Smaller, daily victories/achievements.
 

Hi all. I thought a thread where we can share the small, daily victories/achievements would be nice. I mainly thought that as there are some things I'd like to share but don't think they're stand-alone thread-worthy.

For instance, this morning I took my bike in for its post-break-in adjustments. While putting on my mask, I put the car key on the center console, opened the trunk, and locked the doors. After getting my bike out of my small sedan (a Mazda 3) I realized I didn't have the key. So, I crawled through the trunk to get it. While doing so I was amazed as a year ago, let alone two, I would not have been able to do that. And if I'd tried someone would have likely recorded it, and I'd probably be in a viral video. It felt good.

For another small victory, I'm now 232lbs. At 6'2", I now have an "overweight" BMI instead of an "obese" one. That hasn't been the case for a very long time. (If you're curious, in May 2018 I was 440lbs).

And according to Strava, I've ridden my bike 663km/412miles since late March. That's not a lot compared to many of you, but I'm proud of it.

So, have anything you'd like to share?

Nice idea for a thread.

Wow, you sure have me beat. I went from a bit over 370 to where I am at 240 or so. It certainly is nice being able to do the stuff that wasn't at all possible before.

Awesome Job Sertsa, it's the little daily victories that keep us me going. After a full day of getting beat up at work, a ride clears all that away.

Thanks!

That's splendiferous! And yes, I wish I figured out a lot of things sooner, as I feel I missed out on quite a bit, but at least I'm realizing it now.

Thanks! And I'm amazed at how much a ride helps clear the head and get some perspective.

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For another share, I picked up my bike this morning and went on a 90-minute ride on trail I hadn't been on before: the Towpath Trail between north Akron, Ohio up to Cuyahoga Valley National Park and back. It turned out to be an awesome ride. It was quite busy, but I could maintain distance, and I got to see several of the old Erie Canal locks and a lot of nice scenery.

I had to start cycling again last year after returning from an overseas deployment, and it had been nearly a year and a half of no cycling, so my cycling fitness was starting over. The second half of last year I wasn't consistent about my cycling so I made some progress but much more slowly than I should have. This year I had some inconsistent months but generally have been pretty good, especially the last two months, and am now up to almost 1400 miles ridden so far this year. Anyhow I did my first metric century two weekends ago. That ride wouldn't have been as big a deal for me 2-3 years ago when my cycling fitness was much higher, but it was the longest single ride I've done since I got back and it kind of wiped me out to where it took two weak recovery rides over three days before I was back up to 100%.

During that ride I met a guy when he stopped to see if I needed any help while fixing a flat (turns out I did because my CO2 cartridge was unthreaded but my inflator needed a threaded cartridge, then my minipump broke while I was trying to use it). Anyhow this guy and I arranged to do a ride together this last weekend, and ended up going around 40 miles. He's much younger and much thinner than me, but he's far less into cycling so far than I am, so he was worried about being able to keep up with me. Sure enough, our group ride was really slow and he was quite stretched out by the ~40 mile distance. I kept to his pace during the ride but attacked each of the small hill-like prominences we came to and waited at the top, and it was really funny for me to be the old fat guy who was having to slow down and wait for the young skinny guy to catch up. Unfortunately for me, being young and skinny he could catch and surpass me pretty easily in just a few months of consistent riding, but the difference is I've been doing that riding and he hasn't. I think he's catching the bug, so hopefully he sticks with it and progresses in cycling fitness rapidly and we can do some pretty nice rides together.

Awesome job!!! I am on this similar journey myself. Today I got on the scale and down 78 pounds. Started at 336, working towards 236, trying for 100 pounds then see what happens there. I have been at it for a year and try to go slow and steady. It pretty amazing how much better you feel and what you can do. I can actually climb hills now!

Topped 50 miles today, first time in about 15 years. :)