The title of the post is what Eric H called it on RideWithGPS:
(I couldn't lead with that because the sites I link this use the first pic as a thumbnail for the post, and that one never would have come out.)
I thought that this route would be shorter than the routes I usually do in this direction, if I cut out the run up Bayberry (and it probably was), but it includes a long, demanding hill on Carter. Still, despite that hill, and despite my warnings about it in the description of the ride, and despite cold, raw temperatures... still, eight fellow club members decided to join me.
We had riders (as I often get) with a range of abilities, and I thought I'd let the faster folks go off (as I do) and ride with the slower folks (as I do). But as the ride went on, it turned out that everybody was the faster folks, and I was mostly leading from the rear and watching the average pace creep up.
On Kingston-Rocky Hill Road, one of the others asked me about what I'd done to lose weight. I told him about how heavy I'd been fifteen years ago, how I'd lost the weight over the course of about two years, then gained a substantial amount of it back, then what I'd done to lose it again, and my current struggles and procedures with keeping it off. But I'm not an expert with that, or with training, or fitness (although I claim a certain proficiency with a wrench [see my Ramblin' Wrench site], and another rider mentioned a plan to bespeak my services again).
(I can never remember where we are; I had to go look at the ride page to get the road name.)
We took a scheduled break at Boro Bean. The proprietor-fella said that he'd had the busiest day today that he'd ever had, although there were still a few things on offer (I got a contact from a fellow Free Wheeler saying that she'd had breakfast there with a houseguest, but had been sure to leave some muffins behind). One of our number got the last of the brownies, leaving another pining for its loss... and then he noticed that the signs were reversed: the (empty) brownie array was listed for chocolate-chip cookies, and the supply of chocolate-chip cookies was labeled as brownies. We had a certain amount of banter (and eye-rolling on the part of Very Truly Yours, Plain Jim), leading ultimately to the second obscure reference in Eric's title for this ride.
And back. If anything, the rest of the riders were energized after the break, and I mostly let 'em go on ahead (I started the group on 518 to the east, and when they all started to pass me after a bit, I confess a certain amount of relief). By the end, I thanked a couple of 'em for letting me make believe I could keep up with 'em. Albert laughed and said he thought I was pretty fast.
Hrmph. I'm not fast. They're polite. See the ride page. I'm sure all of their averages were faster than mine. I need some more sensible people to come on this ride to keep me company.
Hi Jim, this is Neil, on the weight issue, similar pattern weight got up to 235 and I had a hard time breathing (asthma), Worked to lose it and that's taking time. I've noticed that I gain weight in the winter, lose it in the summer (yearly pattern). I've not put on as much this year as I've avoided the holiday season goodies but I still added a little weight. Good luck with keeping it off. And no I haven't put it in the camelbak. ;-)
ReplyDeleteWeight's a tough thing; what works for one won't for another, and for some people, NOTHING seems to work. One thing is clear to me: I'm probably going to be up-and-down for the rest of my life. Quick fixes don't work for me, so I'll probably have to keep some kind of attention on eating and activity, just as I've had to pay attention to my addiction recovery and my anxiety and mental health.
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