The Beginning

Blogging is strange if you really think about it. Here I sit, typing my thoughts, opinions, and ideas for any person out on the internet to find. I'm fairly certain this used to be called a journal or diary. Once a book hidden in a secret location for nobody to find. Now we put these thoughts and ideas out for all to see. Definitely a little strange. Anyway,  I'm a little behind the curve on this whole concept. My wife has been blogging for a few years now about her running, but I only just recently discovered blogs that are related to my interests in cycling. I started reading them and it got me thinking that maybe I should give it a try. Who knows, maybe someone will enjoy my random thoughts on bicycles or riding them. If not, then I consider it simply a place to put down these thoughts.

This blog (what a weird word in my opinion) is simply going to contain cycling related stuff. I can't promise you I won't stray from that topic occasionally though. I'll do my best to make any information I include accurate, but in no way do I claim to be an authority on the world of cycling. I'd actually say that I'm far from it in fact. I'm just a normal guy who likes bikes. As the title suggests, I'm simply "Out for a Bike Ride" and these thoughts I put down likely came to me while I was out riding, so it seems a fitting title. I realize that this seems rather open ended, but I don't have any clue where this whole blog thing will go for me, so I'll keep my options on topics open. Also, as I don't claim to be an English teacher, my grammar or spelling may be less than perfect. Sorry, I'll at least do my best to communicate my thoughts clearly.

A little background on me is probably in order and this first post seems to be the logical place to put it. I don't plan to get specific in my personal information, so sorry if you want to hang out and be my new best friend, not going to happen, nothing personal though. Not to say that I won't divulge additional personal information later, if it seems appropriate. At the time of this post, I'm in my early 30's, and male. I'm not a professional athlete in any way. In fact, until I started riding my bike 4 years ago, I really didn't do much in the way of exercise. At the time I was at my highest weight ever, 218 pounds. I was not happy with that new milestone in my life and decided to do something about it.

In an attempt to find something to get me off my butt I thought back to when I was a kid. I loved riding my bike. I put countless miles on it in my neighborhood. I rode the heck out of that heavy old steel mountain bike. It was nothing fancy. I believe my parents had bought it at Costco, not even a bike shop. There was one family that lived next door that all had Specialized brand mountain bikes. I always thought they were just the coolest and longed for the day that I could have one myself. With this memory pulled from the depths of my mind, I informed my amazingly wonderful wife that I wanted a mountain bike. I'm pretty sure she thought I was nuts, but was of course supportive of my decision to get in better shape. I spent hours pouring over information on the latest models offered before going to the local bike shop (LBS). How much? $350 for a bike?? Man, I was way out of the loop, little did I know...... more on that later.

I really thought that mountain bike was cool. I started doing rides on one of the local multi use paths (MUP). Soon, they turned into family affairs. It was great fun. I eventually swapped my knobby off road tires for some smooth city tires. I found that my mountain bike, like so many of its kind, never left pavement. I wanted to ride further and faster too. I had also come up with the hair brained idea (at the time anyway) of riding the Seattle to Portland (STP) bicycle ride. This 2 day, 200 mile ride organized by Cascade Bicycle Club seemed impossible, but the idea took hold in my mind and I was fascinated.

So this was the how it all began. Me, overweight, on a mountain bike to get off my lazy butt, and the idea of a 200 mile ride. I really had no idea what I was getting myself into, if I'm going to be completely honest. Throughout this blog I'll finish the story of my mountain bike beginnings and weave a tale of cycling suffering, the concept of N+1, craigslist finds, building up bicycles from a pile of parts, adventures in the saddle, and other amazing topics that I'm sure nobody will be able to resist (heavy on the sarcasm folks). If you're actually reading this, thank you. I hope you enjoy it.