Met up with my mother at the storage facility. Put some bricks sets away.. won’t be looking again at them for a few years. Pulled her summer suv tires out of storage and while I was there pulled my bikes out of storage as well, in anticipation of getting back on the bikes and putting in some serious time and km’s on the road
Hook or by crook I intend to get back on the bikes during the next few days.
Looking forward to tuning and a shakedown ride to see how the bikes are. (.. and to test my hip..)
It’s been far too long since I’ve put serious time on a bike.
In July of 2013 I completed the single longest bike ride of my life at 160km over 8hrs 55min with 7hrs 53mins of that ride being actual moving/riding. (Over 7500 calories burned that day..)
That half century birthday is getting precariously close.. if I’m ever going to make that ride again it has to be now. Dropping weight and pulling the grey out of my beard have been fun.. but it pales in comparison to what I want to accomplish now.
My first goal this year was to get to my riding weight. When I made that trek in 2013 I was 200’ish lbs. I’m 203lbs today.. intermittent fasting 16/8 working down to 200lbs riding weight. I’m almost at the extent 16/8 fasting can help me as I’m plateau’ing.
Either restrictive calorie deficit dieting or daily exercise is needed to achieve the ultimate goal of no longer being fat by any metric. (I like good so I really don’t want to cut out tacos, pizza, Chinese takeout etc)
That’s where the bikes come in. I love riding. Always have. Used to ride my bikes all year round.. even in blizzards. Rode my bike to college. Even ran a mildly successful comic delivery biz in high school on my bikes.
I still don’t know what it’s going to be like to get back on the bike. My cardio initially won’t be great. I’m not kidding myself. It should suck.
But I’m committed to making a go of this.
These posts keep me accountable to my friends, family, co-workers and fans.. all of which have been extremely supportive. Some are astonished what I’ve accomplished without a crazy amount of exercise so far. Those that know me and remember the last time I was truly dedicated to my health know I can push my body to extreme limits of human endurance. Or at least I used to be able to do that.
I didn’t have a lot of aches and pains the last time I attempted this.
The last few years of being obese have been hard and demoralizing. Looking in the mirror wasn’t a big deal. I know what I saw in the mirror was real and wasn’t sone unreal machination of my imagination.
But looking at the size my my jeans and knowing I could do better. That was hard.
I know I could have done better. I should have. Pains or not I procrastinated and used everything and everything as an excuse.
Work, weather, aches and pains. I had no end to the excuses I could make to not go out. To sit in my chair or on my couch. I perfected the art of procrastinating. Excelled at it even.
3.5 months since I restarted this journey.. with virtually all my aches and pains gone (weight loss took away most of the inflammation related aches and pains) I have only the pain related to a lifetime of standing in warehouses and the toll that took on my hip. (And some minor issues with my ribs from previous injuries including when I was run off the road the last time I was serious about bike riding for health)
I’m looking forward to this next chapter of my life.
Reclaiming my health and my life.. baby steps. I’ll get healthy or die trying. ;)
My physical and mental health is literally on the line. I can’t go the next decade carrying extra weight and the pain that goes with it.
2022.. saying yes to opportunities.. no more excuses.
