The odometer on my bicycling computer turned over to 10,000 miles this morning, 12 miles into today’s 45-mile ride with Debra.  Wow.  10,000 miles on a bicycle.  Granted, it’s over a 4-1/2 year period, but it still works out to over 600 hours in the saddle.  And those are just the miles that are recorded on the bike computer.  It doesn’t include mountain bike rides or the time I spent pedaling on the bike trainer in the garage.  It works out to about 2,200 miles per year, but I haven’t been that consistent.  The first year I had the computer I put 1,800 miles on it.  I put another 1,200 miles on the bike in August and September of 2002 when I was training for the Waco Century, but didn’t ride much more than 2,000 miles total that year.  In contrast, I’ve put 4,100 miles on it since October 1 of last year.  I’ll be right at 5,000 miles before October 1 this year.

That seems like an awful lot, 5,000 miles in a year.  Except that serious amateur cyclists usually do about 10,000 miles in a single year, and the pros put in 20,000 or more.  In cycling circles, I’m still in the recreational rider category.