1 month, 2 riffs and my Blue Beauty.

Today marks the one month mark since I quit smoking. Everyone keeps asking if it was hard and if I'm going crazy. I'm not and it wasn't. I truly believe that once I got my head in the right place, once I was mentally ready to quit, it was that easy. The first week I didn't know what to do with my spare time. I ended up cleaning and reorganizing a bunch of cupboards. Now it's not a big deal. It wasn't traumatic for me. I think the thing is this: I wanted to quit. Why on earth would I miss an activity I hated in the first place? Why should I be aching to get that wicked drug back into my life? Why should I miss it? I'm finally fucking free! And I feel excited about it every single time I think about it. I wanted to give a quick plug to the book I read that made it easier than anything for me to quit. I went from smoking a pack and a half (that's 30 cigarettes) on a good day to zero without a problem. I went from freaking out if I got down to only one pack left to having 7 packs sitting on my bookshelf for over a month and never even wanting to light one. So thank you Allen Carr:



I also purchased the remainder of my supplements the other day. I now need to reorganize the "medicine cabinet" so they actually all fit. And then I am going to tackle the spreadsheet needed to keep track of them all. Hopefully if things go well I will be off a lot of these within 6 months. I don't like "taking" anything, so the sooner the better. Other than that there's not much new on the health front.

I did go on a wonderful bike ride last weekend that I didn't post about. I wanted to share the route and give a quick blurb about it. We decided on a route that would let us start and end in the same park via different bikepaths. We also included some road riding on roads that had bike lanes. This was our first trial with riding on roads instead of paths and it was a lot of fun. It was exhilarating and a bit scary at the same time, but I am always amazed at how quickly the same ground is covered riding a bike vs walking. We did have a small maybe 1/2 mile section where the road was two lanes, no bike lane and we would be turning left at an intersection with no traffic light and I was not quite up to that, so I wussed out and used the sidewalk. I know--shame on me. But I figured I would rather that and live to ride again than take my inexperienced bicyclist life in my hands and never get another chance.



I do wanna riff on two things real quickly. Every single time we pass people walking on the "multiuse" trails, we call out "2 on your left". Several times, people thank us for the warning. I guess my riff is that I feel every bicyclist should extend this same courtesy to other trail users. In general we are travelling much faster and coming up on people much more from behind. I know that when we walk these trails, it is frightening and irritating to have a bicyclist go whizzing by and nearly knock you off your feet without so much as a "yo, I'm behind you". I feel like it would be a great thing for the bicycling community if this was standard practice. it's one of those ways to get more people "on our side" as it were instead of alienating them with rude behavior.

Riff #2. "multiuse trails". As denoted on the "biking/hiking" maps provided by our town there is no distinction between a hiking and a biking trail. They are both marked with the same color line. Of course, we didn't actually know this until we were rather lost several miles from our car looking for a trailhead to the "path" we saw on our map. This path was actually more like a deer trail for the first hundred feet off the road. But it took us about 20 minutes to actually find it as there was not even a sign posted indicating where it was. And I don't know if anyone else has ever attempted riding 30-50 year old road bikes on a gravel and dirt "path", but let's just say it wasn't fun. So our bike ride ended up having this long "bike/hike" section smack dab in the middle of it. Not a huge deal, but pretty inconvenient. And all it would take would be a simple ink difference to indicate this trail was not "bicycle" friendly. At least we weren't on rollerblades or something...


One last thing. I think I forgot to share that I got a "new" bike about 2 months ago. I got a Schwinn beauty and have absolutely enjoyed every second on her. Her 10 speeds make a lot of difference to a novice like me and make our rides feel a bit less intimidating. She is yet unnamed. I wanted a nice movie star from Chicago type of name, but a quick search failed to produce anything interesting and I ... lost interest. I call her "Blue" sometimes and it seems appropriate if not exactly inspired. So here are some pics of the Schwinn on her first ride and on our bike hike ride from this past weekend as well.

My "Blue Beauty" on the first ride--sheer joy!

Gorgeous-and look at all those speeds!

Tricky part of our ride where about 1/2 mile was paved, and then it turned back to gravel.

The First Ride

So today I took my first ride. I went with my girl, Llama, to the American Tobacco Trail. This trail is an old railroad bed that has been turned into a recreational trail. The best thing about it is that it is flat. I thought it would make the perfect place for a first attempt as it would be easy and that would be an encouraging and positive start for me.

The American Tobacco Trail

The old black bike is not yet road ready so I had to take BB--the Beater Bike. BB is a relatively newish but not well cared for Huffy one speed step-through. I know people wax all poetic about their thousand dollar bikes and their performance and I respect that. But let's be honest--my performance does not require a high end bike. And though I winced at getting a box-store, mass-market, el cheapo hunk of metal (even second hand and cheap), right now it's really about the ride for me. Isn't the whole point to just get out and ride? I hope that there never comes a day when I refuse to ride on a perfect spring-ish day in February due to the bike that is available. I never want to lose sight of the pure joy of hoping on a bike and wobbling my fat ass off down the trail!

BB (The Beater Bike)

That said, my ride was wonderful. My thighs were hurting within 7 minutes and I felt like I was positively crawling down the trail. And it was great! It was great to feel my muscles working, to feel the cool wind, to be breezed past by "serious bikers" in all their gear. I took it slow and steady and let myself rediscover the whole experience. I listened to BB make unpleasant noises and realized why a bike should fit properly (aka the seat kept dumping my off the front and my knees were coming nearly to my chest cuz the seat was not high enough). I remembered why I liked riding and felt a sense of joy about riding again. I pinpointed my next "essential" gear--2 damn water bottles and some breathable shirts.

There was a little unexpectedly wonderful moment during the ride. Llama, the girl, had been running while I was riding. We were both taking a break, feeling a bit worn out and walking and I offered the bike to her. She strapped the helmet on and slowly wobbled down the path. Before long, she was coming back towards me and then whizzed past. I continued walking toward the trail head thinking about how much I was enjoying the bike, the day, the company, and the sunshine. Then from behind me, I hear a shout! "Watch out! I'm a racer!!!" and Llama went flying past as fast as she could go! I broke into a huge smile just watching, vicariously feeling the joy and appreciating that I could share it. Nothing like seeing someone in their mid-twenties racing with the abandon of a child! This is what I wanted. This freedom and innocent exhilaration, the pure fun of riding a bike. I probably traveled about 3 miles give or take today. Some of it I walked, some I rode fast, most I rode slow. But I didn't really care how far I'd gone, or that the bike is as yet ill-fitted, or that I had a few too many layers on. I had a really good time.

The Journey Begins...

I have long been interested in the simpler things in life, in self-sufficiency, and in the philosophy of a simple lifestyle. My attention is captured by "old" stuff--call it vintage, antique, retro, throwback, whatever. I am drawn to the quality with which old stuff is made, the simple forms, the imperfections, the efficient ability to preform a given task. Old radios, cameras, furniture, toys, kitchen gadgets, tools--it doesn't really matter. These things appeal to me on all levels. I can spend hours reading about the history, and the evolution of these things. These are the things my little sister tells me are "geeky"... and I sorta like that.

I like to learn--about societies, history, skills, lifestyles, religions, philosophies, geographies, nationalities. I'm the one who would rather turn on The Discovery Channel, National Geographic or The History Channel than American Idol or CSI or Grey's Anatomy. I go through these frenzied phases where I want to learn everything possible about a certain subject. Usually these last about a month or two and then I'm on to the next thing. I haven't tried to figure myself out on this one--I usually just go with it.

I have had up and down health for nearly 4 years. At least that's how long I have known about my health problems. They are myriad ranging from stupid lifestyle choices (smoking) to degenerative disease to syndromes to mystery symptoms that a team of doctors couldn't figure out but went away on it's own. I know I need to get healthy. I know I need to change my lifestyle and I know it needs to happen fast. I've known that since sometime in college. And nothing I have ever tried has been effective for more than a few months. Sure I've been lazy, but I've also had times where I've been disciplined, motivated (by fear and/or hope sometimes both at the same time), and determined. Now I hate "exercising" or "going to the gym" or "working out". I hate the idea of those words and those activities having to be some separate special part of my day that to which I "should" be dedicating my time and energy.

Somehow all of this has come together at this moment in my life. The geeky old stuff and the desire to learn, the nerdy kid who likes philosophy and the self-sufficient wanna-be, the broken body that needs healing and restoration yet rebels at traditional means. And this week all of that turned into something--maybe it's just a spark, but somehow the symmetry of it all, the unforced converging of all these separate pieces has touched something inside my mind and my soul at this moment in time.

This will be my space to discover, to appreciate, to vent frustration, and record triumphs. Perhaps nothing will come of it. Perhaps a month of two from now it will be just one of my phases. But to ignore it, to miss a chance to put it down somewhere outside of my head, that just doesn't feel right.

Oh and the quick story of what exactly has come together? Well my curiousity and desire to learn converged with one of my crazy obsessive moments when I clicked a link. I was admiring "old-fashioned" clothing and got to browsing and before I knew it I was down the rabbit hole. I spent hours reading, drooling over pictures of my new obsession. I lay awake at night thinking about the possibilities, picturing the beauty, imagining the freedom and remembering a sense of joy buried deep in my memory. I dove in and bought a beautiful beat up treasure that was old and immediately caught my eye. I knew I would have a lot to learn to restore my treasure to it's functionality, but that was part of the appeal. With this I would have time to think and ponder, would get a chance to experience some of that self-sufficiency that so appeals to me, would be able to immerse myself in the culture, and maybe even use it on my recently rediscovered path towards health.

No longer am I just a geeky, eccentric, nerdy, falling-apart-in-my-prime, fat kid...

Now I have a bike!