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As I mentioned in my very first blog post, I am an avid bicyclist. In my youth, I spent tons of time riding my bikes around our neighborhood. We lived on a street that was almost like a perfect bike track, a loop that was 2/5ths of a mile in length, nearly flat, and very little traffic. We also lived near a lake that had trails running around it, so the off-road opportunities were there, too. Bicycles were always a part of my life, and when I was in my late 20s, I was enough into it that I entered a few regional mountain bike races. My brother was a big road-bike enthusiast, so I also spent many hours in the saddle on the rural roads in NJ.

Unfortunately, life and career got very busy, and my cycling time dwindled to almost nothing for a period of about 12 years. My weight ballooned from 175lbs (in 1996) to a peak of 215lbs (in 2006). And my health was heading south with increasing blood pressure and general lack of fitness.

Two years ago, I was telling a neighbor about my former exploits as a bicyclist (think "Glory Days"!). There was a gleam of interest in his eye, so I said "hey, why don't we start riding?" It didn't take much convincing as he was also feeling out of shape and wanted something to help him get back into it. So I dug out an old road bike (he had to buy a new one, which his wife initially scoffed at), and off we started!

I currently live in a section of NJ that is well-traveled by bicyclists on a road, Route-9W. The route begins at the NJ side of the George Washington Bridge and goes north as far as Bear Mountain (a round-trip ride from Manhattan to Bear Mountain is about 100 miles). Lance Armstrong twittered about this route on a recent visit to NYC: "That out/back is one of the best in America". So this is the area that we started our journey towards fitness. And initially, the results were very disappointing; our first ride only went about 10 miles, and we actually had to take 3 breaks! Being all dressed up in lycra/spandex cycling outfits and heaving heavily as all the Class A riders go by is pretty humiliating. But we kept at it, slowly but surely lengthening our rides, attempting more challenging hills as we reached various milestones.

After two years, we have come a long way. I am happy to report that I weighed in at 187lbs earlier this week. My measured blood pressure was well within "normal" range (130 over 70, down from 180 over 100 a year ago) without the use of any blood pressure medication. Our cycling group has grown from 2 of us to 6 from our neighborhood, and we are all good at keeping each other motivated. Our regular rides are now consistently between 30-50 miles at a good pace (average 18mph on a route with a good mix of hills and flats), with occasional rides in the 60+ mile range. We've reached a level of attempting (although admittedly not completing) a local ride called The Rocket Ride out of Nyack, NY, which is a 50 mile "take no prisoners" ride every Sunday where riders from all over come to ride at a blistering pace (26+mph on the flats easily) ...and if you get dropped from the pack, nobody waits for you. We even got crazy enough to enter the lottery for the Leadville Trail 100 Mountain Bike Race, one of the most challenging mountain bike races in the country (unfortunately, only two members of our group were accepted to the race...I got rejected...but I'll try again next year).

It feels great to be back in shape. Am looking forward to doing more to get myself into even better fitness. Being aware of the food I eat (what is in it, where it came from) is where I am focusing now.