re-cycling an old athlete
 

Hello all,
Ill spare yous guys the long winded in depth gritty low down on 20 years of past accomplishments and massive failures.

About August of last year I decided something had to change after 5 years of laying on the couch packing away liquor and cheeseburgers. Was kind of the perfect storm, my father was prepping for a triple bypass, the pants I just bought a couple of months earlier were getting a bit snug after washing and I caught the last 30 minutes or so of the Flying Scotsman while doing some work on the TV channel it was running on (I'm a broadcast engineer by day). Joined a gym and with out any direction didn't get much use out of it the first month. The idea of track cycling was still lurking in the back of my mind so I started looking into it. The nearest track is 250 miles away and their last certification course of the year was just a few weeks away. I went ahead and signed up, hit the gym pretty hard for for the weeks prior and started making other life changes. I did clear the course but it wasn't pretty made my promise to return in the spring and headed back to Florida.

Fast forward to today. Prepping for my return to the velodrome in a couple of weeks to revisit the cert course... 55 pounds lighter. It's been a steady schedule of weights, intervals, recovery rides and much needed days off. Signed up for professional help in January that has been a big help having that structure and accountability back in my life as well as having someone with their eye on whats going on and changing up training as needed. The challenge I posed to him on initial contact was to turn a overweight, smoking, alcoholic, caffeine junkie into a track cyclist. He foolishly accepted the challenge :) That's the short of it, those pants that I had trouble with they don't fit anymore, the jersey I wore to the track in October (the only one I had that fit at the time) looks like a tent on me. It's bittersweet, yea proud of what I have pulled off but ashamed of letting it go that bad to begin with.

Why track racing you ask? They get all the cool looking go fast stuff, and what says fast more than a bike with no brakes?

Other about me's skysurfer is my other activity I'm an H2 hopefully clear H3 this year hang glider and light sport pilot.

Randy? Is that you?
http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=507794

Welcome back to the trailer park!

Whadda lookin at my gut fer?

http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=507807

No Dogs to bite you with track racing.

... not if my application for a rule change to the UCI goes through!

When I started on this journey one of the things I came across was along the lines of "Track racing isn't more dangerous than road racing in fact the velodrome designers have cleverly omitted cars and lamp posts" The irony being my "home" velodrome is touted as the only one in the world with a creek and a tree in the infield.

Welcome to Bike Forums! No offense meant towards anyone, but that was hilarious.

+ 1. Best intro I've read so far.

I'll be here all week.

Thanks, I do have a rather strange maybe dry sense of funny many just don't get. Round these parts even less get a TPB reference. At this point in life it's all for fun, although the competitive spirit is still alive and well.

No problem. One of these day's I shall pursue my life's ambition of refurbishing shopping carts, just waiting till I'm bored with these bicycles. Working up to 4 wheels, one day at a time they say. Dude looks like the singer from the Buggles, video killed the radio star video. Dont know if thats frequently said.

Failing that there's always fixing up barbecues or opening a kitty day care.

welcome to the forums