The Sore-Butt Monologues

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This page is going to be about my adventures as an over-the-hill cyclist. After 40+ years of sitting on my butt, I decided this year (2009) that I was going to get some exercise. A night in Holy Cross Hospital with a heart monitor attached (it was NOT the big one) did not hurt. The question was HOW?

I had several options available to me:

  1. I could go to a gym
  2. I could take up jogging
  3. I could take up walking
  4. I could take up roller-blading
  5. I could take up biking

So what to do. There were so many choices. So I evaluated them, and eliminated all but one them:

  1. I could go to a gym, but I did that in High School and hated it then (sorry Mr. Lassiter).
  2. I could take up jogging, but I have never been able to run, even when I HAD or WANTED to.
  3. I could take up roller-blading - yeah, right!?!
  4. I could take up walking - but while I enjoy walking, I am at the point in my life where most of the things I have to move while walking hurt when I move them.
  5. I could take up biking - this, as it turned out, was a most viable option.

So why cycling?

In 2008, while researching the Virginia Creeper Trail for an up coming attempt at a book, I had the opportunity to ride a bike for the first time in 40 years - and I enjoyed it. So after much thought and consultation with friends who ride, I made the decision to buy a bike.

After shopping around for a while, I opted to buy a Schwinn Searcher hybrid.

A hybrid is a cross between a road bike (what we used to call an "English Racer" in the old days (only with more gears), and a mountain bike (knobby tires and a knobby head to match.

And - well it WAS made in America for decades. Now like everything else, it is made in China. But, it has been a good bike so far.

My Bike

So what has been the result? I started to write these pages in April, 2009. I started off struggling to ride 5 miles, but now I am able to do 20-30 miles with no problem. So far my longest ride is 39.6 miles!

I have come to enjoy riding so much that over time I will add information to my Trails page, to show others some of my favorite trails and events.

If you want more information about my drab, dreary and boring mortal existence, write to me at: This site reports spammers and Nigerian scammers!

Last updated: November, 2011