Triple figure numbers are generally welcomed, but not usually when they appear on a set scales. To clarify I’m talking in kilograms here, not pounds. Seeing that 100kg (220lbs) tick over on the scales wasn’t what I was expecting, but it did mean I needed to react before I accepted the number as part of getting older.
In 2009, as part of a medical examination for a new job, I was weighed for the first time in a long time. I always thought of my body as ‘normal’, just average height, your average regular Joe who was in his mid 30’s, not very active, but still reasonably fit. When the doctor came back and told me that at 95kg I was borderline obese, I didn’t know how to respond. Well, I guess I did, because I chose denial.
As my new role working afternoon shift started, my lack of exercise continued, and life mostly consisted of work and lazing on the couch. Something had to give… and it was my waistline. My workplace has a large set of digital scales, and one day as I passed by I decided to stand on them. Well I quickly regretted it when I saw the triple figures light up, surely they weren’t calibrated right? Wrong! They were correct, and the wake up call I needed was well and truly received.
My first step onto the road to fitness was to borrow my brothers bike and start riding. If you know bikes, you’ll probably understand a GT Chucker isn’t the best bike for recreational cycling. If you don’t know about bikes, lets just say the bike is designed for flying downhill performing tricks; not putting in a few kilometers around the local paths.
Regardless, my first ride was along the local walking track beside the highway on a stifling summers day. With the temperature at 35°C and a stiff northerly breeze I set off with a backpack containing a water bottle and an ambition to get fit. Just over 10 minutes in I had drank over half of the water and was rethinking my strategy for riding in the heat. Stopping to catch my breathe, I decided I had gone far enough for my first ride and turned back towards home. By the time I got back I felt I had made a decent accomplishment, and decided to make it a regular occurrence. A quick calculation established my ride was around 7kms. Not a huge distance, but definitely more than I had ridden in the preceding 15 years.
Over the following weeks I ventured further and further along the walking tracks, and decided to invest in my own bike. After a lot of research I decided to get a hardtail mountain bike to enable a bit of trail riding as well as path riding. In the end I purchased a GT Avalanche which motivated me to increase my distances. Additionally I got a trip computer fitted to help monitor my progress. Within weeks of getting the new bike my rides went from 15km out to 35km rides. I soon found myself in a good routine of waking up, getting kids to school, then off riding for 45-90 minutes before eating lunch and heading off to work on afternoon shift. The riding was also having the desired affect of lowering my weight from that dreaded triple figure which was now in the mid 90s and heading south.
As my fitness improved I started to enjoy the cycling even more and was travelling further during my new found freedom. A change in my employment returned me to day shift which meant less time for riding during the week. To even things out I decided to start getting out in the saddle over the weekends, much to my wife’s dismay. My riding was also starting to have a big affect on my social standings, as my mates didn’t understand my new found passion for fitness and cycling, especially as I started talking about buying a road bike.
This meant my life was leading one way quickly… although I was getting fitter and I was fast escaping the clutches of the triple figure weight, I was also turning into a MAMIL (Middle Aged Man In Lycra).