Biking to school

I decided to do exercise few days ago after seeing my belly in the mirror and after finding my shirt didn’t fit me well. After coming to United Sates since last September, I have gained weight day by day without notice. Maybe it is all because the high calorie food such as burger with cheese, steak, beer, red wine and etc… Another reason may be I have to sit in the lab all day long to run some data and thus lack of exercise. When I was in Taipei, Taiwan, I used to take public transportation, which will require me at least walk to the station from school, work place or home. Taipei is pretty much like New York in traffic aspect and it is really unwise to drive in Taipei city. You will be stuck in the traffic jam and will have difficult time to find a parking lot. Therefore the easy way to move around in Taipei is to take subway. Basically all the places in Taipei city are accessible via subway. After coming to States, my moving distance is kind of short, only dorm to lab, to class, or some grocery shopping via zip car.  After moving to off-campus housing in Mountain View, I purchased a pre-owned car and this give me an excuse for not doing exercise.

When my friends started to teas my look, I thought they’re merely too critical. Not until few days ago I saw myself in the mirror did I realize how huge my change is and how serious it is. I made up my mind that I need to do exercise. I think it can benefit my health and make me more energetic and eventually help me work more efficiently.

So far I have biked to school for a week and I have kept track on how far and how fast I bike every day. Generally I biked about 5 miles in 30 minutes one way from my apartment to school, ending up about 12 miles/hour. I actually post my biking record on Facebook so it will encourage me to keep doing this. I found that biking is really good not only because it saves gas and money and also it take me to school faster than driving in the traffic.

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