Well, this is my first time blogging about anything. Its really just a way to keep myself on point and keep track of my progress as i attempt to become a better cyclist. So, if you're reading this don't be too harsh on my grammar or my novice mistakes at riding a bicycle.
I guess i should give you some background. I'm 31 years old, some might say thats pretty young, but in cycling that's getting up there. I recently graduated with my degree in nuclear medicine and live in the retirement capital of the world. I first started taking an interest in cycling about 4 years ago. It actually was my own idea of physical therapy after breaking my left leg in six places. I broke it about 3" above the ankle. It was three months before i could even put weight on it. So, needless to say i gained a ton of weight and loss alot of leg strength. So off to Wally World i went to get me one of those awesome badass neon green mountain bikes. The first time i went out i did 10 miles with a break at the 5 mile mark. My damn leg was pretty pissed off after the ride, but it felt good inside. The sense of adventure was great. I mean 10 miles down the road hardly seems like an adventure, but on the bike after not walking for 3 months was pretty good.
During this time i realized that my health was pretty shitty, i was strong, but endurance was pretty low.It was kinda depressing and angering at the same time. I played football in high school and i was a long distance runner for most of my time in school. I graduated High School at 127lbs and i was now weighing in around 200lbs.
Soon after this i started college. It had been 8 years since High School and i had been building fire trucks for those 8 years. But, with the economy going down and manufaturing in the states taking a big hit, it was time to move on. I dropped a ton of weight when i started college. Oddly enough i worked at McDonalds and managed to lose like 40 Lbs on nuggets and diet coke, and lots and lots of coffee.
This kept going for about a 1.5 years. Then the bike was needed again. My 9 year old Car, that i drove like i was mario andretti, broke down. Being tight on cash and time to fix it, i turned to my trusty walmart mountain bike. It was 9 mile to work with some hills along the way. I've never been shy of a challenge and i took the ya gotta do what ya gotta do attitude.It was mid july, and if you haven't geussed i live in florida. It was damn hot. I got to work and i was drenched! I would go and stand in the cooler to cool off before i changed in to my work uniform. I did this for a couple of weeks till i got the car fixed. But, one of those times, my roommate lent me his road bike, he said he couldnt stand seeing me ride the walmart bike anymore. His bike was a vilano shadow, nothing special as far as road bikes were concerned, but i didnt know squat about road bikes. Man, it was day and night. I got to work in half the time. Still drenched tho. I found that i felt great when i got home from work. I then decided that i was going to look into cycling a little more.
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