Part one of Multiple posts

Ok this is just a quick weight update. I have other posts but they include pics which have not been off loaded from the memory card. I have really been slacking of late and hope that that will change for next month (although I did just start classes for my masters *LOL*)

Weigh in last Saturday - 22nd Aug - 244.5 lbs

I had some eating issues *LOL* and I gained a bit back the next two days but on weigh in this Sunday:

Weigh in Sunday 30th at 8am :- 244 lbs

I have officially reached my dragon con goal and passed it 2 weeks early. My immediate goal for next weekend is to try stay as close to maintaining the weight (Its dragon Con home of multiple bad things) and not gain.

New long term goals will be discussed after dragon con.

Me Update

Hi all. Noticed I have not updated in a little bit. Sorry but life has just been way too hectic. I did get a bike ride last Saturday but it was just a relaxed 10 mile ride at the Chickamauga battlefield in Chattanooga, this was part of our general camping trip that went swimmingly although only 4 people in total were there (5 on Saturday when Mike showed up) consisting of Gabe, Em, Jen and I so we made the most of it and had a blast.

I hope to get back to normal sometime soon but work is hectic at the moment due to an illness and it means I am lucky if I get to sit long enough to gather my thoughts. It also means that by the time I get home I am pretty much exhausted.

I neglected to update my weight Monday as I weighed in. Weight at 6am Monday 17th was 250 lbs a loss this week of 5lbs.

ok sleep time laters

Weight and thoughts

As we were out and about this weekend it took till this morning to weigh in. Sadly it was as I thought it would be, a week of weight gain. Weigh in for this week is 255lbs a gain of 6 lbs.

I am not too worried though. I know I can continue my journey and that I need to be a bit more observant over weekends. I know it is weekends that are the problem as I manage my input strictly over the week. It has been difficult over the last few weekends as we have a lot going on and, as is normal, we get together with friends and have yummy rich (calorie high) foods. This is probably what will happen this coming weekend, we have booked a campsite just outside Chattanooga (we thought you had to get there but it was actually bookable *LOL*) for this weekend. While not being nit picky I will try write down (just the food not cals) what I eat so I can put it into spark people after the fact so I can see what I am eating.

We are also taking our bikes with us so hopefully we will get some riding in this weekend also. I think this is the last weekend of events before dragon con so I have 2-3 weeks of really monitoring what I eat and do to try reach my goal. This is not helped by the fact that I cannot have P.T for the next 3 weeks but am going to try do it myself till I can get back. I will work on the yard to get it back to livable and work out / cycle as much as I can and hopefully it will all help my weight.

Steve

Knoxville Cycle.

Well we came to Knoxville for the weekend and we brought the bikes with us also. Gabe and Em had picked up a book that gives bike routes for the area and they had picked 2 out that looked pretty good. After our 6am rise this morning we picked the 55 mile route as our eventual goal.

It is now 1.49pm and I am sitting showered and relaxed so *grin* I think its a little bit obvious things did not pan out. We knew that there were approx 7-9 miles of climbing involved in this route and it took us up about 2000-2500 feet in elevation. We didn't realise exactly how hard this climbing would be! I think that I am doing well on my improvements in cycling, slowly getting faster in the Clarksville routes we ride. Knoxville is the great equalizer. *LOL* The elevation involved in this ride was HARD. I found myself in the lowest gears for a lot of the hills, going at a ok cadence (about 60ish) but I found myself getting more and more drained. At mile marker 12.5 of the ride I think everyone was feeling similar as a consensus was that with 40 miles on the route left we were unsure if we would be able to complete it (we were about 1 - 1.5 miles from the peak). A decision was made and we turned round for some nice 30-40 mile an hour coasts back down the (mountain *LOL*) hill.

As it stands I think we are going to try for another 10-15 mile ride tomorrow so YAY us.

Linky to GMaps

Stats for the Ride:

• Trip Distance : 25.03 miles
• Trip Time : 2hrs 04 mins 08 secs
• Average Speed: 11.88 mph
• Average Cadence: 64 rpm
• Max Speed: 39.35 mph

Ok time for more Knoxville fun. Laters S.

Edit: Gabe and Jen both thought the elevation image given by gmaps didn't do the climb justice so I have scanned the elevation info from the book which gives a better picture.

Theres a Storm a comin!

I kept a close eye on the weather during work time as I really wanted to get out for a bike ride tonight. It initially showed that it was a 30% chance of storms between 6-8pm but that eventually moved to later in the night. As there was less chance of storms I decided to do a 20 mile bike ride and chance it. I was the only one to go and was missing a few items (still in Jens Jeep *LOL*) so had left my route and instructions if Jen didn't hear from me by 8pm. Overall the ride was fun and pretty much uneventful. That is up until about 1 mile to my home. At that point I looked up and I nearly freaked out *LOL*. There was the hugest, nastiest storm front almost on top of me. I pushed as hard as I could and as I started up the last hill I started getting buffeted by 30-40 mile an hour winds. It got so bad I had to get off the bike, cross the road and duck waddle (thanks to road shoes) over the overpass and then coast down to the house. I made it to the house with about 30 seconds to spare and it literally opened up the skies and dropped an ocean onto Clarksville. I Think I pushed myself to have my fastest average speed for all rides and it was double the sustained distance of my previous best so woooooo.

Linky to Gmaps

Stats for the Ride:

• Trip Distance : 18.02 miles
• Trip Time 1hr 05 mins 07 secs
• Average Speed : 16.61 mph
• Average Cadence : 81 rpm
• Max Speed : 31.48 mph

Now that the power is back at home I wanted to post and am going to head to bed *LOL*

S.

Weekends Activities

I have to say that I have had one hell of a weekend. No not bad hell but great hell. I came home with some fresh Veggies and because of the availability of these Veggies Jen and I dived to the store picked up a few things and had a fantastic cookout. The weather was great we grilled some eggplant, squash, brats and even tried some boudain which turns out to be pretty cool and overall had probably one of the best BBQs to date in my opinion. After this we relaxed watched some shows and generally chilled the night away.

On Saturday we rose early and had breakfast at about 7am. We tried to keep it light as we were meeting Shannon and her hubby for breakfast and then were heading to the farmers market. By the time we met up it was brunch and I think both Jen and I were glad of this as we were still kind of full *LOL*. At the farmers market I think the coolest thing we bought was some jalapeno BBQ sauce, I sampled it and it was good, good. good. Splitting ways here we rushed home and grabbed the bikes and gear and headed to Montgomery Bell Park for a 10 mile ride. Compared to the normal flat routes done here It was a lot harder but made me realise we probably need to do it more often to get used to hills, I was chuffed when I got out of the saddle and powered up a smaller hill as this was really the first time I felt confidant to do so. It really showed that we are not used to hills as both Jen and I were done after one circuit *LOL*. I am really surprised that this park is so close to Clarksville, it is AMAZING the roads are well maintained, there is camping and overall it is one of the coolest parks I have visited.

Linky to Gmaps

(check out the elevation - not our usual *LOL*)

Stats for the Ride:-

• Trip Distance : 10.63 Miles
• Trip Time : 1hr 01min 50sec
• Ave Speed : 10.21 mph
• Ave Cadence : 55 rpm
• Max Speed 29.97 mph

On our return we cleaned up and had an excellent night with our friend Liz. We met up at Longhorn and proceeded to be full carnivores *LOL*, after the ride I was hungry and I'm glad I weighed in on Saturday as I threw a few pounds on with this meal (which I will clear out my system over next couple of days). After dinner we headed back to the house and all 3 watched the Spanish move "The Orphanage", definitely a very unusual movie.

For today it has been a home day, not a down day though. Jen and I headed out into the front yard and attacked some of the foliage (read garden). we chopped down the bulk of a tree (it had 2 others inside it growing) along with clearing out the surrounding area and then while Jen mowed the ward I cleaned up other refuse in the surrounding area (from other work not mentioned. By the time we finished it was noon and we had worked about 2 - 2.5 hrs. It felt as if I had worked harder today than I had on the bike yesterday. *LOL*

Final information for this post is weigh in. I am going with Saturdays weigh in as I thought I might be bad yesterday and I was. At the 8am weigh in Saturday my weight was 249lbs. If I keep this form I will reach the dragon con goal a couple of weeks early. I can but hope.

Ok gone for now. Goal for the next few weeks is to get on my bike as much as possible. If its clear and I am not at personal training I'm probably going to be on the bike. People are more than welcome to join *grin* but don't worry if you cant/don't cause its not gonna stop me. As Jen so perfectly put it yesterday when she made me laugh "Vrrrrrrooooooommmmmmm" ok on a bicycle I suppose its more of a "Swwwwwwwiiiiissssssssssshhhhhhhhh"

S