Reboot

Is it possible to write a blog and not come off as a pretentious jackass?  Or does the fear of appearing as a pretentious jackass instill an inner limiter on the author?  Perhaps I’ll find out as I try to update this blog on a more regular basis than once or twice a decade.

2016 has been a year of change and seemingly being behind the 8 ball on a near continuous basis.  The changes we’ve experienced have been for the better.  However it feels like all year long when I have dealt with one ailment, something has come along shortly thereafter to take its place and I am fed up with this cycle.

4 years ago I was in the parlance of cycling – “flying.”  Meaning everything pertaining to my physical being was at a level that I had never experienced before.  My weight was at a place it had not been since my teens.  And as result of my weight and time in the gym the power to weight ratio meant I could do anything I asked of my bike and body and I put out effortless exertions.

My performance culminated in my best & one of my worst days on the bike.  Amongst my group of friends doing the Hurricane Mt climb, I was the first one to summit the climb.  And that year I did it without walking the climb at all.  In year previous I had to walk the steeper sections due to my weight and lack of gearing on my bike.  What a difference riding up the climb in its entirety made to my enjoyment of the ride itself.  And then it all came crashing to an end when I crashed out doing 25 mph.

My entire goal that spring had been that ride and specifically the Hurricane Mt climb.  In one sense part of the goal had been completed but I never knew how well I’d have done over those 80 miles in the White Mountains.  I maintained my fitness and form for the Trek Across Maine a few weeks later and stunned some folks who I had ridden with the previous years.

That spring of 2012 was the best I had felt physically in a long, long time and it only existed until the Trek.  I slumped after that and have never gotten back to that place and only chased it.  What allowed me to reach that goal was diving into and adhering to the paleo or ancestral health movement.  Not only did I feel great physically that year but all my other health markers showed me in stellar condition all because I eliminated sugar, grains, legumes and most dairy.

Today is 02 October 2016 and yesterday was the last day for the foreseeable future that I ingested grains or sugar.  I’m tired of being tired and sick.  I’ve tasted and seen bike nirvana and want to get back there and can if I really want to.

The journey begins anew today.