1.2 Million Pedal Strokes from San Diego to St Augustine (give or take 50,000) WTF?

When you are on long rides you have plenty of time to think. Crazy stuff goes through your head. Today is was a simple math question.

We have all heard the saying “the journey of a 1000 miles starts with the first step”. This got me to thinking how many pedal strokes will it take me to do my 3000+ mile ride?

So while I was riding I did some Jethro Bodine (Beverly Hillbillies for you young folk) “ciphering”. After a few goesinta’s I had my answer

I target a cadence of 80 rpm’s. If I assume 12 mph (this is conservative, I hope to be a bit quicker) this means 5 min per mile or 400 pedal strokes. Times 3000 miles gave me 1.2million pedal strokes. Easy-Peasy math.

So have you ever voluntarily done something 1.2million times? Well, of course our heart beats, eyes blink, we in hale and exhale,etc. millions of times over our life span. But I mean voluntarily have you ever done anything 1.2 million times (in 49 days)

Actually, it’s not that hard to hit these big numbers.

Heck if you are one of those “10,000 steps a day” folks you would do 3.6 million steps in a year (if you never missed a day). So if you are a walker, congratulate yourself.

But before you get too happy realize 10,000 steps is about 5 miles and the average 180 lb person burns 100 calories per mile. So yep you burn 500 calories. That’s 2.5 Snickers bars or one Double Martini or a double Scotch. Doesn’t seem fair does it?

Those go down easier than walking 10000 steps for sure and will offset your walk in a few short minutes . So exercise alone won’t help lose weight (if that’s a goal) if you don’t moderate your diet. Enough lecturing!

While doing the pedal stroke math I wondered about my heart rate. Interestingly, my heart rate at moderate exercise levels is about 80bpm. The beta blockers slow it down. In fact, my resting rate is about 45bpm. I can thank years of exercise and the meds for this nice slow steady heart beat.

So using the same math, I figure my heart will beat somewhere around 1.2million times while I’m riding. Of course, it doesn’t get a break after I finish each day. Sorry heart, legs rest but you get no time off.

So what’s the point of this blog post? Well, it just goes to show the goofy things that you do to pass the time on a 3-4 hour ride. And what you write about when nothing cool has happened.

At least I don’t count road kill like one of my friends does when driving. But hey that may be interesting.

But hey, I could do a study, which states have the most road kill etc. Let’s face it, spring is peak road kill season. Also since 1/3rd of my trip will be in Texas, I think it will win hands down even if I just counted armadillos!

Maybe if some days are boring I’ll report in for you.

Ok that’s it for now. Til next time, smooth roads and a nice tail wind to get you where you are riding.