A quick review of the situation and the people I have associated with over the past few months illuminates the main cause quite clearly!
It seems that motorbike riding does not provide much exercise for the middle and lower body. There is plenty of exercise for the hands, arms, chest, and neck, as you are constantly fighting the headwinds from riding along at 90Kmh or more, and on my big heavily loaded bike, manouvering it around in either rough terrain or just in the parking lot gives the arms and shoulders more of a workout. However, from the waist down, there is not a lot going on. I have found that my legs have atrophied quit a lot and this includes the big muscles in my butt too. The bike seat has become less and less comfortable as the journey has progressed. I find that there is no muscle or fat to sit on and I'm constantly moving around to relieve the pressure points on the bones as I ride through the day.
The fat (what little that I have) has moved away from areas of pressure and exercise and has found a very comfortable home on my belly! So this is an introduction for my readers to "my little friend" whom I know as Babbu! He was named quite a while back before the trip when I first became aware of a minor form of this affliction (back when I was only 40yo) I decided to name him when I learned that my very dear friend Christine´s sister had named her own "little friend" Gershwin, and it seemed like naming him was a good idea at the time.
Anyway, my Babbu has had his ups and downs (he was basically absent just after my ill fated mountaineering trip of June/July last year) but presently he is definitely having an "up" phase.
I am not too concerned over this since all things have their cycles and when I get back to a lifestyle with more exercise and less riding of motorbikes, I suspect he will again move into a position of less prominence. Pretty much all of the people I have met on motorbike tours in the last few months have their own "little friend" as well, especially if they are over thirty years of age.
It was in Cartegena Colombia that the term MotoLard was coined, and one of the riders I was with (Teryk)even went so far as to change his writing name for a large web forum to be MotoLard... needless to say, he is similarly afflicted :)
Oh well, I guess it comes with the territory. - Clearly its not all "active adventure" in adventure touring.
