Arrggghhh...

Work is starting to get on my nerves. It sucks sitting on ones butt for 10+ hours a day looking at a computer screen and writing code. Ever since I took the initiative last July to start losing weight and getting in shape I have progressively begun to get antsy, and can't stand all this sitting.

In case anyone is wondering I have lost 45 pounds so far, 10 pounds away from my weight in college which was 11 years ago. Once I plopped my butt in front of a computer in a cube farm the weight just started piling on. There was no one to blame but myself.

So, last year I came across a great deal on an 11 night Alaskan cruise; and just couldn't pass it up, especially after I read about one of the excursions they were offering. A 6 hour glacier climb. It definitely would be a great experience I thought, but I knew I was in no shape to perform even an hour of it. The challenge was on; I began talking to people I knew who were in good physical shape and got some good advice. One of those was to join the YMCA and take spinning, the other was to keep the calorie intake between 1500 and 2000 calories a day. One day out of the week, usually Saturday, I would not worry about counting calories. I found that this would keep me honest with the whole thing.

By the time the cruise began I had lost 10 pounds and felt in much better shape. The cruise was incredible and I had a great time on the glacier climb; I didn't even gain a pound the whole time. After arriving back in land locked Nebraska I decided to keep up with the routine. There was still denial that I was hooked. I upped the number of classes I would attend and the lengths of said classes; there was added a 45 minute class to the 2 30 minute classes I attended on a weekly basis. Soon, another 20 pounds were lost come December. Then around February I decided to try the hour classes on the weekends. This was just becoming too much fun, I couldn't get enough. I would arrive as early as I could and stay as late as I could to just keep going. The end result was that I was doing 3 hours on Saturday and 2 hours on Sunday as well as 45 minutes on Tuesday and Thursday.

Then came the time to decide what would be done for vacation this year. The pocket book was a little tight and I didn't want to spend too much but I also wanted to have as much fun or more than last year. While surfing the web for things to do I came across the BRAN (Bicycle Ride Across Nebraska), the price was right and I love camping so I thought what the heck. One problem though, I have no bicycle. So, why not, time to get a bicycle. While I was at it, I thought why not do the RAGBRAI too. These are my big vacations for the year.

The new bike, a Trek 7.5FX, was doing me good. The weight drop was now down to 45 pounds. The weather was getting good and I was hitting the roads and finding myself not doing the spin classes if the weather was nice. I have a great sense of guilt for not attending the classes, this is definitely the first sign of being hooked.

Now I have picked up a personal trainer, Marc Walter, who is going to take me to the next level. I love speed and he is going to work with me to take me to the racing level. Mountain biking is fun but I don't think I will take it any farther than recreation competition. Hopefully, today after work I will have a road bike and the true adventure will begin.

You may be wondering why I have written all of this information. I told you, work is boring anymore, so to help pass time I will write about my new passion. Cycling.

Hope nobody has fallen asleep while reading this and maybe, just maybe someone will walk away with the idea that "If he could lose the weight that easily, so can I".