How Many Miles Must We March

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If you are a long(ish) distance cyclist how do you measure your achievements against those of others? Obviously there is no simple, meaningful co‎mparison but the Eddington Number has a damned good go. Put simply your Eddington number is the number of times you have cycled that many miles in a day.

So 10 means you have cycled 10 miles on 10 occasions. Obviously if your Eddington number is 10 ‎you will want to try and avoid any conversation involving Eddington numbers!

So what is mine? Dunno. Or rather, dunno exactly. It is definitely higher than 75 and probably lower than 85. I reckon 78-80 would be a fair guess. As a man who can confidently expect his cycling prowess to decline in the coming years this is unlikely to improve much. I tend to plan my rides to not exceed 80 miles per day but the odd cock-up means I might reach an EN of 90. 

‎So what about my 10k miles in a year attempt? And how about barmy Steve Abrahams attempt on the world record?

Well, in my case it is going surprisingly well. In less than 4 months I have done more than 4000 miles!  The show is nowhere near over and the fat lady isn't even fat yet but I am hopefull. Between you and me I am now aiming for 12,428  (20,000 km) but don't tell a soul!

As for Steve Abrams......in late March he was well ahead of record pace when a twat on a moped knocked him off, breaking his ankle.  ‎Most people (Ok, me) would have called it a day but Steve is British, therefore stupid. He is back on a bike and now has a total of over 17,000 miles - about 1200 miles behind record pace. Steve WILL beat the record, the only question is whether he will beat the Yank. The Yank is, naturally, cycling in the sunshine with lavish support and a complete absence of kamikaze mopeds.



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