KLEARANCE CANNABIS COLLECTION
I Used to Ride My Bicycle 25 Miles A Day
The Time In My Life When I Was Most Active and Why I Stopped
I’m disabled now. I couldn’t even imagine riding my bicycle at all at this point. There was a time at the beginning of the decade when I was riding my bicycle to go anywhere and everywhere. I had just turned 30. I didn’t own a car. I was coming off of a 125-pound weight loss. The transformation was stunning.
Part of allowing me to keep off the weight was working at jobs that kept me active and biking everywhere I needed to go. I was one of those cautious cyclists and I had all of the necessary gear on my bike and the mandatory helmet for head protection. My bike had all of the lights and turn signals.
I lived in Sacramento. Sacramento is known as being a relatively friendly city for cyclists. There is a long bike trail that runs along the length of the American River and many beautiful parks, trails, and bike lanes throughout the city to make navigating the city by bike a lot easier. I would take advantage of this. I would bring my bike with me everywhere: to work, to school, to the store, and to the light rail station.
I did whatever it took to get the most exercise but also made sure to combine this with the appropriate amount of public transportation. I was going to college at the time I was riding my bike.
I was also working at Walmart part-time. I guess in a sense that when Sandra Jasionowska mistook me for the character, Glenn Sturgis, she wasn’t that far off. Cloud 9 Superstore feels a lot like the big box store, Walmart. (By the way, since your story, I’ve watched six episodes of the show, Superstore, and I’m hooked.)
I would ride my bike over all sorts of terrain. The area near my work was particularly hilly and the incline was high. This definitely helped me build my leg muscles to the point that my lower body was very durable and strong. This exercise kept me healthy and kept me lean. I was at the lowest weight in my adult life. I no longer felt like my gout would bother me. My appetite was nearly non-existent. I would eat the normal amount of food, about 1500–2000 calories.
Getting to that number during my active days was difficult as I tried to spread my meals out across throughout the day and tried not to eat too late close to bedtime. I felt like my life and my health was getting on the right track. 25 miles. My phone was telling me that I was traveling 25 miles a day. Wow!!
I couldn’t believe it. I was breathing easier. My lifestyle was healthy. So what happened? Well, the same thing that helped me keep my weight off and my health in great condition also caused it to decline and make it to where I haven’t cycled in nearly a decade.
Despite all of my safety and careful planning, I crashed one night and was hurt pretty seriously. I saw a car coming in the dark as I was coasting at 25–30 mph down a hill from work. The car had little time to react when they saw I was flying down as they had pulled out too far into the street. I instinctively braked with the front brakes instead of the back brakes and flipped right over my bicycle.
I had blacked out and was left on the side of the road for at least a half-hour before the ambulance got there. I ended up in the hospital. I was traumatized. I stopped riding altogether after. I could no longer get myself into the activity mentally.
Years later, I attempted getting on a bicycle again and my arms started hurting profusely. It was either a byproduct of my accident or a mental block that didn’t allow me to get back on. I couldn’t enjoy an activity I absolutely loved to do and did with ease and regularity for at least a year before I couldn’t anymore.
I hope someday I’m physically and mentally able to get on a bicycle again and ride like the wind. The freedom I felt from cycling the open road and the hills and various terrain was mind-blowing. I had some of my best thinking moments being able to ride and get the activity and exercise in to improve my health made me feel so great.
I’m obese again. After all of that work for all of that time. I finally bounced back to a weight I’m no longer comfortable with. Don’t take your health and your activity for granted. There might be a day when you’re in my situation and you can no longer exert yourself or enjoy doing healthy activities.
