cycling
16. Januar, 21:41 Uhr
[YouTube video of 100 fave pics of 10k, set to the song that inspired it, Ingenue by DCFC. Ooh-la-la](https://youtu.be/eAlI0VjN_uU)
I had a 9mm kidney stone Nov’19.
I only have 1 kidney.
I get 3 surgeries in 4mos.
Last urologist appt. to be cleared to return to work canceled by Covid.
I have 1st of MANY Zoom calls of pandemic with urologist instead.
I will never forget his words.
“Look, nobody ever listens to me, but you REALLY NEED to. You were this close {holds fingers 1mm apart} to losing your only kidney and being on dialysis til a transplant. If you waited 24hrs more before coming to ER, you would have died. You’re young, living the next 50yrs on dialysis isn’t too much better than if you waited a day. You NEED to make serious diet and exercise changes, or I’m going to have to keep doing this to you every couple of years, further scarring your only kidney each time, until you die of renal failure.”
I am 38yo.
I am 6’0”.
I weigh 259lbs.
I am sedentary.
I am obese.
I smoke cigarettes.
I eat horribly.
I sleep horribly.
I am depressed and don’t know it.
I am dying.
No
I
Am
NOT.
I Google ‘best exercise for overweight, bad back’, top results: rowing and cycling. I buy a Chinese knockoff Concept rowing machine from Amazon and i own a ‘99 Giant mountain bike that i rode 3times/yr in the city, on a good year.
I live just off the Mount Vernon Trail that George took to work to DC along the Potomac River.
I YouTube search ‘stretching routine for overweight, bad back’ and click on most viewed. I stretch before/after every single ride.
April 1, 2020 i take my first bike ride, just 2 miles away from my house, and 2mi back home. I had to get off and walk the bike up a 15ft 8% grade hill, humbling. 3wks later when i finally rode up that hill without loosing cadence was my 1st sense of accomplishment and real progress.
If i wake up and it doesn’t still hurt, i do it again.
If i wake up and it does still hurt, i take rest and recovery SERIOUSLY and eat good protein and vegetables, drink alot of water, take epsom salt soaks, stretch routine, stay off feet and take it ez.
If i wake up the next morning and it still hurts, i repeat rest and recovery steps.
If i wake up and it doesn’t still hurt, i do it again.
The world gets smaller and smaller..
July 13 2020 i make it Washington monument, Lincoln, and Jefferson w/ old bike. 15mi from home, 15 back.
I buy a proper gravel bicycle in July 15.
I keep riding.
I decide to ride to all the houses of my 3 closest friends in DC area.
Furthest friend is 22mi from home, 22 back.
I realize Baltimore is only 56mi to the Ray Lewis statue, and his cycling in Florida heat had already been super inspirational for me back when i read it in 2012.
I just rode 44mi, i COULD ride to Bmore..
My metabolism naturally normalizes.
My circadian rhythm naturally regulates.
My brain chemistry has begun to balance as a result of daily exercise, proper recovery, eating right.
My eyes are opened that i was indeed suffering from depression the past decade and i had no idea and this exercise has begun to bring me out of the depressive fugue.
I realize i have let relationships with people i love fallow as a by product of my downward spiral of undiagnosed mental health disorder for the past decade.
I should ride my bike to all of my friends houses, not just DC friends, in progressive distance away from my house. This will naturally increase my mileage.
I will not kill any 2 birds with 1 stone for the 8 stages of the Tour de Friends that live in Bmore, but will back and forth 8 times.
The furthest Bmore stage is 73mi.
I make two 175mi oneway trips to the Eastern Shore of Maryland where i was born, from Bmore stages to visit 14 stages of friends and family that still live there. This is practice for what i have that’s superfluous and what i wish i had that i don’t yet.
I make the 2nd ride Eastern Shore from Parkville in Bmore to 146th St in Ocean City, MD in one day, 173.5 miles, 21hrs, 13.5hrs on bike, 7.5hrs refilling water on 104*F day, eating 3000 calorie lunch and 3000 dinner and eating my leftover BBQ wrapped in tinfoil from lunch at 3am on side of a road in farmland of Delaware by moonlight, eating ribs and brisket…Xd. My Whoop heart rate monitor says i burnt 11,000 calories that day!!!
2 miles to start, 173.5..if i woke up and it didnt hurt, i did it again. It hurt the next 2 days i woke up after that!
Then i put back tire in Atlantic on Assateague Island and head to the very non-local friends across the country.
I will put the front tire in the Pacific.
Come along.
I am so thankful for that kidney stone! Dr. King said in his famous I Have a Dream speech, which i was profoundly struck by how it applied to this life change i experienced the last 9mos by the 1st time i could make it to his statue:
“..Out of the mountain of despair, a stone of Hope.”
Photo Credits
@primenomadic Hawksbill Crag at Sunset
@kaiserfilms Closeup at Washington Monument
@kaiserfilms Shine Bright Like a Diamond Reflective Winter Kit
@tandtmotoadventures Back of the Dragon Riding Formation
#lovealwayswins
#tourdefriends
#thanksfriends
CyclingTips 
It started with a fight 
cargobike.jetzt - Transportalternativen für die... 
Pedelecs und E-Bikes 
Bike Components 
Rennrad-News 
Cycling Claude Rennrad Blog 
Velomotion 
Bikepacking 
Radsport-News.com 
vivalagrischa – Biketouren 
Radfahren in Stuttgart 
Cycling Tag on Medium 
MartinTriker 
Spoony's Bike Blog 
MTB-News.de 
Ritzelzeit 
Zwift Insider 
Cycling Sunday 
Gravelnews 
overnighter 
Cyclingmagazine 
bicycling