Once again 2021 proved to a bigger than normal year for me when it came to biking. I didn’t top my 2020 stats, but it still was my second biggest year ever. As of this writing I’m at just over 1700 miles, and probably won’t increase that due to travel.

I started the year with a lot of fat bike riding, in particular around the ice sidewalk on Silver Lake. A friend of mine plows a path each winter on the ice for people to walk and bike on, and it’s a great way to get in a few miles of flat terrain and ride on a frozen lake. I even hooked up the GoPro last year and filmed a regular speed loop.

I also kept up my regular coffee bike rides, although they got a lot less frequent when a new Caribou Coffee opened up less than a mile away. I found myself walking more often than biking most mornings. However, that didn’t happen until I was well into my #30daysofbiking challenge in the month of April. I had joined this challenge last year and my streak extended all the way till August. This year, due to some vacations, I got my 30 days in and called it good. It was a lot of fun to kick off the biking year strong with a 30 day streak.

Once summer hit I got back to regular Beer & Bikes rides, as well as my typical Sunday morning partypace rides. Once August hit it was time for the annual Beer & Bikes bikepacking trip which once again brought us to Carver Lake Park. We had a few folks join us, and the ride home was really solid.

Due to travel and other activities (like hiking the Superior Hiking Trail) my biking mileage took a huge downturn in the fall. I only managed a few rides in all of September, before being able to get back out there with some 50 mile efforts in October. I signed up to bike the Tuscobia 80 winter ultra on New Years Day, and I needed a lot more mileage if I was gong to be ready.

So far this fall I’ve managed a half dozen 40+ mile rides, as well as a handful of 20 and 30 milers. I’ve tried to do most of these rides on the fat bike to get used to pedaling a big heavy bike around. To say it’s been a challenge would be putting it lightly. Moving from a gravel bike to a heavy fat tire for hours and hours really take a toll. It’s been fun to challenge myself though and I’m excited to see how Tuscobia shakes out.

As for next year I am going to try and get myself registered for a few actual events, and I want to ensure I get in at least three bikepacking trips for the year. I’ve got all the gear, it’s usually just a matter of committing the time to getting out there. I’m also looking forward to another solid year of riding with my regular biking groups and seeing if I can keep up the 1700-2300 miles per year average that I’ve been doing. And as always, I need to keep up my commitment to use human power to run my errands when I can, and not always just jump in the car.

I hope you had a great year of biking as well, and can’t wait to spin some wheels in 2021!