I Ain't Lance. I'm Bob

Whenever I set a personal best, the first words out of The Bride's mouth are, invariably, "Don't you think you're doing too much?" (She stopped saying that recently, but only with great willpower.)

My response: "What is the point of having limits if you don't keep pushing them?"

The United States Marine Corps says it better: "Pain is weakness leaving the body." Booyah, Baby!

You know where this is going and I must beg your forgiveness, but I'm burning on an endorphine high as I write this. In January, I've done eight 30-minute rides so far (and four 20-minute rides). These are the distances in miles. If you want to know my average speed on these rides, simply double the distances:

Jan. 09: 7.15 (14.3 mph average)
Jan. 10: 7.70
Jan. 17: 8.25
Jan. 20: 7.11
Jan. 26: 8.18
Jan. 27: 7.80
Jan. 28: 8.30
Today : 8.80 (17.6 mph average)

That's 7.9 average with a 23% increase in distance from the first ride to the last. According to bikejournal.com, I've burned 5,600 calories this month when including the 20-minute rides. I'm aiming to complete ten miles in 30 minutes.

In the grand scheme of things, especially in the world of bicycling, these numbers are nothing, but like all things relative, they mean something to me and all of this would have been totally unthinkable a few short years ago. I'm a techie by trade, and daily exercise is pushing a mouse and a good diet means not supersizing.

But then my personal fitness hero, Aunt Lily, re-entered my life and she's a marathoner (!!!). A close relation of mine is physically fit? Get out of town on the horse you rode in on. And so is her significant other, the Zinger, someone for whom I have an infinite world of respect. They have this incredible love for life. Amazing.

My catchy line at this point is usually, "When I grow up, I want to be just like them." The fact is I am grown up, so no more excuses and no fear. I can't run like them, but I can fly on a bike.

Speaking of which, I rode to Dayton last October and I coasted down the big hill at about 41 mph. Reading the current issue of Bicycling magazine and found a blurb about Alpine bikers who regularly descend mountain roads at an average speed in the 50s. Holy cow. Think how fast I would have gone if I'd had a street bike instead of a mountain bike. (grin)

By the by, Aunt Lily is training again so check out her blog, dudes.


Distance: 8.80 miles
Time: 30:00 minutes
657 calories burned