You may find yourself living with new routines, or lack thereof. If you’re seeking some structure and an excuse to get outside — practicing the prescribed social distance from others — a bike ride every day may be just what you need. Personally, I’ve lost that nice big round trip ride to work of 17+ miles. I’ve been doing walking meetings with my headset on, and I make a point of lunchtime yoga 2-3 times a week, but I haven’t been turning my pedals and I miss that.

Just in time, along comes 30 Days Of Biking.

This challenge takes place every April. Rules are:

1. Ride your bike.
2. Every day.

Yep, pretty challenging to remember those rules.

Every ride counts. By which they mean every ride.

You can take your bike out of wherever you keep it, roll it around in a circle so small you worry about falling over, and put it back. It counts.

You can set off on a big high-mileage expedition and rack up 50-60 miles. It counts.

You can put your bike on the trainer, if you’re someone who has one of those, and ride it indoors while bingeing Netflix. It counts.

How I’ve done as I look at heading toward the tenth year with a record that has more successes than DNFs (that’s Do Not Finish, a term I only know because Sweet Hubs has raced bikes).

• 2019: Does three years count as officially on a roll? 
• 2018: Did it again!
• 2017: Yes! A comeback after the Great Broken Elbow/Frozen Shoulder Yuck of 2016
• 2016: Didn’t even try. Too busy with implementation of the merger of Washington Bikes with Cascade Bicycle Club.
• 2015: Yes! I blogged at the beginning and then tweeted my rides along the way — there’s that public accountability.
• 2014: Yes! I committed to writing a blog post every day with a word that captured something about that day’s riding. This had the added benefit of increasing my mindfulness and I got it done.
• 2013: Yes! This was the first spring after moving to Seattle so it also represented a chance to explore. The very last day of the month we biked to dinner with my beloved brother Don and my bonus sister Lisa (his wife).
• 2012: Made a run at it but a death in the family meant I didn’t ride every day.
• 2011: Two attempts the first year I discovered this challenge — didn’t get there in April (life does come at you fast sometimes) but did in September (the blogging every day bit seems to work for me).

Why 30 days? As I’ve noted before, asking “How many days does it take to form a new habit?” will yield a variety of answers not necessarily grounded in science. The number 30, aside from fitting neatly into several months of the year, gives you enough time and repetition to build some muscle memory, at least. Doing this in April, which conveniently has 30 days, also rolls you right into May for National Bike Month.

Why pledge to ride? Committing to something publicly provides one of those little life hacks that may increase your likelihood to follow through.

Are you in? Pledge on the #30DaysOfBiking site and drop a note here for that additional public accountability bit.