Sunday, June 28, 2009

Weekend events and Weight

Weighed myself Friday and today (after breakfast) and both times the same weight :- 259lbs a loss of 1lb for the week. This is encouraging for me as I have not been as strict this weekend with Gabe and Em being here and for the couple of days before they got here, then again I have not been majorly bad either.

Yesterday we headed out on the bikes (Gabe bought a new toad bike and we got them to bring their bikes through) and took Gabe and Em on a 21 mile ride. For Gabe this was 15 miles longer than the most he had done on his new bike. For someone just getting back to biking he isn't having issues and he is of the body type that when he builds up his calves etc he is going to be a fast little shit *LOL*.

Stats for the Ride:-
  • Total Distance :- 20.70 miles
  • Total Time :- 1hr 31 mins 20 secs
  • Ave Speed :- 13.25 mph
  • Ave Cadence :- 58 rpm
  • Max Speed :- 26.33 mph

Today we are having a cookout in about 15 mins then looking to head to the movies, looking at Transformers II so here is hoping.

In other news *drum roll* I finally put locking pedals on the bike. It has only taken me about 2 weeks to do this so I need to practice a little bit before going live with them *Grin* don't wanna fall do I.

ok time to fire up the grill.

Thursday, June 25, 2009

quick update

It has been a hectic week and its taken me till today to post about Tuesdays ride. As such I do not have the stats and will amend them on later. We rode the "Lock B" route but in reverse and then cut a section out to eventually ride 11.5 miles. All in all it was a fun ride. Jen did get a little under the weather but that might have something to do with the fact she had worked out twice that day before even riding *LOL*. After the fact we relaxed with some nice salmon and Cod prepared by Reggie and watched a really cool documentary called "Dream Riders" about a father and sons cycle trip from the west coast of the US to the East Cost.

This weekend we have Gabe and Emilie coming to stay and in theory Gabe will be bringing his new bike. If it is with him our goal is to take them on a kirkwood 20 mile ride (a nice easy ride *LOL*)




Stats for ride:-

  • Trip Distance :- 12.03 miles
  • Trip Time:- 58min 24sec
  • Ave Speed:- 12.36 mph
  • Max Speed:- 38.44 mph

Monday, June 22, 2009

quick update

Ok Weigh in Sunday lunch time was 260lbs a loss of 2lbs.

We went Camping with Jens Parents this weekend so fun was had by all and dang was it hot hot hot. Kept on finding myself drenched in sweat *EWWWWWWWW*.

Hoping to get out and ride a couple of times this week but house (inside and outside) may prevent this. Here's hoping. May just schedule one for Wed or Thur and say top heck with it. Might see if Reggie n Jen want to do the 101st 20 miler again *Evil Grin*.

Thursday, June 18, 2009

Another Red Letter Day

Why you ask is it a red letter day, *grin* because I made Reggie tell me he hated me on our bike ride tonight. Ahhh definite good day.


I felt good through the whole ride and we did a few sprints while we were riding. Stats for the Ride are as follows:

  • Trip Distance 20.55 miles
  • Time Taken: 1 hr 16 mins 44 secs
  • Ave Speed: 16.07 mph
  • Ave Cadence: 68 rpm
  • Max speed: 29.38 mph

Well its late and I'm tired. This weekend is a trip to rock island state park with the parents. WE are however taking the bikes to go for a ride yeee haw. (new location is always good)

Sunday, June 14, 2009

Tour De Wayne = D.N.F.

For those that are unsure what D.N.F. is it means we Did Not Finish. Jen had to be picked up at mile marker 30 due to injury and Reggie and I were picked up at mile marker 40 as we were just disgusted and didn't want to do it any more.

So what was so bad about the Tour De Wayne. Let me tell you first what was not bad about it. The rest stops were brilliant. They looked to be done by volunteers and the fare they provided was amazing. They get 5 stars for that. The Sag Support were great also. When we needed them we ended up getting guys that were really cool. What was not great about SAG was the markings. Most had red tape on their mirrors or back of vehicles which you could not see till almost too late. The Facilities for changing/showering at the end were scary!!!! I understand that its a high school but the showering facilities looked scary and they had hair clogging up the drains. I didn't feel safe taking a shower. The worst thing by far about this ride though was the condition of the roads. While a percentage of the route was on normal roads part of it was on tar and pitch roads. This by itself is not a problem. What is a problem is when these tar and pitch routes are so degraded that they are nothing but potholes and in sections they even had gravel. This was not a route that road bikes should have been travelling, hell I think it would give car shocks a run for their money. It surprised me that I did not bust a spoke, I do think that our wheels will have to be re-trued after this "ride". While they did warn about the tar and pitch beforehand we were not told about the poor condition till the start line WTH.

I don't think the Elevation data is accurate for this route so no maps are provided. Lets just say, lots of uphills very little downhills (not that bad on real roads though - the trace uphill was fun, although about 7-8 miles long *LOL*).

Stats for ride:
  • Trip Distance: 39 miles (approx)
  • Trip Time: 3hrs 00mins 14secs
  • Ave Speed: 12.69 mph
  • Ave Cadence: 59 rpm
  • Max Speed: 35.11 mph

The three of us did however have fun on the trip and this is the main thing that matters about this event. I think we all agreed though that :-

  1. we will NEVER be back to Tour De Wayne
  2. we need to work more on our stamina and speed
  3. we need to do 30 mile routes on organized events and work on our distance with the clarksville route.

Last but not least Weigh in was taken Friday and I am at 262lbs a loss of 2lbs for the week.

Thursday, June 11, 2009

Craigslist is Evil

I have been looking on the bike section of craigslist for the last few weeks. I had an idea that if we could find one an older road bike might get Jen onto a lighter model and if the chance came up I might be able to find cheap road shoes for us along with clipless pedals.

I log on today to find a pair of Sidi road shoes, bearing in mind that I have not seen a pair of Sidi for anywhere less than 100 dollars (new) these were on sale for 35 dollars. I contacted the user and it had to be fate. He works at Vanderbilt also and I was the first to contact him. A visit to his office, a try on of the shoes and I am now the owner of my first road shoes (shown below). These shoes are in almost new condition. Only damage is scuffing on the toe which if you even try on a pair of road shoes will happen *LOL*.

Why is Craigslist evil, cause I think its going to keep me poor!!!!!!

New road shoes

Sunday, June 7, 2009

Weight update

As the last post states I did a 60 miler yesterday. Normally when I ride I will gain a pound or two due to water and whatever I eat on the ride but within a day or so its quickly gone. As a safety net I will weigh myself on the morning of the ride and the morning after generally taking the Saturday weight as its lighter. Not this week. I weigh yesterday I was 265. Today I weigh in and I am between 264 and 263. I weighed 5 times and it came up 263 twice and just below 264 the other 3 times. So I have to say

Official weigh in at 10am Sunday is : 264lbs a loss of 4lbs for the week.

Since I started this journey in February I have lost a total of 45 lbs

What surprises me about this week is what I eat for a few days. Friday night we picked up a pepperoni de-light pizza from pappa murphys and I had half of it. Yesterday after the ride we had sausage, baked beans and lemon orzo, cherries and low carb ice cream/fat free milk shakes which is more carbage than I normally take. I think looking more to lower calorie input has been doing the job.

EDIT: Just noticed that I have completed my goal weight a week early. I had marked it as being 265 by June 14th. It has been completed Jun 7th. Reset goals as follows.
  • 255lbs by 12th July (the usual 2lbs a week goal)
  • Still a Max of 245lbs by Dragon Con.

Saturday, June 6, 2009

Metric Century

So we completed our first metric century today, ok well almost. After conversion we did 99.05 kilometers. To me that's a metric *LOL*. We had arranged to be at the start point for 7am but ended up running late which left Reggie standing about for over 30 mins. All I can say is sorry man. The ride followed the Clarksville Sunrise metric century route and while it was pretty flat my legs seemed to get tired a couple of times. Reports on the seats and handlebar tape. Seat is great, while sore from sitting at 60 it performed better than the original. Also no numbness that I can tell. Handlebar tape I couldn't really tell. I have to unwrap one as I have a minor gap that I want to fix but no biggie
no elevation this report. It has just gotten too big *LOL* Click on the gmaps linky to view it.


Stats for the ride:

  • Distance: 61.56 miles
  • Time Taken: 4hrs 24 mins 43 secs
  • Ave speed: 13.71 mph
  • Ave Cadence: 59 rpm
  • Max Speed: 29.97

Its late and I'm tired n sore so more tomorrow (weight n such)

Steve

Thursday, June 4, 2009

Latest on the Bike

So the bike is back and It has a nice new wheel. As promised they put a Shimano Wheel on more specifically a Shimano R500. Its design is very similar to the original wheel so there is not a glaring difference.

I also progressed to install the gel additions and the handlebar tape onto the handlebars. It took me a little while but I think they turned out pretty well. I just hope that it lasts on the handlebars!!!!! Picture of the bike with the new additions shown below.


Bike Update

Ok its 4.35pm and I thought I would update those that do not know what happened with the wheel. I took it in at 10am this morning and they initially found the hub?? to be too tight and loosened it to the right tightness and repacked the bearings. After doing this the noise was still there so I left it with them and headed back to work with them planning on working on the bearings as they felt a few might be out of round.

I was hoping that was all that was wrong but they had warned that if there was other damage in the hub it might need a replacement wheel *groan*. I got a call about 1.30pm to tell me that it was not the hub/bearings causing the issue but that my Freewheel was toast and that it requires parts they do not have in stock. This is where REI came into their own. The guys knew I have a 60 mile ride this weekend and I was looking for the bike for tonight so I could tweak more (although I could have waited till tomorrow). Immediately after telling me this he said that as he knew I was hoping to get the bike back they couple replace the wheel with a comparable shimano wheel! I didn't have to think I said Yes in seconds *LOL*. While it will probably mean mismatched wheels (probably one black one silver *LOL*) it will mean I am riding and it works into my long term plan of getting another rear wheel for end of season for the trainer.

I hope to give my final wheel update with pics of the new wheel on the bike (and new saddle) when I get home tonight.

Talk to you soon. S.

Wednesday, June 3, 2009

Bike Frustration

So if you look at my 5/7 post you will notice I had a blond moment when I took my bike in for a frame issue which was just a protective sticker. Well I am having to take my bike in again *sigh* and this time I don't think its another blond moment. Since I have had my bike I noticed it was different than Jen or Reggie's in that when you pushed the bike or spun the rear wheel by hand theirs would make a click click click sound and mine would not. I put it down to mine being "cooler" and more stealth like. Last night on our 27 mile ride I noticed a "sound" coming from the rear wheel. When I peddled it didn't make it so I thought probably just something moving as I cycled.
I got into the wheel tonight and started checking it and realised that it was making a grinding noise as it turned. I pop the wheel off and clean it off, lubricate the bearing area etc and turn the spindle.... it still seemed to grind. I thought that it might be smother back on the bike but nope it still sounds like its in its death throes. This bike is only 4 months old. It should NOT be having a problem especially when I have only 250 - 300 miles on it. The REI store I got it at is pretty cool as are the people and I'm hoping they will do me right. I am however concerned as we have a 60 mile ride organised for Saturday that I want to do and am really concerned I'm going to miss it.
Update on this will come tomorrow.

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Cycle for today.

So we got a ride in after work. Took us a little longer than expected so a visit to El Bracero ended the night. Yummy Mexican *LOL*. Results of the new saddle are promising. Almost 30 miles and I don't feel any numbness. A longer distance hopefully this weekend should confirm for definite.


Stats for the Ride:

  • Distance: 27.79
  • Trip Time : 2hrs 6mins 11 secs
  • Ave Speed: 13.20 mph
  • Ave Cadence: 56 rpm
  • Max Speed: 28.75 mph

Steve

Slow update

Ok so I am taking my sweet time to post *LOL*. One of the things I did this weekend was buy a new saddle, handlebar tape and gel inserts all to try resolve my numbness issues. The first purchase was the Specialized Avatar Gel 155 saddle.


So far I have only done 15 miles on it but I do need to drop the height a little bit and perhaps move it forward slightly also. Results from the 15 were good but I will need to confirm with tonight's or this weekends longer rides.

The other area of issue is the handlebars. I have wanted to replace the tape since the ind caught it and damaged a very small part of it (yeah I'm vain). As I bought the white saddle I decided on some Bontrager white Gel/cork tape. Upon talking to the guy in the store (Bikes and Moore, Hopkinsville, KY) he also recommended Isogel Bar Padding from bontrager also, the idea is to put extra padding where the hand will be most as shown below. It goes under the bar tape so I should have fun installing it (still need to get the white electricians tape).

I should be posting a little later with stats from our ride tonight (weather still looking very good). So talk to you then.