Stephen, your author

… or, The Unmasked Rider.

“Who the hell are you and why are you wasting my time? Is this one of those blog things? I hate those blog things….”

I know, I get that a lot. Still, I figure if you want to read about me and the biking thing, then you might want to know a tiny bit about me. For, y’know, context. So listen up, this is all ya get.

Let’s get the easy stuff out of the way first. My name’s Stephen; as of writing, I’m 33 years old, married to Amanda, and co-habiting with a cute cat. I live and work in central Brighton, UK for an online gaming company; my ‘commute’ is a five minute walk up a slight hill, hence me not owning a car or bike right now. I manage a pretty big team and I really enjoy my work. We’ve lived here since September 2004 when I took the job; before we lived in London, and I got a lot more exercise in my walk to work then, than I do now.

Physically, I’m out of shape. I thought about putting qualifying words like ‘fairly’ or ‘pretty’ in front of that ‘out of shape’, but why sugar coat it. What I can do: I can run around for an hour or so playing five-a-side football; I can easily walk for two-plus hours without my muscles feeling stiff; I get up the ten flights of stairs to our office without being drenched in sweat - I just have a slight glaze. However, I don’t feel I’m in shape. So I guess my qualifying word is ‘feel’. That’s not exactly sugar - more sucrose. (Wait, isn’t that sugar? Damn.)

Weight wise, I’m heavy, and have been just about all of my life - certainly since I was a teenager. I don’t actually know my exact weight right now, but last time I stood on a scale it obligingly went past the limit (18 stone, I think) and then stayed there accusingly. Incidentally, I’m 6′0″ or thereabouts. Oh, and I started getting my head shaved down to a Number 1 Grade a few years ago, so hey, at least I’m streamlined.

I haven’t ridden a bike for probably… hmm. Regularly? Since I was about 16, maybe. Even then it wasn’t regular - it was just the only option to go the long distance between my house in the stix and my friends in town. The last bike I rode was what we’d call a ‘racer’ in middle-class England; a ten-or-twelve speed, and probably a Raleigh (as hey, that was all you got at Halfords…). I remember enjoying it.

Which comes to the reason why I’m doing this, at all. It’s not to get fit or to lose weight, which surprises me to realise - those things are both fringe benefits that may come in time, may not. I think the reason I’m doing this is just to get out there and go a bit further. I can only walk so far.

I miss the simple pleasure of riding off in no particular direction and finding those back streets and alleyways, those country lanes and open spaces, and just freewheeling along without much of a care in the world - enjoying the physical for once, not the mental.

I might well come back to that, but for now it’ll do. Just to get out there and go a bit further.