On the bike, I couldn’t ride for even two or three minutes without my legs feeling numb and spastic due to MS. So I decided to back off my efforts and count revolutions instead of minutes with 300 spins as my short-term goal (150 for each leg). If I cycled for 300 rotations at a steady, slow pace, it would equal about five minutes.
That was the beginning of my long transformation from couch potato to outdoor cyclist. During that first year, I slowly transitioned from counting revolutions to counting minutes to counting miles. I also started counting calories too. After a year, I lost 50 pounds and could ride for 45 minutes on the exercise bike and still feel good afterward.
I started to dream of riding a real bike again. But I hadn’t done so since college, and I didn’t have a bike. Many months later, I went shopping. The image of me trying out bikes when I hadn’t even been on one in many years was funny. I eventually chose one and began riding it short distances. Just like with the exercise bike, I started with small goals: down the street and back, one mile, two miles, 15 minutes, 30 minutes, and more.
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From Couch Potato to Outdoor Cyclist
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