Reflections at the end of 2025

In this post I reflect on the trips of three or four days I took this year and the changes I made to my gear.

Short multi-day trips

This year I took a multi-day trip of three or four days in each of the months of April, June, and September (Multi-Day Trips). Those trips involved train rides to and from the cities of Port Jervis, Poughkeepsie, and Albany on, respectively, New Jersey Transit, Metro North, and Amtrak.

Taking my bike on New Jersey Transit or Metro North is easy, but taking it on Amtrak is more difficult due to the need for a reservation for me and my bike. Also, I'm not fond of the way bikes have to be stored on Amtrak trains, at least not on the train between Manhattan and Albany. You can read an explanation about the Amtrak reservation process and see a picture of how I stored my bike on the train in September 30, 2025 - Albany, NY, to Queensbury, NY.

Short multi-day trips in 2025

Since October of 2020 I have taken a total of twenty-four multi-day trips of three, four, or five days.

Short multi-day trips since October 2020

Lowest annual mileage since 2017

I started recording my rides using the RideWithGPS app in July of 2016, so 2017 was the first full year of using the app. As you can see in the graphic below, my mileage this year was the lowest since 2017, just 1,478 miles. My highest annual mileage was 6,871 miles in 2019.

I didn't take so many multi-day trips this year at least partly because I spent several months in the summer supervising the repair of our deck by SCHiM Luxury Renovations who did fabulous work. Here's how the deck looked at the beginning of the work:

And here's how it looked at the end of the work:

You can see the many daily progress pictures I took here.

Changes to gear

This year I made the following changes to my gear, all of which are documented in Gear Update - June 11, 2025 and Gear Update - December 15, 2025:

• Purchase of custom bag to carry sunglasses, goggles, and reading glasses
• Replacement of velcro on trunk bag
• Addition of velcro strap to wedgie saddle bag
• Repair of Voile strap damaged during Cross Country 2024
• Installation of cleat adapters to move cleats backward
• Replacement of nut on the bolt at the end of the velcro strap (attached to my trunk bag) on which is installed a ROAD iD and the mount for my satellite communicator
• Replacement of crankset to provide lower lowest gear
• Replacement of stuff sack for sleeping bag
• Repair of off-bike shoes
• Repair of windbreaker

So while not riding much this year, I've made many important changes to my gear. I apply the Japanese concept of Kaizen (continuous improvement) about which I first read in Terry Laughlin's blog post What is Kaizen? on the Total Immersion website about learning to swim efficiently.

The significance of extended bike trips for healthy aging

In October of last year I attended an event at the CUNY Graduate Center in which the Nobel laureate Venki Ramakrishnan discussed his book Why We Die: The New Science of Aging and the Quest for Immortality. Ramakrishnan spoke about much new technology, none of which I remember. What I do remember is the final question, and its answer, asked at the end of the event:

What is the one piece of advice that you would have for us to achieve healthy aging?

Ramakrishnan answered by referring to the importance of diet, exercise, sleep, social connection, and purpose. You can hear his answer to the question by watching the 3-minute video below.

You can find Ramakrishnan's entire 75-minute discussion here.

To the five items Ramakrishnan mentioned I'd like to add two more, learning and being outdoors in nature, making a list of seven items (the ideal number for a list) essential for healthy aging.

1. Diet
2. Exercise
3. Sleep
4. Social connection
5. Purpose
6. Learning
7. Being outdoors in nature

Extended bike trips involve all seven of these essentials, which I'll discuss in a slightly different order.

An extended bike trip, such as the one I took in 2024 on which I rode an average of 52 miles per riding day, involves a tremendous amount of exercise. That level of exercise requires both a good diet (including adequate hydration) and plenty of sleep. There is always the purpose of getting to the next destination, regardless of what challenges, either planned or unplanned, one encounters. On an extended bike trip one is outdoors in nature day after day. A solo trip might be thought to have minimal social connection, but my experience has been the opposite, as I've interacted with other cyclists, and with the many random strangers who have offered essential help. I have found since getting my bike in 2009 that I am constantly learning about the maintenance of my gear, about how to be a safer cyclist when traveling in traffic, and about how to create good routes and how to modify them on the fly.

So we now see the significance of extended bike trips in that they involve all seven essentials for healthy aging.

Looking ahead to 2026

In 2026 I plan to continue taking trips of a few days. Because I have taken so many such trips starting in New York City, I will continue to start at least some of the trips by taking a train (New Jersey Transit, Metro North, Long Island Railroad, or Amtrak). Although Amtrak makes it possible for me to start as far away as Albany, traveling with a bike on Amtrak is more complicated than on any of the other trains. However I learned how to do it effectively on my trip to Ticonderoga in the fall. From Albany I could ride north or west into upstate New York, or north and east into Vermont and New Hampshire. There are many such trips I could start from Albany.

I continue to think about riding the unridden sections I had planned for Cross Country 2024. I wrote about that 2-month trip from Frisco, Colorado, to Washington, D.C., in Plan for a possible trip in Reflections on Cross Country 2024.

Frisco, Colorado, to Washington, D.C.

I would take this trip only when the Blue Ridge Parkway and Skyline Drive are both open (see BRP and SD for info about closures).

* * *

Below is my summary for 2025 that I have included in Summary of My Biking Since 2009.

2025

Three short multi-day trips, one in each of the months of April, June, and September (Multi-Day Trips)

Many changes to gear documented in Gear Update - June 11, 2025 and Gear Update - December 15, 2025

1,478 total miles

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