Dip Me in Chocolate, Bike to Cleveland

Lock and load; springtime exercise regimen is a go.

I'm already 69.5 miles deep into it within the last four days. Realistic goal: 300 miles biked by April. Aiming for the sky; 465 miles by April.

10 miles, break to watch "Lost", then bike another 10.

I had fried thirty pounds last year through biking and dietary adjustments. Then, in the first week of October, I learned that I girl I had broken up with three weeks prior had taken her own life. There's a lot more at play with that story than meets the eye or that I shall expound upon in this venue. I still have difficulty coming to grips with it. In short, part of my identity and become that of a man that helped people or ran headlong into conflict in order to right injustices. Then I lost someone. I didn't save her.

The results of that sentiment have been numerous. One of the effects was regaining the majority of the weight that I lost as I stopped exercising and just started eating crap food. Chocolate-coated Haagen-Dazs? I'd down a pint. Pizza Shuttle? Feed me cheese-topped doom.

So it comes as great relief that those trauma-induced behaviors have subsided. Better yet, my previous efforts to better myself have resumed almost effortlessly. Once I fixed my bike and put down 15 miles, the cogs simply started turning again.

I can't even begin to relate how fucking great it feels to be unlocked from my sedentary state. I'm physically addressing some of the emotional impact of October's loss. As goes the body, so goes the mind. I'm literally aiding the healing process.

I know from previous experience that 20 days (over one whole month) of my current fitness program will remove ten pounds of fat. And I'm already 4 days in, putting down 24.5 miles last night alone. So long, grief weight.

Forward.



Update: now that I can drag my route path onto foot and bike trails on Google Maps, I've noticed that Ive actually underestimated the lengths of the my repetitive routes. Turns out my 12 miles Oak Leaf route was really 18.2 miles, and the Capitol-Lake-Summerfest-PO-East Side route I often run is 13.5 miles rather than 12.