March Madness Day and riding my bike

I truly love this time of year. The nights are still chilly, the days are warm, and flowers are abloom everywhere. And, there is the Big Dance. Today is March Madness, Day One.

I have eaten a good brunch, and the games are on. I think I can do two things at one time, so I thought I might blog a bit. I really have nothing better to do.

Some days I might write about God and a personal relationship with my Creator. Other times I might tell you about something I am just thinking about. That should be as reservoir of material, because I have plenty of time to think.

Is being disabled a life altering experience? Yes, it presents it's challenges, but it also filled with rewards. When I was a freelance photojournalist, my reward was a front page, or a good pay day. Now I celebrate my first few steps, back in my leg. Spend two years sitting, and you will share my joy that exceeds even a check for a thousand dollars, by walking again.

I am not quite ready to ride the bicycle, but it is here beside me and needs only air in the tires. At 100 psi those “fat boy” slicks reduce the rolling resistance to like a road bike. When I am on my Schwinn steel frame (welded in Chicago) I know there will never be another like this tank. I call it the Red Fat-burning Machine. I was 385 pounds when I purchased the bike. I added good gears, an elliptical crank with longer arms, and a 36-spoke rear wheel. It is heavy, but then so was I.

I live on street which terminates at either end by tee intersections, so I have a closed circuit where traffic will not be an issue. I a big fan in the early stages of my training routine to limit myself to what I call circuit riding. A school track, a circular track around the lake at Freedom Park, or McAlpine Greenway have been convenient. That aspect is also important, because it takes 21 straight days of riding, without a break to get the bugs out and burn those hard first calories. In that time, it becomes a habit, an integral part of your lifestyle, and something you can do for the rest of your life.

There is no value in pushing yourself early, because these are the final days of lugging around a 50 pound tire around your belly. There will plenty of time to enjoy hills and longer rides, when you are under 300 pounds, and getting much more fit.

I have no idea what the sequence will be. I guess riding the bike from one end to the other, one lap would be like taking my first steps. That may be what I will do for the first seven days. You must resist the urge to push yourself and try two laps. It is a fool-hardy move. You have the next seven days for two laps. 

And then you increase incrementally, week to week, until you are doing fifty laps. By then, you are in a routine. Your body is addicted to endorphins. I remember riding in a snow storm one day not because of lunacy, but because nothing was going to stop me.

Believe me, I remember how significant the reward to work ratio shifts quickly. The more you ride, the more weight you lose, losing weight makes it easy to ride more, so the more you want to ride. I know of no other exercise program that has worked for me, but this one.

Obviously, there is a modification of your diet. Sugars in drinks is replaced by cold fresh water, you simply lose your taste for things which do not provide nutrition to fuel your fat burning machine.

A protocol is something you perfect and use it daily. It starts with breakfast, and the best for me was a meal of oatmeal and orange juice, with some whole wheat bread and good peanut butter, maybe a banana or blueberries in the oatmeal. I make my oatmeal the old fashioned way with a twist. I use apple juice instead of water, and thrown nuts in with some cinnamon. This is not a low calorie, low glycemic regimen, because it fuels the bike ride. I will continue in later blogs. My page is full.