Setting goals for 2012

For 2011 I personally set 3 goals, you can read about them fully on my post from 1/1/2011. Basically they were to lose 30 lbs (goal weight of 255, I’m a big guy), inline skate 100 miles (I do like me some skating, I’m a freak I know this) and ride a bike 500 miles. At the beginning of 2011 the bike I had was a 2004 Diamondback XTS Moto, not exactly something you could see yourself riding 500 miles on (at least not me). So in June I picked up a Cannondale Quick CX 1 and began my journey.

As I posted back in November, I met the goal of riding 500 miles on the bike, and I fully intended to hit the skating goal of 100 miles. I am sad to say however, that I didn’t skate 100 miles, and I didn’t lose 30lbs last year, more like 7lbs. The weight was a rather lofty goal, but skating was definitely doable. I did manage to skate ~55 miles, but I really fell in love with cycling last year, so the skating definitely fell by the way side.

My final bicycling total for 2011 was 572.36 miles, and while looking at other people’s riding numbers, it isn’t much, it was a great achievement for me, and hopefully a great start to many years of riding.

For 2012 I am setting some new goals, but this time I am not going to say “I want to lost the remaining 23lbs (I did lose/keep off 7lbs in 2011). I am not going to set any inline skating goals, while I hope to still skate some in 2012. I am also not going to set an official mileage goal, though I would think that 12-1500 should be doable with the other goals listed below.

I am going to set the following goals, and hopefully they will help me towards getting in shape and losing weight, the weight is not the focus. With all of the following goals, I would hope that I can find some friends, or make some new ones, that want to participate with me. If so, please use the Contact form on the About page.

1. LiveSTRONG Challenge Davis Century Ride, Davis, CA, June 2012 (link)
   My primary goal is to participate in the LiveSTRONG Challenge in Davis California on June 24, 2012. I am planning to attempt the 100 mile ride that hot day in June, in order to do this, I have a lot of training to do. As part of the LiveSTRONG Challenge I am working to raise money to raise awareness and fight cancer, it hit close to home in 2011 as my father was diagnosed with prostate cancer. You can donate to my fund raising at http://laf.livestrong.org/goto/chrishammond I appreciate any and all donations, no matter how large or small! If you are interested in riding with me (please do) you can join Team DotNetNuke for the challenge, even if you don’t want to ride the 100 mile ride, you can do a shorter distance as part of the challenge.
2. Wine Country Metric Century, Santa Rosa, CA May 2012 (link)
   In May of 2012 I plan to partake tin the Wine Country Century (metric) put on by the Santa Rosa Cycling Club. I hope that this will be right in line with my LiveSTRONG training, 62 miles on a Saturday in early May. Registration for this opens in February 2012, so hopefully I can get in as there is a limit to the number of registrants.
3. Tierra Bella 2012 60k, Gilroy, CA April 2012 (link)
   As prep for the above to events I hope to take part in the 60k route of the 2012 Tierra Bella bike ride put on by the Almaden Cycle Touring Club near Gilroy California. This will be around 35 miles. Registration is open, though I haven’t yet registered as I am waiting to see if my wife is going to participate in this as well.
4. Marin Triathlon (sprint), Marin County, CA, November 2012 (link)
   To close out the year, I am planning to participate in my first triathlon. I’m not a runner, not really a fan of it, I used to swim a lot as a kid, so I am hoping that with the riding to get ready for the LiveSTRONG Challenge I will manage to get in shape enough that I can take part in and complete my first sprint triathlon. My wife is also likely going to do this one as well.

Following my goals? Well, you can follow my rides and stats by checking out my Strava.com profile. I’ll be doing another writeup here in the next week on strava.com and why I think it is the best website for tracking rides, and even finding new ones. I just signed up for it about a week ago, and I am totally addicted to it now. Stay tuned for that post.