Rusty Gears

I have not been exercising as much the past couple months. Which is unusual for me because I have played Ultimate pretty much every week since 2002. I guess that exercising is a lot harder to find in the real world (i.e., life after graduating from college). At SPU, the Ultimate organization on campus regularly plays at 10pm at night! That is certainly too late to play for a working stiff like myself, since I usually get up at 6:30am daily.

So I have motivated myself to start biking to work! I'm not quite sure how long this will last, and I'm not planning on doing it every single day. But a handful of my co-workers tell me how much they love biking in the mornings... especially when the weather is as beautiful as it has been recently.

The last time I rode my bike was about 3 years ago. I figured that beginning this journey would include tightening brakes, greasing up gears, or some other strange bicycle problem. However, I was surprised to realize that all I needed to do was pump up my tires and she was all ready to go for a ride!

Obviously the first trip was a tough one the first go-around. I used muscles I haven't used in awhile, my back straining from leaning forward, and my butt hurt so bad. ...But it was wonderful! I know that as long as I keep going and don't give up at this, my muscles will adjust, my back will be stronger, and my butt will become... well... simply... buns of steel!

It's amazing how I became much more aware of the hills in Seattle when I pedal up the steep inclines, gasping for breath. It makes me much more appreciative of my car when I'm just pushing the pedal a few inches instead of the endless circular motion on my bike pedals.

And new frustration also has appeared, one that I haven't had to deal with for the past 3 years: gears that won't always do what I want them to do.

But yeah... seriously, I love biking to work.

I'll give an update in a few months on how it's been going... I guess at that point in time, we'll really see how much I love it. :-)