Image coutesy of digitalart / Freedigitalphotos.net
I felt a little bit like the character in this image when I rode my bicycle down to the YMCA this morning. Sure, I was riding a road bicycle, have olive skin and dark hair, and it was drizzling but other than that, this could be a self portrait. I didn’t bother getting dressed up in my cycling kit, preferring to just wear board shorts and t-shirt for the 10.2km ride to the gym.
For the most part, the ride felt good. My legs definitely aren’t used to the pedaling motion anymore after not cycling for a few months while I’ve been focusing on my running. So I felt like I was getting a workout. My left foot did complain a few times but it felt good when I focused on maintaining a consistent spinning motion, rather than jerking my feet around with poor technique. I certainly preferred being out on my bicycle to sitting on the stationary bike.
My gym set was solid today. I’m still working out what weights work best for me so stuck with the same size dumbbell for the dumbbell exercises. I don’t want to jump up too quickly so just went 1kg heavier than last week when I did almost the same series of exercise. Over the coming weeks I will naturally find the correct weights for me for each exercise. I figure I keep increasing them together and some muscle groups will tell me ‘stop’
while others will allow me to continue increasing until they reach their optimum point.
| Exercise | Weight |
| Leg extension | 25kg |
| Scissor leg lift | Body weight |
| Dumbbell overhead press | 8kg / dumbbell |
| Push up | Body weight |
| Plank | Unable to complete due to foot pain |
| Dumbbell shrug | 8kg / dumbbell |
| One arm dumbbell row | 8kg / dumbbell |
| Leg curl | 35kg |
| Lat pull down | 30kg + 32.5kg |
| Tricep extension | 30kg |
| Crunches | Body weight |
I’m feeling good at the gym. I feel like I’m doing the right thing for my body (regardless of whether I am injured or fit).
After my workout I cycled back home. I rode slowly because I don’t want to overdo anything on my shins or foot, and because I want to remember the joy of cycling.
Total: 20.4km bike and weights
Transventure 
Great, keep at it. By the way, does identifying yourself as transgender important for us to know or is it related to physical performance in some way? I’m puzzled.
As I mention in my ‘about me’ page, it’s important to me to show the transgender community (and the wider community) a positive example of life post-transition. My being transgendered is probably the biggest influence on how I got to be where I am at 33 years old not only the obvious gender transition but also because I experienced generalised anxiety disorder and depression for a long time before I started exercising again in July 2011.
Unlike biological men and women, no one can see my gender simply by reading my blog because to most people, I seem like a normal man. But I’m not. I’m transgender and it’s an important part of my journey.
There are relatively few positive transgender role models who share their lives post-transition. I have never found another blog in which a female-to-male transgender person shares their sporting and travel experiences openly as a transgender person. This means that, for both the transgender and non-transgender community, the only image that is readily available is people like Chaz Bono who are both famous and in the early stages of their transition.
Other than being an expression of my training, racing and travel experiences, I want this blog to be a positive voice in what can be a dark place. It doesn’t matter that I rarely actually write about being transgender; the fact that I openly identify as a transgender man might be important to someone. I guess it’s a bit like how being an Indigenous Australian woman didn’t make Cathy Freeman a great runner. She didn’t have to talk about the experience of being Indigenous to win her Olympic gold medal. But her being a successful Indigenous Australian woman gives young Indigenous Australian men and women an example of what they too can do with their lives.
Now, I’m no Olympic gold medalist and I’m not famous. But if my being openly transgender and living a successful positive life touches just one transgender man or woman, and encourages them to do the same (in their field), then I’ve made a difference. I had no role models during my transition. I don’t want anyone else to have that experience.
My blog gets hits from Google and Bing searches for ‘transgender athlete’ and ‘transgender triathlon’ and ‘transgender running’ – so there are people searching for that information.
Hopefully that answers your question.
Great that you latched onto a sport that you love to propel yourself…and your message. 🙂