It was a dark and stormy night....

... when the 385 pound man entered the gym. He waddled up to the front desk, trial membership in one hand, oversized sweat clothes in the other. After filling out some forms, he staggered to the locker room, changed, and headed towards the stationary bicycles. Seven minutes later, he was gasping for breath, sweat running down his chubby face. After a brief rest, the fat man lifted some light weights and asked some questions of one of the trainers. He in turn was asked a question.

"What are you going to do once you've lost all this weight?"

"I don't know. Travel probably. I've not been able to travel."

"You should make it some big thing, a really long trip."

"Like cross country on a bike?"

The trainer laughed. "Yeah. Now that's a big reward."

A few minutes later, the fat man left the gym. The trainer walked over to the old man at the front desk. "What do you think of the new guy?" he asked the trainer.

"He's a nice guy, but I don't give him three weeks here."

*****************

I was that fat man, 20 months ago. I've now lost more than a third of my starting body weight. I have about 35 pounds to go to my goal weight of 220. When I get there, I'm going to attempt the spectacular 'reward' I spoke of so long ago. I'm going to ride a bicycle across the United States, from my home in Pennsylvania to Los Angeles. Pedalwest Destiny is the record of a man trying to keep his promise to himself, and to finally break the shackles of obesity. And you, gentle reader, get to follow along. Saddle up, it's going to be a long ride, and probably a bumpy one as well.