I am naturally lazy, I like to watch a film or some live sport. I like eating too and there are some very tasty things to eat out there. Kim is a good cook too and I make a half decent steak and onion pudding. We have a big garden but we are not mega engaged by digging or mowing so we have a ride on and a rotavator.
Happily my Father when he retired found himself on the board of the Friends of Essex Churches Trust and they along with the whole country run an event called Ride and Stride where people travel from church to church on foot or on bicycles. This is sponsored and funds raised go half to your local church and half to the Trust. The Trust give grants to Churches to do repairs particularly emergency repairs. Father used to go about 20-30 miles and visit about 10 churches. He decided to retire when he reached 70 and passed the baton to me.
There is a natural circuit where I live so for the last 13 years I have cycled 50 miles and visited 32 churches. To do that I had to do at least 3-4 weeks of cycling to get the fitness levels to a reasonable level. However I found that I started cycling earlier and earlier each year until I cycled most of the year. My weight also varies through the year in line with the level of training.
This year I thought I should think about stretching myself a bit more. I hatched a plan to cycle from home to my Father’s home church where I was brought up and Kim and I married. Then I thought why not visit the church he was baptised at and the church mother was baptised at and where they were married. Suddenly I had a ride of 75 miles.
This is quite a serious ride and as I did more each weekend I thought my natural weight loss through cycling wasn’t enough because this route has some hills and the event runs from 9-5 which with 2-4 minute stops at each church means I will need to do the ride in 6.5 hours. That will be a push for me. I thought I had better start a diet in the week and an eat normally at the weekend. I started that in the first week of August and I have now gone from a roundish 15 stone down to 13 stone 6 as of this morning. The event runs on the second Saturday in September that is this coming Saturday.
Now I have never seen the need for lycra or anything like that. I am still riding the bike I had when I was 12. Ok it has been rebuilt new wheels, new gears, and some other bits. I ride in a normal collared shirt, normal chinos a pair of leather shoes, and on the day I usually wear a tie as well, after all I am visiting churches.
You can see more here James Lepper is fundraising for Friends of Essex Churches Trust
I suppose my point is that doing something for charity setting yourself a goal that stretches you can be useful to keep you fitter and thinner even if you do like a good plateful of food and roast potatoes together with a semi couch potato lifestyle.
Anyone else had a similar experience?
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