About this time last year I wrote about the miles I wanted to put on my bikes in 2007. These were largely shots in the dark, but I’m still interested to see how close I came. Here’s the scoop.

I was hoping to put 2,000 miles on my Honda CB750 Custom; 2,500 miles on my Kawasaki Concours; and I hoped to limit my car mileage to 12,000 miles.

I started out 2007 with 79,230 miles on the clock of my CB750, and ended it with 79,691, for a not so grand total of only 461 miles. Darn.

I did better on the Kawi. I started with 19,011 miles and ended with 21,888. That’s 2,877, so it’s better than I hoped.

Not surprisingly, it has a lot to do with which bike I take on our annual bike trip. I took the Kawi this year, but in 2006 I took the Honda and I only put 496 miles on the Kawi that year.

Then for reference, I did manage to only clock 12,211 miles on my cars. I started the year with a Honda Civic and murdered it (don’t ask) in February, and then got a Hyundai Elantra. So my driving was not excessive.

What about 2008? OK, I don’t feel like I’m going out on a limb here because I have some benchmark data. For 2008 I’m going to shoot for 2,500 again on the Kawi, I’ll really push and try to also log 1,000 miles on the Honda, and I will try this time to keep the car to under 11,000. All I need to do is ride the Honda to work more often, right?

OK, that’s my plan and I’m sticking with it. Have a good ride!

Having goals is a good thing to do to ensure that you actually achieve what you set out to achieve. I’ve read various articles about how people who graduated college with goals set for themselves are found, 10 years later, to have achieved much more than grads who did not have goals. The idea is to check back in and see how you’re progressing toward your goals, and then presumably focus more on doing what it will take to get there.

I set a goal for myself here back in January for the number of miles I want to ride this year. Checking in just now I see that I’m not doing bad but I have a ways to go. The good thing is that I wanted to ride my Kawasaki Concours at least 2,500 miles this year and, in fact, I have already ridden it 2,808 miles. I also wanted to limit my car driving to no more than 12,000, and it looks like I’m close to that, hitting just under 11,000 miles so far. I’ll probably go over that a little, especially if we spend Christmas at my brother’s place in Carlsbad, which means driving my car there.

Where I’m really lacking is on my Honda CB750 Custom. I wanted to ride it 2,000 miles this year but so far I’ve only put 350 miles on it. Ouch! I would have to ride it to work pretty nearly every remaining work day this year to reach that number. I don’t think the weather will allow me to do that. But OK, that’s the point of setting goals and checking in periodically. I know now what I have to do. I may not get there but I know the Honda will get the call a lot more than the Kawi in the next couple months. And I guess I’ll ride to work more often. It’s a dirty job but . . .