Biking for 1000km

I’ve been riding a bicycle around my home for the past several months, and yesterday the cumulative total distance went past 1000km. That’s about going from San Jose to Portland, or from Tokyo to Hakata, For a guy who never got into the habit of doing any regular exercise, this is a major accomplishment.

Back in May I started this because I desperately wanted to be outside for a change to make up a loss for traveling and commuting. Then my colleague John Long recommended RunKeeper, an app, which made everything that followed possible.

For a while I got hooked on beating the record — I started aiming for >10km in one go, which greatly expanded the area I can wander into. Next was 20km/h pace. Then I got hooked on exploring as many minor streets in my extended neighborhood as possible. Then weekend long rides to Saratoga, Los Gatos, eventually to Palo Alto.

Somewhere along the way it became a habit and almost a bit of obsession, making it difficult to stop. Unfortunately some of it is gone due to the wildfire-inflicted bad air quality that forces me to a house arrest from time to time. I’m not sure what it is that I’m enjoying in the process but it is fun so hopefully I will keep doing this.

It is a great feeling that I’m reaching somewhere new, both literally and figuratively, slowly but steadily. The progress and the accomplishments are both very visible. I’m doing something now that was unthinkable for me a year ago.

I consider this one of the best things that happened to me in this difficult time that is 2020.

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