cycling.finial.com

Year end summary. Why? Is there really anything interesting enough in my life to require a year end review? No. But here it is anyway.

Movies summarized earlier.

Tried to sell my house this year and failed. Six months on the market without so much as a nibble. Very frustrating. Now the market has changed and it’s unlikely I’ll be able to sell it at any price, and certainly not one that would get me enough to buy another place without a mortgage. I got next year’s tax bill yesterday. They increased my assessment by another $40,000 to a total valuation of $534,300! Insane. Especially if you’ve ever seen it. That puts my tax bill (with the residential exemption) up to $4600 per year. That’s almost $400 per month in property tax alone.

Remained reasonably healthy throughout the year, although the battle of the tonnage seemed to be losing ground towards the end of the year. That trend has to reverse. Added Lipitor the drug regimine, which brings the number of pills per day to 11. At least there’s no insulin involved, which is good.

My dog seemed to have a lot more trouble with allergies this year. Lots of skin and ear trouble. It seems to be getting worse as he gets older (he’s about 11 now). Of course, it doesn’t help that he’s alergic to almost everything on earth.

The New England Classic was one of the highlights of the year again. This year wasn’t as enjoyable as last yera, but it was still fun and something I look forward to all year and I raised about $5500 which really surprised me. I created a website to help with recruiting for next year. I’m hoping it works. My parents came to babysit the dog this year, which was really nice of them. My brother did it last year, which means that I’m out of relatives for next year. Never did get my thank-you letter finished. That’s bad. I did send out an e-mail thank-you, but it’s not the same as a postal mail one. I’m already signed up for next year.

Took a trip to Florida last January which was fun. It had been a long time since I’d been there. I’ll have to go back to see my brother’s place in the panhandle sometime this year as he’s getting married again.

Worked at the Diabetes Expo in March trying to get people to sign up for the bike ride, and again at the Boston Bike Expo with the Cycle North East folks for the same goal. At the end of all that, there were still only about 70 riders for the whole seven days. That has to improve.

I’ve found I’ve been withdrawing from a bunch of previous committments that aren’t fullfilling. I no long help teach the GED classes at the Settlement House and, really, don’t have much to do with them any more although I do still support them and help whenever they need something specific. Working with a real creep sort of took a lot of the fun out of that. Now that he’s been fired (with which I had nothing to do) might make it better, but there were a couple of other things that came up that sort of soured me on that as well. It’s a real take, take take outfit, and that gets very wearing.

I also resigned from the board of the neighborhood association, spurred in part by my intention to move away, but I don’t miss it at all. I also am much less interested in anything to do with the neighborhood in general. I mean, I still like it here, although less than in the past. I assume that has to do with some of the letdown at not moving. It also has to do with getting really worked up and involved in things only to see those efforts being squashed by those with greater political power. That’s happened several times, and I just don’t care any more. Do what you will, just don’t ask me for any help or support. So, away from all that and more devotion to cycling and the ADA. Cycling, at least, I know won’t let me down or frustrate me. The jury is still out on the ADA, but we’ll see how it goes.

Watched most of the Tour de France, except for the days I was on the NEC. Another great race. Funnilly enough, my mom really got into it when my parents were here babysitting the dog.

Got a new set of wheels in May and was in a crash in September which damaged one. I was able to get it mostly repaired thanks to the folks at Broadway Bike School. Still has a tick-tick-tick when braking, but otherwise seems fine. I did order a pair of rebuilt wheels of the same model and they’ve now been discontinued. They got here yesterday.

Went to one day of the Longsjo Classic and one day of the Gloucester Cross Race and enjoyed them both. The trains weren’t really very co-operative, schedulewise, but they were both fine days. Would have been nice to have someone go with me, though.

Mileage for the year was okay. I was shooting for 3000 and I may have made it, but not in recorded amounts. Totals for the year (according to the bike log):

Total Mileage
Road 2600 mi
MTB 116 mi
City 77 mi
Trainer 79 mi
Total 2871 mi

Longest ride: 18-Jun 127.32 mi
Fastest Century: 27-Aug 17.37 mph
Number of Centuries: 9
Number of Organized Rides: 11

Mileage by month
December : 28.68
November : 129.96
October : 179.70
September : 387.87
August : 302.05
July : 751.32
June : 262.98
May : 330.48
April : 240.32
March : 136.39
February : 80.51
January : 40.72

The mileage is slightly higher because I didn’t have a cyclometer for the trainer earlier in the year, and I don’t keep track of mileage on my cargo/city bike. That positive that put my over 3000, but there’s no way to be certain. (That listed as “City” here is MTB riding around town, and what’s listed as “MTB” is MTB riding through the woods.)

Didn’t get out on the MTB as much as I would have liked, but I really enjoy road riding much better, and if the weather’s good enough to be out, I’d rather be on the road. Besides, MTB is a lot more fun with other people, and as there is no one to ride with, it gets a little old. Plus, you really have to go somewhere to ride MTB. With a road bike, I can just leave from my house without having to go somewhere first. That means that, unless I want to go to Middlesex Fells or Blue Hills, I’m dependent on the trains or something

Looked around for a fixed gear bike, but haven’t gotten one so far. I’m still looking.

One goal I did make this year was to break 50mph on the bike. It was coming down Kinsman Notch on Day 4 of the NEC. That was awesome! I hit 51.3.

Had a terrible bout of depression this year. Man, that’s bad. Being able to intellectually understand what’s happening but not being able to work out of it is terrible. I hope that doesn’t happen again.

Found Dinosaur Comics and enjoy it very much. It’s one of the best comics out there, I think. It just Cracks. Me. Up. It’s FRIGGIN INTENSE.

I guess I have a pretty dull life. Heh. But lately, the exiting bits aren’t because of good news.

Happy New Year.

This entry was posted on Saturday, December 31st, 2005 at 11:59 pm and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.