I met up with Tim for a ride today, and I rode my totally-unassisted rSogn. I didn’t take any pictures, I was slow, and it was only seven miles, but I felt good afterward, other than my shoulder.
The electric Trek has wider handlebars, which don’t bother my shoulder as much. The rSogn has drop bars, which are narrower and caused some shoulder discomfort. They didn’t bother me before the shoulder issue, so I’ll give my shoulder some time to heal before changing the handlebars.
After the ride, Tim and I went to Monnik – where neither of us had any alcohol, but did have water and delicious burgers.
Last year, after my bicycling nosedived, followed by my fitness, I wanted to ride to work again, but I was too out of shape. I bought a Trek Super Commute 8 to help. It’s an electric-assist bicycle. There’s no throttle. You still have to pedal. Some consider it cheating. I considered it a way to get exercise again. It would have been, had I rode it to work more than a handful of times.
Ignore the terrible saddle angle, the saddle was replaced right away
It sat in my bedroom for far too long. Today, I rode it to work for the first time in many months. I can make the 15-mile journey in an hour on this. The ride home is similar.
I had actually intended to wait for a bit more dieting before worrying about exercise, but with a warm, if somewhat damp, January, it seemed a good time.
I’m glad I rode. I need to do it a couple of times a week.
Ideally, we’d all just eat healthy. Even when you want to, it can be difficult when on a time crunch and you’re not prepared.
Today was kind of like that for me. Diane and I were participating in a local HOG (Harley Owners Group) chapter ride. The weather was decent for January, so off we went… without eating.
We stopped at McDonalds, I had two Sausage McMuffins. We arrived for the ride, and there were donuts. I had one.
We rode to lunch at the Parkette Drive-In in Lexington. I had a cheeseburger and tater tots.
Just a small sample of the 27 bikes on today’s ride
We finished up the ride at Ice Cream and Pie Kitchen, where I had a single scoop of chocolate ice cream.
I’ve estimated my calories for the day at 2060. I don’t think that’s terrible considering the low-quality of the food (from a nutritional sense, it tasted great).
I’ve been off-track for years now. It’s been almost two years since I last posted. I’ve now gained back all the weight I had lost. I’ve lost most of my fitness. I suffered injuries, depression, and I’ve gotten older. These aren’t excuses. I made my own decisions, and it’s time to undo some of them.
Let start with a recap. I started this adventure in late 2007, over eleven years ago. From then until 2009 I lost 100 pounds. From 2009 to 2012 I mostly held steady, gaining a little, but being very active. In 2012 I started drinking a lot more. This began faster weight gain, fewer long bike trips, less fitness, etc. In 2015 I started a job that I felt I needed a car to get to reliably, so I bought a car. This almost entirely killed my bicycle riding. Things got worse in 2017 when I bought a motorcycle. Now, I have two motorcycles, but no longer have a car.
Diane and I on a Tennessee / North Carolina Trip
My old neck/shoulder issue has become a debilitating mostly-shoulder issue. I’ve been back through physical therapy for it again. It was time for change.
Now that the New Year’s Eve drinking is done, I’m done drinking, for at least a month, but honestly, I need to stop for good. I’ve become a daily drinker, never really getting drunk, but drinking as a habit, to have something to do. Much like I have always treated food, hence my weight issue.
I stepped back on the scale on 1/1/2019, and it read 299.4. That’s where I started in 2007. I’m weighing daily again, but I’ll average it out weekly, as I used to.
I’m back to tracking everything I eat. I’ve been hungry a lot the last few days. I’m drinking more water. I have a new gym membership, this was mostly for shoulder exercises, but all the other equipment is available, I should use it.
I’ve made more realistic goals. I want to be down 40 pounds by June – when I have another doctor’s appointment. I want to get to around 220 pounds over the next 18 months. I want to be capable of 70 mile bike rides on the weekends again.
Not everything has been terrible. Two-up motorcycle touring on a big bike is wonderful. Diane and I are approaching five years of marriage, and we’ve learned to live with each other’s quirks. We have two cuddly dogs, friends, family, jobs. I sometimes feel like I complain too much for having so many good things going on.
I’ll be writing here again. I’ll probably slip motorcycle content in now and again, much as I started writing bicycle content in 2008. I probably won’t bring back the “fat pictures” section I once had. I’m older now, and nobody wants to see that.
I fill in some details of what’s been going on in the last two years, but in the meantime, I’ll be working lose the weight… again.
