I have been waiting to write this post since the beginning of my 40 day focus on fitness. I was hoping to end that time with this post, but it was not to be. I had to wait a little longer once I went back to work because progress had slowed. I can finally write it today, so here it is. This post is to let everyone know that I have hit a milestone that I have been waiting on forever. I am down 65 total pounds. I have finally hit 300. One more pound and I will less now than I have at any time in the last ten years. I am still 25 pounds away from my first goal weight, but I am well over half way there.

I am going to celebrate this milestone by going for a bike ride. That is what got me here, so I am going to keep riding. This one is going to be special. With no real forethought I am off today to ride 50 miles. This is called a half century in biking jargon. A century is a 100 mile ride and I hope to do that this fall in Philadelphia with some great friends, but today I will take on the half. 50 miles is no short trip by any means. I rode part of the rail trail that I plan on riding last Tuesday and set new best times for each sector. My winter on the indoor trainer is paying dividends. Time to put it to good use.

This also ties in nicely with my progress with the 30 Days of Biking pledge. I committed to riding my bike every day in April. It has been a struggle as I have never ridden for seven straight days. There is always something that pops up, like life. I bowl every Thursday and I try to spend as much time with my wife and son as I can on the weekends because our schedules are so crazy on the weekdays. It is relatively easy to carve out some time to ride on the week days because I am home earlier than everyone else. I have managed to struggle through two weekends already, even if some of the rides were pathetic. I barely managed 30 minute sessions on the trainer both days this weekend. I would be bothered, but thanks to Patriots Day I have a day off today so the half century is on! I am just going to call those two short rides “rest days” ahead of today’s 50 mile effort.

If you haven’t checked out 30 Days of Biking’s web site, give it a look. There are well over 3000 riders joining me in riding every day. One of them is IWearSpandex. You should check out his blog as well as he updates his progress through the challenge. It keeps me riding on days that I just don’t want to get on the bike.

I am keeping this update short as I am also writing one for my blog at CycleRecycle. Give them a looks as well!