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Cycling and Me: A History

I've been into cycling for the majority of my adult life. But casually. The various bikes I've owned have been largely used as transportation as well as exercise. Instead of taking the car when I needed to go to the shop, I'd take the bike instead. I might cycle a few times per week, but only over short distances. When lockdown hit in 2020 and I had less to do, I started buying more DVDs and videogames. Which had an unexpected and pleasant side-effect of making me healthier. I'd check the CEX website for some film or game I wanted, find which local store had it, then ride there to buy it. So my cycling distances extended. I went from five-mile rides to 12 and 15. The longest was 20. But none were even close to the 43 miles I'm now training for. And most had at least a 30-minute break halfway through (when I'd arrive at the shop). I arrive home exhausted from a lot of rides, often cycling some of the last few minutes with my eyes closed (kids: don't do this).

Intro

 In Autumn 2021, I listened to an amazing interview with Mike Trevino. Mike is an ultra-endurance athlete (check out his long list of athletic accomplishments). One thing he does is every year is run his age in miles (eg, he ran 45 miles to celebrate his 45th birthday). I am never going to do anything like that, but the idea of performing a yearly endurance challenge to commemorate your birthday resonated with me. So I laid out plans for my next three birthdays. These may very well change, but this is a good plan to focus on for the moment: Age 43: cycle 43 miles Age 44: run 22 miles, then cycle 22 miles (aka, the Sexy Biathlon) Age 45: run 45 miles (over a weekend). Right now, it's February 2022. My birthday is in August. For even semi-serious cyclists, 43 miles isn't that long of a ride. But it will be for me. This site will allow me to track my progress. Time to get started.