BrumJim
Forum Stalwart (won't take the hint and leave...)
- Location
- Selly Oak, Birmingham
Transcript from last week’s CA meeting (11/03/2010, 19:30):
It has been 3 days and 2 hours since I last rode my bike {murmurs of sympathetic support from the rest of the group, and a reassuring touch on the shoulder from the adjacent man}.
Last week was going so well. I lasted 8 days without having a ride. OK, I was on holiday at the time. Sk-ing. I know that some of you may think that I am just substituting one sport/recreational problem for another, but I can control my ski-ing. I only do it for one week a year. OK, I crave it the rest of the year, sometimes really badly. I often dream about ski-ing, but I’m in control – I can resist those cravings – not give in to temptation. Admittedly there is the small problem of an expensive air fare, accommodation, and making excuses to the wife that help me out, but the positive thing is that I CAN resist.
Anyway, I managed 8 days of resisting the call of the saddle. I even passed a bike shop half a dozen times or more during that time, and not once did I go in. Well, actually it was only open once when I walked past, and on that occasion I did drool quite a bit over a Specialized Roubaix outside, but the positive thing is that I DID resist.
But when I got home, that is where the trouble started. I’d left all my holiday presents on the bus back home. Fortunately I’d managed to contact a friend from Birmingham on the same bus who had picked them up for me, so I had to go round and collect them. I could have gone by bus, walked, or called a taxi. Or even driven my car over, but it was just so tempting. Before I knew where I was, I was on my bike and heading up to his house to collect. And it felt so good. I was having so much of what I thought of at the moment as “fun” that I pedalled myself out of breath after only a few hundred yards. It was such a great buzz that I just couldn't stop going faster and faster. I just couldn’t see through the immediate gratification to the bigger picture and I was hooked again – my bike was making the decisions, and not me. On Monday I was cycling into work again, even though I had to take a laptop, notepad and other stuff home ready for my trip to Germany the next day.
So yes, there is the reason why I have spent the last three days off my bike. There was temptation in Leipzig, seeing all those cyclists around – it’s a bit like Cambridge – lots of students and no hills. But I resisted. 1 year of German at school didn’t teach me how to arrange bike hire, but I’m thinking positively, and putting it down to self control.
Which is why I need your help. Tomorrow I am back in the office. Work is just 6 miles away, the car takes just as long, and I’m feeling positive after some good days away. And I have some calories to burn off. But I must resist. I need your encouragement, friends, to stay away from the problem, to resist the urge to cycle again, to face up to my problem, rather than succumb to it. I keep crying out for help, but feel like there is no one out there.
Please help me.
It has been 3 days and 2 hours since I last rode my bike {murmurs of sympathetic support from the rest of the group, and a reassuring touch on the shoulder from the adjacent man}.
Last week was going so well. I lasted 8 days without having a ride. OK, I was on holiday at the time. Sk-ing. I know that some of you may think that I am just substituting one sport/recreational problem for another, but I can control my ski-ing. I only do it for one week a year. OK, I crave it the rest of the year, sometimes really badly. I often dream about ski-ing, but I’m in control – I can resist those cravings – not give in to temptation. Admittedly there is the small problem of an expensive air fare, accommodation, and making excuses to the wife that help me out, but the positive thing is that I CAN resist.
Anyway, I managed 8 days of resisting the call of the saddle. I even passed a bike shop half a dozen times or more during that time, and not once did I go in. Well, actually it was only open once when I walked past, and on that occasion I did drool quite a bit over a Specialized Roubaix outside, but the positive thing is that I DID resist.
But when I got home, that is where the trouble started. I’d left all my holiday presents on the bus back home. Fortunately I’d managed to contact a friend from Birmingham on the same bus who had picked them up for me, so I had to go round and collect them. I could have gone by bus, walked, or called a taxi. Or even driven my car over, but it was just so tempting. Before I knew where I was, I was on my bike and heading up to his house to collect. And it felt so good. I was having so much of what I thought of at the moment as “fun” that I pedalled myself out of breath after only a few hundred yards. It was such a great buzz that I just couldn't stop going faster and faster. I just couldn’t see through the immediate gratification to the bigger picture and I was hooked again – my bike was making the decisions, and not me. On Monday I was cycling into work again, even though I had to take a laptop, notepad and other stuff home ready for my trip to Germany the next day.
So yes, there is the reason why I have spent the last three days off my bike. There was temptation in Leipzig, seeing all those cyclists around – it’s a bit like Cambridge – lots of students and no hills. But I resisted. 1 year of German at school didn’t teach me how to arrange bike hire, but I’m thinking positively, and putting it down to self control.
Which is why I need your help. Tomorrow I am back in the office. Work is just 6 miles away, the car takes just as long, and I’m feeling positive after some good days away. And I have some calories to burn off. But I must resist. I need your encouragement, friends, to stay away from the problem, to resist the urge to cycle again, to face up to my problem, rather than succumb to it. I keep crying out for help, but feel like there is no one out there.
Please help me.
