When I started my cycling saga last August, I felt like a whale on that hybrid bike that the LBS put me on for a VERY beginners lesson (this is what a shifter is...and so forth). I fell over, and decided that cycling was just too dangerous for a 50 year old overweight woman.

Except....I couldn't forgot what those few minutes felt like in that parking lot BEFORE I fell over...

Joined a gym, started spinning classes. Spinning classes made me want to head back to the real thing...

Mid-December I bought my Trek, and Stella and I just took our first REAL ride (outside of training parking lots) this past weekend.

It is now 6 months after that incident in the LBS parking lot, I am 30 pounds lighter, and feel MUCH younger than my 50 years. Indeed, for the first time in a long time I am starting to notice men again

Could cycling be the long-lost fountain of youth? If exercise and just learning how to ride my bike feels like this in such a short time, what will I feel like after a summer of real riding This is, of course, assuming I don't crash and hurt myself, but nothing good is without potential danger - that is just life.

Ok, done waxing philosophical Stella is a great name for her though, it came from the movie "How Stella Got Her Groove Back". Never saw it, but the name stuck. I think my Trek is aptly named!