2013 – my year in the saddle (a sort of review)

Last Updated on February 18, 2023

This post may be of limited appeal to anyone other than me, but each year I like to look back over the previous year’s cycling and see how I did.  If you’d like to see last year’s report then go here…

Mileage

In 2013 I cycled a total of 2,508 miles according to Endomondo or 4,752 miles according to Garmin Connect, I’m inclined to think Endomondo is correct.  I used a sync tool called Tapirik to sync my Garmin, Endomondo and Strava data and somewhere along the line things got a bit crazy.  In 2012 I cycled 4,076 miles so in terms of miles-covered my stats are much lower overall than they were in 2012.

Miles cycled in 2013 by ME

In 2013 I burned 173,509 calories riding my bikes

Changes

In 2013 I commuted less and concentrated more on longer, steadier rides.  I have become even more of a stats geek by investing in a Garmin GPS, along with a heart rate monitor and cadence monitor.  I am quite frankly in stat-geek heaven.  This year I ditched my old mountain bike, I was never using it and quite frankly I hated it.  I lusted after a new MTB for a while, until I went proper mountain biking in the Lake District and found out that not only is cycling up the side of muddy mountains more exhausting that I could ever imagined, hurtling down the other side is quite exquisitely terrifying.  More on that tale HERE…

Theft!

Despite cycling for most of my life I had never had anything nicked.  Until THIS happened.

Speed!

This year I broke my previous top speed by just over 10mph by reaching an astonishing 52.1mph during a ride in the Lake District.  This was also my first ever ride that took in some proper hills, meaning a ride of just over 40 miles was more tiring than some of the 100 mile sportives I’ve done!  The stats are HERE, the story is HERE.

The map

This year’s map looks very different to last year’s map!

Conclusion

Chest colds, parenting and mechanical debacles have considerably reduced the number of miles I have done this year compared to last year, but the variety of my cycling has been marvellous and I’ve pushed pedals in many new locations.  I reverted back to working for myself in 2013 so ‘lost’ the opportunity to commute to a place of work, which on the whole has been positive as my thighs have got smaller, which means they’re putting less strain on my back.  My long-distance ability will hopefully approve in 2014, albeit at a cost to my sprinting ability, which I’m fine with.

P.S. Strava KOMs

I ended 2013 with 35 KOMs on Strava, 67 podium places, 146 top tens, 261 top twenty fives and 384 top fifty rankings.  To be honest I don’t think I’ll ever top these stats, and I’m not sure I want to.  Cycling has become a lot more personal over 2013 than it was in 2012 (when it was a battle to shift flab) and I really want to do more epic rides at reasonable paces this year.