Back on the bike

Friday Nov. 20.

It's been a couple of weeks since I've ridden a bike. (I know some of you may be saying sarcastically, "WHoA! That's crazy!") Lots of excuses that are too personal to blog about but I'll just say it was great to get back on the bike even if it was just for a couple commutes on ice and snow packed roads. The start of the week we woke up to the coldest morning of the season so far at zero degrees, but it warmed up throughout the week and my rides on Thursday and Friday were a relatively pleasant 20 degrees. Had to find all the winter riding gear, which gloves to use at which temperature range (my perennial issue even though my fingers get cold no matter what), and so on.

It's amazing how fast the fitness goes. (FAST. now i go SLOW.) It was the longest time of the bike in over least two years. The body does strange things adapting to a life without much movement. I get sore in weird places, my back goes out where i hurt it 18 years ago, I get grumpy easier and am more quick to anger, the list goes on.

Over time, humans have replaced the practical purpose of adrenaline and testosterone from fight or flight (survival) to a staged fight and flight (sports). I wonder why the body has kept this addictive tendency towards adrenaline when the real need has subsided (we don't need to do sports to truly survive; we don't need to hunt to survive any longer)? I don't think it happens to everyone, but some are more prone to the addiction. Once you stop for awhile, it subsides a bit, but the draw is always there. I have to keep moving and pushing myself or I fee unsatisfied and anxious. Maybe sports keep these functions in the genome whereas they would otherwise disappear over centuries of the population as a whole being sedentary? Do the fittest survive (pun intended)? But do they have fewer of their genes in the pool? Will the fast food dieters win out in the end only to spell out certain death for the human race?

I did not reproduce, but I did ride my bike today.