and I Thought My 125 Consecutive Days Was Impressive.

From http://www.roadbikerider.com/currentissue.htm:

Energizer Roadie

5,485 consecutive days.

That's how many Jim Langley has ridden for at least one hour on the road, trail or trainer.

Some of you know this amazing cyclist from his work at RBR. Jim has written several product reviews, authored the eBook titled Your Home Bicycle Workshop, and he moderates the wheels and equipment forums on the Premium Site's Roadie Rap. He also was part of the Pavelka, Matheny, Martin & Langley editorial team at Bicycling magazine from the mid 1980s to the late '90s.

Every year about this time we ask Jim to update us on his cycling streak. It began on Dec. 30, 1993, on his first ride back after breaking his hip on black ice (he still has 3 screws in there). For the record, Jim is 55 years old, 5-foot-11, 160 lbs., works as content director for SmartEtailing.com, and lives in Santa Cruz, California, where he once was a pro bike mechanic.

Don't think the ride streak rules Jim's life. He's also a champion table tennis player and an authority on old bikes and collectibles. He taught himself HTML and built one of the most useful websites in cycling at http://www.jimlangley.net


5,485 Rides . . . and Counting By Jim Langley

Dec. 29 marked the close of my 15th year of riding every day. Looking back at 2008, it was a great 365 days on the bike with only one hiccup, which I'll get to in a moment.

As I mentioned in last year's update, I'm now on the local Team Bicycle Trip masters racing team, which is my main motivation to get on the bike every day and keep improving. There are fun races to look forward to, expert individual coaching from the team's Mark Edwards (workout planning, nutritional advice, power meter data analysis), and group training rides that go off like clockwork at least 3 days a week.

Firing me up for 2009 is the fact that I'm joining the 55+ age group. I have high hopes for using my improving fitness to exceed 2008's results. I placed in most of the important races -- even won one -- lost a few more pounds, got stronger and smarter . . . and didn't miss a ride all year.

I have made some important training adjustments, though, and I think they help a lot.

For one, my easy days continue to get easier. I now spin gently for an hour outside or in, always babying my legs so that they're fully recovered for the next team training ride where we push ourselves to the max.

I'm also killing myself more on the indoor trainer. I used to mostly spin on it (and only on rainy days), but I now plan trainer rides to complement my other workouts. This is making me even fitter than I would be only riding outdoors.

How so? What the trainer lets me do is maintain a specific effort level. That's hard outside. For example, I'll do 20-minute repeats holding 260 watts. Workouts like this are amazing for training your metabolism. When crunch time comes in races or club training, you can be one of the riders who hangs in there.

I've also found that even intense indoor workouts are less likely to cause injury because the effort is so constant. This makes them easier to recover from too.

Now, about that hiccup I mentioned.

I learned during a physical in September that I had a left inguinal hernia. It required surgery (so that's what that burning pain is down there) using a mesh patch similar to a cut-tire boot.

The surgeon scared me when he said I wouldn't be capable of anything more than an easy walk for a few days after the operation. I explained how committed I was to riding, but he just laughed and said there was no way I'd be able to get on a bike due to swelling in the groin and general discomfort.

This made me consider changing the surgery date so that I could at least finish my 15th year of rides, but it was risky to delay the operation. I decided to go ahead with the repair and try to find a way to ride anyway.

The solution was to put a beach cruiser on my trainer. Its huge, padded seat and bolt-upright riding position gave me ample support and prevented bending over. The only problem was getting onto the thing. I had to put foot stools beside the bike.

Using this system I was able to spin easy and keep the streak alive. Disaster averted! Now Year 16 is already 10 days underway.