I sometimes wonder why after all these years of riding I’m not the Pete Sampras of cycling. Little did I know that the reason is because I just haven’t put in enough time yet. I think I’m coming late to this, but Malcolm Gladwell’s 10,000 hour theory states that you should do at least this many hours of an activity to really excel. You probably know this already.
And so I did the math, which I completely assumed would come out in my favor. Well, it turns out that 10,000 hours is a very long time. It’s 3.4 years of 8 hour days, 365 days a year. I added up all my Strava hours since somewhere in 2013 (3877) when I signed up with a vague log I used to keep before that from 2001 (3400) and a rough estimate of bike trips and rides I did before I left Canada in 1994 (650) and that comes out to a measly 7927 hours – well short of perfection.
The good news is that by the time I’m 60 I’ll be ready for the professional peloton. Putting out feelers now.
I am nearly positive that I know a few readers who’ve been keeping records. How near perfect are you?
The Vicious Cycle 
Apparently the only things I’m expert at are 1) Sitting through meetings at work 2) Looking at ski gear online.
And keeping Wendy happy, of course.
Only been cycling since 2007, so…….
You’ll get there!
I live in hope
I am an excellent moaner. Not so good at cycling but I only took that up late in life.
At least you’re good at something 😉
I am a master!
Looking forward to seeing you in the pros Gerry. You should have a chance with Israel Premier Tech. They seem to favour experienced riders.
And I’m Canadian. I’m sure to get in.
Does riding 620,000 kms count as an expert? I’m only 144,000 kms from riding the distance to the moon and back, so I have that going for me 🙂
If you divided that by a conservative 25 kph, you’re looking at 24,800 hours. I’d say that’s expert level!