Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Goals for 2009

I've never been a big believer in New Year's resolutions. They always seem to start with the best intentions, but typically fall on the floor by the end of January (often by the end of January 1st).

That said, I am a big fan of goals. As a survivor of many (possibly too many) semi-annual performance reviews at work, I've come to see the wisdom of S.M.A.R.T. goals: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Timely.

My only real cycling goal for 2008 was to complete 2008 miles total distance. Despite many prolonged periods of inactivity, I managed to eek out about 2188 miles. Not bad, but I know I can do much better.

S.M.A.R.T. Goals

Here are my S.M.A.R.T. goals for 2009, in various (and often overlapping) categories:

Cycling
  • 3650 total miles for 2009 (average 10 miles/day)
  • Complete at least 1 century ride per month
  • Complete at least one 1000 mile month
  • Commute to work by bike (more on this later)
  • Complete the following organized bike rides:
    • RSVP
    • Flying Wheels Century (from house)
    • Livestrong Seattle
    • Reach the Beach
    • Worst Day of the Year
    • McClinchy Mile
    • Tulip Pedal
    • Daffodil Classic
    • May Day Metric
    • Skagit Spring Classic
    • Ride of Silence
Other Activities
  • Complete 52 hikes in 2009 (average 1 hike/week -- we need to come up with a definition of "a hike")
Health and Fitness
  • Get at or below 220 pounds (100 kilograms) by July 31
  • Get at or below 200 pounds (91 kilograms) by December 31
  • Do 100 push-ups in a row
Other Goals

I have a few other goals that are somewhat nebulous and therefore do not meet the S.M.A.R.T. criteria. These include:

Car Lite
  • Start grocery shopping by bike
  • Take at least one car-free vacation:
    • Cle Elum via Sammamish River Trail and Iron Horse Trial
    • Abbotsford, BC mostly via WA Highway 9
    • Anacortes and the San Juan Islands
    • Port Townsend, maybe even Port Angeles
Bike Mechanics
  • Build a usable home bike workshop
  • Learn to perform all routine bicycle maintenance
  • Learn to build wheels
  • Build a bike (probably a single-speed 29er) from a frame and individual components
Diet and Nutrition
  • More home cooking, less restaurants
  • More raw/less-processed foods, less over-processed crap
Outdoor Activities
  • Camping:
    • Car camping
    • Plane camping
    • Bikepacking
    • Backpacking
  • Learn to swim well enough to be comfortable in the water
  • Learn to kayak
  • Buy (a) kayak(s)

3 comments:

Maciej said...

Keith
Maciej from Team Polska here.
If you or Kasia are interested in our jerseys let me know. chudymtb@yahoo.com.

Anonymous said...

Great cycilng goals! Just wanted to let you know that RSVP is almost sold out.

keithmo said...

Thanks! With a little luck, we'll get most (if not all) done this year.

I saw on Cascade's twitter feed that there's only about 200 spots left for RSVP 2009. Not a problem -- Kasia & I registered at 12:07AM on New Year's Day. (We're currently in Poland, so that was actually 9:07AM here...)

This will be our first RSVP, and we're really looking forward to it.