This winter has been long, and honestly, pretty rough. It's worn on everyone, I think, even Nick who I'm sure is sick of the dumb hats and dumb coats he has to wear all the time. It started out tolerable, I think only because it was new and I could still remember warmth. Then it became a novelty. Now it's just.. suckage. I've not been doing so good on riding since January, for the first time in a LONG time my drives to work have begun to outnumber my rides to work. Suck.
Maybe not a total loss. Two years in a row I've had rough winters, and after analyzing it a bit I think I know why. It's all about focus. 100%. I was thinking at the dentist the other day, while I was yet again getting a tooth drilled on, if I focused on something other than the drilling it didn't drive me crazy. I mean it didn't hurt at all, but that sound is the worst if you've ever experienced it. When I focused on the ceiling and just thought about things, though, it went away. Same with ridin' and the life change thing.
For the past two, no three years I've fallen off around Thanksgiving time then didn't get back up again until spring. This year I fell pretty hard, but got right back up in December and started to make some things happen. Moving happened, and that just threw me right off again - now it's March and I'm sitting here saying "oh shit" and looking at an extra 20 pounds on the scale. Suckage.
What happened? I lost my focus. I let it slip just for a little bit, and it all went to hell. I let it slip, nobody else, not Mc Donalds, not New Belgium brewing, not the economy - me. I lost focus for just a second and it all went to hell. Old habits are hard to break, but you can break 'em.
Anyway, that's what happened. Now I'm sitting here with 20 extra pounds, a sore ankle (some myseterious injury that I can't quite put my finger on), and motivation that's slowly building back up. I've finally ditched soda - again - and ditched booze - again. It became apparent to me that drinking diet soda isn't condusive to weight loss, nor is drinking a bunch of booze every (other) night. I'm back to coffee, water, and the occasional Lipton Diet Citrus Tea. Slowly resetting the diet, it's been good so far (I've dropped 2 pounds in the past week just by intake changes) but the focus has to stay.
On the cycling front, I need to get back into it with a vengeance. Thursday new shoes arrive to address the issues I had with the lower end pair, which is suckage because they fit soo good. New SPD pedals are sitting at home waiting for a home, and after it became obvious to me the seatpost on the MTB was too short I ordered a longer one for that ride. It's all starting to shape up, the forecast for today is 56 degrees by the time I head out this afternoon, and I can dig that. Temps for the 10-day forecast all are over freezing - that's all I care about. March has promise, I know April is goona be wet, then May is where it's at. 200 miles in Kansas. I'm either goona do it, or die trying.
All I know is I'm really, really, really tired of "Big and Tall".
4 comments:
Hang in there dude. I had my first year straight on two wheels riding to work last year (Feb 15th) to this year (Feb 15th). I just had three appointments with the doc, long story short it appears I have some issues with my kidney and draining problems (not as serious as it sounds). As a result I drove to work for 4 days (well, drove to the doctors then work for 2 of those days). I was just so dog tired from the lack of sleep I could not imagine pedaling in those days, but today I was back on the pedals and LOVING it. It looks like I might have to take a few weeks off the pedals again sometime this year to get a final fix for my issue, but for now the pain is gone, and I've only got three more appointments made, and I should be able to bike to at least two of them!
ROCKIN.
Bottom line, life sometimes throws things at you that you just can't see coming, but the sooner you get back on the bike, the faster things get better.
Hang tough and keep on pedaling!
Joe
Hey, I struggle with the same thing - weight. This winter has hit me pretty hard also, but a renewed interest in biking and blogging has helped me immensely.
I certainly don't ride as much as I should, but even little rides have a great value.
Take care of yourself and your family and bike when you can and things will be OK. I'm looking forward to your 56 degree weather tomorrow (Thursday). It's coming my way.
it's always nice to cross paths with you on the way home from work. hope to see you soon!
Have that ankle looked at! At our weight it could be a stress fracture! That is what the dr thought my pain in my ankle was a first then it turned out to be Ohttp://www.mdmercy.com/footandankle/conditions/ankle_injury/osteochondral.htmlCD.
Get it checked out before you waste another year or two due to pain like I did.
Jerry in So IL
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