When I first reached my full height, I weighed one hundred and fifteen
pounds, and I was plump. I got plumper with the passing of years.

A decade or three later, I started taking the September Century
seriously, and between exercising more and having less time to nibble,
my weight dropped to a hundred and twenty pounds. One friend said I
made him think of Dachau, and when I got access to a swimming pool for
the first time in years, I jumped into the deep end expecting to bob
up like a cork and went to the bottom like a rock. Muscle is a lot
denser than fat.

I noticed that I was exhausted after every ride, no matter how long or
short. Soon after returning home, I would feel as though I were a
marionette and someone had cut my strings.

One day I had two separate conditions either of which by itself would
have been a good reason to spend the day in bed, but for some
now-forgotten reason, I *had* to go to Guilderland.

About a mile from home, I realized that I'd forgotten to bring cough
drops. It was about as far to the village as to go back, so I went on
and stopped at the supermarket. Alas, there wasn't a single cough
drop to be had. I bought a bag of hard candy; candy would suppress
the cough until it had all dissolved, then I could take another.

I not only wasn't exhausted when I came back, I felt better than I had
when I started. That was a pretty low bar, but it inspired me to
carry candy whenever I rode, and I never had any more sinking spells.

When candy is taken as medicine, it's wise to always take the same
flavor -- when I carried mixed flavors, I would think "that red one
was pretty good; I wonder what flavor the purple one is?" and
overdose.

I settled on starlight mints because starlight mints are always
available. Well, I forgot to take mints to Columbia City once, and
had to hit the third pharmacy before I found some, but I did find
them, in a town where I didn't even know the territory.

Starlight mints have another virtue: if I'm the teensiest bit
thirsty, they taste terrible, so I have an early warning of
dehydration.

At a hundred and sixty-nine pounds and significantly less muscle, I
throw out more mints than I eat, but every now and again I'm glad that
I still carry mints.

--
joy beeson at comcast dot net
http://wlweather.net/PAGEJOY/
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I don't recall having given anyone permission to use it on a Web site.