Well, the whole cycling thing fizzled last year. What a surprise. Apparently life can get in the way of cycling (or anything) if you don’t make it a priority, which honestly, it’s not.
Family. Work. Kendo. Those are my priorities, and there’s plenty going on with all three of those things. However, there are a few things that are making me think I need to spend more time cycling.
- Health – I stopped the zero carb WoE because the kidney stones were getting very annoying. The downside is that I’ve put on 20 lbs since I stopped, and that sucks. Part of that is just not really paying attention to what I was eating. Part of that is some stress/emotional eating after dad died. There are very few people who could stand to gain some weight. I’m not one of them, so this weight has to go, and that means watching what I’m eating and doing more physical activity. Cycling can be a part of that.
- Mental Health – I really enjoy cycling. Honestly, Kendo’s not always “for me”. I’m there for everyone else at the dojo, and when I go to train elsewhere, I often feel I’m being scrutinized. That’s good, but it means Kendo’s not as “fun” as it could be, and it’s not often a vehicle to help me relieve stress. Cycling is just cycling. I can go as hard or as easy as I want and it’s fine.
- Kendo – Yeah, cycling will help my Kendo. It’ll help me lose some weight, strengthen my legs, and improve my aerobic and anaerobic fitness.
There you go. Three reasons for doing more cycling that I came up with all on my own. And still, I’ll blame Georges.
I have a friend Georges in London who recently did his first 50 km ride. I barely cracked 30 km on a single ride last year which is crazy considering I used to do 200 km rides. Oh yeah, I was half my age when I did that . . .
Anyway, I congratulated Georges and said now we’ll have to do a ride together. He agreed, so I’m in for at least a 50 km ride with Georges. To avoid embarrassment, I’m going to have to train.
So thanks, Georges. First ride will be this morning. I’ll probably keep it around 10 km or less, just to say I got on the bike. Still much to do with other priorities, but I hope I can make cycling part of the routine.
My pleasure, Sensei!
I completely agree with cycling occasionally being relegated down the scale of priorities; I had also intended to bike to Port Stanley last year, but only made it as far as St. Thomas. Buying a new house and packing for the move had a lot to do with that. I’m also hoping that increased cyclotouring will help with kendo stamina.
And 10k is a good start! My first ride this year was 10k in late March, and I’ve been increasing it ride by ride by 5k. So, I have no doubt we’ll be able to do a good ride in mid-August.
I wound up doing just over 20 km on the first ride. I’m hoping to head out again tonight for 20~30 km. Just depends on how much time I have and how my legs/butt/hands feel. I’m sure we’ll be able to do a 50+ km ride by August 🙂