Things never go as planned.

At the beginning of every year most Americans take the opportunity to reflect on the previous year: what went well, all the good things that happened, or what went wrong.

Basically it's the "what the hell happened?" moment or "it's got to get better this year!"

The next thing we do is make lofty promises to ourselves and if we have no sense at all to others about some wish, task, or commitment we want to make. These are known as New Year Resolutions. Generally, things like:

I'm going to be nicer to everybody I meet this year, or...
I'm going to spend more time with family and friends, or...
I'm going to enjoy life more, etc.

If you are really unrealistic things spout out like:
I'm going to quit smoking, or...
I'm going to quit, er, um, reduce my drinking, or the most popular of all...
I'm going to lose weight this year, yeah right.

Historically statistics say that we tend to make these promises to ourselves and our loved ones and begin the year really well at accomplishing these tasks. However, they re generally out the door by the middle of February.

Well last year I did just that. I made some New Years Resolutions. Two in fact. Lose Weight and ride more. Now I know what your thinking. These are pretty simple. However, there are a couple of additional pieces of information that you need to have.

My office decided that they would have a Biggest Loser Contest. Three months to lose as much as you can or gain as many fitness points based on the Weight Watchers scale of activity.

Added to this was the desire to ride 5,000 miles on a bike. No. Not all at once! That was my intended yearly total. Now some of you might might think that the effort was either monumental or minuscule depending on your annual activity level, but for me this was a big time commitment. My usual average was bout 1,200 or so with my best effort being about 2,500 miles or roughly a flat version of the Tour de France over the period of a year rather than 23 days. Hey, it works for me.

Well, I lasted through he whole three months and won the office contest riding off into the sunset, literally. I rode away with the activity points and lost 35 pounds in three months. In their infinite wisdom, the office pool even dropped the activity level of bike riding to keep me from winning again. Funny how the mind works when it comes to exercise: If it seems easy, it can't be true. I must run until my knees ache, spend hours on the StairMaster, etc. in order to lose weight. Or, thee are he ones who want to either starve themselves or take a magic pill, anything not to have to exert effort.

When it comes right down to it, riding is the easiest, safest, less demanding on your body form of exercise there is. But main people refuse to see the benefits. (I will elaborate more on my exercise/weight loss process in a later post)

Bicycling Magazine has actually profiled five riders who each lost more than 100 pounds getting out of their office or home and riding a bike. Some started commuting to work. Others rode in their neighborhoods or local parks. All, however, started with whatever they could muster, 1 mile, 5 miles, 30 min., 1 hour, etc. Each increased their distance or time as they were able. Nothing more nothing less.

My friend Fred started by forcing himself to ride just a little more than the last time. Sometimes that would be a few miles, other time nothing more than a few feet. He will tell you that it saved his life.

Well, I did last past the Feb 17th normal un-success date, but I only lasted until Dec. 11th. It was then that I realized I would fall about 800 miles short of my stated goal of 5,000 miles. Preparing a house to be sold, negotiating on the new (old) house, as well as packing, moving and unpacking all combined to overtax my resources and hampered my efforts to get to the final mileage total. Still, for me 4,200 miles was nothing to sneeze at and I had attained a higher level of fitness and comfort on the bike than I had ever had previously, all at the age of 41.

Some of these stories including my best ever Hotter 'n Hell Hundred are guaranteed to show up in future posts, generally when I have nothing better to write about.

So long for now.