Why now?
Well I'm one seriously lucky fella if I do say so myself! In November 2016 I will be getting married! Woo-hoo!
Thing is ... whilst I'm excited about the prospect of getting married, I'm not looking forward to getting photographed of me getting married. Right now, self-confidence about my image is at an all time low. I was trying on a suit to get a feel for what I might be wearing for the wedding, granted I knew it was a size too small for , but I still felt awful after putting it on and seeing what I looked like.
 |
| Too small = unhappy |
As a result I decided that I really MUST get cycling regularly again to lose weight so that I can be leaner for my wedding.
For the start of 2016, I had been telling myself to get on the bike to start building up my fitness for doing the 30 mile (round trip) commute to work. It is now March and I still hadn't got on the bike. So over the previous weekend I just decided to go for it on Monday. I said "Chris, it's going to hurt, your stamina will have faded, your strength will be down, but man the f**k up and get on with it".
So Monday came around, and on the bike I went! From home to the bridge, it went really well. Crossing the bridge was my first flag that I wasn't as strong as I was over 7 months ago when I was last doing this! I felt like I was far further down my gears that I remember, but hey, get on with it, I was on the flats again and could motor along so alls well ...
Over the bridge I took the scenic (and flatter!) route through Dalmeny. There is one large hill in the midst of Dalmeny, I saw that I was in my lowest gear and just grinding my way up the hill slowly.
This pattern of cruising well on the flats and slowing to tortoise pace on the hills continued until I finally got to work. I was pretty tired when I finally arrived, and by the time mid-afternoon came around I felt I didn't have the energy to make the return journey so left the bike at work and caught a lift home with a friend.
I took Tuesday off as a recovery day, but surprisingly I had no aches!
So Wednesday came around, I caught a lift into work with my friend again and would then cycle home.
Conclusion
Looking back at my Strava logs, it has been over 7 months since my last cycling commute to work. Even worse in that past 7 months, I've done only 6 other rides, the longest being 8.8 km. So no wonder the rides were a challenge! But its started now. I'll do the same next week and build up my fitness one ride at a time, and hopefully by the time the wedding comes about I'll be looking and feeling so much better!!
