First 10 Days

In the beginning... There was an Exercycle....

As mentioned in my previous post, this is my journey to a healthier lifestyle.

After setting the "rules of engagement" between myself and my cycle, I also had to decide on a goal.

Let's face it, sitting on an exercycle in your living room pumping your legs up and down for 45 mintues a night isn't terribly exciting. I needed inspiration, something to keep me interested - this was going to be a long haul after all.

So, I figured maybe a Virtual Tour of the country. I started with my home address and using an awesome online tool have mapped my distances. See http://nz.mapometer.com. So, I had a virtual start point for my journey.

My start point was Christchurch City, New Zealand.

I also decided to get a handle on my physical start point for myself. So, I jumped on the scales..... BAD move!! 82.5 kg of me OUCH!!

With that in mind, I threw my leg over the seat of my exercycle, and departed. I left Christchurch and headed South down the East Coast of the South Island.

In the first 10 days, I covered 198.39 km. Remember that's in bursts of 45 minutes per session.

It was HARD WORK. My body did protest exceedingly for the first 4 days. I never thought my poor wee bottom  (OK, so wee is probably the wrong word to describe my behind), would ever cope with the seat of my exercycle.

Now, I think I have developed calluses on my behind, and the seat is somewhat more comfy. I had a couple of rest days, and managed the distance between Christchurch and Waimate.

Waimate is a lovely wee town famous for it's summer berries. They have a Strawberry Festival every year in November. Unfortunately for me, it was August when I went through - far to cold and wet for strawberries in winter in New Zealand.

Still, I cycled on.....