ZF Day 0 – Did I honestly sign up for this? I thought it was just a petition to help thirsty hackers!

T-Minus 24 hours till i have to leave Chicago to meet up with the rest of the pack for dinner. The reality of what I agreed to is sinking in. 250+ Miles over 4 days and I just started riding 2 months ago. Before that, I couldn’t even imagine taking on a challenge like this. In the words of Bruce, “I’ve never been accused of being in-shape”, and it was wholly true about me 7 months ago in February.  5’10” and 270lbs. My old some-what-in-shape form took on the Freshman 15 , then the Sophomore 15, and the Junior 15, Senior 15, stress of work 15, and so on. Late nights working + ordering calzones and fries at 4am in the morning from Chicago’s Pizza + working a sedimentary job = “derp i wonder how i put on this much weight derp”.

But in February, life threw me a curve ball and I took forth and decided it’s time to change. No longer would I let myself fulfill the stereotype of what a hacker looks like physically. 7 months later, i’m down to 225, but it’s not the weight that i noticed the most. My energy boost gave me the ability to take on more in my goal to be the ultimate ninja and/or survive the impeding zombie apocalypse. The monotony and chore of just going to the gym had evolved into hobbies that have a sense of community and enjoyment; Skiing, Climbing, and the elephant in the room – cycling.

Why cycling? I absolutely hate running. The avoid it at all costs type of hatred. It’s a survival technique for me, not fun or something to look forward to. But for some reason, cycling feels so much different. I get this sense that i traveled a distance with the time and effort put forth. I wholly attribute it to the fast pace constantly moving city attitude that became a part of me in the last 7 years in the city. That go-go-go move-move-move atmosphere.

So I’m going to try to write about this trip to give the perspective to others who would be interested in doing the future rides from the P.O.V. as someone who just started doing this with next to no XP and was in horrible shape 6 months ago.

I’ve only been riding (I wouldn’t call it training yet) for 2 months now but am lucky to have an awesome route to ride consistently. Being in Chicago, I’ve become a fan of riding the lake front path at night that borders Lake Michigan. There’s no one around, there’s no stop and go of traffic, the views are awesome, and there’s wind gusts to battle to make things interesting. I’ve gotten it down to a loop of heading south to the planetarium/aquarium, then back north to the end of the lake front trail and back. Any further south gets filled with bugs as well as a bit shady after dark. Although, during the day, the path gets congested with people who don’t know how to ride or walk which makes it dangerous in a completely different way.

One of the biggest challenges i’ve had to face thus with cycling long distances (and know i most likely will face in the upcoming week) is proper diet. My current diet has been focused on weight loss and muscle growth and not performance or endurance. The thought of carb loading with pasta sounds delicious, but something I’ve had to mentally train and force myself to not want in relation to my current diet. It’s really a hard switch to turn off after going from a burgers/pizza/burritos diet to the opposite end of the spectrum with salads/smaller portions/home cooked food and actually calorie tracking. For long hauls, i’ve learned the hard way that it’s absolutely crucial to keep eating while riding and eat the right stuff targeting endurance for the longhair of the ride. Otherwise, you get burned out and slow down. Fast. You have to keep thinking your body as an old steam locomotive that needs the right stuff at the right time. If you start to run out, you’ll feel the power drop. The fire will keep burning, but it’s not going to be at the right power. And you can’t just toss more wood on the fire and expect it to fire up right away. It takes time for the fire to get hotter and the steam to build up. At least that’s how I look at it.

So my journey continues, and I’m #$%&ing stoked. Packing up and finishing up work before I take a week off of work to wake up at the crack of dawn, ride 60-80 miles, try to rest up, and do it all over the next day 4 days in a row.  Some people may call me crazy for taking vacation time for this, but it’s going to be an adventure and challenge I can look at when all said and done and say “I did it”.

And that’s the laundry buzzer. One more load to go. My prepared-ist attitude makes me want to be ready for anything. Warm weather, cold weather, rain, exhaustion, or injury. I tend to overpack and not use 90% of what i bring, but I’d rather be safe than sorry. Every time i go on a trip to cons, i end up laying out everything on the table before it get packed away. Doubles my packing time and i still forget stuff, but it brings some sanity to the chaos.

It’s time to finish this all up. I’ll try to post again tomorrow. Otherwise, see you all at Derbycon.