Calling this a challenge is right!

During Love to Ride challenge periods, I ride more than usual. To be more specific, I make a special effort to ride to work every day. No matter how much my legs like pedaling, that can actually get rather tough.

It means giving up my weekly off-bikes day, which I see as a day to recover after my long Sunday ride. Just now, riding home after work means pedaling in 100+ degree heat indices. It makes me wish I had a cooling vest waiting for me at home.

For the most part, I leave my weekday morning rides as they are. I\’ve started to do some work at riding faster for up to five minutes at a time, at least one day a week. But today is only September 5, and I mustn\’t burn myself out.

Participating in Love to Ride, whether during a Challenge period or not, lets you earn badges. Past rides may be entered for the purpose of earning badges (although past rides don\’t count towards whatever Challenge is in progress). That\’s how I got the Legend Badge: 10,000 miles! (In fact, I\’ve earned the Legend twice over and then some!)

The Supercomputer Badge (ride to work 200 times in a calendar year) has so far eluded me. Living only one mile from work makes it too easy for me to walk on those days when I don\’t feel like riding to work. So far in 2019, I have only 39% of the ride-to-work days needed, and there aren\’t enough work days left in the year for me to make it.

But there\’s always 2020. Maybe next year I\’ll be up to the Supercommuter Challenge? To call that a challenge is definitely right!