Thanks so much guys... your responses mean a lot to me. On one hand I feel like a little kid with the possibility of not only riding a bicycle again but losing weight and on the other hand, scared s**tless that I'll either kill the bike, myself or in the process become a laughing stock when passersby see what basically amounts to 50 pounds of s**t in a 10 pound bag riding down the street.

I half expect the bikeframe to moan, the tires to POP and see the rims slowly crumple when I get on the poor unsuspecting bike.

But, hey, Life's an adventure and as long as I keep laughing and smiling no amount of heckling should be too terrible.