Old 12-09-07, 02:45 AM
  #6  
Sixty Fiver
Bicycle Repair Man !!!
 
Sixty Fiver's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: YEG
Posts: 27,272

Bikes: See my sig...

Mentioned: 12 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 67 Post(s)
Liked 128 Times in 95 Posts
Just over a year ago I made a career change and am now apprenticing as a machinist in a shop that deals primarily in building and rebuilding parts and equipment for the energy sector. We handle some large parts that get put together into even larger parts and nothing here is as easy as working on bike in the shop I volunteer at.

As an apprentice I get every crappy job that comes down the pipe and the work is about as physically intense as anything I have ever done save for landscaping and it is a job that is typically done by people much younger and larger than myself... I often joke that I am the shop muscle and should point out I hit the floor at 142 pounds. Most of the pieces I work with weigh much more than I do.

Prior to this I worked as a Rehabilitation Practitioner and drove a desk and my bike.

As a Rehabilitation Practitioner I worked in outreach and would see clients in the community... it was pretty common for me to ride 60 km a day in the course of making calls and most evenings I would go and ride 25-30 km in the river valley to unwind. On some days I would work a split shift and go mountain biking in the afternoon as we have an excellent trail system in our city and ride the trails with my friends on the weekends.

As a machinist I now have a commute of 30 km a day and would say that up until the cold weather hit I was still riding a good deal and averaging close to 50 km a day, every day. On some days in the summer I would get up early and go ride some single-track before work.

I think it's a matter of adjustment to a higher workload and with that you have to make sure your caloric needs are met and that you stay properly hydrated... I don't think I have been in this kind of shape since my twenties when I was riding 60-70 km a day and teaching martial arts.

I already had the legs for the work I'm doing and have really increased my upper body strength... my level of physical activity warrants a diet that sees me eating 4000-5000 calories a day just to maintain my weight and I always have water at hand.

And at 42 I am also one of the oldest apprentices our shop has ever had.

I am almost never too tired to ride my bike and besides commuting I also live a car free life so all my errands and social activities (much of those are cycling related) require that I ride.

I have had numerous days where my combined urban mileage for the day has surpassed 100 km and I have had an offer to go and moonlight as a bike courier which I am seriously considering.
Sixty Fiver is offline  
Likes For Sixty Fiver: