short history first.

i started cycling at the end of high school. bought a cannondale road bike and upgraded it to pretty much full dura ace through my job at REI's bike shop in Cupertino. loved riding but pretty much stopped when i went to college. started riding mountain bikes probably 5 years later (around 1997) and it didn't take me more than 2-3 years to get back into road riding with a recent dabbling in cyclocross.

what has always been common in my riding is my tendency to get fully involved with the riding and wrenching. when it comes to physical activities, i don't really do anything a little bit.

what has also been common is my tendency to not be hyper rigorous about a training schedule. hell, i never really "trained" at all until a few years ago - even when i was riding 5+ days a week. this also means i would ride less or even take a couple week break on occasion.

three years ago i got married and had a kid and i'll tell you what - my tenedency to take breaks and ride less has only increased. there's some medical drama in the family that can contribute to but even without that, my life as a dad and husband simply pushes riding to a lower priority level.

ever since my very late 20s i realised i can't just eat whatever i want without putting on the pounds here and there. two or three years after this realization came the priority shift associated with family life - hence the title of this blog and one decidedly non-trivial aspect of my cycling: when i ride enough, i can eat what i want and not get fat.

fat is, of course, a relative term. in high school i was 165 and 6'2" forever. that went up to maybe 175-180 sometime after college and now, in the darkest times ;-) it goes to 195 and even 200.

present day: 195, no real rides in about 2 months and hairy legs. sorry mother fucking scene i tell ya...

well, the stars have aligned and i believe i'm back on the bike if today was any indication. just flew back from 9 days of traveling and though i was really assed out and the kid was going down for a nap, i decided to get my fat ass out on the bike mid-day on one of San Jose's hotter days.

hauled my sorry ass over to saratoga, up highway 9 (where i slammed a dr. pepper to try to steady my shaky legs) then dragged the breaks all the way back down because of the overly busy, sunday afternoon, grandma behind the wheel drivers that were robbing me of the ONE THING i could still do reasonably well with no fitness: descend down 9 where you really don't need to use your breaks. in fact that extra 20 pounds would have made me faster descending were it not for the damn cars...

how was the ride? fucking miserable - that's how. not only was i slow as the pavement melted around me, but apparently i hadn't eaten well enough (maybe it was the week long liquid-as-in-beer diet i was on during vacation) as my muscles were really shaky for the second half of the ascent.

the cliff bar on the climb and the dr. pepper at the top helped eventually - but not before i texto'ed the wife to come pick my sorry ass up. yes, it's true. i was worried about bonking on a 2+ hour ride on one of the mellower climbs in the valley. well, they did pick me up about 4 miles before i made it home, just after i got my second wind.

it was miserable, but once again, i'm back in the saddle and i can feel the fire in my belly to ride again - can feel it so much that i said to myself: "fuck the ill-defined legs, i'm shaving!". may the cycling gods (and critic riders i run into) be damned: i'm shaving BEFORE i have any fitness :-P

one thing i haven't figured out though: how will i make time to ride when i'm changing jobs and i'm still a dad and husband? only one way really: shift my priorities. we'll see how that goes..