I’m about ready to launch the new michigantri.com  site and this blog will show on a separate page there. I’ve never spent much time thinking about web site stuff and only did as little as possible to keep my personal site going and updated.  Now all that is changing and I know I’ll need to put more time into it to keep the new site moving along.

For the last two weeks I have challenged the people taking my indoor cycling class to think a little about the rush of new members at the YMCA.  It has also been the topic of a recent thread at Slowtwitch where I post regularly.  The usual response from lots of people is to grumble about how the new folks are taking over, don’t know what they’re doing, I can’t get to my machines now, the pool is full and all that. Yeah…that may be the case.  But it is still kind of fresh in my mind about what it was like for me stepping foot inside a fitness facility for the first time.  It was a shock in many ways.

Had there not been a couple folks who took an interest in my comfort and progress, I don’t know if I would have been able to get through those first crucial 6 months or so.  My challenge to the class then has been to simply pick someone who is new and offer a little encouragement or a supporting word or two, remembering what it was like for them to go through that process.  The challenge has been met with some scrunched eyebrows, but also more than a few nodding smiles.