Body Parts

I looked in the mirror the other day and realized that I look like a random collection of body parts.

My legs look like tree trunks from all the cycling. My quads are just enormous. I had to rip the legs on a pair of new underwear just to get them on.

I've purposely added a few pounds before starting the ride. I figure I'll lose at least 10 pounds, so I wanted to start the ride a little heavy. Mission accomplished! That was disturbingly easy. The Beer Gut is completely out of place with the power-lifter quads.

I also stopped doing any upper-body work about 6 weeks ago. My shoulders were acting up and I figured a bunch of upper-body bulk wouldn't help my riding much. So now all the muscles north of my waist are atrophying.

I'm guessing that 7 weeks of riding will only further exaggerate the effect. Legs the size of the average waist. Bony little school-girl arms. I figure by the end of this ride I'll look like some kind of Mr. Potato Head experiment gone horribly, horribly wrong.