Beijing Diaries (mileage)

by Tiki on Aug 26, 2007 9:04 PM EDT

Awful quiet on the site this week, so here's a question: How much did you ride last week?

Here's my answer: I live in Beijing, China, and last week I rode my cross bike across the city twice to squash practice for a grand total of about 20 miles, and my Chinese $40 bicycle to my daughter's busstop three times, for a total of 24 miles, for a grand total of 44 miles, so I'm totally jealous of those of you getting out for decent rides in decent weather (here the pollution keeps most people indoors). Maybe I'll get a chance to do a ride outside the city this weekend.

What about all you First Worlders?

Tweet Comment 21 comments | 0 recs |

Do you like this story?

Comments

I ride two miles a day

and proud of it.

They said I have ADD but they don't underst....oh look! a chicken!

by bethie on Aug 26, 2007 11:12 PM EDT reply actions

Busy work week/Light cycling week

Only about 95-100 miles. Starting to lose too much daylight in the AM.

Vlaenderen die Leu

by Peter Fontecchio on Aug 27, 2007 4:59 AM EDT reply actions

Sandbagger

Pete did at least 250 last week.

Got a problem? Va fa Napoli!

by Chris Fontecchio on Aug 27, 2007 9:07 AM EDT up reply actions

Heh

I would suspect the worldwide mileage totals are pretty far off their norm in late August. I've lived in three US cities, and the races in all three thin out a bit this time of year.

Now, if you were to ask in March...

Got a problem? Va fa Napoli!

by Chris Fontecchio on Aug 27, 2007 9:07 AM EDT reply actions

Last week...

373 miles.

Born from Jets...

by ssmith on Aug 27, 2007 9:49 AM EDT reply actions

You

are a known freak, so we have to throw your results out or they'll totally screw everything up.

102 for me but it was a bit of a light week. Norm is around 125-140.

"Weaseling out of things is important to learn. It's what separates us from the animals ... except the weasel. "

by Drew on Aug 27, 2007 10:23 AM EDT up reply actions

Well....

I have put in several hundred for the past several weeks.
Saturday I rode a century (Hotter N Hell 100) wrecked badly and cracked my helmet doing 27 mph at mile 39. Happy to say that i got up and finished with an average of 20.1
I feel like shit t'day though.
Cheers to Beijing from Texas.

by CannonDowell on Aug 27, 2007 10:10 AM EDT reply actions

Nicely done

Make sure to get a new helmet.

How hot was it?

"Weaseling out of things is important to learn. It's what separates us from the animals ... except the weasel. "

by Drew on Aug 27, 2007 10:24 AM EDT up reply actions

Went straight from the finish line

to the Expo and picked up a new one.

Only got up to 97. Last year when we crossed the line it was 106. Much better this year!!

by CannonDowell on Aug 27, 2007 10:43 AM EDT up reply actions

Will they be able to get

the pollution up to decent levels in time for the Olympics?

by NE Observer on Aug 27, 2007 10:23 AM EDT reply actions

The authorities keep reassuring everyone...

That they can, but my answer is: No freaking way! Near as I can tell the entire eastern half of China is locked under a cloud of yellow mist that is mostly coal smoke from factories and homes, car exhaust and dust from mining and construction. The rest of it is just toxic fumes from various chemical factories.

Seriously, for some reason this is not widely publicized, but here's a challenge: Google "China" and "photos" and try to find one picture without a haze in the background, or one picture from an urban area that isn't all hazy. Hell, try to find one picture shot anywhere in China in the last five years without haze in it. Good luck!

But everybody in China is trained not to talk about the pollution. And Western journalists quickly bore of talking about it because nobody in the West seems to care. The prediction from Olympic organizers is everybody will come for a month, the athletes will a perform slower and more poorly, then everybody will leave and forget about it again.

There is a plan to make everybody stop driving their cars and have all the poor people from rural provinces return to their homes during the games, but this will mostly just alleviate the traffic and the worst of the smog. A great air quality day in Beijing will still be the worst day of the year in LA.

Steve

by Tiki on Aug 29, 2007 4:42 AM EDT up reply actions

All I am managing right now is

about 25-30 miles a week. That is my twice a week early morning course of 12-15 miles. Have not had the time for anything else. those are on a Mountain Bike so they count as double right?

Coup De Pot Rouleurs

by Clydesdale on Aug 27, 2007 10:41 AM EDT reply actions

Of course

Triple if it's extremely technical or mostly uphill :-)

At the end of the day, any time you can get out and ride any amount is a good thing. We all have our goals and as long as we're making headway towards them, life is sweet.

"Weaseling out of things is important to learn. It's what separates us from the animals ... except the weasel. "

by Drew on Aug 27, 2007 10:50 AM EDT reply actions

90 miles last week.

I usually do 120 to 140.

by kalais on Aug 27, 2007 11:37 AM EDT reply actions

Last Week

Started off the week with a run to Mt. Vernon and back (~36 miles), then my usual Arlington Hills lunchtime efforts for Mon-Wed (17 mile each), took advantage of some downtime on Thursday for some time on the W&OD trail past Leesburg and back (67 miles), did nothing on Friday, and then did the hottest ride of the year on Saturday (74 miles through the streets of DC, in 95+ and humid/sunny heat. A really bad idea).

So that totals 228 miles. Plus some time on the MTB, where miles aren't the measure.

Ha. Now if only I could say that represents a regular week for me.

(see, timing is everything . . .)

How's the riding once you get out of the city, Tikigiant? Shanghai seemed to hold some promise for good riding when I was there, but I'm not sure how the infrastructure/traffic compares.

by Sui Juris on Aug 27, 2007 1:08 PM EDT reply actions

A MTB club and a road club

Both have rides that start at the edge of Beijing and head out to smaller villages (oftentimes designated tourist villages where tour buses stop). These are usually 50+ mile rides. I'm looking forward to joining one, but I don't live where most of the ex-pats live, and I haven't made it out to the start of a ride yet. Plus, the pollution doesn't really get much better outside the city--the dust and car fumes are reduced, but you still can't see the sun.

by Tiki on Aug 29, 2007 4:47 AM EDT up reply actions

Great timing on this for me, too!

I went for a 16 mile MTB ride on Tues. Gradual 2k ft climb on fire road then smooth single track descent all in beautiful, shady forest. BTW, I was towing my 5-yr old on his trail-a-bike. Do I get double miles for that ?

On Friday, I went on 20-mile RT ride to a playdate at the new playground at the next town. In addition to towing the wheelsucker again, my 2-yr old came along on the top-tube baby seat. 3x miles?

On Sat, a childhood friend of my wife's was in town and her husband brought his road bike. He sprung me loose for an 85-mile ride from East Glacier to West Glacier, climbing Logan Pass on The Going-to-the-Sun Road in Glacier Park. This was my first real road ride on a road bike (cyclocross bike, actually.) The scenery was great as any TdF mountain stage that I've seen on TV. Wx was sunny and 75 F, but some wicked headwinds along the lakes. I got to do pulling and drafting for the first time and that really made a difference (for me, at least), epecially since he was like 6'2'' 200+lbs. The gusts at the pass were scary. I was brought to a stop by one gust on the descent! Another nearly slammed me into the rockface. Incredible ride and day. No, I didn't bring the kids on this one. Thanks for letting me share my experience, as my wife's heard about it enough already.

by huy on Aug 27, 2007 4:34 PM EDT reply actions

I average about

200 miles per week...

that's between 300 and 400km per week

about 10,000km per year

if I could afford the time and have the gifted ability to recover-- I would to ride 3hrs per day everyday for the rest of my life.

by orangekick on Aug 27, 2007 5:28 PM EDT reply actions

I'm currently

getting in about 150 per week. But, I'm training for a 600 mile fundraiser, so I expect that to increase over the next few weeks. I'll be doing back to back centuries in two weeks.

San Diego weather is great for riding. Even in the "winter" I manage 100+ per week.

by johnw on Aug 27, 2007 9:56 PM EDT reply actions

This week...

I did a solid 8 miles this past weekend, which sounds lame until I tell you that I was on my wife's tiny mountain bike riding into a 20 mph headwind with little Magnus secured in the kid seat on the back while simultaneously pulling a burley with Magnus' big sis tucked snugly inside... and she had a lot of heavy snacks.

by Jimbo... on Aug 28, 2007 7:46 PM EDT reply actions