Well, after Monday's positive post, I had an experience yesterday which showed me just how far I still have to go.

As I said Monday, I'm already starting to get bored of the cardio I've been doing and I've started looking for alternatives. So yesterday I thought I'd give the real bike a go.

I took it across the footpath on our local park - a distance of about 0.2km. Since it was a slight downward slope in that direction, I was able to freewheel most of the way. Not much of a problem.

But then coming back the other way....a mild uphill slope....now that was a problem. I had to stop four times. I made it, but I was really struggling, and puffing like a steam train.

200 metres of very mild uphill gradient. It felt like I was attempting 20 miles.

Yes, I'm starting to get a little fitter, coming from complete rock bottom. But this little incident showed me just how unfit I still am.

I'm not going to let it discourage me though - on the contrary, it's a challenge.