Jan 01 2009
Yearly Mileage
With all of the time I spend on my bicycles, I never keep track of how far or how much time I spend riding. Maybe I don’t really want to know, but today I decided I was going to give the mileage and time logging a try.
I don’t want a handwritten log, so to accomplish this I decided I needed to create a spreadsheet. But, there is a slight problem. As computer literate as I may be, I did not have the slightest clue on how to create a working spreadsheet. I know most people know how and I should, but I have never needed to use one, thus I never took the time to learn. Until today.
Having never been a fan of Excel, today I chose to use Google Docs to create my first bicycling mileage, time, and speed log. To learn how, I rode my bike to the bookstore, found a book on Google Docs and did a quick read on spreadsheets and formulas. Then I road back home to put my new knowledge to work and started the process. It was easy.
I created a spreadsheet for January with sections for distance, riding time, average speed, and maximum speed. The spreadsheet will calculate totals for distance and riding time as the data is inputted, as well as daily averages for all data. I am sure there will be changes as I use it, but for now I have a start. I think I want to do a separate sheet for each month in the same document and have a yearly total running with the monthly totals. Tomorrow may include another ride to the bookstore for more information on how to do this.
I know I ride a lot and can give a close estimate off the top of my head as to how far I ride each week and month, but I think I want something more tangible. Why? I don’t know why! Maybe next year I’ll know why I chose to log my riding and I will have precise totals for all the mileage and time in the saddle.
There are lots of mileage spreadsheets out there. But for me making my own is half the fun. But that’s just me. When I have shown my spreadsheet to my cycling friends they just roll their eyes. It is rather complex and complete.
Making the spreadsheet has been fun and I can see where they can become complex. I have already made several changes to my “simple”original concept and as time goes on I am sure it will become more complex.
Although I doubt it will be as complex as a statistician would create.