I want to ride my bicycle….

Remember riding bikes as a kid?

I do. I remember being about fifteen, off school for the summer, and regularly getting on my bike and riding about ten miles to my girlfriends house on an almost daily basis.

As far as I remember, the technique was to stand up on the pedals, pump them as hard as you could for about twenty to thirty seconds and then a quick gear change meant you could keep up a decent pace for miles without much effort.

I remember going on a fifteen mile bike ride, and arriving barely out of breath…with plenty of energy left for the ride home as well.

Well, after a month or two of actually getting off my ass and exercising, I realized this week that my heart rate wasn't getting quite high enough and my exercise regime was starting to feel a little too easy. While this is absolutely great in one respect (that I'm actually getting fitter), in another it's not so good…meaning I'm going to have to start working harder or longer if I want to keep seeing results.

So, last night I pulled my bike out of the storage building (which, to be honest, was a bit of a workout in itself).

This morning I got up and checked the bike over, making sure nothing had come loose, re-inflating the tires, making sure it was road worthy and I set off.

I may have over estimated my fitness level just slightly.

You see, I figured two or three miles would be a good start. I was still thinking about how effortless riding a bike seemed when I was in my teens…and completely forgot that I'm a good 70lbs heavier than I was in my teens, about a million times less fit than I was in my teens…and that I was asking muscles to do a lot of work that I hadn't actually used since I was in my teens.

I figured I ride a three or four mile round trip, which meant I could easily make another circuit if I wanted to.

Within four hundred yards of setting off, the idea of 'another circuit' went completely out of the window…although 'calling the missus to come get me in the car' became a definite possibility.

The road leading from my house goes very slightly uphill. By the time I'd gone four hundred yards my thigh muscles were on fire, my heart was beating out of my chest and I felt like I was dying. I can walk two miles in about 45 minutes without breaking a sweat or even getting slightly out of breath…but I can't go 400 yards uphill on a bike without stopping for a rest.

In the end, I used the bike in a way that was never intended. According to the bike computer, I actually covered just over four miles…but that was pushing the bike uphill, and only getting on it when the road was perfectly level or actually went downhill so I could coast and have a rest.

I think I'm going back to my old routine for another month or so…I'll just double the distance instead.