incidentally wonderful

For any of you that may wonder if I'm only posting highlights of all my exercise and leaving out the boring daily laps and stuff -- no.  I'm pretty much posting every single time I go out on my bike.  Every time I do, I feel so incredibly proud and I'm so surprised that I can do it that I always write about it here.  So all the progress you've seen me make has been based on exactly how many posts you've read about up until now.

Sometimes days and days may go by when I do not ride.  Sometimes that's due to migraines.  Sometimes it may have to do with weather.  Sometimes I'm quite busy with errands and stuff to do and places to go all day.  In the end though, I always know that the very honest truth is...riding is something I either choose to do, or do not choose to do.  Nobody is going to spank me for not riding my bike.  Nobody is going to give me a cookie if I do.  Riding is something I have to decide for myself is WORTH it. 

(Hmmm... looking back at that last paragraph I wonder if it reveals a tad too much about my childhood?  Oh, well.  Too late now.)

What makes riding "worth it" to me?

The first reason was economy.  I couldn't afford a car, so I needed another option to take best advantage of the limited funds I had for transportation. 

Second was health.  I needed some activity which would be aerobic, strengthening, free, not require much expensive gear or clothing, and which would be engaging enough to want to continue long-term.  I wanted an activity that would be gentle on my joints, and that I could do well into old age.  I wanted something that could change my life, not just be a fad or a class I would get sick of or burn out on.

Third was fun.  Through the mists of time I dimly remembered that riding a bike as a kid had been the most fun I ever had!  (FWIW, as an adult I'm finding it is every bit as much fun still.)

Finally for me is the question of utility.  I just can't stand to think of wasting all kinds of energy doing something for no reason.  Going for a jog?  Well you'd better be running away from a bear, was my thinking.  It just seemed so pointless to spend all those calories just to spend calories, when the whole purpose of calories in the first place is to give us energy to accomplish work.  I wanted something that would help move my life forward in some significant way.  I wanted something that would help me accomplish some other important task besides itself (or also besides any incidental benefit of fitness). 

Yeah, incidental fitness.  That's what I wanted.  I wanted to LIVE MY LIFE, but to do it in such a way that fitness became an incidental byproduct, rather than the main goal I chased like a carrot on a stick.

Well, it's working for me.

Having a practical goal like getting the milk is a massive motivator.  Yes I could take the bus or sometimes get a ride from a friend, but the bicycle gives me a vastly greater dimension of control.   I LIKE control.  I like knowing that I am in charge of my own life, and am not forced to live at the convenience of others.  I like knowing I can handle my own challenges on my own terms.  So when I decide it's time to buy milk, I just hop onto my bike and an hour later we have milk.  That may seem slow to folks used to cars, but it is fast compared to waiting for a bus or waiting for a friend to be available.

Along the way I have all these wonderful side benefits that keep me happy, and willing to do it over and over again.  I can see my body changing.  Since I've started biking I have started fitting back into clothes that I had begun to be too fat to wear.  So I know I'm shrinking.  My endurance has gone up.  My weight has come down at least six pounds.  That may not seem like much, but remember that I am not at all dieting, and I'm VERY sure that the weight I've lost is all fat and not muscle or mere water.  Stack up six pounds of butter next time you're at the store and tell me that isn't significant! 

I am also having fun.  Coasting down McWilliams hill is one of the most joyous experiences I can remember having in my entire life.  Especially since as I coast down, I have the searing pride of knowing I BOUGHT that ride with an hour's worth of determined work hauling myself and my groceries up various hills to get there.  It means so much more than if I was just, say, dropped off by some kind of conveyor belt which was installed so I would only have to ride down the hill, not up it.

I am proud that my groceries no longer cost any sort of gasoline or pollution for me to go get.  That is really an incidental pride, because it's not the main reason I'm doing this at all, but still the good feeling is there.  I know I'm on the side of world sustainability, rather than ... uh ... the other side.  (Sorry.)  I don't mean to make folks feel bad who haven't also made this choice for themselves, but I can't deny there is a certain blessing in recognizing that in this, at least, I am no longer part of the problem.

Oh, here's a nice incidental benefit: I'm getting a tan!   Me, the bookworm who is normally so pale I practically glow in the dark.  My skin has a lovely glow, and I look like the picture of health.  I'm sure it's doing wonders for my Vitamin D count as well, which might also have something to do with why I feel so darned happy lately, and am no longer depressed (although falling in love with Johan certainly might have a lot to do with that as well).

Today I bought a basket to put on the Raleigh's handlebars.   For the kind of utility biking that we do, that bike was woefully inadequate.  It is fun and light to ride, but having to fit everything you want to carry into a backpack was not convenient.  This improvement will provide a spot to throw the bike chain, a purse, or maybe a few groceries.  Next I intend to buy a rack to install over the back wheel.  It won't carry anywhere near as much as the Mundo, but at least it will give a spot to strap on something bulky like a new pillow or an economy package of paper towels.  With these extensions and a backpack, the Raleigh could become a very valuable "touch-up" shopping vehicle, so we won't have to haul out the Mundo for every little loaf of bread.

I had other things I intended to talk about today, but this post is already getting way long.  I'm not such a great writer that I'm willing to go back and edit it to be a really cohesive and tight "article".  But these are some things that have been on my mind today.  Tomorrow I'll try to catch up with the other things I'd intended to get around to, such as why I intend to lose my bike.