Biking

I actually rode a bike for the first time in a long time last August 23, 2014 at Panglao Island in Bohol. We were staying at Amorita Resort and they had four mountain bikes you could borrow (for free) and take out to the island for bike rides.

I convinced myself to go with my dad, and off we went. It was very tiring, for me at least, because the last time I went on a bike was in high school, around 1994. I specifically remember because I had a bad wipe out during a bike ride and after that I only rode one more time.

How bad was the wipe out? A friend cut me off and his rear tire hit my front tire, locking it at a 90° angle and sending me flying off my bike. Not knowing how to fall properly, I land on the right side of my face. Fortunately the accident happened just one house away from where I lived. Unfortunately after that I became afraid of biking.

Fast forward to this year. Maica's been asking me to go biking with her once in a while, and a few weeks ago I gave in. I couldn't last too long, my knees got sore and I was severely winded.

Now that it's the Holy Week holidays, Maica and I went biking yesterday in the village. I managed to bike longer because I wasn't forcing myself to go 15kph. This morning I again went for a quick bike ride. I'm not going past 2 - 3km for now, since I want to get my legs and stamina up first.

My legs are killing me. The good thing is I'm not as winded as when I went biking with Maica a few weeks ago. Moderation is probably the key thing, since I now don't try to push fast speeds. I'm perfectly happy going 9 - 12kph depending on road conditions.

I need to learn to balance better since I can't bike straight. Practice will handle that. I also want to be able to bike with no hands, something I used to do a lot when I was younger.

Who would have thought I'd be going biking again? I certainly didn't, but the itch is back. I want to get myself a proper helmet, since I now know how important safety is. I also want to get some glow in the dark stickers for my bike rims, so I can still do a quick circuit when I get home from work.

To be honest, I just hope I can maintain biking long enough to make this a healthy habit. My current short term goal is to keep biking. My mid term goal is to be able to go maybe 5 or 6 kilometers per circuit. And my long term goal is to be able to join my former officemates from Anino Games, who have their small bike group where they go biking to different places.

One step at a time.

Out.