Bike Commuting Again (Again!!)

I've been riding my bike to work sporadically over the last several years. I'll do it for a few weeks or months, then something comes up and I drop off again. Then a few months later, I'll start up again. Well, I'm on the upswing of that momentum at the moment. I rode to work a couple times over the last 2 weeks, and then again this past Monday and Wednesday. And I'm riding in tomorrow morning. I'm hoping to ride every other day (MWF) for a few weeks to get my legs and rear end back into saddle shape, then switch back to riding whenever I don't need to drive for other reasons.

When I rode in on Wednesday, I had one of those moments that makes you pause for a second before you see the reality of the situation. I was going on an uphill section, doing about 14 MPH. Since I've been off the bike for a few months, I was feeling pretty good about that speed on an uphill section. Then all of a sudden, this cyclist whooshes past me like I was standing still. Like, he must have been going at least 20. I got all despondent. But my train of thought brought me around eventually. It was like this: "sigh. I'm fat. I mean, I weigh 245 now, which is the heaviest I've ever been in my life. I mean, I must weight a good 70, or even 80 pounds more than that guy. Heck, I might even weigh 95 pounds more than him as short as he was. And this stupid bag with my clothes and lunch in it isn't exactly filled with Helium either. Huh. I bet with everything totaled up, I'm riding with at least 100 pounds more than that guy. Huh. He has a 100 pound weight advantage on me, and he only passed me going that fast? I guess I'm not doing so bad after all!!"

What makes it more challenging to ride into work right now is that we're trying to sell our house, so we've "de-cluttered." Which means my bike isn't kept here. I keep it at a friend's place down the hill in my neighborhood. I have a key to her place and she doesn't mind me getting the bike whenever I need it (as long as I give her a call real quick just to be sure it's an ok time of course). But it's still a hassle. With Noah toddling around, I can't just keep it in the living room leaning against the fish tank. He'll pull it over on himself. But it's not horrible either. Just another challenge for me to either whine and complain about, or shut up and do it. For now, I'm just shutting up and doing it...