I went for a 60 km bike ride yesterday. Maybe you're snickering because you went for a 200 km ride this past weekend, but 60 km was an important milestone for me. It was the longest ride of my life.
You don't just hop on your bike one day and decide to ride 60 km. You start small and gradually and safely increase your distances. Last summer, for example, my typical ride was about 10.5 km. Here's what my August 2013 looked like.
August 2013
By December 2013, my typical ride was only 3 km longer. Not a single ride that month hit 15 km. Note the time I had to stay off my bike due to the ice storm.
December 2013
I tried to bike every week of this winter, but sometimes it was simply too cold or too dangerous. This was a rough winter for biking. This was my March 2014. By the end of the month, I was up to 22 km rides.
March 2014
I had to take some time off for the birth of my son and while he was in Sick Kids hospital, but by the end of April 2014 I was regularly biking 30 km. My longest ride at the time was 36.63 km on the last day of the month.
April 2014
And that brings us to yesterday's 60 km ride. With the 36 km ride on April 30 I planned to ride 40 km during the first week of May, 50 km in the second week and 60 km in this third week. That's exactly what I did.
May 2014
Last summer, 13 km was a "long ride" for me. Today, 25 km feels like a "short ride". If you haven't been biking lately, get out there for a 5 km cruise. You don't start at 60 km, but with gradual and sensible increases, anyone can get there.
