I really shouldn’t discount the Ducks and Chipmunks

OK – Sorry ducks and chipmunks, I didn’t mean to leave you out of the last blog entry!

I will admit, the ducks are rather friendly.  I stopped about 5 miles into my ride today and did some stretching while surrounded by 24 (yes, I did count) ducks.  They were fine with me being within just a few feet of them, and were relatively amusing – then again it was pretty early in the morning.

So, I had another challenging night attempting to sleep and woke up to an infomercial on the LandRider bike.  I’m actually very tempted to purchase this, despite my current lack of income as it (1) seems great, and (2) my existing bike is in need of improvement.  I had my bike tuned up at Mike’s bike shop in Palatine, they were very friendly there and I am happy to have my bike back, though I am unable to change gears without the chain falling off.  This is one of the reasons I was very attracted to the LandRider bike, it doesn’t require you to change gears, it does it automatically!  So in the past 2 weeks I have gone from the bike kicking my ass to me kicking its ass.  It should be retired in my garage as a backup soon.

I do give my 10 year old Trek bike credit for some great adventures over the years, and it saved my ass last week when I was nearly hit by an elderly woman (Gray Lexus – License plate AA22 4489) who wasn’t watching where she was going while driving out of Caputo’s grocery store.  Fortunately for the new brakes installed I was able to stop, just before flying off the bike and into the woman’s car.  I still have a bone bruise but otherwise just glad to be alive and not run over.

Bike riding has been a blast and today I actually found more trails (my ride consists of multiple trails) today to allow me to total the mileage up to 20!  I do have to circle around the neighborhood a few times to round up to 20 but hey it’s fun.  I started cycling for health reasons – thinking some exercise would do me good, and running inside on my treadmill is boring.  This has progressed to a near therapeutic purpose as I love the outside and hearing sounds of nature and feeling the breeze on my face is great.  I make a point to smile and say good morning to everyone I pass (well, not the ones out of breath or on cell phones or iPods).  I hope this puts people in good spirits, it certainly boosts my day when they respond in kind.

The frustrating part of my health/fitness/supplementation/diet program is this stagnant plateau I seem to have hit.  I’m stuck at 208 lbs currently, and a size 36 waist.  I have been at this weight for 2 weeks now (down from 226 in May so it’s some progress) but I would assume at some point the pounds or girth will shift in a desired direction.  I’m not going to give up and throw in the towel just yet, as I assume this is a testing period or my body wondering if I am going to stick with this.

Anyway – Enough blabbing, need to get back to work, or actually lunch!  Yum going to have some rotisserie chicken!