I thought.

This reckoning has sliced 1 off my Eddington number though, annoyingly. In turn, this has required me to revise my Eddington-related cycling goal for this year. It was:

• Increase lifetime Eddington from 46 miles to 48 (requiring three days of 48+ miles)

And it's now:

• Increase lifetime Eddington from 45 miles to 47 (requiring two days of 47+ miles)

Bugger.

If nothing else, that feels more achievable. Silver linings, eh?

A mixed bag

I'm a couple of days late with this, but here's the quarterly update of progress against annual cycling goals which, in case you've forgotten (or care), are:

1. Complete 1,750 miles distance
2. Complete 54,500 feet of elevation
3. Record an annual Eddington of 17 miles (requiring 17 days of 17+ miles)
4. Increase lifetime Eddington from 46 miles to 48 (requiring three days of 48+ miles)

Sit-rep after Q1:

So, I'm mostly doing okayish, but need to have some long days in the saddle. No surprise there.

See you in three months for another update. Try to contain your excitement.

Another year of failure

Remember those cycling goals for 2025? And if you do, do you care how I did? If so, prepare to be disappointed.

To recap, my goals for the year were:

1. Complete 1,800 miles distance
2. Complete 55,000 feet of elevation
3. Record an annual Eddington of 17 miles (requiring 17 days of 17+ miles)
4. Increase lifetime Eddington from 43 miles to 46 (requiring six days of 46+ miles)

Here's a sit-rep at year end:

So, I failed on distance, for reasons I discussed briefly at the last update, only managing 85.7% of target. I did better on elevation, but still only managed 94% of what I'd hoped for. I only managed 12 days of 17 miles or more toward my annual Eddington target, but at least managed an annual E of 16.

As for my lifetime Eddington goal... well, that's a longer story. It's achieved but only because I realised a mistake in my calculations for it. My Google Sheets spreadsheet tool that hooks into the Strava API and does all my stats assesses all timestamps in co-ordinated universal time (UTC) but Strava timstamps are local (GMT/BST for me). So during British Summer Time, any rides that I started between mindight and 1am were being assigned to the wrong day for the purposes of Eddington calculations. I've now fixed the spreadsheet but this had a bigger effect than you might think, which shows how often in my Strava cycling life I've cycled home from a night out in the witching hour. Anyway, the upshot of all this is that although I only managed two days in 2025 where I rode 46+ miles, my lifetime Eddington is actually now 46 miles, my original target for year end. Hooray. Well done me.

What about targets for 2026? Well, I'm relucatant to row back too much on distance and elevation - I feel these are realistic goals, notwithstanding the issues I had to deal with in the summer of '25 (which, inevitably, will recur, if not in '26 then at some point). I've set Eddington goals too, though the beauty of that particular metric is that it becomes progressively harder to advance, so they're modest goals. In summary then, here are my goals for 2026:

1. Complete 1,750 miles distance
2. Complete 54,500 feet of elevation
3. Record an annual Eddington of 17 miles (requiring 17 days of 17+ miles)
4. Increase lifetime Eddington from 46 miles to 48 (requiring three days of 48+ miles)

Wish me luck, if you like.

I've got an excuse this time

Remember those cycling goals for 2025? Well, for reasons I won't go into here, they've taken a bit of a back seat this quarter, as I was barely able to get out on the bike at all during July and August. So although I've had a decent September (my third most miles in a month since I did LEJOG in 2021), it looks like being too little, too late.

To recap, my goals for the year are:

1. Complete 1,800 miles distance
2. Complete 55,000 feet of elevation
3. Record an annual Eddington of 17 miles (requiring 17 days of 17+ miles)
4. Increase lifetime Eddington from 43 miles to 46 (requiring six days of 46+ miles)

Here's an sit-rep after the third quarter:

Still behind on all counts... and unlikely to catch up, especially on the Eddington-related targets, as I don't have any sportives planned for the rest of the year. On the plus side, I have managed to increase my lifetime Eddington from 43 to 44. Whoop-de-doo, tarantula town.

Not even close to on-target

Sigh. Remember those cycling goals for 2025?

1. Complete 1,800 miles distance
2. Complete 55,000 feet of elevation
3. Record an annual Eddington of 17 miles (requiring 17 days of 17+ miles)
4. Increase lifetime Eddington from 43 miles to 46 (requiring six days of 46+ miles)

Here's an update after the second quarter:

So... behind on all counts... and I'd be even further behind if I hadn't just done a small sportive. I have one other of a similar length lined up for later in the year, but that's it. I'm not going to meet any of these targets, am I?

Behind on all counts

Remember those cycling goals for 2025?

1. Complete 1,800 miles distance
2. Complete 55,000 feet of elevation
3. Record an annual Eddington of 17 miles (requiring 17 days of 17+ miles)
4. Increase lifetime Eddington from 43 miles to 46 (requiring six days of 46+ miles)

Here's an update after the first quarter:

So... behind on all counts... and still no sportives lined up for this year yet. I've got some work to do.

Oh, and regarding the annual Eddington target of 17. Really annoying when this happens: bad route planning on my part.

Partially met

You know when you have your annual appraisal at work, and you're supposed to say how many of your objectives for the year you actually met? I always seem to list several as "partially met" as in, yes, I did something but not everything. Looks like my cycling goals for 2024 were similar... remember, I'd set myself these targets:

1. Complete 2,000 miles distance
2. Complete 56,000 feet of elevation
3. Record an annual Eddington of 16 miles (requiring 16 days of 16+ miles)
4. Increase lifetime Eddington from 40 miles to 43 (requiring eight days of 43+ miles)

This is how I ended up:

So I fully met goals 3 and 4, and got pretty close (96.9% of the way) on goal 2. I fell someway short (only 86.5% there) on goal 1 though, distance. Sigh.

Anyway, the other part of the annual appraisal is to look forward and set objectives for the year ahead. My cycling goals are very unoriginal, in that they are retreads of last year's, but since no-one but me reads this, who cares about that? Without further ado then, my cycling goals for 2025 are as follows:

1. Complete 1,800 miles distance
2. Complete 55,000 feet of elevation
3. Record an annual Eddington of 17 miles (requiring 17 days of 17+ miles)
4. Increase lifetime Eddington from 43 miles to 46 (requiring six days of 46+ miles)

If goals 1 and 2 look watered down from last year, well, they are - SMART goals need to be Achievable, right, we all know that from the usual appraisal spiel. As for goals 3 and 4, they're going to be hard; I currently have no sportives planned and, unlike last year, no marathon cycling holidays planned either. "Stretch goals" though, right? So watch this space, where I will continue to document my failure in a series of graphs, perhaps quarterly this year rather than monthly. What a time to be alive.

Not looking good

Remember those cycling goals for 2024?

1. Complete 2,000 miles distance
2. Complete 56,000 feet of elevation
3. Record an annual Eddington of 16 miles (requiring 16 days of 16+ miles)
4. Increase lifetime Eddington from 40 miles to 43 (requiring eight days of 43+ miles)

Here's an update after eleven months (and a couple of days):

I've already met goals three and four, as reported in September. I guess there's still an outside chance of goal two but goal one is out the window, realistically. I'm not completely giving up, but it's just too cold to be notching the kind of distance I would need to in December. Oh well. Let's see how close I can get, at least. If nothing else, maybe I can get better 2020's 1,726 miles...?

The wheels have fallen off

Remember those cycling goals for 2024?

1. Complete 2,000 miles distance
2. Complete 56,000 feet of elevation
3. Record an annual Eddington of 16 miles (requiring 16 days of 16+ miles)
4. Increase lifetime Eddington from 40 miles to 43 (requiring eight days of 43+ miles)

Here's an update after ten months:

I've already met goals three and four, as reported in September. But it's goals one and two I have to worry about. I'm still just about in the running on goal two but after a woeful October in which I was away a lot, and so cycled very little, the wheels have completely come off goal one. I'm not giving up, but...I might as well.

Oh dear...

Remember those cycling goals for 2024?

1. Complete 2,000 miles distance
2. Complete 56,000 feet of elevation
3. Record an annual Eddington of 16 miles (requiring 16 days of 16+ miles)
4. Increase lifetime Eddington from 40 miles to 43 (requiring eight days of 43+ miles)

Here's an update after nine months (and three days):

I've already met goals three and four, as reported last month. But it's goals one and two I have to worry about. I'm still just about ahead on goal two but I've fallen behind on goal one, a side-effect of the declining weather and having been away from home (and hence bikes) a lot lately.

Bottom line? There's still a chance on goal two, just. I think goal one is going to be very hard. I'm not giving up, but...

On target?

You'll remember my cycling goals for 2024?

1. Complete 2,000 miles distance
2. Complete 56,000 feet of elevation
3. Record an annual Eddington of 16 miles
4. Increase lifetime Eddington from 40 miles to 43 (requiring eight days of 43+ miles)

Here's an update after eight months:

So every so slightly ahead on goals 1 and 2, though with autumn and winter months to come. But goals 3 and 4 done, thanks to an 5-day epic trek (with 30kg luggage trailer) around Denmark. I've actually done ten days of 43+ miles this year. In fact, I'm only one day away from upping my lifetime Eddington to 44! But I'm four days away from upping my annual Eddington to 17.

It all looks good then. But I need to be cycling more routinely to achieve goals 1 and 2 in the remaining four months...

Still behind

You'll remember my cycling goals for 2024?

1. Complete 2,000 miles distance
2. Complete 56,000 feet of elevation
3. Record an annual Eddington of 16 miles
4. Increase lifetime Eddington from 40 miles to 43 (requiring eight days of 43+ miles)

Here's an update after seven months:

Still behind schedule on anything. Knowing what lies ahead for the rest of the year, I think I am most likely to manage goal 4. Goal 3 is next most likely, then goal 1. Goal 2 is least likely, I think. I hope time proves me wrong.

Headway

You'll remember my cycling goals for 2024?

1. Complete 2,000 miles distance
2. Complete 56,000 feet of elevation
3. Record an annual Eddington of 16 miles
4. Increase lifetime Eddington from 40 miles to 43 (requiring eight days of 43+ miles)

Here's an update after six months:

Still behind schedule on anything, but making headway at least. Have got some sportives lined up for this month, so am hoping that the next update shows more progress.

Progression ... ish

Remember my cycling goals for 2024?

1. Complete 2,000 miles distance
2. Complete 56,000 feet of elevation
3. Record an annual Eddington of 16 miles
4. Increase lifetime Eddington from 40 miles to 43 (requiring eight days of 43+ miles)

Here's how all that is going.

So, behind schedule on anything, but making progress at least. Think the fourth goal is going to be the hardest to achieve.

Progression ... or lack of

I made a widget in my Google Sheets-based Strava API-calling stats cruncher to help me more easily keep track of my progress (or lack of) against the goals I set myself for 2024. Here 'tis.

The first four bars show progress (blue) a a percentage of target (orange). The last bar shows how much of the year has been ticked off (green) against how little is left (red). As you can see, at this moment in time I am behind on everything... And as you can imagine, I will update the graph (and this blog) at various points throughout the year. I know, it's hard to contain your excitement...

Goals

I'm not one for making new year's resolutions, but I have set myself some goals for this year. Now that 2024 is a quarter of the way through (already!), it seems like a reasonable time to share those goals, and check progress (or lack of). So here goes.

Goal 1: 2,000 miles in a year
This is going to be hard. I've only done more than 2,000 miles in a year twice before, once when I was cycling my commute every day (pre COVID) and once when I was training for LEJOG. By contrast, in each of the last two years I've done less than 1,500 miles. So this is going to be a stretch. In the first quarter of this year, I've notched 356 miles so, assuming an even distribution of mileage, I'm already 144 miles behind schedule...

Goal 2: 56,000 feet of elevation in a year
Again, this will be hard, and again I've only managed this amount twice before (as above, the commuter and LEJOG years). Last year I managed ~49,000ft. Oh, and I live in a relatively flat part of the country. Sigh. Assuming an even distribution of elevation, I'm already 4,000 feet behind schedule...

Goal 3: annual Eddington of 16 miles
You know the drill by now - this is going to be hard. I base that on the simple fact that I've only managed an Eddington of 14 in each of the last two years. But 16 would be a step back towards pre-COVID levels, so it's got to be a goal. My YTD Eddington so far is 10 miles...

Goal 4: increase lifetime Eddington to 43 miles
I started the year with a lifetime Eddington of 40 miles and, due to the perverse and excellent way Eddington numbers are calculated, need to notch at least eight days of more than 43 miles ths year to increase my number to 43. I currently have three sportive days booked, but I don't know where the other five days are coming from. So, it's going to be hard. Currently, I'm still on 40...

As ever, my stats, including YTD, Annual and lifetime firgures, can be found here.