So I guess first things first. My name is Jennifer, I am 30 and I am an Art Teacher, teaching K - 7, and have somehow been talked into being the cheer coach at the middle school level. I live in Kansas, in a town with one stoplight. I started biking last April and did the National Bike Challenge with my husband Jason this summer. From May to October, I biked 761 miles, and am super proud of my accomplishment.
I am trying to be nominated to be an ambassador to a plus size bicycling clothing company called Shebeest. Even if I don't get picked, their clothes are super cute and worth looking up. So to start this blog I am going to share the letter I wrote to their representative.
"Thanks for getting back with me. I think the best thing for me to do is to tell you about how my bicycling journey has begun. I'm going to apologize here, my writing style is long winded and I am an art teacher not English so bear with me :D
The funny thing is, it didn't start with bicycling. It started with deciding that I wanted to get healthy. Right before my 29th birthday, I had decided to be healthier. I have found that my family has a lot of heart issues and a history of diabetes. I was also the heaviest I have ever been at 255 lbs. I also work at a middle school and wanted to be a good example for my students. So, I bought an elliptical and put it in my basement. I didn't do too bad on it, not amazing or consistent but it was a start. Then my school district did a fitness initiative, where we had teams and counted our activity minutes. It was very similar to the Walk Kansas program. Any way, I was on a team with my friend Rhiannon (who is an avid bicyclist whose done Bike Across Kansas for the last several years) and our P.E. Teacher, and I didn't want to be the weakest link. This local program got me more active and more consistent in my workouts. I walked everyday, and was working out on my elliptical almost every workday. During this time, my husband bought his first shop bike. A bike that actually fit his 6'3" frame, and suddenly he was biking crazy. He seemed to enjoy it so much.
After our school fitness program, Rhi and I signed up for the Walk Kansas program. Again, it seemed that these group programs helped motivate me. So when Rhi told me she thought I could do Bike Across Kansas, for the first time in my life I thought I could do something athletic like that. So, last April I bought my first bike, and I started riding with my husband. I found out immediately that I prefer road biking to mountain biking, which made my husband a little sad, but we were riding together. We then joined the National Bike Challenge on the Endomondo.com website. This program along with the idea that I needed to train for the 2014 BAK, helped keep me motivated. It was a slow start. Three or four miles would totally wear me out. Then we'd bump it up a little more each week.
On June 1st, I did my first long ride. My friend Rhi held a benefit ride for her cousin. The three routes were 14, 30 and 50. At first we were signed up to do the 14 mile route. The week before, I'd gone 16 miles so I had no doubt I could do the 14 miles. Well the night before, as we are helping Rhi set up, she told us that the second SAG stop had pie. Well, we like pie and the second SAG was at mile 20, so we'd have to at least do the 30 mile route. It was the hardest ride of my short bicycling journey. It was so cold, windy and nobody told me about the hills. I wish I could say I was positive the whole route, but I was fighting 30 mph head wind, hills and then I choked on my water. To say I had a slight meltdown would be putting it mildly. I pulled off the road, coughing, crying and generally freaking out. See I've never done anything like this. I never did sports, or had any encouragement to do sports. I had even been told my my middle school teacher that basically I was just lazy, slow and fat. So when I broke on mile 16 that morning I felt so stupid, why was I doing this, it's impossible, I am never going to do BAK. My poor husband. He did do sports and stuff and was so shocked that I was freaking out. My husband is awesome, in that he was able to calm me down and encourage me to continue on. We'd just finished the hardest part of the route and would be turning to a cross wind, so it should get easier. Plus the pie was only 4 miles away, and if I still hated it I could get a ride back to the car at the SAG. I was calm enough to realize he was right and continued on. It did get easier as we changed direction and when we got to the SAG, I felt that I could finish and that I would be successful because I didn't want to be a quitter anymore. Sidenote: not sure if it was because of how rough the ride was or because it really was that good, but it was the best peach pie in the world. We finished our first 30 mile ride in 2 hours 45 minutes, and I felt invincible. I giggled for like 15 minutes after we got to car, and kept saying 'I can't believe we just did that." After that ride, I knew it was possible to overcome the physical challenges if I could get over the mental ones. So for the rest of the summer we rode. I did another two longer rides, a 20 mile and a 54 mile. The 54 mile was hard because I'm still learning about nutrition on rides and totally lost all energy during the last 10 miles. I had nothing left at the end of the ride. At the end of the National Biking Challenge, I had ridden 761 miles from May to October.
Since I started this fitness journey, I have lost 25 pounds, and gone down 2 pants sizes. I've also found out that I have asthma and am now on medication to help this challenge. I also bought another bike, my first bike was a hybrid Giant. I decided to get a road bike considering how many miles I rode this summer, and now have a Trek road bike. This winter, I am a member of a gym that has indoor bicycles and I am doing weight training to help me be a better bicyclist. My goal is to train to do Bike Across Kansas next summer with Rhiannon. My husband is going to try and pull a camper to be my support. I'm still learning about bike stuff, and have recently found a training plan that I will follow to help my goal. I'm sorry this was long, and I hope it answers your questions. I've attached a picture of my husband and I after our 30 mile route. I also attached a school picture of myself.
Thanks for listening!"
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