My life changed in Spring 2012. I put my wife who was in labor into the car to go to the hospital. I ran back in the house to grab our bags, and for whatever reason, I stepped on the scales in the bathroom. I was shocked by what I saw. I had experienced the phenomenon of “Pregnancy Sympathy.” Just as my cute wife had gained a couple dozen pounds and put on a belly in the previous 9 months, so too had I. Only there was no excuse for me. I wouldn’t be delivering a baby like my wife would a couple hours later.
I weighed more than I had ever weighed before in my life. I was downright chunky. (Oh yeah, I remembered. My wife was in the car in labor!)
As soon as we brought our beautiful baby boy home from the hospital, I was determined that I was going to lose the chunk. I was going to get on my bike and start riding. So, I took my first ride from my house up to the Kiwanis park. This was pre-Strava for me, but I did time the ride and manually uploaded the results to Strava later.
As you can see, my first ride to Kiwanis nearly killed me. 7.5 mph isn’t exactly blazing speed. I had to stop 4 times, gasping for air on the 2.5 mile trip. However, I actually gave myself too much credit. In actuality, it was only 0.9 miles away which would mean my average speed was more like 3 mpg. Not too flashy.
Now even though the ride to Kiwanis is just 0.9 miles, it’s pretty steep. Strava says it’s a 7.9% grade to be exact. It’s a mountain. And it takes work to climb that dang mountain.
That day back in 2012, that 0.9 mile ride became my mountain. It was a ruthless, brutal beast. But I was going to conquer it. So, I started climbing that mountain. A couple times per week led to daily climbs. Daily climbs turned into daily intervals. Every time I climbed that mountain, it was hard. But my times reflect my work.
I’ve ridden that segment hundreds of times now, and as you can see:
- I’m considerably faster than I was on my first ride.
- In fact, I’m at least 3X faster.
- I don’t stop anymore.
- I’ve lost a few dozen pounds.
- I’ve conquered my mountain.
- I’m King of the Mountain.
So, 2 1/2 years ago, I set out to climb a mountain. Little did I know how that mountain would change my life. With some determination, effort, hard work, a few broken brake cables, several new tires, lots of new tubes, regular smoothies, lots of water bottles, thousand miles and countless wet jerseys later, I’m King of the Mountain. And nobody can knock me off.