My family loves.
My family loves me not.
My family loves me.
My family loves me not
My family loves me.

Over the past year, my level of fitness has been all over the place. In general, 2013 was a down year for me and I didn’t do nearly as well as I had hoped I would. It’s really tough to admit, especially in a public forum like this blog, but I gained 30 pounds this past year.

I know better, but I just didn’t stick with the fitness goals in 2013, and it really shows. It bothers me, but obviously not enough for me to do enough to turn things around. More importantly, it really bothers my family including my wife and kids.

On my birthday, my big present from my family was an entry into the Bike Across Kansas event June 7 – 15. I’ve been talking about wanting to do a ride like this, and had even considered putting it onto my official bucket list. Of course, I would actually have had to create an official, consolidated bucket list. That’s a 2014 goal…to create the consolidated bucket list.

But, I hadn’t actually intended to do the ride this year. I just didn’t think my body was ready for over 400 miles of cycling in 8 days. I was going to ease into by fitness goals for 2014. You know, procrastinate about it. Whine about it. Have very little success and then look back from December 2014 and feel miserable about myself.

But my family made sure that I don’t get to procrastinate or whine. I need to get into shape. Of course, the other part of my big gift was a fantastic Schwinn 170 Upright Bike that will help me train for BAK. I’ve already switched the seat to a more conventional biking seat, and I’ve messed with the height and angle of the handle bars almost every day. I’ve even contacted a friend of mine who rode across the USA for Mercy Riders this past summer. I figure if he can do that, his experience will priceless to me.

So, I’m starting a new fitness journey. Hopefully my butt will hold up. At this moment in time I’m on the fence. Well, not actually on the fence, as that would hurt too much, so I’m kind of hovering just above the fence about whether my butt is going to hold up. And if you’re reading this within earshot of your young children, we’ll just use the word “bottom” instead. I’ll even let the Minions of Despicable Me say it out loud! If you want to laugh at the word “bottom” in 19 languages (that’s over three minutes of childish laughter) here’s another link to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEsfd3MRDgA and Director Silas Ramsbottom.