One weekend each September, thousands of cyclists travel from just outside Philadelphia to Ocean City, NJ as a part of the Bike MS: City To Shore Ride. Riders seek sponsors to raise money for the Greater Delware Valley chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. This year, 94WYSP’s very own Spike will be one of the 6000 plus cyclists making the trip for this great cause. Find the street team this summer for more information on registration and follow Spike’s progress below.
Thursday, June 4th
Bike MS: City to Shore Ride - Blog #1
I haven’t been on a bike in 20 years. I don’t mean that I haven’t seriously ridden a bike in 20 years. I mean, I haven’t ridden a bike AT ALL in 20 years. Not one time. Not on the boardwalk in Atlantic City, not on a leisurely Sunday through the park, and not to show my little sister the right way to do it.
Clearly, the way to jump back into it is to bike 150 miles. What other option is there?
I used to be a fat guy. Until I turned 25 or so, I was a pretty fat dude. Exercise in general was not part of my every day routine. Maybe if you consider eating lots and lots of horrible food exercise, maybe then it’d be part of the routine. I guess in some circles eating an entire pizza at 2am is exercise. However, if we’re operating under the more classic definition of fitness, I certainly was not a picture of it. Something snapped around that year, and I’m not sure what it was. The closest moment I can find to the realization that I was too fat was when I hit the size of pants that were the biggest that you could buy at a normal store. There’s an awful feeling when the dude at the Gap goes “nah, we don’t carry 44.” I wasn’t going to a big and tall store. So I kind of freaked out, started exercising every day, and lost about 80 pounds in 4 months. No joke. I went from 235 or so to about 150 pounds from June until about October. No pills, no gimmicks, just a lot of exercise and probably not enough eating.
Once the wait came off, I kind of had to start looking for excuses to keep working out. I enjoyed the routine of it, but without some kind of goal, it could get boring. That’s when running happened.
My brother Jason, whom I’m very close to, decided to run a marathon on a dare. He ran the LA Marathon with shin splints, having prepared for only about 6 weeks. Typically, marathon training takes about 4 months. And that’s with a base of being able to run about 20 miles a week. Needless to say, he finished the race in the medical tent with an IV. The point to me though, was that he finished the race. Inspired by the determination he showed, and perhaps more by the fact that it seemed like my brother had bettered me in some way, I decided I wanted to do the same thing. I was going to run the Los Angeles Marathon a year from then.
As in shape as I seemed to be, I never ran. I only worked out on gym equipment. Elliptical machines, stair climbers, etc… Running was new to me. I flew out to LA to visit my brother, and we ran 3 miles one day, circling the campus of USC a few times. It hurt quite a bit, but I was hooked. From that point, I developed a plan. I’d run the Broad Street Run (10 Miles), then some 10 mile run in Avalon , then the Philadelphia Distance Run (13.1 Miles), and finally, the following March I’d run the LA Marathon.
There were injuries along the way, including a pretty serious back injury during marathon training that sidelined me for about a month, but I completed all of them. The race in Avalon was completed without shoes (they got wet and full of sand around mile 7), and the marathon was finished half in tears, and relying on an 11 year old kid named Eddie who I had started running with to keep up my spirits to the end, but I finished them none the less.
I’ve continued to run, even giving last year’s Chicago Marathon a shot (which was a nightmare, google it sometime), but still with my eyes open to a new challenge.
Enter the Bike MS: City To Shore Ride. 150 miles in 2 days. Now, having not really biked, like, ever, I wasn’t exactly sure how far 150 miles is. Now, clearly, I know how far 150 miles is, but in terms of biking, I wasn’t sure how much of a challenge it was. I was assured that although it’s challenging, it was something I could finish. On top of that, it’s a good cause, so the notion of letting people down if I don’t finish assured me that I’d see it through. Also, the fact that I’m a maniac also assured me I’d see it through.
From this point on, I’ll keep you updated on how it’s going. From the first time I get on a bike, to the first time I fall, to the first time I can’t get my feet out of the clips on the pedals and I collapse on the road with nothing to break my fall except whatever side the wind decides to push me over on to. Wish me luck, I’ll need it for sure.
94 WYSP's Ultimate Tribute December 5, 2008
featuring Appetite For Destruction and Back In Black
The TLA
