Welcome to my Blog! Let me tell you about why I created it and how I got here.
My name is Alan "Randy" Matchett. I am a Security Consultant and Author by trade, but my true passion is Ultramarathon Cycling. I started cycling about 20 years ago when I lived in Edgewood MD. In 1987 I moved to White Oak MD and was on a local team out of Olney MD.
Then I had a bad accident while training that changed my life. On a long downhill, a car pulled out from a driveway without looking. I tried to avoid a collision and went into a berm, throwing myself and my bike into a wall. After calling me a few choice words, the driver just left. Nice guy, huh? I was 12 miles from home, bleeding and my bike was scrap, yet no one stopped.
After my head cleared some, I began walking home, laying across the remains of my bike. Finally, about 2 miles from home a friend saw me and took me to the Hospital. I had 6 compressed vertebrea in my upper back and neck and a concussion. It took me quite awhile to recover, during which time I went from 148 pounds at 5'11" to over 200 pounds.
I quit cycling and any kind of exercise for a number of years, concentrating mostly on my work. I gained more weight and felt generally bad a lot of the time. I started smoking and wasn't taking care of myself very well. My back hurt just about all of the time and that was my excuse to do nothing.
In 2001, I got sick and tired of looking and feeling like crap. I decided it was time for a change no matter how much it hurt. I had peaked out at 240 pounds and hadn't exercised much in years, but I still had one of my old racing bikes, a Fiorelli. I decided that it was time to get in better shape and cycling would be my way back.
I changed my eating habits and began riding on an indoor trainer. At first it was all I could do to ride 20 minutes. Eventually though, I began riding longer and losing some weight. Amazingly, I was also starting to feel better so I wanted to do more. In what seemed like no time but was actually just under a year, I was down to 185 pounds. My back hasn't hurt since I dropped below 200.
So that is how I got back into Cycling. I will post about starting the Ultramarathon cycling in my next post and tell you about my run for RAAM.
My name is Alan "Randy" Matchett. I am a Security Consultant and Author by trade, but my true passion is Ultramarathon Cycling. I started cycling about 20 years ago when I lived in Edgewood MD. In 1987 I moved to White Oak MD and was on a local team out of Olney MD.
Then I had a bad accident while training that changed my life. On a long downhill, a car pulled out from a driveway without looking. I tried to avoid a collision and went into a berm, throwing myself and my bike into a wall. After calling me a few choice words, the driver just left. Nice guy, huh? I was 12 miles from home, bleeding and my bike was scrap, yet no one stopped.
After my head cleared some, I began walking home, laying across the remains of my bike. Finally, about 2 miles from home a friend saw me and took me to the Hospital. I had 6 compressed vertebrea in my upper back and neck and a concussion. It took me quite awhile to recover, during which time I went from 148 pounds at 5'11" to over 200 pounds.
I quit cycling and any kind of exercise for a number of years, concentrating mostly on my work. I gained more weight and felt generally bad a lot of the time. I started smoking and wasn't taking care of myself very well. My back hurt just about all of the time and that was my excuse to do nothing.
In 2001, I got sick and tired of looking and feeling like crap. I decided it was time for a change no matter how much it hurt. I had peaked out at 240 pounds and hadn't exercised much in years, but I still had one of my old racing bikes, a Fiorelli. I decided that it was time to get in better shape and cycling would be my way back.
I changed my eating habits and began riding on an indoor trainer. At first it was all I could do to ride 20 minutes. Eventually though, I began riding longer and losing some weight. Amazingly, I was also starting to feel better so I wanted to do more. In what seemed like no time but was actually just under a year, I was down to 185 pounds. My back hasn't hurt since I dropped below 200.
So that is how I got back into Cycling. I will post about starting the Ultramarathon cycling in my next post and tell you about my run for RAAM.
posted by Ultra Cycling Addict at
6:22 AM
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