I’ve realised over the years that I have claimed on many occasions to be trying to ‘ride a bit more‘ (that was in 2005!), or do ‘10K a day‘ (2013) or even to ride every day through December (2011). In fact I was quite surprised looking back at what a theme this was.

This time round, it’s Five miles a Day. After two and a half weeks I thought it was time to give an update.

So for the first ten days all was on going to plan. Rather than riding five miles I managed something around a 7 mile a day minimum and scored 115 miles in my first week. The next week, my total was 85 miles but crucially I missed riding Thursday and Saturday due to the intervention of real life. Even so, 200 miles in two weeks – albeit 65% road miles – was a good starting point.

This week I’ve missed Monday and Wednesday so far but managed 40 miles yesterday with a hard commute to work on road. I feel that if you are going to ride every day then sometimes you just need to give your body a break and besides, I’ve been tinkering with the website until very late in the evening. By the third week the habit is getting there but I really don’t want to hit an early burnout.

So, so far so good. Tomorrow is a gentle ride due to evening commitments – again – and Friday will be similar but I plan to be free to ride Saturday and Sunday. If all goes well I might manage another 80 miles plus total this week which means I’m on target to make grotty November a positive month. Look out for another update around then!

About the author

Matt is one of the founding Molefathers of the Muddymoles, and is the designer and main administrator of the website.

Having ridden a 2007 Orange Five for many years then a 2016 YT Industries Jeffsy 29er, he now rocks a Bird Aether 9 and a Pace RC-627.

An early On-One Inbred still lurks in the back of the stable as a reminder of how things have moved on. You can even find him on road bikes - currently a 2019 Cannondale Topstone 105 SE, a much-used 2011 Specialized Secteur and very niche belt drive Trek District 1.

If you've ever wondered how we got into mountain biking and how the MuddyMoles started, well wonder no more.