How has 2023 been for you cycling wise?

[Mike Ayling]

Good afternoon,

Cycling wise it has been a good year, about 10k miles mostly commuting but really good fun! As the journeys are shortish it is easy to relax or blast. But I do think that age is staring to get to me as I don't seem to have much spare energy left, Friday IS harder than Monday

There are of course a few exceptions, a few weeks ago a bloke in a Land Rover said The road's flooded mate, you won't get through. As this meant a 10 mile diversion I decided to take his advice under advisment..... and he was wrong after about 2 miles where the water was above the top of my short socks it was all fine. Admittedly I was worried if I was riding on the road or the drainage ditch to the side of the road but all ended well.

Cycling equipment wise it has been quite disheartening, the carbon fibre frame failed and the Sunday "laugh" became the commuter.

Although the Raleigh may end up with the Di2 from the Jamis it is quite sad how little difference it all makes to the ride at the end of the day.

I looked at the Ribble site today and in all honesty I would rather buy a Carrera from Halfords and tweak a few bits.

Instead of Di2 becoming more available in 105 form it has simply become an excuse to bump up the price.

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I have definitely lost my love for bikes, they seem to have become a trendy thing, but not my love for cycling.

I recently took my watch (Tudor Black Shield) in for a sevice and the bill went up from £290 to £570 and nobody in the shop, Fraser Hart, had any interest in justifying or explaining it. The movement is pretty much a mass produced Valjoux 7753 in the same way most frames come from ..... but it is all pretension, this is something special. It was kind of funny, someone buying a new Brietling was being courted and I was being ushered out of the shop.

Bye

Ian

Did the shop staff wear masks and carry pistols?

 

[dicko]

2023 a great year for me. Bought the Cytronex kit for my bike and fitted it around spring time and it’s got me out and about again without the fear of running out of puff on them hills.

 

[Jenkins]

Much the same mileage as last year, despite only commuting 3 days per week - up until the start of December when I was hit by a cold/chest infection.
What has changed is the type of rides I'm doing. There's fewer long loops from home and more single trip out to a pub for lunch and train home type rides. Also I'm in the 50k per month challenge and added a little sub-challenge for myself of one extra ride outside Suffolk per month which has added quite a lot of new routes to do - and a folding bike to the stable to take on the train without needing a booking.

 

[Dogtrousers]

Being still in full time employment, and married (to a non-cyclist), I just don't have the time to do those sort of numbers.

In a few years time maybe, when I retire, or even when I drop to part time.

I don't actually spend a lot of time cycling these days, not compared with the past, and certainly not compared with other CCers. My total annual mileage is tiddly compared with many on here. But when I get a day to myself, I tend to use the whole day. An imperial ton takes me around 9 or10 hours, and given that I like to ride out and and get the train home, that's the day gone.

 

[HLaB]

I don't really know what to say about 2023, there was a few TT PR's but I've kinda hit a plateau motivation wise.

 

[cyberknight]

Pretty average
Lost about 3 weeks of riding in july due to having mensicus tear snipped then a month off weekend rides nov-dec due to having a bug that wouldnt shift .
Still looking to clock 7000 miles for the year so all in all i cant complain .

 

[bluenotebob]

I’ve had a reasonable year on the bike. Not as good as 2022 but that was an exceptional year. With 9.5 cycling days left, I’ve cycled 11, 434 km (7105 miles) and, as I’ve just turned 71, then 7100 miles seemed like a decent target (but I can see that could become a dangerous precedent..).

I like to go out every day on the bike for at least an hour – whatever the weather. I’ve only missed 7 days in 2023 – 5 days because of an unavoidable social commitment, one day because of injury after a fall and one day because of freezing fog when visibility was down to less than 100m for most of the day.

All five of my bikes get a run out at least once a week. I try (and usually succeed) in getting them all over 100km each month and this year they’ve all done a minimum of 1600km. What’s the point in having them if you don’t ride them regularly?

I only managed a couple of rides over 100km this year – hopefully I’ll be able to improve on that number in 2024.

My only regret is that I hardly went anywhere new in 2023. Only three places that I can think of – and they were only short extensions of regular rides. I like @Jenkins idea of doing some rides wholly outside one’s home county – in my case, département – and that’s in my plans for next year.

 

[MontyVeda]

Poor, frankly.

2022 was my recovery from pneumonia year but at least 2023 was an improvement on that.

 

[geocycle]

Pretty good, I’m about 8030 km or 4993 miles for the year and I hope to squeeze 17 miles in next week. What is also good is the majority has been from leisure rides and less from commuting. That’s become less due to WFH. I’ve not managed a multiday tour this year although did have a few days in North Yorkshire. I’d also hoped to do an imperial century although that hasnt happened. However, I’ve managed 29 metric centuries and climbed 62000 m on leisure rides! Rides were mainly split between Yorkshire Dales, Forest of Bowland, South Lakes and Lune Valley. Getting a new bike in October with big tyres, mudguards and disk brakes has spurred me on. Looking forward to better weather and longer days.

 

[Alex321]

Pretty good, I’m about 8050 km or 17 miles from 5000 miles for the year which I hope to squeeze in next week. What is also good is the majority has been from leisure rides and less from commuting. That’s become less due to WFH. I’ve not managed a multiday tour this year although did have a few days in North Yorkshire. I’d also hoped to do an imperial century although that hasnt happened. However, I’ve managed 29 metric centuries and climbed 62000 m on leisure rides! Rides were mainly split between Yorkshire Dales, Forest of Bowland, South Lakes and Lune Valley. Getting a new bike in October with big tyres, mudguards and disk brakes has spurred me on. Looking forward to better weather and longer days.

Think your first number is a mistype

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Being still in full time employment, and married (to a non-cyclist), I just don't have the time to do those sort of numbers.

In a few years time maybe, when I retire, or even when I drop to part time.

He’s only describing 22 days and 12 of those will just be a morning, two overnight. I’m sure you could manage that out of 365 days.

 

[potsy]

The good...pretty much a full time cycle commute over the year, only missed a handful of days.

The bad... Only a little over 400 miles total with such a short commute.
New job in January will mean a return to driving to work, and as I don't do leisure cycling these days that could be it for me.

 

[fossyant]

The good...pretty much a full time cycle commute over the year, only missed a handful of days.

The bad... Only a little over 400 miles total with such a short commute.
New job in January will mean a return to driving to work, and as I don't do leisure cycling these days that could be it for me.

Ahem, get cycling there, 10 miles each way.

 

[steverob]

Not great. Have had an up and down year health-wise (mainly down) and most of that coincided with the best of this year's weather - by the time I was feeling more myself, the rain and the cold had resumed in force.

It means my outdoor total is a mere 1,500 miles (hoping to add another 40-50 before the end of the year) which is my lowest since 2013 - yes, even lower than 2020 (1,605 miles)! Usually I'd expect to have easily over 2,000 and on a good year, nearing 3,000.

Now admittedly my lack of outdoor riding has been countered with a reasonable amount of Zwifting (coming up on 80 hours this year) so I'm hoping that will mean I won't be too unfit if I can start 2024 on the right foot (or should I say right pedal?)

 

[Mike_P]

Seemed to a be a year that evolved with crazy weather and far too many nice bright days accompanied by overly strong winds in the latter half. As result pure pedal power lost out to e-assist power for the first time; the latter was simply accumulated on local shopping and commutes; 736 miles v 909 miles. Longest ride was back in May with a failed expectation of longer ones subsequent; 54 miles.