Maybe Cycling ..................

I have always wanted to........

Yeah, I rode a bicycle as a kid, up and down Norway Terrace with my sister and the kids in the neigbourhood. I had a Chopper or a Thomahawk or whatever the heck that bicycle was called. I also skate-boarded a lot too.

Skip to the early to mid 90s and a very good friend of mine named Paul cycled a lot, a heck of a lot. He asked me to travel with him one day while he rode around the eastern end of the island - Yep, the eastern end of Jamaica. From Kingston to Morant Bay to Portland to Annotto bay and on back into Kingston, a total of about 140 miles in one day. I carried a couple spare tyres and drink and food for him like bananas, grapes, bulla, water and drink. He still rides and he was featured in the Gleaner a couple Sundays ago. He was also one of three persons in Jamaica to do the first Kingston to Negril ride back in 1991, a couple years before I met him. Now he does the Kingston to MoBay to Negril to Mandeville to kingston route once per year - Whew !!

I have decided to use cycling to get my aerobic workout.

I have been talking to an acquantance of mine Wayne about it, he picked up cycling a couple months ago and stopped by the house one Saturday morning to show me his bicycle. I rode up and down the road a couple of times, marvelling at how unsteady I was and worrying if I was going to break my damn 40 year old neck (well, 40 in another couple of months) Then I found out that my neighbour (distant neighbour) also cycles in the morning and that just sealed the issue, I would have someone to ride with in the mornings to keep me company and keep me motivated.

Now I dont have a wad of cash lying around, so I went bicycle hunting today and saw a few units that will serve me well as a start-up unit, until I really get into it and maybe get a real road cycle (Mwahahahaha !!! :) ). Gonna give it a try and see if I like it.

I have a problem with jogging as it hurts my knees and very long aggressive walking hurts my back in a weird way, so I cop out everytime Antoinette gets up at 5am to go walking. With work and school I had half convinced myself that I dont have the time, but that is a damn cop out and I will not use that excuse again.

I will link up with Wayne tomorrow if possible and show him what I have in mind, see if it is a proper enough fit and then hit the road on Saturday for a light ride. I will do some light riding over the first couple weeks and increase intensity as I go along.

My doctor gave me a full blood workup to get done months ago, and I will stop off and do that next week, and then tell him what I am up to exercise-wise (Yeah, yeah, I know I am doing this part backwards).

So wish me luck and start the countdown with me.