Wendy

My first post below illustrates one step of two recommended by that Zen Habits article I keep referencing. The other step (if you lost track the first one I mentioned is basic public accountability) is to "make things enjoyable."

I already knew this lesson well because I had tried numerous diets and brutal workout regimes, all of which flamed out in a month or two at best.

You can motivate yourself to do something you don’t like to do, using positive public pressure as motivation. But if you really don’t enjoy it, you’ll only be able to keep it up for so long. And even if you could do it for months and years … is that something you’d want to do? If you don’t enjoy it, why do it for very long?

In terms of exercise I actually don't mind going to the gym three or four times a week. Many people do find it very difficult to do so and I will address that issue at another time. Truth is that sometimes I felt like I needed to be in the world rather than looking at it from behind a window. Did ancient peoples do this sort of thing to lose weight? NO! of course not. In fact if you were fat back-in-the-day everyone knew you were rich and loathed/envied you. Now that trend has sort of reversed. Strange no?

ANYWAY, ancient peoples didn't ride bicycles either but at least we're getting closer to the real world here. I may have let the cat out of the bag early but basically in 2007 I decided to really make an effort to ride my bike for fitness on a regular basis.

This commitment really went well. Why? Because I really enjoy it. San Luis Obispo is a gorgeous city and the countryside around the city is even more beautiful. There are grapevines growing everywhere, rolling hills, and fairly decent cement. The problem I soon discovered is that I couldn't ride very long without a.) getting really tired b.) getting really sore c.) combination of the first two. I knew that the soreness would go away but the fact that my old bike was slow and amplified every bump in the road was not soon to disappear. I knew that I could never enjoy a long ride (20+ miles at a time) on my clunker and so I decided to invest in myself and get a nice road bike. 

Now granted the one I was riding was in my possession for about 8 years. I'm not advocating "bike lust" as my girlfriend would say. I'm not upper middle class enough to throw around thousands of dollars on a new bike every year. I paid my dues and spent almost a year researching and saving. Luck saved me though. I found a barely used bike (which is really hard to do for an XXL frame or 61cm in road bike speak) for a very, VERY nice price (about $3k less than MSRP) and shelled out the cash not knowing if I would ride it beyond the first month.

I am happy to report that about a year later I have ridden over 1,100+ miles (mostly commuting to work and joy rides) and have worked cycling into my regular day to day weight loss routine. I would discuss some of the philosophy behind choosing to ride a bike as doing your part to help alleviate traffic, clean up the air, and curb greenhouse gases but this post is getting long enough as it is.

As for the title...I named my bike Wendy. Let's just say that her color and warm childhood memories contributed to the name. I'll tell you more someday, I have a plan for that though and it must wait until later.