thinner vs fitter

This is Ernest. When he started to ride his bike he weight 570 pounds. You can follow him on his blog at http://ernestgagnon.blogspot.com/ and I hope you do check it out. Like myself Ernest's bike became his Health plan. He has lost over 200 pounds and competed in his first cyclocross race.

I cannot say what this means to me to find out I'm not the only fat guy on a bike. When I read about him on my local bicycling advocate forums (bike-PGH) the story started a conversation about cycling and health. This is something I have spent far to many hours thinking about. I have lost some weight over the past couple of years, 50-60 pounds. While I am still a big guy 350 pounds is not little no matter how you think of it. I discovered (or perhaps realized is better) that while I wasn't much thinner I am fitter.

I am able to do so many things now that I couldn't do before (like walk up a flight of steps) I realized that my bike rides became things I enjoyed instead of endured.