Tuesday, January 30, 2007

Cycling


One month has passed since I decided to set my cycling goal - a goal that was not meant to live in infamy (doesn't that sound like a movie intro?). My goal for 2007 is to ride 2,500 miles on my bicycle, as calculated by my CatEye cyclometer.


Let's first talk about the catalyst: my reason had nothing to do with a new year's resolution - resolutions are for losers. People that make them never keep them - Webster ought to change the definition of resolution to 'a state of living in disbelief'. (Congrats to anyone who has kept a new year's resolution for more than 3 months.) I digress...I wanted to challenge myself physically this year. In the past few years, I've become quite fond of cycling so I thought that I'd combine something that I enjoy along with a physical challenge. I have no reason to do this other than to see how my body handles the workout. I'm amazed by the severe environments that a human body can weather, and while this isn't all at once I probably need to get in shape to climb Kilimanjaro (assuming that I decide to go to Africa this year).


The first month of riding has been fairly boring. Since it is winter, I'm stuck pedaling inside on my (fluid resistance) trainer. I've watched Dave Matthews concerts several times - the Central Park concert of 2004 is my favorite. After Dave, I moved onto A Concert for George, a benefit for the late George Harrison. I still watch that concert once a week while I ride. I've now moved onto reading while pedaling. While this isn't ideal (it's hard to hold larger books while holding myself up on the handlebars), it definitely is a productive use of time. I'm thinking about using a book stand - that would probably eliminate the anti-finesse portion of reading while riding. And then there are those times when I just stare at the Winamp visualization playing on my computer and sing along. This doesn't work well all the time, as I usually have to breathe to keep up my pedaling cadence.


Anyways, let's get back to why I'm writing. Here's an update - I'm at 240.1 out of 2500 miles. For those of you who like percentages - I'm 9.604% towards my goal. The proof is below...

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

If you are serious about going to Africa to climb Kilimanjaro, make sure you let me know so I can put you in touch w/ Tom. He went with a group of people 2 or 3 years ago and hiked up. Considering all of the ice on Kilimanjaro is melting I think going sooner rather than later is a good idea.

js