what started the whole biking thing

Those of you that have kept up with me for a while know...this whole bike thing didn't start as a bike thing. It started after Christmas when I, already a tiny bit overweight and outa shape, hit a scale and was shocked. I was more than a tiny bit overwieght...more than I had ever been in my life. All of a sudden, my doctor's words were coming back to haunt me..."If you don't do something, you'll keep getting bigger and bigger and soon you'll be staring at 250 pounds. Well, I didn't get there, but the trend was disturbing, and as I get older, it seems the trend in that direction is getting easier and easier. I figured I had to do something to stop that. So I started going to the gym...something I've started many times before. You who, like me, have had several attempts at quitting smoking know what that kind of drill is like. It took me several attempts at quitting smoking before the latest one...and so far it's lasted over 10 years. (It also adds to the whole poundage thing, but that's another story.) Going to the gym to lose weight has lots of false starts, too.

So I started going to the gym a few nights a week to improve my health. Then I got approached on this whole MS150 thing, which is something I've told myself I wanted to do for a long time and never did anything about. I thought...this is the perfect time. I need to lose weight and get healthy. I'm doing the gym anyway. I've always said one day I would do that ride. Why not do it now? I'm certainly not getting any younger. So I started riding in my attempt to do the 150, and so far that's going well. Both training and fund raising-wise.

At the beginning though, the quest was to lose weight and get healthy. The get healthy part seems to be going well. I don't know how you get to be sure about that. I haven't seen Mr. My Doctor since I started, and think he'll be a bit surprised, but will he tell me I'm healthier? I dunno. I feel healthier. The weight part though, has been disappointing. I thought...once I started exercising, the poundage would just slide off. Not so fast, bucko. Then I consoled myself with the concept that...it was moving around. The fat was becoming muscle. Nice concept...maybe it's true. Finally though, the pounds did start coming off. It's not happening as fast as I thought it would, but it is happening. Thirteen pounds and counting as of last night when I stepped on the scale at the local Winn Dixie....wooo hoooooooooooooo!