Cycling my way to the heavens

Or at least that’s how it feels after a workout! As in…I’m going to die…

It’s no surprise that I feel a little heftier from time to time and that’s not a big issue with me. I definitely am not what you call an ‘active’ fellow. But enough is enough! The winter has caught up with me so I decided to do something about it.

So this year’s grand scheme to get fit was to pick up a bicycle trainer…essentially a device that lifts the back tire of your existing bicycle off the floor so you can sit and ride it to your heart’s content…without actually moving anywhere! Saves on buying a stationary bike.

I found one on Kijiji nearby by house and after a sweet $100, I was in business. Thanks to Uncle Gerry for his consultation on this Cycleops Mag Trainer that I picked up.

Here is a recap of the past three days:

Day 1 – Saturday
After a day of renovations which basically killed every muscle in my body, I decided to also cap the evening off with a bike ride. I’m not sure where this idea came from, but perhaps it was the fact that while sitting in the basement, I’m staring at this bicycle I set up and it’s saying “Hey buddy. Are you going to give me a try or what?” In hindsight, it was very smart of me to set the thing up in the basement immediately and not just leave it out of sight.

The basement was already a balmy 72 degrees so when I jumped on the bicycle in my jogging pants and a t-shirt, I was pretty well a puddle of sweat within four minutes.

I decided that a good workout at this point would be around 42 minutes…or the exact time most TV shows are. So I popped in an episode of Friday Night Lights. The trainer makes quite the whine while cycling so I had to increase the volume to compensate. Not an ideal scenario.

Day 2 – Sunday
Sunday morning I hopped out of bed and decided to get on the bicycle right away. Two reasons: I had read somewhere that if you want to burn the fat off, a good time to do it is before breakfast. Interesting. Secondly, my legs were quite sore so I thought maybe warming up those muscles would help me out. It did! Let me tell you, for a guy who doesn’t read up on exercising, things were clicking in place!

Especially since I smartened up, got some headphones so I could listen to the TV, wore a ball cap so the sweat wouldn’t fall into my eyes, and wore some shorts as well.

Overall, the second day was a good day of improvements. My only issue was that I felt like I was dragging myself the entire time and I think it has to do with the fact that I was watching an episode of the The Killing which is a pretty morose tale of police detectivery. Not the most energetic stuff.

Day 3 – Monday
I decided that the only thing to improve at this point was what I was watching on the TV at the time. So I popped in a Metallica DVD that I hadn’t watched yet and this thing gave me the energy I needed! It was chock full of good tunes and gave me the energy I needed to keep going. Sure, my mind was wondering when the 42 minutes would be up (I didn’t have a watch and I was depending on Vero coming downstairs to tell me…I was also wondering if she was going to play a trick and not show up at all!), but overall, I had an easier time mentally than the two days before.

So after three days, my ass is still a little sore but not as bad as the start. But that just comes with cycling. I think I’ve mastered the little details and for the next while I’ll focus on watching concert DVDs that have fallen to the wayside of my Amazon purchases.

I think I did hit the nail on the head though with coupling TV watching with exercising. It just makes sense to me to hop on the bicycle instead of hopping on the couch. I think my only two improvements at this point would be to attach a speedometer, or at Uncle Gerry’s suggestion, get a heart rate monitor. Good suggestions all around.

I don’t feel any worse than when I started biking to work last summer…it takes awhile to get the body into shape so it’s easier to make the trek. I figure after a week, I will be good to go!