From one extreme to... etc,

I took my bike out for its first cycle of 2020 this morning.

The first one of the year is always a struggle, but it’s good to get it out of the way early in February, rather than waiting until the onset of BST or the first sign of swallows. The inspiration has been the gorgeous (dare I say it? – almost Springlike) weather we’ve had for the past few days. Still, bright, clear skies. Not warm enough to be removing layers of clothing, but pleasant enough to be comfortable in the open air without wearing nine layers of thermals and a Russian Army hat. How could one not get the urge to be perambling through the countryside on a Velociped? Storm Ciara is expected to ravage Britain for the next 36 hours or so, so it seemed pertinent to get outside this morning and exercise while I could.

I didn’t take in much of the view, I must admit. It was more a case of ignoring the rapidly-onsetting burning in my thigh muscles, complaining about the stiffness of the brakes and gear cables after months in storage, and putting up with the tingling numbness that spread through my buttocks and pelvis. But the point is – I did it. I have a starting point for my (hopefully) increasing fitness that I shall work on in the coming weeks and months. And the fact that I am exercising again has provoked me to start changing my eating habits too. (I refer you to my blog of this Tuesday, entitled “Eating like a student”.) Even the fact that I was planning to exercise a couple of days ago stimulated change. I have eaten no chocolate since Thursday, ate nothing after 7pm last night, and have swapped most of my coffee breaks for water breaks.

It’s early days yet, but I do feel that psychologically speaking I have turned a corner, turned over a new leaf, and turned things around all at the same time.  

Quick self-edit point: It should have been ‘perambulating’, but never mind.

RC 8-2-20