2010 Goal List

Part of the way I talked myself into resurrecting the blog for 2010 was deciding to put my poor blogging performance in 2009 behind me. I have 15-20 draft posts sitting in my inbox for 2009 that would take me forever to finalize and update, and the prospect of doing that was so overwhelming that I almost deleted the whole website.

Instead, I decided to make a clean break and start fresh in 2010. And in my second post of 2010, I'm already going back. At least a little bit. See, before I can articulate my 2010 goal list, I have to at least briefly summarize how I did on my 2009 Goal List, which I wrote and posted before bailing out on the rest of 2009.

So here is the 2009 quick summary: I had eleven goals for 2009, and made five of them. I did ride the Tour de Noble, I rode in Idyllwild, I rode Cowles and Pyles Peak, I joined (but didn't participate in) a MTB Patrol, I did an out of state ride, and I controlled my spending (somewhat). If I give myself a half point for the Patrol and half a point for controlling spending, that makes 5 goals achieved.

I did not: Ride the Spring to Sycamore Canyon ride, Ride SART, do the Archipelago backwards, do an organized MTB event or race, and ride Otay Mountain.

So I have something to shoot for in 2010.

Now, enough of the past, I'm all about looking forward in 2010, so here's my 2010 goal list:

1. Keep the blog updated. Its fun for me to look back and read old ride reports from 2008, so one major goal this year is to stay on top of the blogging.

2. Ride new dirt. I'm blessed to live in San Diego, where we have great year around riding weather and a fair number of trails to choose from. But truthfully, I've gotten a little bored with the local San Diego MTB scene. At the end of 2009 I spent several weekends in the Laguna Mountains riding some new trails, and enjoyed that. In 2010, I want to find and ride some new stuff. I don't care whether its local trails I've never ridden or stuff a little farther away, but I'm craving some diversity. I'm not putting a specific number on the amount of "new dirt" rides I want to do, but I'm planning to make it a priority.

3. Finish off parts of the 2009 goal list. I'd like to ride SART, do an organized MTB ride and do my Archipelago ride backwards. I don't care as much about Spring to Sycamore, or Otay Mountain, though if they happen, great.

4. Do more night rides. I almost always enjoy the rare times I do night rides, and want to do them more in 2010.

5. Do a roadie century. I'm new to the road bike, but this seems like a worthwhile goal for 2010. I'll have to build to it, and I don't care whether the 100 miles are part of a sponsored event or around my neighborhood by myself, I just want to do a full century ride at some point this year.

6. Do an organized road ride event. Much like the MTB version, I'd like to do a roadie event this year. Maybe the Gran Fondo Colagno, maybe the Bike the Bay ride, maybe something else. The distance isn't important, just riding in the event is the goal.

7. Do not buy a bike. I have a great mountain bike. I have a great road bike. I purchased bikes in 2007, 2008 (multiple), and 2009. Enough. No new bikes.

8. Find a way to incorporate ministry and riding. I enjoy riding bikes. I am passionate about my faith. Yet for the most part these days, the two rarely intersect. Skyline Cycling was a huge part of my early mountainbiking life, but the fact that I don't attend there anymore and the club folded means that I'm not presently involved in any biking ministry. I want to change that, or at a minimum, be much more purposeful about involving my spiritual life in my riding life.

9. Ride more consistently. In 2008 and 2009, I had periods of time where I would go weeks between rides. While I want to ensure that I maintain proper priorities in 2010, its also important to me to avoid those kind of multi-week layoffs that really hurt my endurance and fitness. Whether its mixing in more road rides, doing more night rides, or getting up early and riding when I know I have a busy day coming, I want to be more consistent and not allow my fitness to slip this year.

10. Get better at working on my bikes. I've been riding on a bald rear tire for three months because I don't know how to change my tubeless tires. I broke a chain on a recent ride and needed Billy to repair it so that I could keep riding. I have been plagued by minor ghost shifting issues since Moab in May. My rear hydraulic brake has been performing poorly, but I don't know how to fix it or bleed the lines. That all has to change in 2010. Especially now that I have a road bike as well, I need to learn how to repair and maintain my stuff.

So there you go. Its nice to have some goals to shoot for this year, and I'm optimistic about achieving all of them if I stay committed and purposeful. We'll see how it goes.