Performance Report 1 of 3

I’ve been on the road now for one of three months and so I present you with the first of three performance review reports.

When I set out on this trip I had set a few goals for myself. I intended to:
1) ride one huge loop around North America;
2) run 360 miles and
3) raise $3,600 for the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

I’ll now report on progress toward those goals and several other metrics that have proven relevant over the past four weeks.

RIDE ONE HUGE CIRCLE:
While the term “circle” might suggest to some a neatly rounded shape, I consider it to be any route that does not return to it’s origin by significantly repeating its “outward” path. Since I have not begun to return home, I can’t wholly report on this item, but I’m fairly confident that it won’t become an issue. I can report that my route so far has been winding and wonderful. Here is the output so far from my motorcycle’s GPS:



RUN 360 MILES:
I had initially planned that running 360 miles would be a reachable goal based on an average of four miles per day. It develops that running every day is not realistic. The availability of time, showers and suitable locations are in short supply on certain days. That said, as of May 31, I have run 114 miles, sixteen shy of plan. While that may not represent a significant shortfall, I anticipate that showers might be more difficult to come by as I head further north - - so any shortfall is undesirable at this point.

To help me with this metric, I now introduce a new unit of measure, the Road Mile Equivalent, or “RME.” Defined (by me), an RME is the amount of running effort involved in running one mile, on the road, free of hills, at sea level, at a temperature of 68 degrees Fahrenheit, with a healthy tail wind. I think that the RME just might be the answer to all of my problems. For example, if I run one mile on a hilly trail at elevation, that mile could easily translate to 1.6 RMEs. And the best part is that, sine this is my concept, I can assess each run any way convenient to me. And better yet, I reserve the right to retroactively adjust.

At this point, I can say with overwhelming confidence that I am on target to complete 360 RMEs prior to the trip’s completion. In fact, it’s possible that I’m already done.

Of possible interest to the quantitative among you, I’ll post this screen shot of the spreadsheet I use to log and later manipulate numbers.



RAISE $3,600:
Thank you!!!! . . .to those of you who have given gifts to the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Their goals are important to me as they perform research for cures to cancer and provide assistance to those affected. In memory of my father, I decided to support this organization and I’m pleased that many of you have decided to show your support as well.

NOTE: as my father’s son, I actually do know the importance of good accounting – I suspect he’d chuckle along with faux-accounting concepts of the RME as discussed above.

As I’ve mentioned before, in my mind, the number of people that support the cause is every bit as important as the amount of money raised. That said, sixteen gifts have netted $3,165. Clearly, more clicks are welcome - if interested, the link to the donation page is HERE

OTHER METRICS:
Total Motorcycle Miles: 7,249
Average Miles per Gallon: 41.35
States Visited: 16
Provinces Visited: 1
Weddings Attended: 1
Beers Consumed: this number under construction.