From the Couch to the Summit

I have had the great pleasure over my life time to be part of great teams and be involved in sporting achievements where I have been surrounded by great athletes with natural talent and great sense of ability.  I am not one of those athletes!  I have always considered myself a grinder.  Where talent lacks, the determination to dig deeper and find that little extra has always motivated me to keep pressing on.

Then I got distracted by real life, the work force, found my lovely wife and set out creating a family, set out to achieve our goals as a couple.  I'm not complaining about any of those things.  I have enjoyed the growing & maturing within my family unit.  What is missing from the descriptions spelled out above is that very little of that maturity revolved around physical goals or even health goals.

Now, my wife has always been petite and gorgeous but me, my physique, I have been letting the team down.  Losing my hair and increasing my waist line has been the result of 10 years or more of not having a physical goal.  See evidence recorded by my daughter at Xmas 2009 on a trip home to Canada.

Put it away big fella.

So after years of sporadic exercise it was clear that in order to perform as an active father to 2 or 3 children as well as start these new found Athletic adventures that Australia has to offer me & my family, I would have to train, exercise and change my eating habits.  Again see reference in the above photos if you think my eating was healthy..... I can't even get dressed after showering before downing what appears to be a Pop-Tart.

I have already started weigh training at my local gym and have also invested in a road cycle to get my cardiovascular system into shape.  To get off the couch and pick up some weights, no tears there, just picked up very small weights at first! But it has been more than 10 years since I have felt the touch of unbroken leather seating under my back side, that was always going to take some time.



Thankfully I know the guys down at Cycling Express and they were able to steer me through a couple critical decisions that could make or break this endeavour.  First decision was Carbon or not.  Lets face it, although I was going through this process to get fit, if lighter means easier and less effort sign me up for the $300 price tag!

The second issue which the guys really assisted with was the whole matter of pedals.  As I would be purchasing a race style road bike of course the expectation would be clip in pedals.  I AM AFRAID OF CLIP IN PEDALS!  I had borrowed a friends bike for a week before arriving at the shop to buy my own and had already, once and only once, been unable to detach my feet from the pedals in time.  Down I went.  I was halfway up a crazy hill 2 blocks from my home and decided to take a break.  To beginner cyclist....... do not stop halfway up an up hill, there is not a lot of hope for you being able to get moving, clip in and keep your momentum up enough not to stop dead in your tracks and less than gracefully kiss the bitumen.  Again, I maintain to all that this has only happened once!

But back to the shop, the guys recommended that I use mountain bike clips as they are 2 sided and as such I wouldn't have to be too concerned with getting my pedals right to clip in.  Road bike shoes still clip into them so win, win.
I have found that advice to be very useful during my cycles and are grateful for the knowledge.

So what did I buy, value for money hands down the best carbon bike for the price was the Azzurri Forza Elite 105.  And what crazy ride awaits my valiant steed.

Tomorrow with a number of mates we will be riding around the Bay In a Day.  There is an official Bay in a Day fund raising ride on Sunday but as Sunday is the one day of rest from all the cares of the world a group of us will be venturing out, not on the official easier route, but the longer way, with worse roads.

This 220km approximate round trip departs from Melbourne Southern Cross train station at 7am we will cycle to Queenscliff on the Bellarine Peninsula where we will cross the bay by ferry.  On arrival on the Mornington peninsula we will continue back up the Melbourne where the fun will end.  See the ride map on the link below.

http://maps.google.com.au/maps/msgl=au&ie=UTF8&ptab=2&oe=UTF8&msa=0&msid=103416566830642597917.0004803cddd5b1a6087fa

I will preface this ride by saying that I have been riding to work twice a week now which is 10km each way. So if the next post shows a grave stone...... you get the picture.