First of all, I want to thank each and every one of you for making 2011 a banner year for me and my family. I’ve gotten the chance to work with so many wonderful people, and travel all over the place doing a job that I absolutely love. It wouldn’t be possible without my friends and family, and all the people who who believe in what I do. So again, thank you! That being said, I have to beg your patience while I share an extremely personal post. Next week, I’ll get back to some lovely wedding imagery, and portraits…I promise!
So let’s cut right to the chase, then. Shall we? Over the span of about five years, I let myself go. Bad habits, mixed with a new found love of red wine and rich foods, compounded by a conscious choice NOT to exercise led me down a dangerous path of weight gain and general bad health. The first picture below (with the hat on) is of me earlier this year on a fishing trip (image by Tom Payne). I’m not a terribly vain person, but when your grandmother alludes to your untimely death while patting your stomach at Thanksgiving, it tends to wear on your confidence. I’m not one to belabor points, so suffice it to say, in July of this year, I was not happy with myself, and I knew I had to do something.
My family hails from Virginia and Tennessee. You’re never going to get me to give up bacon or butter, or pecan pie. I wouldn’t know a diet if it spat in my face. But what I do know, is how to work hard. And so that’s what I decided to do. In August of this year, I jumped on my bike, and just started riding, and I’ve been riding ever since. The picture on the right is of me this past week. In total, I’ve lost 40lbs since August. I’ve got about twenty pounds left to reach my end goal, and I couldn’t be more excited to get there.
It may sound crazy, but I’ve lost ten of those pounds in the last eight days while participating in Rapha’s Ride to Redemption. The idea is simple, instead of packing on the pounds during the holiday season, use your love of cycling to take them off (or at least keep them off) by logging 500km(310 miles) over the course of 9 days. Riders are encouraged to post their daily stories and pictures to Rapha’s Facebook wall. In my opinion, it’s a really great way to use social media, and kept me going through the long, frigid miles that I’ve been putting in this week. Eventhough I did all but 20km of the challenge by myself, I’ve almost felt like I’ve been riding with a team the whole time. The pictures and captions below are all from my 8 days of riding. I finished the challenge yesterday, having put in 505km in 8 days!
Considering this is a photography blog, I should note that all the pictures below (save the first image) were shot and edited on an iPhone 4s. Thanks for taking the time to check it out!
As I mentioned above, the picture on the left is of me at my heaviest earlier this year. The picture on the right is of me after 40lbs of weight loss since August.
I took this picture on the first day of the challenge before I set out to ride. I put in 50 miles on the first day. Setting a new distance record for myself. After riding for that long, and seeing that I still had 260 miles to go, I began to question whether or not I’d actually finish the challenge.
With about 15 miles to go on the first day, I stopped in at Doug’s grocery for a Gatorade. Doug informed me that it was the holidays, and that I shouldn’t be working so hard. He didn’t quite understand when I told him that was the point.
On Day 2 I rode past one of my favorite greasy spoons to remind myself why I was doing this in the first place. I also got my only bit of company on Day 2, but it was so welcome! One of my favorite wedding couples ever, Jon and Jaime, were in town visiting family, and came out to ride with me! Thanks guys!
Christmas day was cold, and the streets were abandoned. I put in a short ride so I could spend time with my family. It was actually really neat to be out riding on Christmas morning. I rode through the city, and was able to ride right down the middle of the street. Didn’t see a single driver.
I love this little hidden nook in Fredericksburg and incorporated it into my ride a couple times. There are so many hidden gems in Fredericksburg that you just don’t get to enjoy if you spend all your travel time in car!
The day after Christmas, I set another distance record by putting in 55.5 miles. Stopped in at White Oak Deli, where they call me “boss” even though they think I’m crazy.
I spent a lot of time riding around the historic Lee Drive park. This picture is blurry because I got up before dawn to get my ride in before the heavy rain began. I still got rained on that day, but missed the worst of it.
One of my favorite images from challenge. There’s something about the shape of a bike that I find absolutely beautiful.
The miles keep rolling on and on and on. After my 55 mile ride, I put in two shorter days at 19 miles and 33 miles.
Though it may not look like much, this photo marks the exact spot on the Mt. Vernon trail where I finished my first metric century (100km ride–62 miles). I ended up cycling 66 miles that days, another distance record. Considering my previous distance records was 36 miles, I was pretty proud of myself.
Along the Mt. Vernon Trail, I stopped at Gravelly Point to watch a few planes land at National.
These geese made the same mistake that I did that day…trusting the weather man. Instead of a pleasant 50 degrees, I got a high of 42, and had a few minutes of snow flurries while out in Vienna.
With only 20 miles left, I snapped a derailleur cable just as I reached the city of Fredericksburg. Luckily, Tre from BikeWorks is an ace, and had me back on the road in ten minutes.
One of the best straights of my typical loop. Day 8 of the challenge…with just a few miles to go. This ended up being my favorite picture from the challenge.
Before this month, the farthest I had ridden in one month was 198 miles. I put in 313 miles over the last 8 days, I set 3 new single-day distance records and two new speed records, but most importantly, rediscovered my self-confidence. I’m extremely excited about what 2012 has in store, both personally and professionally, and this challenge has given me just the head start I need to really grab my New Year’s resolutions by the horns. A thousand thanks to everyone who has put up with my biking obsession, especially my wife, who inspired me and encouraged me the whole way through!
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Currently, I’m a rollerblader, but we’ll just have to see!
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