Goal setting for motivation

This is the time of year when finding time to ride gets difficult, work gets very, very busy. I teach mostly high school seniors, and 3 weeks before graduation, they're finally worried about passing my class. Huh! Go figure. Papers that are stacked up on my desk need to be graded, and loose ends must be neatly tied up before Pomp and Circumstance starts filling the air of our football field. Finding time on the bike gets difficult. My mileage chart from last year shows that May, June and July were my lowest millage months. In order to avoid this mid-summer lull, I've established some goals that so far, have kept me motivated.

I don't think my specific goals are that important, but the setting of an overall goal and then breaking it down into smaller chunks is definitely something that cyclists from beginners to pros can benefit from. Here's what's keeping me on the bike...

Goal 1: Long-Term mileage goal. Last year I broke a personal record in terms of total mileage with over 2500 miles. My goal for this is to reach 3600 miles.

Goal 2: Short term goals: Riding 3600 miles is the same as saying I'm losing 120 lbs. My experience tells me that these numbers are so large and the time to reach them so long, that it's easy to lose motivation in the short term. So, I've set a goal of 300 miles per month for myself. I fell short of this at the beginning of the year, but lately I've been pretty much in the ball park. I should be able to make up the difference in the coming months.

Goal 3: Organized rides. I've approached this in a way that develops a sort of riding season for myself. I started with the Tour de Palm Springs in March which added motivation in February. Then rides spread out throughout the year culminating in what's become my favorite ride of the year, El Tour de Tucson in November. You can see my list of 2009 rides on the right hand column.

Sharing them with you, showing my riding log summary here and on facebook, has also helped. A big motivator has been Coach Sean Burke. He's not only helped me improve on the bike, but doesn't let me get too far off track. It tends to keep me motivated. Another motivator is something I did just on a whim, I requested and got some sponsorship from 53x11Coffee and ActionWipes. In appreciation for their support, I want to follow through with my riding calendar, even when at times I might prefer to skip them.

That's it for now. Tomorrow I'm riding in the San Diego Century. I'm doing the Metric version (66 miles). I'll post more about it tomorrow and will have updates here, facebook and twitter.

Ride on!