Goals, targets, resolutions.... Whatever you call them, you may be making some this time of the year. And if you are a cyclist, your goals may have something to do with your bike.
I know some people advocate setting big and audacious goals, even hairy ones sometimes. The problem with these types of goals is that you feel like a big failure if you happen to not meet them. Which is quite likely, in large part due to the size and audacity of the goal.
I'd like to advance a concept of small, modest goals. Here are the benefits of setting this type of goals:
- They are easier to reach
- They are easier to modify
- They are not likely to make you feel like a failure
For example, you could set a big, audacious goal like this:
I WILL RIDE MY BIKE TO WORK THIS YEAR EVERY DAY, NO MATTER WHAT, RAIN OR SHINE!
Unless you are already fully committed to a car-free lifestyle, there are several things wrong with this goal.
- It sets you up for failure. Anything could come up, and you know it will, and you have failed.
- There is no middle ground: it's either complete success, or else it's failure.
- There is no way to redeem the failure. If for some reason you cannot, or choose not to ride on a given day, you have already failed for the whole year.
Instead, you could set a small, modest goal like this:
I will ride my bike x-number of miles this year.
This type of goal has some advantages.
- It can be broken up into manageable monthly, weekly and daily chunks.
- You can exceed you goal. If you exceed it temporarily, it's easier to forgive yourself if you fall behind another time.
- Conversely, if you've fallen behind, you can recalculate your monthly and weekly requirements for the remainder of the year, and still catch up.
- Even if you don't catch up, you haven't completely failed. Maybe you've biked 800 miles rather than a thousand. That's not bad!
Don't ruin your biking experience by setting yourself up for failure. Especially if you are a relatively new cyclist. Try some small, modest goals that will help enhance your enjoyment of cycling. Like these:
- I will keep my biking stuff in one place, so it's convenient for me to hop on my bike when I feel like it.
- I will make a list of places that are easy for me to get to by bike, and try to ride there whenever I can.
- I will challenge myself a couple of times a month to do a bike ride that tests my comfort zone (longer distance, bad weather, heavier traffic, etc.)
- When making my daily transportation choices, I will consider my bike as a viable option.
The Commute By Bike blog ran this quote a few days ago, from the transportation alternatives coordinator for the city of Dallas:
“We have this picture of cycling commuters as being like supermen, and that discourages other people from doing it. When I came into this job, our thinking was we needed to enable cyclists to make 40-mile bike trips. Now my thinking is we need to have development in place that allows a cyclist to make a one-mile bike trip.”
Here's to the New Year, and millions of car-bound Chicagoans making the the switch to the one-mile bike trip.























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