I’ve been down in Statesboro for just over a month now, and I’m in my fifth week of work at Georgia Southern University.

Work has been very busy, but is going well. Statesboro itself, however, is definitely not Pittsburgh, and it shows in what I’ve been doing (or not doing) in the off hours. The lack of social opportunities so far hasn’t been an completely bad thing, though. It’s lead me to get back on the bicycle.

As you may be aware, for the last 4 years I’ve had a Gary Fisher Utopia hybrid bike. It had served me well, over all. I was able to get out on it on Sunday, 4/6 for a 16 mile ride to get back in the swing of things. That Monday I made it out for 18 miles, 24 miles on Wednesday, and 16 on Thursday. After this, that means I’ve ridden that bike a total of 2595 miles since I bought it in June of ’04, and also have spent countless hours using it on a trainer during the winter months. It’s done well, but considering that I long ago transitioned to riding almost exclusively on the road, and around here I don’t really have much of an option but to ride on the road, I figured it was time for a change.

So, this past Saturday morning, I made a trip to the local bike shop here, and made a purchase.

Behold my new ride:

It’s a Trek 1.2, which is their entry-level road bike. I didn’t want to spend massive amounts of cash, and I figured it was good enough for my purposes.

The day I got it, I got out on the road and went for a 25 mile ride. The original plan was to hit 40, but I got caught in a thunderstorm, and riding in heavy rain isn’t really all that fun. It felt good the first time out. Very fast compared to what I am used to riding. Yesterday, I was able to get out for another 28 mile ride. Still felt very good, and I’m feeling good about the purchase.

Today, however, I did something a little bit different. On my trips to the bike shop, the owner mentioned that there was a local ride that left his shop every Wednesday at 6:00 PM. He made it sound like not that crazy of a thing. So today after work, I hopped on the bike and headed down to the shop.

When I arrived, there were about 5 or 6 other guys there. They all had some pretty nice bikes, and a few even had fully matching bike shorts/shirt combos. Two of the guys started talking about their last race, and how they were asked to step up to the next class or something like that. It was about then that I realized I might be screwed.

Everyone was friendly and introduced themselves. They seemed like a good group. As we get underway, I realize that they were forming up a paceline. I’ve never ridden in a line before, but I know the basic idea. Stay on the wheel of the dude in front of you. The problem was that, at least at first, there was a lot of speeding up and slowing down. This lead to me hitting the brakes a lot. It only took a few minutes before a dude rode up beside me and asked “You haven’t ridden in a paceline before, have you?”

The guy was nice about it and gave me tips for what to do. Not using the brakes, never stop pedaling, etc. I was still having problems staying close enough to the wheel of the bike in front of me though, as it’s sort of a nerve-wracking thing at first. Almost everyone in the group, though, was really friendly and accepting of my incompetence.

After my first time at the front of the line, I dropped back, and the next leader kicked up the pace. Rather than falling in at the end, I just got left behind. One dude dropped back and rode next to me, and despite my insistence that they should continue the ride at their pace, he stuck with me and we reformed at the next turn. After that a guy stuck with me, and even occasionally helped me with a push.

When it was all said and done, I had ridden about 31.5 miles, at an average speed of about 23 mph. It seriously kicked my ass. They do a Saturday and Sunday ride, which are a bit more laid back. I think I might stick with those for a few weeks, before trying to hang with them on the fast ride again.

All in all, though, it was good to ride with some other people, as I haven’t really met anyone outside of work yet.

So, all of this means that I’m at total of 158.5 miles for the year. Probably not bad for less than 2 full weeks of just getting back on the bike.

So, uh, yeah… bike bike bike.

I ended up doing 21.5 miles on the south side and jail trails. Overall, I have to say it was good to get back outside and on the bike. The ride, though, took more out of me than it should have, and was clearly letting me know that I’ve been way too lazy.

Since it’s pretty lame that I haven’t been riding, I need to change that. I’ll start with this modest goal. Ride at least three times a week from here on out. This should be a very reasonable starting goal.

Surprisingly, I’ve stuck with this pretty well over the last six weeks, and it’s been working pretty well. Since I started, I have lost just over 12 pounds, and as of yesterday’s weigh-in, I’ve reached my lowest recorded weight of my adult life. That’s pretty neat.

While I’ve had some sustained initial success, there’s still a long way to go. I’d like to drop at least 20 – 25 more pounds over the coming months. I’m not going to be pushing things and try to do it too quickly… this is more of a long term goal. Right now, I’m probably about 20-25 pounds lighter than I was when I first moved to Pittsburgh, but it’s hard to say, as I used to be pretty vehemently anti-scale.

So why the recent push? I don’t know, but it’d be nice to really be not just in a healthy weight range (which I’m still a bit above), but to be actually nice and fit. Also, as silly as this sounds, I’m trying to get down into ‘interview shape’. As I’ll be outlining later, I’m currently in a job search. At a conference in April I’ll be doing a number of screening interviews, and I’m very aware that how I look will be almost as important as what I say in getting to the next step. That sounds really ridiculous, but I’m also pretty sure it’s true. At any rate, it’s a good motivator moving me towards a healthy goal.

There’s lots more to say about life in general these days, but we’ll leave those things for another post.

This evening when I returned home from work, I put some more time in on the trainer. It’s been working out pretty well since I purchased it. I’ve been on the bike almost every day (with days off for rest, of course), mainly after work and while watching reruns of Star Trek: Voyager on Spike. I’ve now realized that the only way I can really justify watching Voyager is by exercising while doing it. It’s like a penance.

Anyway, lets get to the main matter at hand here… Free Food. After the spinning and the showering, I said to myself, “Man. I’d really like some dinner. I also don’t feel like making something with my very limited food supplies right now. Why don’t I go down to Chipotle and get a burrito?” So I did.

Upon arriving at the restaurant, I start making my order. “Veggie Burrito. Nope, no fajitia veggies. The hot salsa, please. Yes, cheese and sour cream, please. Nope, none of the guacamole. Yep, that’s it.” With that the burrito person starts wrapping the burrito.

The register clerk looks at this and says, “That’s only two sides. How do I charge that?”

I think to myself, “Two sides? It’s a burrito.. a veggie one.. charge it as that.”

“I dunno,” says the burrito maker.

The register clerk came up with a solution. “Sir, how would you like a free burrito tonight? I don’t feel right charging you full price for that burrito.”
“Great,” I say and walk away a little perplexed.

Sure, I didn’t get some of the fixin’s that come with the standard veggie burrito package. But what I ended up with still weighed almost a pound, and clocked in a 925 very tasty calories. A nice, filling dinner. Yet, these clerk folks felt like that was not enough!

It’s a little bit crazy how people are about food and portions. How was that burrito not going to be worth the money? I don’t know, but I sure enjoyed my free food.