Look Mom, look what I can do

Yep, I biked 4394.5 miles in 2006.  Actually I biked about 250 more miles than what's shown above, but I was on my back-up bike that I don't have a computer for so I couldn't really officially add it in, but I'm proud of myself none the less. Below is an overview of my biking for 2006 with some stats I kept.  Enjoy. 

Maintenance tally:
- 4 spokes: the rear wheel obviously wasn't made correctly from the
manufacturer and 3 of the 4 spokes that broke were from the rear and all broke within a short amount of time right after I bought the bike. It was respoked by the shop and I haven't had any problems since.  Cost?  Free.  Some nice guys at Silverdale Cyclery.  They even respoked the rear wheel for free since it was obvious it was bad craftsmanship from the manufacturer. 
- 2 complete sets of brake pads: I just bought my third set and installed
them shortly before the end of the year.  It's hilly around here, therefore, lots of braking.  Cost, $60.
- 1 derailleur cable: the bastard broke after 3200 miles on a rainy day on my way home from work.  Cost, free.  Some nice guys at Silverdale Cyclery. 
- 1 chain: lasted an incredibly long 3000 miles. Of course this wore down the free wheel too and it needed to be replaced.  Cost, $15. 
- 1 free wheel: due to the worn out chain. But I got a chain checker tool
so hopefully this won't be a problem next year.  Cost, $25. 
- 1 tube: I got 1 flat tire the first week of December on my way to work.
But I always carry a spare so it wasn't to big of a problem.  Cost, $5. 
- 1 set of pedals: the bearing went out on the right pedal after about 5000 miles (about 1500 from the previous year), but the bulk of the mileage was put on them this year so I'll count them as maintenance for this year.  Cost, $55.
Total: <$200

Commuting records:

It's 10.16 miles to work and this is the bulk of my mileage.  Probably only about 500 miles are fun rides or trips to the grocery store.  I also gave you a profile of the route I take to work below.  I told you it's hilly around these parts. 

*=I forgot my security badge and had to go back and get it. 

**=This happened on two separate occasions. 

Fun Rides:
Camping Trip:

96 miles over 2 days on a weekend camping trip.  Below is the route and the elevation for one way of the 96 mile trip.  I just back tracked the 48 mile route the second day.  It's a crazy hilly route.  Just up and down all day.  As you can tell from the profile I start out at sea level and end at sea level and am basically never traveling on flat land.  There was one uphill section where I was on the pedals for 2 miles straight, no sitting down.  I just found the right gear and thought about something else.  I also threw in a picture of my loaded down bike.  I'm still a terrible packer and probably could have done without some stuff, but at least I didn't forget anything. 

The usual fun ride route:

Seabeck Loop, 42 miles. I use the term fun loosely as most of it is fun with an amazing view, but there is one section at the beginning about 1/2 mile long where it goes from a 10% down hill grade straight to a 14% uphill grade. So it goes from awesome to suck real quick.  Also there is no where on the west side of Washington that isn't hilly.  It's ridiculous.  Anyway, this is where I usually go biking if I have nothing else to do on the weekend. 
 

Flat land ride:

I am originally from Pasco, WA (part of what is known as the Tri-Cities) on the east side of Washington, where it is much flatter.  I went back home for the 4th of July and did some riding.  Check out the route and profile for the Tri-Cities and compare it to the Seabeck Loop, I felt like I could have rode forever in the Tri-Cities. 

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