“We are such stuff as dreams are made on.”
William Shakespeare
Biker stops biking, weight balloons to 1,901 pounds
In December, I hit my goal for the year: 2,000 miles ridden, and 200,000 feet climbed, all logged on Strava. The next day a major snowstorm hit and I parked my bikes in the garage for a nice winter’s nap. And with my bikes parked, I parked my exercise regimen. I read somewhere (maybe I heard somewhere, or maybe I just thought it up somewhere) that after a big season, it’s good to take time off from the bike. Give it a rest. Take a vacation. Your body will be stronger for it when you resume.
So I took some time off. I caught up on some sleep, I got some extra office work done, and I even enjoyed the extra hour each morning for a couple of months and I wrote a book. Well, the other day I hopped on the scales and I was shocked.
10 pounds! I had gained 10 pounds!!
I couldn’t believe it. I hadn’t changed my diet, or frequency of eating. I hadn’t gone crazy with ice cream or donuts. The only thing I had changed was riding my bikes.
I came to a profound conclusion: Biking helps you lose weight.
And if you think about it, there’s an even more profound conclusion: Not biking makes you gain weight!
So, I started doing the math. 10 pounds gained in just 3 months = 3.3 pounds gained per month. 10 pounds in 3 months. I pulled out the spreadsheet and did some math. And here are the results. The numbers don’t lie. It’s just math.
Summary: Without biking, I will gain 3.3 pounds per month. After only 36 months, I would weigh 270.5 pounds. I’m glad I went to MBA school. These realizations will probably save my life.Continue Reading
Goal! Accomplishment
It’s February 27. There are 2 more days left of the month (yes, it’s leap year!) And I just got my first ride in. I’m already a month ahead of where I was last year. And last year was a really good year. Here’s my last ride of the year, and my last ride, really, until today.
This was a big ride for me. Not so much that I climbed 1,200 feet in an hour, or not so much that it was about 35 degrees outside. It was a big ride for me because I finally hit my goals of 2,000 miles, and 200,000 feet climbed for the year. That wasn’t an easy goal. It took work, patience, diligence, and long-suffering, but I did it.
I remember a pivotal moment of the year in the first part of September. I was sitting in the dentist chair and pulled up my Strava stats. I had only climbed 100,000 feet. Dr. Murdock came to drill on me and noticed a look of concern on my face. “How are you doing?”
“Not great.” Are things really ever going good if you’re sitting in a dentist’s chair? But today was even different. Today was about soul searching. Today was about Strava. “I set a goal of 200,000 feet this year, and I’m only at 110,000.”
Movie-Script, Cinderella Season
The whistle blew and our much anticipated season was seconds from beginning. Body armor was in place, new blue uniforms looked fabulous, and cleats had been checked by the referee at midfield where he gave them final instructions on the freshly cropped, late summer pitch. We quickly reviewed our game plan, assumed our positions and got ready for kickoff. This was my personal coaching debut. I was a little nervous, but mostly excited for a great new season.
As the Red team kicked the ball off, one of their forwards took the pass, and with the determined face of a warrior, broad shoulders of a gladiator, and the resolve of an M1 Abrams tank, single-footedly dribbled through our first, second, and third lines of defense, then teed up the ball and kicked it through the back of the net while my Blue team looked on in shock, unmoved from their opening positions.
Goooooooooooooooallll!
Those little girls were good. I looked at my watch. Only 16 seconds had transpired. My rosy outlook changed as I realized that this could be a very long game. I swallowed. Heck, this could be a very long season! What had I signed up for?Continue Reading
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