I never thought I would be interested in any type of exercise. Even as a kid, I loved sports and competing, but
I hated the exercise that went with it.
I dreaded football practices and the coaches call to run. I never minded the running while playing, but
the running in practice filled me with dread.
First of all, I am a big guy. Big
Joe isn’t a nickname that was ironic; it is pretty much who I am. I am slow when running any distance further
than 10 yards. Yep, I was a lineman. I also love bowling and shooting, two other
sports not exactly known for their physical demands. That’s not to say that there aren’t any; you
bowl and shoot better when you are in shape.
I hated the exercising that came with those seasons as well. It’s not just running or cardio, I hated
lifting weights. In my mind, I could
never find the motivation to train. I
was always good enough without training.
That’s not to say I excelled at everything, but I was good enough that
coaches never pushed the issue.
One day years ago my wife and I bought bikes. We thought it would be a great way to get in
shape, always a constant struggle. On a
normal blog, that would have been the moment of enlightenment and the story
would jump to the “and we ride everywhere all the time. The end”.
Not so much here. We went to
Martha’s Vineyard and almost died while trying to climb the one small
hill. Katie never rode again. A few years later my son was born. This caused me to look at my life a little
different. I needed to make better
choices and try to instill good habits.
It is his life that is important, and I don’t want to be the dad that
messes it up. I quit smoking when he was
born. That was huge for a three pack a
day smoker. That summer I started
working a job that gave me days off during the week. I started riding the bike in an effort to
find exercise that fit me. I started to
ride, but not all the time. I still hadn’t
found it yet, whatever it was.
I did my first charity ride last year. I realized that I had better train before
attempting my first ride. I had a short
lay off from my job and started riding most days on a Rails to Trails section
off the East Coast Greenway. That’s when
it happened. Out along the trail in the
sun I found that thing that I don’t mind doing.
Then I hit a hill and wanted to go back home. The first day I did eight miles and thought I
was going to die. By the end of the
summer I was able to ride the 25 mile Hartford Parks Tour. It was a big accomplishment for me, but one I
took a little too seriously. I started
to think it was the end of the journey, not a way point. I kept going to the gym to ride the exercise
bike and told myself it was the same.
Not so much.
This spring I got back out and realized just how far off the
exercise bike was to the real thing.
Since then I quit the gym and bought a bicycle trainer on the advice of
a friend. Now I can ride my bike
attached to the trainer when the weather turns against me. It has made a huge difference. I also decided that I needed more motivation
for training and signed up for two charity rides this fall.
Things were going great up until my company merged with
another utility and my contract was not renewed. This year I am laid off again and it is not a
short term lay off this time. I have
been riding as much as possible in an effort to clear my head when the job search
gets rough. I decided that this blog
will be a way to use some of my unexpected free time to chronicle everything
that is going on with my riding, and my life.
I am going to focus on cycling, but there will be some minor detours
into all sorts of silliness, like life, unemployment, twitter, and whatever
else pops into my head on rides.
Hopefully I can learn something along the way…..
