Another reason I decided to start commuting was physical. I've been fast getting into worse and worse shape every year. I'm now 32 years old, and I don't see my metabolism getting any better as I get older, so I can only hope to at least "plateau", but I know in reality I was heading down a road that would get worse and worse. I thought about signing up at a gym, but the cost was prohibitive, not to mention the time that I just don't want to take away from my family. I then considered running or biking in the mornings/weekends, but again, the time was just not there. With 3 kids (and one on the way any day now!), I cannot in good conscience leave my wife with them more than I have to do, so riding in the afternoons was not an option. I did sign up for floor hockey last summer, which helped, and was thinking about doing that again this year as well as soccer. However, again, the cost was prohibitive right now with our acreage issues and this helps only as long as I'm playing. It helped in helping keep things from getting worse, but as soon as the season was over, I started putting the weight back on.
I'm currently hovering around 250lbs at 6'2". I've been told that I am bigger than average anyways, even if I didn't have any fat, but I know I could stand to loose a lot of weight to become healthy again. I would like to be able to run and play with my kids and not be wiped out for days! I'd like to be able to go for bike rides or hikes with friends and be able to keep up!
Finally, I also know myself pretty well after 32 years. I knew that if I just simply bought a bike and said I'd start riding, that eventually I'd probably stop (so many excuses sound so good when needed). Therefore, I took a drastic measure and sold the car. Now, I didn't have any choice but to RIDE if I expected to get to work!
Where I live in Kamloops is at about 600 meters above sea level. Where I work is about 740 meters. And between home and work the elevation drops down to 400 meters before going back up. This means that the ride to work would be about a 340 meter climb! Not being in shape at all for something like that yet, I decided that I would ride downtown first and pick up a bus and take the bus up to about 680 meters or so.
This is working out perfectly, as I have a quick 15 minute ride in the morning to the bus that is mainly level, with little up and a huge downhill coming out of Juniper where I live (I'm hitting maximum speeds right now of about 71kph, and the gearing on my mountain bike is not high enough for much more). After the bus, I ride for about 15 more minutes straight up to work (no down, just up!). This gives me a really good workout in the morning so I am awake and alert, but not completely dead yet.
On the way home, I ride the whole way. I ride the street for about 15 minutes, then I get onto a trail that takes me right to our neighborhood of Juniper. This ride is a good mix of up and down (although going from 740 meters to 600 meters, the downs are obviously greater than the ups!) There is a small canyon called Peterson's creek in the middle that drops from 600 meters to 400 and then back up again. This 'little' canyon is currently my nemesis. It just about kills me everytime! My goal is to conquer this trail all the way up by fall.
The bike I bought was an entry level Cannondale F8 CO2 for $600 (http://www.cannondale.com/usa/usaeng/Products/Bikes/Mountain/Hardtail/CO2/Details/1293-0FS8-F8). I swaped the saddle for something more comfortable, added my 15 year old Control Stix bar ends that I've had since high school, and put a higher quality Truvativ crank and Wellgo aluminum pedals with clips. I did buy some Shimano clipless pedals, and am just waiting to save up enough for some shoes soon.
Here's a picture of my first ride on the new bike:
Anyways, that's my looooong intro, so I will hopefully be posting here regularly about my ride and how things are going. Enjoy!
No comments:
Post a Comment