Old Dog, New Trick

The photo above doesn’t look like anything to be proud about, until you consider the facts that I’m in my mid-fifties, and up until this past weekend had never been on a bicycle in my life. I was raised in West Virginia on a mountainside with unpaved roads and scary steep grades. This was also well before mountain bikes were available.

So why now?

First, I have been looking for some form of exercise I can actually enjoy. I have come to realize that I just don’t like going to the gym, and neither Sailing nor SCUBA Diving is really very much of a work-out (and they’re also not things I can easily do more than once every week or so).

Second, with the acquisition of Isilon Systems by EMC Corporation, I suddenly have an office I can use which is just two miles from home. Better yet, the entire commute is on designated Bike Routes.

With those factors in mind, I started researching what it would take to get into biking with no prior experience, and thanks to REI Outdoor School, I was able to at least get a good start in a single weekend. By late Sunday afternoon, I was getting up on the bike and riding around entirely on my own for a couple of minutes at a time (though I still need a lot of practice before I will really be in control).

I’ve already ordered my bike, which should be ready for me in about a week. I’m really looking forward to doing a bike commute and to hitting the many wonderful trails in my area.