Cross-training...

So, last week I jumped on a bicycle for the first time in about 5 years. Thought I'd take it easy, seeing as I haven't ridden in a while. So I only rode about 8 miles last week.

Today, I jumped on it again. I set out to take a proper ride. From where I live, to the end of the Greenway trail in Union Gap, and back again, 24 miles according to my stepdad, who has an odometer on his bicycle.

Took some motivational thinking to do it all in one leg (I had a Command Sargeant-major of Her Majesty's Royal Marines screaming obscenities at me inside my head.....don't ask) But the part that surprised me is that it wasn't the gruelling push that I thought it would be.

You see, I'm overweight, and have been smoking off and on for - what, six or seven years now? So I figured it was going to be a REAL push to make it today....especially given the tequila that I was imbibing last evening. But while I have a slightly winded sensation at the moment, and the slightest hint of a headache, I actually feel a LOT better than I thought I would.

I can only credit the motorcycling I have been doing almost obsessively with helping to maintain some semblance of physical fitness in my otherwise largely vegetative and self-destructive lifestyle. Spending whole days moving about on a sportbike is far more physically taxing than the same trip in a car...and I think the winter riding with exposure to sub-freezing temps with wind chill and wet weather has probably done interesting things for my conditioning as well.

I think I may have to engage in a more active exercise regimen. I have the tools here, I have just lacked the will. I think my goal should be to make today's bicycle trip a 3-5 times a week thing, time permitting. And I have weights at my disposal....should probably make use of them as well.

But right now, I'm starting to crave carbs and protein.....Think I'll go have cheap chinese food.....everything they make is chicken or rice based......