I woke this morning with an urge to ride my bike. It had been a few weeks since I had been able to go riding, due to being out of town. But when I looked out the window it was a Dutch Day.
It rains a lot in Holland. Holland is right on the coast of the North Sea, across from Great Britain. Since Holland was reclaimed from the ocean, it is basically flat. Really flat. That makes it a great place to bicycle. And all the Dutch people do a lot of bicycling. Even when it rains.
It wasn't raining very hard when I woke this morning. And the urge to ride was really strong (I was very surprised by this, since my cycling trips haven't begun to be immensely enjoyable quite yet). I got dressed and started to head out the door. But in the time it took me to get dressed the rain had become a stronger downpour. The urge to ride wasn't THAT strong.
I went back in and waited it out. About an hour or so later it had stopped raining. The sky was still cloudy so instead of my (now) usual 5 mile route I decided to take the 2 mile route and repeat it a time or two, just in case the rain started up again. I made it around twice before my hips started bothering me. Plus I was a bit winded since I hadn't ridden for so long.
The best part was that when I came by my house after the first trip I wasn't tempted to stop at all. I kept going.
In the cloudy cool weather I felt like a true Dutch Girl.
For those of you who don't already know this about me - I am 100% Dutch. My parents immigrated to the US before I was born, but so far in my genealogy research I have only found one relative, back in the mid 1600's, who was not born in Holland.
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Monday, June 13, 2011
Nifty Fifty
This last February I celebrated my 50th Birthday.
Yep, I'm fifty. The Big 5-0. Half a century.
I know, hard to believe, huh?
When I knew my 50th B-day was approaching I tried to think of something special to do in honor of this achievement. At first I thought it would be great to go on a 50 Miler. Hike 50 miles. My husband has done it several times with the Boy Scouts. They take a week to do it (well, usually like 5 or 6 days, really).
But then I realized that I, too, would have to take about a week to do it in. If I was lucky.
I didn't want to be gone for a whole week. Plus, I'd probably have to find someone or someones to go with me. Because, after all, hiking that far alone isn't the wisest thing to do.
Who would go with me? Not my family. My husband doesn't have enough time off from work for that this year. My kids already tried a 50 Miler with the scouts. Once is enough for them. Plus I don't know if I'd want to be on a 50 Miler with just my kids for a whole week. I mean I love them. And they love me. But I'd like to keep it that way.
I don;t know if any of my girl friends would want to go that far for that long with me, either. A 50 Miler hike was not a good option, after all.
The same time I was pondering what I would do, both of my boys were working on the Cycling Merit Badge for Scouts. The culmination of this is a 50 Miler bike ride.
Hey! That is done in just 1 day! I can give up one whole day. Sure, it is about a 6-8 hour ordeal. But still, much more doable than a week long trek.
So that is what I have decided I am going to attempt to do some time this year. (You like how committed I am?) Originally I wanted to do it by June, but it is now June and I am nowhere near ready to attempt something that huge yet.
First of all, I am at least 50 pounds overweight. Getting old tends to do that to a body, if you aren't careful. And I wasn't careful. Imagine (if you are at normal weight) riding a 50 miler bicycle ride, for 6-8 hours, carrying a backpack with 50 pounds of stuff in it. That's what happens to me every time I get on the bike.
Second of all, I haven't been bicycle riding for a long time. At least nothing more than a leisurely ride around the neighborhood a few times a year.
I used to ride my bike a lot when I was a kid. I even rode it about 8-10 miles every week to go spend the weekend with my best friend who had moved to another city. Piece of cake back then. When I was at least 50 pounds or more lighter.
Third problem is that I now have some compressed discs in the back of my neck, so that whenever I bend my head slightly back for too long, the nerves that go to my hands and fingers get pinched and my hands go numb. Not a good thing when riding a bike. To fix that, I got a new cruiser bike last year. Now I sit upright and my hands no longer go numb, but the position hurts my hips a bit (I probably just need to go to a good bike dealer and get an adjustment on the seat or something).
OK, I know it sounds like I am making excuses. OK, I am.
But no more!
I AM going to do this! It is my hope that by getting in good aerobic and physical condition for riding a 50 Miler at age 50, I will in the process drop those 50 pounds (and maybe a few more!).
Since I live in a place that starts to get cold in the fall, I need to complete this ride by at least September, if not before. That gives me 3 months to do it in. I'm thinking the bike ride will happen, losing 50 lbs in three months, probably not anymore. But it will be a start! And maybe I can continue losing the weight some other way once the weather gets cooler and achieve that goal before my 51st Birthday in 8 months. That could be doable, right?
So now you can see how I came up with the name of this blog: Fifty's Fifty. In my 50th year, I will ride 50 Miles in one day, and in the process of getting in shape to do the ride (and the habits I will develop in doing so), I will drop at least 50 lbs. before my 51st B-day.
This blogspot will be the place I will record my process, my thoughts, my successes and struggles. Something to keep my going, to keep me accountable (if only to myself). A place to give myself encouragement and a way to record this journey.
They say every journey begins with a single step. Well, this one began with a single mile. Next time I will give a brief synopsis of my first miles of bike riding (which actually began back in April).
Yep, I'm fifty. The Big 5-0. Half a century.
I know, hard to believe, huh?
When I knew my 50th B-day was approaching I tried to think of something special to do in honor of this achievement. At first I thought it would be great to go on a 50 Miler. Hike 50 miles. My husband has done it several times with the Boy Scouts. They take a week to do it (well, usually like 5 or 6 days, really).
But then I realized that I, too, would have to take about a week to do it in. If I was lucky.
I didn't want to be gone for a whole week. Plus, I'd probably have to find someone or someones to go with me. Because, after all, hiking that far alone isn't the wisest thing to do.
Who would go with me? Not my family. My husband doesn't have enough time off from work for that this year. My kids already tried a 50 Miler with the scouts. Once is enough for them. Plus I don't know if I'd want to be on a 50 Miler with just my kids for a whole week. I mean I love them. And they love me. But I'd like to keep it that way.
I don;t know if any of my girl friends would want to go that far for that long with me, either. A 50 Miler hike was not a good option, after all.
The same time I was pondering what I would do, both of my boys were working on the Cycling Merit Badge for Scouts. The culmination of this is a 50 Miler bike ride.
Hey! That is done in just 1 day! I can give up one whole day. Sure, it is about a 6-8 hour ordeal. But still, much more doable than a week long trek.
So that is what I have decided I am going to attempt to do some time this year. (You like how committed I am?) Originally I wanted to do it by June, but it is now June and I am nowhere near ready to attempt something that huge yet.
First of all, I am at least 50 pounds overweight. Getting old tends to do that to a body, if you aren't careful. And I wasn't careful. Imagine (if you are at normal weight) riding a 50 miler bicycle ride, for 6-8 hours, carrying a backpack with 50 pounds of stuff in it. That's what happens to me every time I get on the bike.
Second of all, I haven't been bicycle riding for a long time. At least nothing more than a leisurely ride around the neighborhood a few times a year.
I used to ride my bike a lot when I was a kid. I even rode it about 8-10 miles every week to go spend the weekend with my best friend who had moved to another city. Piece of cake back then. When I was at least 50 pounds or more lighter.
Third problem is that I now have some compressed discs in the back of my neck, so that whenever I bend my head slightly back for too long, the nerves that go to my hands and fingers get pinched and my hands go numb. Not a good thing when riding a bike. To fix that, I got a new cruiser bike last year. Now I sit upright and my hands no longer go numb, but the position hurts my hips a bit (I probably just need to go to a good bike dealer and get an adjustment on the seat or something).
OK, I know it sounds like I am making excuses. OK, I am.
But no more!
I AM going to do this! It is my hope that by getting in good aerobic and physical condition for riding a 50 Miler at age 50, I will in the process drop those 50 pounds (and maybe a few more!).
Since I live in a place that starts to get cold in the fall, I need to complete this ride by at least September, if not before. That gives me 3 months to do it in. I'm thinking the bike ride will happen, losing 50 lbs in three months, probably not anymore. But it will be a start! And maybe I can continue losing the weight some other way once the weather gets cooler and achieve that goal before my 51st Birthday in 8 months. That could be doable, right?
So now you can see how I came up with the name of this blog: Fifty's Fifty. In my 50th year, I will ride 50 Miles in one day, and in the process of getting in shape to do the ride (and the habits I will develop in doing so), I will drop at least 50 lbs. before my 51st B-day.
This blogspot will be the place I will record my process, my thoughts, my successes and struggles. Something to keep my going, to keep me accountable (if only to myself). A place to give myself encouragement and a way to record this journey.
They say every journey begins with a single step. Well, this one began with a single mile. Next time I will give a brief synopsis of my first miles of bike riding (which actually began back in April).
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