Back on the Bicycle

Today's weather: High = 6 Low = -1
Cloudy

With the motorcycle in hibernation now until the end of Spring Festival, it's fitting to get the bicycle back up and running again. Training is obviously needed before I tackle another SE Asia bicycle adventure in a couple weeks time. This time it's gonna be Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia combined. Stay tuned for more on that. Already got my flights booked for a steal of a deal.

Besides training and getting back into shape, a second benefit of the bicycle is that it keeps the body warm in this frigid weather. A short 3km ride into work doesn't take much time, but it really helps get the leg muscles going again after a long absence, and then generate some body heat. By contrast, on a motorcycle, the wind chill is all that you can think about as you're essentially doing no work to convert into body heat, and the speeds are also faster.

The simple fact that bicycle riding generates heat and takes the edge off the wind chill was something I had forgotten about in the last two years. It's not rocket science that Shanghai winters are bone chilly, and it's always been that way -- but all this recent motorcycle riding has had the opposite effect to make the effects of the winter more severe, even if the winters may be in fact be getting warmer.

On a related subject, I've been watching my weight and have been rather shocked at the gains of the last two years. Coincidence with the beginning of my motorcycle riding career? Hardly, I suspect it has become a way of laziness. Why take a bicycle to work if a motorbike is waiting, and it's just a key turn away? That and many other short runs that could just as easily be done on a bicycle have added up. There's also the lack of exercise, and very few recent bicycle trips made. The last one was a 3-week coastal run in India exactly a year ago, which was quite good and helped things out a bit -- but the weight gains have still been colossal. It's high time for another bike trip.

I know I said this last year, but I'm really serious to make this year a hardcore one for physical fitness, and do some daily routines like the gym, etc. Actually with all the signs and ads I'm seeing for marathons in the past week, I think that's a good indication to start training for one -- albeit the event should be later in the year.

In all seriousness, I'm aiming to lose 30 to 40 pounds for this year, and it's all gonna start with the bicycle