07:39 PM
Butt-moving There's exercise and then there's the real thing

Since I started riding the bus last September, I stopped riding my bike, plus it was just way too hot back then anyway and then daylight savings time ended and it was pitch dark when I got home every night. I kept thinking I'd ride my stationary bike inside but I never did. I never have really, it sits in one corner of my bedroom, accumulating clothes each week till I do laundry on Sunday.

I've realized why I just never could do the stationary bike regularly and also why a gym doesn't work for me either. Riding my bike is more than the exercise, it's the sense of motion, the wind on my face, the sense of *going*, somewhere, anywhere, nowhere, and the speed, I love being able to just roll along or to go fast when I want. I can usually keep going to the halfway point before I want to quit and then I have to keep going just to get home so I'm forced to do the whole way and it becomes a matter of pride in myself to not quit early.

But with machines in a gym or my stationary bike, there's no going, there's no halfway point, I can stop any time and even without thinking it, I know that. Plus riding my bike is about being outside, being in the neighborhood, I moved here because I wanted a neighborhood with people and kids and pets out and about and I look around and I think about things or I think about nothing and that's good too. And when I get home, I'm tired, a good, used-my-muscles type of tired.

I was thinking last summer that I wanted a new bike, one that was a bit easier, where I could sit back a bit more, have higher handlebars but I've also realized that this is the best bike for me. I've got a mountain bike, with the straight handlebars and it forces me to lean forward just enough to work my back muscles and my shoulders and arms and even my wrists to help with the CTS and RSI from all the time on the keyboard. Mot importantly, that workout of my back and shoulders helps to cut down hugely on the migraines and tension headaches I get otherwise, my back and shoulders just get more and more tense, especially if I'm stressed.

I got home a bit earlier tonight than usual and I wanted to get out on my bike, just cause it feels good for my body and my soul to expend that energy out in the (mostly) fresh air. And it did feel good, even though it was fully dark by the time I got back, the clouds helped keep it lighter and it felt so good to be out and feel the wind and pedal faster, faster, faster!