Why I keep a riding log (and why maybe you should, too)

As 2025 began, I created the eighth page on my favorite spreadsheet. Since 2018, I have kept a riding log, listing all the motorcycles I’ve ridden each year and how many miles on each. It’s a decision I’m very glad I made.

I am the son of an English teacher and a math teacher. The former wouldn’t surprise anyone, considering that I’ve made my entire career in writing and editing. But even people who know me pretty well don’t know about my affection — yes, I think that’s the right word — for numbers, for how they work together to make meaning, and how they create at least some orderly structure out of our disorderly human lives.

Then there’s the fact that the older we get, the more we forget. That’s not just because the mind becomes less like the proverbial steel trap with age, but also because there’s simply more life to remember.

These are reasons I’m glad I decided to start keeping a mileage log. And I’d encourage you to consider doing the same. That spreadsheet now means a lot to me. It’s a surefire reminder of great rides. For example, I know that 2019 was one of the best years of my life for travel, with multiple trips both on and off the motorcycle that had special meaning to me personally. (Then 2020 came along, but never mind that.) But without my log, I wouldn’t know that I rode 17,308 miles for the year (the most of any year on my spreadsheet) or that I rode the long-term loaner Kawasaki Versys 1000 SE LT+ precisely 5,403 miles as I tested it in Arizona, rode it to my then home to Ohio, took it to Road America, and finally dropped it off at RevZilla HQ in Philadelphia.

The log not only reinforces my memories, but also puts some structure on them. A few years ago, I wrote an article at Common Tread looking at how many miles the average U.S. motorcyclist rides per year. It’s hard to pin down, but the certain answer is “Not a lot.” With my mileage log, I know exactly how many miles I rode on each motorcycle, both my own and loaner bikes or machines we were testing.

My log has evolved to include a breakdown of my monthly mileage, as well as the total number of miles I’ve ridden for the year on each individual motorcycle I’ve ridden.

I picked up the idea from others on a motorcycle forum I frequented back then, sport-touring.net, which became sport-touring.org. I started out with a simple list, but over the years I’ve added a few features, as you can see in the screenshot of my 2024 page above. In addition to the total miles ridden on each motorcycle, I also started keeping track of a monthly breakdown of my miles, and then I add a note about any trips I took, which explains the months with higher mileage.

Really, with hindsight, the only thing I’d do differently is I would have started sooner.

The beginning of a new year is the perfect time to pick up this habit. Give it a try. Maybe you’re the type who just wants to experience the moment, not document it now or relive it later. But there’s also a chance that, like me, you’ll look back years from now and cherish a simple spreadsheet that charts your two-wheel course across the Earth and through your time on it.