2016 in numbers

Panorama from the top of Mount Olympus in November, by Raj Nayar

At the end of the December I like to crunch my stats from Strava, and see how far the year took me. Even before the end of 2015, I knew I wouldn't come close to eclipsing last year's numbers — 5,000 miles of riding, 1,700 miles of running, 850,000 feet of climbing, and 41 days of moving time. And it's true, I didn't come close — to any number but the moving time. In 2016, I *still* spent nearly 41 days on the move despite logging a paltry 2,747 miles of riding, 1,491 miles of running, and 638,701 feet climbing.

Wow. I knew I'd become slower, but I really had no idea.

Of course, Strava can't take into account sheer effort — moving through snow, battling gale-force winds, or high altitudes. Strava made a mockery of my *hardest day on a bike ever* by estimating a power output of 5 watts and energy burn of 217 calories — because it took me nearly 15 hours to ride 33 flat miles (into a 30-40 mph headwind atop fragile snow crust of a frozen Norton Sound.) Strava doesn't know how tough it is to pedal my studded-tire fat bike up these relentless Colorado grades. Strava doesn't care. 

But also, numbers don't lie. I was surprised to see such a high moving time when I wasn't actively training for most of the months of 2016, and only had one big race, which doesn't look all that impressive on paper — a least relative to the effort it took to cover that distance (952.4 miles in 17.2 days.) 

I spent four months off my bike between March and July, thanks to carpal tunnel syndrome. I admit to being disappointed my running total wasn't higher because of this, but I was admittedly pretty lazy during the summer (it's all relative I suppose.) This year, I took the time to break the stats down by month. I know these numbers aren't interesting to anyone but me. I mainly make this post to have it on record.

January 

118.6 miles run, 34,165 feet of climbing
238.4 miles ride, 19,632 feet of climbing

 February 

41.9 miles run, 6,270 feet of climbing
660.8 miles ride, 67,416 feet of climbing

March 

21.9 miles run 1,903 feet of climbing
923.3 miles ride, 18,254 feet of climbing

April 

180.9 miles run, 36,959 feet of climbing
0 miles ride

May 

189.7 miles run, 46,198 feet of climbing
0 miles ride

 June 

174.7 miles run, 42,122 feet of climbing
0 miles ride

July 

162.5 miles run, 43,738  feet of climbing
79.9 miles ride, 13,783 feet of climbing

August 

145.9 miles run 41,749 feet of climbing
115.9 miles ride 14,937 feet of climbing

 September 

142.5 miles run 42,983 feet of climbing
112.1 miles ride 16,142 feet of climbing

October 

149 miles run, 40,433 feet of climbing
123.3 miles ride, 21,499 feet of climbing

 November 

99.5 miles run 30,095  feet of climbing
196.4 miles ride, 30,991 feet of climbing

 December 

62.3 miles run, 14,672 feet of climbing
297.4 miles ride, 35,703 feet of climbing

Totals:

Running: 393:36, 1,491 miles, 387,920 feet climbing
Cycling: 576:09, 2,747.5 miles, 250,781 feet climbing

Cumulative distance: 4,238.5 miles
Total moving time: 969 hours and 45 minutes (40.4 days)
Cumulative climbing: 638,701 feet