The Meat Motor

So this little tour of mine is going to be powered by 2 motors. The main engine is going to be a 40 year old, 200lb meat motor that has seen better days. The second motor is a 2 stroke engine scavenged off of a very small snowblower, about 20 years old.
This blog is about the former. This meat motor is also known as.... me. At first glance, one might respond to me with "You haven't trained for this, you don't have good equipment to this kind of trip, you haven't ridden more that 100 miles in a week in 15 years, and your overweight. You're gonna die before you make Kentucky!" I got that response from one person already. For the most part, they are right. But, I also know that Micheal on The Biggest Loser, at over 520lbs, didn't train for going on the ranch before he got there either. If a 520lb + man can get into that gym and workout for 8 hours a day, and I cant handle pedaling under my own power for 60 miles a day, shot me. Please. Seriously. Right in the head, just put me out of my misery quick!
Yeah, it's gonna be tough. Demanding. Exhausting. Draining. And tough. But it is also going to be gratifying. Empowering. Revealing. And Fulfilling.
I fully expect to be in better shape at the end of this that I was at 23! One huge thing going for me now is the pleasant fact that at 23, I smoked 2 packs a day, and today, its been more that 7 years since I smoked! I expect that to counteract any limits imposed by age.

Me at 12 - WOW I forgot how well I was built then! No, it wasn't natural, I worked for that build!

Me at 23, my youngest son, and his mom - Still built, but smoking by now. But I could still make a 21 mile ride thru metro Detroit out to the suburbs in an hour flat, on some old junk road bike, and STILL have time to smoke a cigarette halfway thru the ride. Did it every Saturday for the whole summer.

Fast forward to about 2008. I am still built! Just with all the wrong stuff! Here I am 225lbs! WOW!

That last pic was my limit. I remember putting on a pair of jeans with a 36" waist one day and commenting that they were too tight. Well, my everso helpful, but none-to-smart, 245lb wife says "Well we'll go tonight and by you some 38's." I do not remember exactly what was said, but the jist of it was this. "The hell you will! There will be NO 38 jeans in my dresser, ever. Don't you dare buy me 38's!" She explained to me that it was not right that I suffer with jeans that are too tight. Well, I concluded that day that either I was going to stop gaining weight, go naked when my 36's no longer fit, or get cut off at the waist wearing the 36's I did have. I was going to suffer because of my excess weight, just like everyone who is obese does. I just chose to suffer in a different way than most.
There was NO WAY I was going to tolerate myself getting any bigger that a 36! I know most people just buy bigger clothes when what they have no longer fits. I did too for a while. In my early and mid 20's, I wore 30's, and 32's were pretty baggy. Over the years, my weight rose. And so did my clothing size. But 36 was just it. So I topped out at 225. And stayed there for a few years. Far too long actually. Being 65lbs overweight is a big burden. Right now I weigh 205, and thats a burden! This ride will totally remake my body, and I can't wait to see the results!