After traveling for three weeks of July, I knew August would be a chance to do a lot of riding around home.
I looked at the weather app, which provides two weeks’ worth of forecasts, and every day was looking good. And that kept happening as the days passed.
Then I thought, hey, I have a shot at riding every single day in August.
So I did.
My principal purpose for bicycling is to enjoy the outdoors and explore, as well as clear my head. And good weather is a terrible thing to waste. It’s tended to happen over the past few years that after the July heat wave (or June’s anymore), we get a streak of great cycling weather through August and into September.
In fact, I set a PR of riding 31 days straight in 2020, from late July into August. It was remarkable given that my tough job had gotten tougher at that time because of a cyberattack. I guess I needed to get out — though that, of course, was the first pandemic year, too, and there was nothing else to do besides work and go outside.
This year, the streak took me all around the suburbs: my usual DuPage County loops, my favorite Busse Woods in Cook County, my new fascination of Palatine’s routes and the Deer Grove Forest Preserve, the Kane County countryside, and finally, Chicago’s lakefront when Lake Shore Drive was closed for Bike the Drive.
The streaking cycling world
Now I know that to many bicyclists, 31 days in a row of riding is no big deal.
The pros in the Tour de France or any grand tour are riding 21 days straight — and about 2,100 miles. With a lot of mountains. Most of the time, those cyclists ride on the “off days,” too, lest their legs tighten up too much for the next race day.
I rode neither mountains nor that many miles in my 31 days.
Beyond that are the ultra-distance cyclists, such as those trying to beat record times riding across the country or even the world. I’m reading Lon Haldeman’s book about his double-transcontinental record in 1981, from New York City to Santa Monica and back, in 24 days.
And I read Jenny Graham‘s book about her “record-breaking pedal around the planet” in 2018: About 18,000 miles in 124 days and 11 hours, unsupported with a lot of all-weather camping. She took no days off; in fact she felt guilty when she allowed herself a full night’s sleep.
Lael Wilcox broke the women’s record in 2024, doing the ride in 108.5 days. There are men’s records, too.
Again, I did nothing like any of that.
On the amateur side, I know of a rider in the Solitary Cycling Facebook group, Raymond Gable, who says he’s ridden more than 2,900 days in a row. He has been posting pictures from his rides every day in Frederick County, Maryland, or on his travels. He doesn’t always give his mileage, but he usually shows his road bike in the remote countryside.
Here in our suburbs, Schaumburg again this year held its Business Bike Classic as well as a Family and Friends Classic, where teams of four compete to ride the most miles in June. I was the leading individual on the Family and Friends side, but I would not have won on the Business side; the winner there rode about 1,300 miles in 2024 and I presume roughly the same this year. (I rode 1,182 in June.)
I’m sure I can also find mile collectors in Strava even within my small friend group from our area.
So I know where I’m at here. I always rode back home or to my car — no camping. No Tour de France or transcontinental-racing mileage. And by no means am I the only bicyclist in the Chicago area to ride a lot.
But I did ride all 31 days in August, for a total of 1,387 miles, a new month’s best for me.
How I can do it
My August rides averaged 44.7 miles a day, with the lowest day’s total at 35 miles and the longest on Aug. 31, 75 miles. On weekdays I’m usually riding 38-42 miles.
Yes, I do think this is a lot of miles for someone who’s not racing or ultra-distancing or getting paid for it in any way, and who’s not some superior athlete. I’m fortunate that I’m now semiretired, so I have more time, especially in the glorious summer.
How did I get to riding these kinds of miles? I’ve been riding this seriously since 2003, amassing 4,000 to 6,000 miles a year, with the exception of an injury year, and even more last year, my first full year semiretired. I was a runner and rode a little before the 2000s.
In all that time, I normally have not built riding streaks. Other than the 31 days in 2020, I’ve had streaks only in the teens — 14 days of 18 days maybe, usually in September and October. Early each year I normally can’t ride every day because I simply get tired.
Which leads me to say that I understand the virtues of resting by taking days off the bike. Recovery time is important and I need it like anybody. Thankfully I’m not gunning for speed — in fact, this would be a terrible way to train for racing.
But you know, this August, it was nice out.
The parameters
I don’t know if Raymond Gable above has had minimum requirements for each of his more than 2,900 rides. I loosely do.
I’ve always wanted at least 20 miles each day I’ve ridden over the years. A few times early in the year I might live with 15. And if it were any kind of difficult ride, the mileage wouldn’t matter. A dozen miles in the Pyrenees? Yeah, that counts.
The point being, a ride around the block just to keep the streak going doesn’t count for me.
This year in the summer, 40 miles each day has been my base. If I’m tired or tapering for a larger ride, I’ll go down into the mid-30s. If I’m feeling good, maybe I’ll hit the mid-40s or even 50. But averaging about 40 a day is what I’ve found to be sustainable for me.
And as I said, speed doesn’t matter. My moving average is around 15.5 mph, maybe lower when I’m tired or facing challenging conditions, maybe 16 mph when conditions are ideal and I’m feeling good. (Maybe 17 when riding with others paceline-style.)
So, how did the month go?
I began the month with a 50-mile ride, on a Friday. That’s a lot for me on a weekday, but it was a gorgeous day.
I rode only 40 that Saturday, then 62 for a metric century on one of my favorite Lake County routes, Schaumburg to Long Grove to Wauconda to Lake Zurich and back home.
I began the following week with normal rides, and then a heat wave came in. I’ve come to enjoy summer morning rides, which is something for me since I used to work second shift and not wake up until at least 11 a.m. But waking up early has been necessary on the hot days.
A couple of rides with the local club or on my own in the 50-mile range made up the weekend, and suddenly I was 10 days in.
Halfway point
The following week, I was vacillating between indulging in the good weather and cutting back. Mile counts were in either the high 40s or mid-30s.
I had to take it easy later in the week in preparation for the Roun’da Manure Bicycle Tour in Sharon, Wisconsin, where a friend and I rode 62, at a good pace.
That was on Aug. 16, and I don’t mind telling you I was already feeling the fatigue in my legs. The following days, the average speeds crept lower, and any little hill became harder; I had to shift down and just spin.
I was clearly losing the elasticity in my legs. Again, good thing I wasn’t racing.
The Sharon ride was on a Saturday, and I rode 50 the following Sunday because Sunday rides are still the best.
But I stuck to right around 40 per day for the following week — and easier routes, like rides through Palatine to the scenic Deer Grove trails, which I’ve finally embraced this year.
Homestretch
The following weekend, on Aug. 23, I rode to the Fox River Trail and checked out the new Longmeadow Parkway trail. The new road with bridges over the Fox River and Route 31 happens to be a little hilly. Plus I continued a little north into Algonquin neighborhoods, which also proved hilly.
Lovely as it was, it was a little much for my tired legs. I finished with 48.6 miles, and I had to keep the following Sunday ride to a mere 38.
I would have to behave with my mileage all of that following week, because Bike the Drive was coming up the next Sunday. Bike the Drive takes place on a Lake Shore Drive free of cars for four hours, and each time I ride it, I like to make the most of those four hours and do at least two of the 30-mile loops.
So I needed to ride easy. I stayed on my simpler routes — DuPage County neighborhoods, Busse Woods, South Barrington neighborhoods — and tapered on both distance and speed as the week wore on.
That became important also because I didn’t want to get too tired for, you know, life. It was getting so that too big of a ride would leave me too drained and therefore crabby. That’s one way I know I’m riding too much.
But hey, it was still nice out.
The final day: Bike the Drive
Despite tired legs, I was pumped up as always for Bike the Drive. It’s almost always a glorious ride as the sun comes up over Lake Michigan, and this year’s weather was especially good with, shockingly, little to no wind.
Starting from the South Side, I was even more fortunate when I got to ride behind about 20 members of the Major Taylor Cycling Club of Chicago. I had a peloton to ride with for 12 miles at just under 20 mph.
The Major Taylor riders decided to hit a rest stop before I wanted to, so I rode off on my own, trying to maintain the pace they set me on.
I started feeling tired after my first 30-mile loop, but I managed to maintain a 17 mph moving average by cruising each way on the flat LSD, with no breeze to challenge me. I finished the two loops, 60 miles, in just three and a half hours. I rode another 7 miles or so on the open drive, then had to take the Lakefront Trail back to my Hyde Park start. Read more about this year’s Bike the Drive.
I finished with 75 miles, and my 31 days of riding in August were over. My hamstrings were barking, but what a way to finish the month.
I rode a couple more days to start September, and finally a day was rained out, ending the full streak at 36 days. After the day off, I rode another couple of days. But on the day I finished writing this, I decided to skip riding because I felt too tired to take on the cool breeze or even get dressed for it.
When I don’t even feel like getting geared up, that’s when I know it’s time to take a break and not think about the bike other than to remember accomplishments. My 31-day August certainly was one to remember.
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