Outside Looking In: The First Hike

So....it all began close to 4 months before this hike. I had weighed more than Homer Simpson (not sure if there's some kind of human to cartoon conversion I could've applied but regardless I felt crappy about it), several co-workers at my last job decided to have a weight loss contest after reading a New York Times article about weight-gain being contagious. I asked if I could join knowing I had some tricks up my sleeve and the $650 pot would be a nice start to my wide screen hdtv fund. So I began eating nothing but low-carb low-fat food (this was also the end of vegetarian Jeremy, and also presumably the end of several unnamed farm animals) I hit the gym daily and lifted weights at least 5 times a week. 6 weeks later I had gone from 249.5 lbs to 223 lbs. I thanked all the other fatties took my $650 dollars and went home. Something else happened in those six weeks that you may say was more important than money (or you may not some people care more about money than anything) I felt good, I enjoyed using my equipment (thats me), and I liked getting better at things that required me to be physical. So instead of buying a new TV I bought a bicycle on ebay Although serious cyclists wouldn't consider the 2006 Specialized Allez Sport triple the greatest bike, the fact that it had carbon fork and seatpost, brake lever shifters, clipless pedals, a chain that stays on for the whole ride, and was younger in years than me, made it the best bike I've ever owned. It quickly became my favorite thing to do progressing from actually being able to bike the whole Palisades Interstate Path (the last time I think I went 10 minutes felt like I was dying and turned around and waited in the parking lot for my dad) to being able to do the whole path, then getting to the path on my bike from my house (that adds about 14miles to the ride), to being able to start at home do the path cross the bridge go to harlem come back go up 9w to the state line

Dad

and back home (that makes it about 36 miles).....Wait this is post is called "The First Hike" not "The First Bike" hmmm how did that happen...well anyway lets segway here (not the self propelled vehicle for twits but the real segway which is actually spelled segue) So the gym was great, but outdoor fun activities clearly are much better both for fun and exercise, so when my pal, and future member of the merry adventurers (we may change our name to something less gay....not that there's anything wrong with it) Rocco Caputo invited me to come with him and his wife to Woodbury Commons and hike while she shops I was all for it. We arrived at the mountain around noon, and with our combined lack of direction ended up parked next to a rock at the top of the mountain until we realized there was a parking lot on the other side of the rock and moved the car. Then we realized we parked at the top and decided well I guess we are going to do this hike backwards (not literally that would be dangerous). So we hiked straight down the mountain on the Major Welch Trail (The blazes look like tiny Japanese flags which is odd because we encountered several Japanese hikers who from a distance looked like tiny Japanese people). This was somewhat of a challenge for several reasons.

1) I had a bruised foot/ankle
2) Camouflage Timberland boots serve no purpose beyond looking cool
3) A big puffy coat is not ideal for hiking
4) A throwback Padres Jersey is not an ideal under-layer
5) A small bottle of Poland Springs and two apples are not adequate sustenance
6) We were racing against daylight

Regardless with Rocco's good company, hard boiled eggs, ensure, and a persimmon

I survived and actually enjoyed myself. This did however lead me to a concept that I started to learn with my new bike, and that is the right equipment makes for a more enjoyable and safer time. That was my last hike in timberlands, and just as with biking I find myself much happier now that I am riding on my new pair of Vasque Zephyr boots