With the arrival of a new year, it's natural to think about goals—big or small. Every year, I set my Strava distance goal to 5000 km. And, like clockwork, I'd promptly forget about it. Last year, however, I made a real effort to stay on track and hit that 5k target, and it felt amazing when I reached it toward the end of the summer.
For 2025, I decided to aim even higher, setting my goal to 7500 km. Feeling pumped, I dropped a screenshot of my goal into our team Slack channel and casually asked what everyone else's goals were. I assumed we all had similar distance goals—maybe even went through the same annual ritual of setting one in Strava.
Turns out, I couldn't have been more wrong.
Not only were some teammates not setting distance goals, but a few of them had completely different approaches. One person shared their goal of conquering a specific elevation gain. Another talked about wanting to hit a certain number of hours on the bike instead. Both were cool ideas, and it was refreshing to see how differently people think about their cycling progress.
But then came the kicker.
As the conversation went on, I realized that setting distance goals—or any goals—in Strava was a paid feature. That revelation irked me to no end. Look, I've always had a love-hate relationship with Strava, but this? This felt like the final straw. Seriously, how could something as simple as a distance calculator be locked behind a paywall?
So, I decided to do something about it.
For all of you who are interested in setting annual distance goals but don't want to shell out for a paid Strava subscription, here's a free Annual Distance Calculator. Simply grab your Year-to-Date (YTD) distance from your Strava stats, enter it alongside your goal for the year into the calculator, and let it do the math for you. It will show you how far you've come, how far you need to go, and how much effort it'll take daily to reach your target.
Whether you're aiming for 5k, 7.5k, or any other distance, this tool is here to help you track and hit your goals.
Cycling Distance Calculator
Happy riding ✊
