 The quest begins in 1990. I awoke one morning, looked in the mirror and realized that I felt old, ugly and fat. I was 36, ten pounds over weight and had to stop at the top of each flight of stairs just to breathe. My energy level was low and I felt that my life had lost direction.
Yes, I knew that proper diet, rest, relaxation and exercise were the keys to a happy, productive life. I held a blue belt in taekwondo, an advanced open water certification in scuba diving, had kayaked Class III rapids and had jumped out of an airplane. I had tried walking, aerobic dance and running. None of those interested me for long. So, my friend Stephanie and I decided that we were going to change our lives...
We took up weight-lifting.
After a couple of weeks or so of seeing no change in my body, I vented my frustration on my husband David. He suggested that I buy a bike like his so that he and I could—and he quoted my frequent request—“spend more time together.
It was true that David was thoroughly enjoying his new road bike and spent quite a bit of time riding it. And I liked what riding the bicycle had done to the scenery on top of the bicycle. However, I was given a bicycle for Christmas instead of a pony when I was five and could think of nothing more disgusting that revisiting the effort I spent in learning to ride that heavy, difficult-to-balance piece of equipment. I tersely told David, “No thank you.”
Next I visited an exercise physiologist to ask for help in creating the perfect weight training routine. He wisely asked me for my goals and courteously informed me that to attain the goals of weight loss and better functioning heart and lungs would take more than a weight training routine—I needed regular aerobic activity. I asked what he recommended. When he said bicycling, I snapped, “What is this, a conspiracy?” We decided to begin with just the weight lifting routine.
Two weeks later Stephanie and I were faced with paying the next month’s fees to the gym and were surprised that the price had tripled. Unwilling to pay the increase and unable to change the mind of the owner of the gym, we decided to shop for bicycles.
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