bikes and things

No, not a post about the election or Iran etc, just a post about trying to get a bit fitter and trying to change a few bad habits I’ve picked up over the years.

During my year out (2002 time) I got incredibly fit by basically doing lots and lots of exercise. I was riding 12 miles each way to work – home up Box Hill – swimming at lunchtimes, running in the evenings (before cycling home) and climbing or mountainbiking at the weekends. I was pretty healthy on this lot and was having a great time. However I was only half way through my Architectural training. So this all kind of stopped pretty abruptly when I went back to studying in Portsmouth. Late nights, curry, beer and not much exercise. An ERASMUS trip to Vienna sorted that little blip out with another 5 months of exercise – mainly lots of cycling each day. The trouble is I came back and settled into the same old thing of curry, beer etc.

After graduating from Diploma things kind of got worse, I spent 2 hours minimum commuting to work in Winchester from Portsmouth each day and working late nights and eating junk. Riding at the weekends didn’t really make much difference really. After a year or so of this I moved to London and was riding to work again but still not doing that much exercise.

The long and short of it? I sit on my arse all day clicking a mouse, drinking coffee and eating nice sandwiches for lunch. I’ve developed an incredibly sedentary lifestyle which isn’t exactly what I wanted. The cycle commute doesn’t really count as that much exercise. The net result – I was getting fatter and fatter and not really feeling great about myself.

Anyway, time for a change. Hey I’ve recently hit 30 so why not? After talking about it for years I’ve joined a gym. Never thought I’d say that either but I have. Bizzarely I actually enjoy it too. I’ve got a mixture of cardio and weights to do in my hours session as well as a load of stretches. I’m managing to go 3 times a week at the moment which isn’t as hard as I thought. I’ve also had the benefit of a proper consultation session which has really helped. I had 3 aims:

1. Not be so fat
2. Sort my back out
3. Strengthen my knees

It’s actually working on all 3 counts. I’m definitely not as fat – I’ve lost quite a bit of weight and my back and knees are a lot better. Combining this exercise with less beer, not eating so late and less crap. I feel miles better and even have a resting heart rate of 50 bpm. Hopefully this is here to stay. More weight to lose but got to set the right habits now for later life I guess.

Looks hilarious.

Not that I can afford it but this seems to tick all the right boxes for me right now. Swung a leg over one recently and felt pretty good. Reasonably short travel, flickable and can get a decent fork on there, nothing too crazy. Looks nice too. At an eye watering £1700 for frame only it’s not something I’ll be looking at any time soon.

After living in London for almost 5 years I’ve finally managed to go to the climbing wall and do some top roping rather than just bouldering. The last time I climbed properly was with Lee back in Bath around 2003 time, before I went back to do my Diploma.

I’ve remembered how to belay and some of the climbing techniques but my upper body strength is pathetic. My harness is also a lot tighter round my waist than I remember. I struggled on some 4b routes which is shameful. Anyway, I’m going to make it a regular thing each Weds now and hopefully improve.

The Castle really is an impressive place though it’s a converted Victorian Pumping Station which has plenty of space within. It’s pretty busy during the week but Aaron and Alex showed me the top room which seems to be a lot less busy. The changing rooms there really do stink though, like a hideous cheese smell.

The castle route setting, originally uploaded by squeezemonkey.

From the Bank Holiday weekend.

2 hour ride yesterday with Vaughan. Only 9 miles which is pretty pathetic but still lots of ups and some really nice trails too.

The wonders of the internet have allowed a very nice lady called Melanie to find a previous post of mine saying how much I love 30 Rock.

I’ve only managed to see seasons 1 – 3 to date but Melanie emailed asking if I wanted to watch the first 4 episodes and write a little review. The words awesome, yes, yeah were uttered and a DVD soon arrived in the post. So Emma and I watched all four in two sittings. If only there were more!

You’ve gotta hand it to them as they’ve not lost any charm of the original series. If anything it has developed into a much funnier setup with the characters developing more. A number of the plot lines from the previous series also start to play out. The references to the downsizing of GE and the economic collapse certainly make it a bit more current. I don’t want to give any of the plot away but episode 3 is my favourite so far, Kenneth takes a much larger role in this one and a visit by Liz and Jack to hicksville certainly adds a few more laughs.

The new series is available on Comdey Central at 10pm!