Goal Tending

The six things I'm going to do to improve (and have fun) as a cyclist this year.

You can’t tell, but I’m wearing bike shorts under these pants.

Leg Day is a newsletter about pursuing joy as a city cyclist.

2024 was my first full year as a cyclist. I logged 2,095 miles on the bike, mostly in New York, but also in Louisville, D.C., Medellin, Halifax, and Watopia. My longest ride was 50 miles, an odd tour of not-so-scenic Staten Island. Though I mostly rode alone—to meetings in Manhattan, around the loop in Prospect Park, on a stationary trainer in my basement—biking has proved to be a great way to both meet new, excellent people and deepen existing, cherished relationships.

So far, everything I’ve put into the hobby, I’ve gotten back in spades. It seems clear to me that there’s so much more I can experience and learn by continuing to follow what feels interesting, exciting, and, dare I say it, fun.

I’ve decided I’d like to take a slightly more structured approach to my biking this year. I’ve spent the last week thinking about the areas of the hobby/sport I want to explore more completely, the skills I want to develop, and the types of adventures I want to pursue. I am not going to get a coach or try and join a racing team (yet?) or set myself some arbitrary power-to-weight ratio goal that I’d have to starve myself to hit (never). But I’d like to have some goal posts I can aim for over the next twelve months.

After all, what’s more fun than a functional structural framework?

1. Learn how to fix a flat tire.

I am starting here because it is by far the most glaring, disqualifying gap in my cycling knowledge. The fact that I have writing about biking for over a year with full knowledge that I could be completely immobilized by a particularly sharp pebble is, frankly, an embarrassment. This year, I correct the mistake.

Hopefully, I learn well enough to teach all of you.

2. Ride in the Five Boro Bike Tour.

I’ve yo-yo’ed in feeling toward the Five Boro Bike Tour. The event, run each year by bike education organization Bike New York, initially sounded cool. Closing 40 miles of streets including the Verazzano bridge to car traffic is something I can always get behind.

Me and who and who and who.

But I’ve heard grumblings from seasoned city cyclists that the experience of actually riding on the narrow course can be frustrating, especially since the event attracts a decent number of novice riders who aren’t used to riding such a distance. And anyway, if you’re the type of fixed gear rider who can deftly weave through the narrow spaces between Cybertrucks and carriages, it doesn’t matter if they’re there.

I figure this is the year I decide for myself.

3. Go on a bikepacking trip.

For most of my life, you could reasonably call me camping averse. But I’ve been recently feeling a call to the wild. I owe it all to Marcus Gomersall of Probably Riding, whose video about a solo trip in a mountainous part of Korea glamorized the idea of making yourself a cup of coffee with a beautiful backdrop just enough for me to think I should try doing it myself. Don’t worry, I am not of the misconception that I can shortcut straight to solo camping without consequences. I’m planning to try going on a group trip, likely with Joe at 718 Outdoors, first. Then, I’ll do one with my biker friends. THEN I’ll think about going into the woods with my humble kettle on my own.

4. Become a more active safe streets advocate.

The most moved I’ve been as a cyclist so far was when I rode with a mass of other bikers protesting the most dangerous year for cyclists that had, to date ever happened. This was October 2023. Last year, 119 pedestrians died from traffic violence in New York City. It’s clear the work of Vision Zero, the just-over-a-decade-old plan to eliminate traffic deaths in New York, is not over. This year, I would like to grow in my understanding of the issue and develop in my ability to advocate for kind of city I’d like to live in.

5. Conquer the Dirty Dozen.

I spent last weekend in Pittsburgh, conveniently located halfway between my parents house in Louisville, Kentucky and my apartment in Brooklyn. Like many New York City residents dropped into a smaller urban environment, I was thoroughly charmed by the more approachable, gentler life people seemed to be experiencing. Pittsburg has ample sprawling parks, dense, artsy neighborhoods, and plenty of cycling infrastructure. It also has an absurd number of handsome bridges, weirdly steep streets, and affordable two-bedroom apartments.

Alas, I looked how long it would take me to get to a dinner reservation about 2 miles away. By car, 11 minutes. By public transit, 47. So close! Still, I’d like to return and sample more of the coffee shops I didn’t have time to try during my brief visit¹.

So, I have decided I will ride in next year’s Dirty Dozen Hill Climb. The event is a race held over thirteen truly steep streets spread throughout the city. The effort required seems brutally hard, but like, in a fun way. The vibe I get from the above video, from my personal YouTube hero Mitch Boyer, feels a lot like that of the New York City marathon. There’s camaraderie among the competitors and a lot of encouraging spectators.

Actually finishing the race without falling or putting my foot down will require me to actually train and get a lot stronger, but also probably to get a new bike. No shame in that!

6. Meet someone at the New York City Department of Transportation.

Maybe then someone will respond to my emails :/

They ASKED me to send questions!!

1. I only made it to the Commonplace location in Squirrel Hill. Great cortado, decent breakfast burrito.