His improvised goal has been reached. He is one happy Lizard.Typically, he pedals 4,000 miles (or more) per year. Home-searching, packing, moving, unpacking and a training-related injury kept him off his bike for two months during prime cycling season. As November drew near, he was faced with inevitable goal modification. The Lizard was not happy at first. He gradually adjusted his goal and accepted the new, lower mark as equally as honorable. He did the best he could with the circumstances he faced.
Now it's time for new goals in a new year. A new decade. Wow. How many times do you get to say that in a lifetime!
The Lizard's goals for 2010 will be much the same as his goals each year since we began dating in 2004. Undoubtedly, the only new goal will be no injuries. He likely will shoot for 4,000 (or more) miles as he trains for the Julian Death March, the Buena Vista Century, Elephant Rock, Ride the Rockies (fingers and toes crossed), MS-150, Triple Bypass, Leadville 100 (fingers, toes and eyes crossed) and any other interesting rides falling on weekends not already claimed by "the biggies." He's also talked about doing a century a month. That means pedaling 100 miles in one ride each month, and for him, he'll want to accomplish this in six hours or less. Preferably less.
Which means I likely won't be tagging along right behind...
I can do a metric century. That's about 66 miles. I've done only one century in my entire life, and I did it the day I had to, during my first Ride the Rockies. Regardless of how hard I try, I have not been able to get in 100 miles in a day since. And I can hardly hold The Lizard's pace. He routinely rides ahead to claim his miles and his mph, then rides back and repeats a good portion of his ride finishing up my miles with me at my pace. He's an absolute doll!I've decided I'm going to try to work up to a full 100-mile century during 2010. I may not be able to ride 100 miles in one sitting, but I can certainly have fun trying.
And you know what this means, right? The Lizard's centuries will all be about 140 miles!!! Lucky guy!
I have a few other goals, as well. I hope to continue designing snowflakes and writing the patterns for at least one year, for a total of 52 free patterns right here on this very site. I hope to compete in the Ravelympics (that's a trademarked term, I believe), which means starting a needlework project during the Olympic opening ceremonies and finishing it before the closing ceremonies. I'd also like to finish a quilt by March to be entered in the Denver National Quilt Festival. I hope to be able to do another weekly planner calendar for 2011, and fingers, toes, eyes and hairs are crossed hoping the economy will allow it. And then somewhere in there, in between all that madness, I hope to climb at least three fourteeners.Oh, and I'm hoping to raise $2,000 for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society this year so I don't have to stand in line for the porta potties at the rest stops during the 2011 MS-150. I'm a "premium pedaler" this year because I raised $1,000 last year. That means my number on my bike this year will be a different color than most of the rest of the other 2,500 riders. I got to register early, and I got a discount on my registration. Pretty cool!
Some people think resolutions are silly because they often don't get kept. But I'm determined, head strong and stubborn. Check back with me in 356 days to see how I'm progressing. Or follow along throughout the year. I promise to have tons of good pictures and hopefully enjoyable trip reports. Happy 2010!
I've lived with MS in my life since my dad was diagnosed 21 years ago and I received my own diagnosis 3 years ago. Thank you both for riding in the MS 150 and raising as much as you can to help in the fight.
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