Five Years Of Fitness
Yesterday, the 6th April, was my fifth anniversary. It was on the 6th April 2009 that I took delivery of shiny new Reebok exercise bike from Argos. At the time I was reaching the end of my forties and found myself the wrong side of 18 stone. I’d finally got fed up and decided it was time to do something about it.
I was determined. I was going to be relentless. Previous attempts had petered out almost before they began. The delivery driver joked that the exercise bike would “be a clothes horse by the end of the week”. That made me even more determined.
Thirty minutes work with a spanner and I was all ready to go. I managed 20 minutes that day on the easiest setting, but it was a start.
I’m going to fast forward now to today. I am now the proud owner of two road bikes, I can run 10k in under an hour and I cover thousands of miles a year on bike and foot. I’ve lost a total of 34kg and am only 2.2kg short of my current target of 76kg (which is 12 stone in old money).
I’m going to let my geek take over now and hit you with a few statistics.
Mileage totals
- Exercise bike – 5300 miles (I’m on my second bike)
- Cycling – 4700 miles
- Walking – 2731 miles
- Running – 719 miles
- Total miles – 13454 miles
Quite by chance I managed to mark the five year anniversary with my longest cycle ride ever on 5th April. Just shy of 60 miles around the New Forest with a great bunch of fellow cyclists from the Google+ UK Cycling Community.
Now, if you had told me five years ago that I’d be cycling 60 miles around the New Forest, I’d have laughed in your face. I wonder what the next five years will bring?
Impressive stuff.
I’m a few years and stone behind you but enjoying the journey.
Nice, inspirational blog.
Dave
Keep going, Dave. I have no idea where the journey ends. I’m still going, but it’s been great so far. One of the best things (and not something I’d anticipated) is the great people I’ve met.
Fantastic achievement, Chris. To maintain the drive and determination to reach your goal, in all weathers too, is something to behold. Huge respect to you bud 🙂
Thanks, Kev. I think you’ve had a lot more issues to struggle with than me in terms of fitness and have succeeded. *mutual pat on the back* 🙂
Well done Chris.
It’s always great to see how others achieve weight loss and fitness, especially when a bike is involved. I suppose a century ride is next?
Thanks, Toby. It’s stories like yours that have inspired me along the way. And, yes, I’m thinking that the 100 will have to be tackled soon.
I know what you mean about meeting people through cycling and the web. I don’t know why I thought I would be the only fat bloke in his forties losing weight by cycling. Glad I’m not alone.