Bike Noob

Because I'm Always Learning Something New

The Weight Loss Battle

by // 5 Comments

BlountOnBikingGuest blogger Don Blount is serious about dropping some poundage.

WEIGHT_04-15-13One hundred ninety-six pounds (89 kilograms). That is what the scale showed as my weight on April 15, the morning I went in to see my doctor for a troublesome right shoulder. I mentioned previously that my doctor is also a cyclist. For him, the longer a ride is and the more climbing it has, the better. My doctor, who is in his mid-50s, weighs 136 pounds (62 kilos). I kid him that he is the size of a seventh-grade boy.

And each time I see him we discuss my riding, climbing and eventually my weight. And I always pledge to lose some. And I do. I have lost as much as five pounds. The only problem is I usually to gain it back.

I watch what I eat. I eat no red meat, only poultry and fish. And I don’t snack between meals. But it seemed that no matter how hard I tried I could not lose a significant amount of weight or keep it off. So I was kind of resigned to remaining in that low-to-mid 190 pound (86 kilo) range.

That is until that doctor’s visit. For some reason I left vowing to lose weight and to keep it off. Maybe it was because I was tired of struggling up hills. Maybe it was because I was tired of my little doctor chiding me. I don’t really know.

During the first two weeks I lost four pounds. I was pleased and prepared for the long, hard slog.

Then a friend, a former work colleague, announced that he had lost 74 pounds (33.5 kilos) over two years. When I asked him how he said: “Just what you used to always tell me, diet and exercise. There are no shortcuts.”

And as a throwaway line he mentioned that he also used myfitnesspal, a calorie-counting app. He suggested I check it out.

And I did.

WEIGHT_07-31-13One hundred seventy-eight pounds (81 kilos). That is what my scale showed on July 31. A weight loss thus far of 18 pounds (8.2 kilos).

What did I do differently? In short, I used the calorie-counting app to see exactly what I was eating. Quite frankly, I had no idea of the calorie content of some of the foods I ate. And although I worked out regularly, I often ate more calories than I burned. (Let me know if you want more detail and I will send it to you.)

And although these calorie counts are only estimates, they served as a good guideline for me to follow what I ate. For me, it became a daily goal – Win the day. To burn more calories than I consumed. It later became a guideline. Eat 2,000-2,500 calories a day and be active.

I made sure to consistently go to the gym and to consistently ride my bike.

From April 15 to July 31 I rode 1,802 miles (2,900 kilometers). That is 460 miles (740 kilometers) more than I rode during that same period last year.

I rode 505 miles (813 kilometers) in May, 543 miles (874 kilometers) in June and more than 573 miles (922 kilometers) in July.

Weighing less is better both in everyday life and for biking. I now look forward to rides I would not have considered just a year ago. (And don’t tell the hills but I no longer consider them evil, at least most of them.)

And although I am not yet at my final goal I am already thinking of how to stay at this smaller size.

As my doctor says: What comes off, stays off.

Rethinking Biking

by // 6 Comments

If insanity is doing the same thing over and over, and expecting different results, I guess it’s time for me to make some changes. Specifically, I’m taking a serious look at taking a hiatus from weekly club rides.

Two weeks ago, I was left behind by the rest of the B’s, and not by just a little. Today, I was the only B to show up for the Sunday ride, and they dropped me within three miles. I had already alerted the club president that I would be turning around before the rest of the group, so that wasn’t a problem. I wound up soloing on a route of my own choosing. But if I’m going to spend most of my Sundays riding alone, why bother with the club?

The main reason is, the club ride is my long ride of the week. It’s also the fastest I ride during the week. Even though I’m left behind, I push myself to try to stay close. If I ride alone, I don’t push it.

That’s largely because of my aversion to training. But if I’m going to get back to the point where I can at least acquit myself as an average B-level rider, I’ll have to train.

But it’s one thing to say I have to train — and even to start some kind of training regimen. I must stick with it. That’s where I’ve fallen down in the past. I’ll do intervals on a certain day two weeks in a row, then I’ll stop. If I’m riding alone, it’s easy for me to turnaround early, and turn that planned 58-miler into a 45-mile ride. Frankly, 45 miles would be pretty good for me these days.

Today, I got an added incentive to whip myself into biking shape. My wife and I are planning a European vacation next summer, and this morning she decided that it would be fun to spend part of it on bikes — as part of an organized bike tour. A great idea, I think. She’s already started her own brand of training for it — she found a new Pilates studio. I’ll just be more diligent about my riding.

I’ll keep you posted on my progress in the coming months.

 

My Get Up And Go…

by // 2 Comments

…has got up and went.

It’s been a good week for riding, but today reminded me of what happens when I try to go too far beyond my typical training regimen.

The B’s were looking forward to a run to Creedmoor. That’s  36-mile round trip, and would have been just right for most of us. It would be a long enough ride, but not too long. That’s important when you consider that the temperatures will rise into the 90s (32-35C) quickly after the overnight low only got down to about 75 (24C).

We sort of stayed with the A’s until about three miles into the ride, when they veered off onto a road we haven’t taken before on club rides. The B’s didn’t follow, but continued on our route. At the next light, we caught up to several A’s who had jumped out ahead of the pack, and missed the turn. They had to scramble to try to intercept or catch up to the main body.

Meanwhile, we had an uneventful run, with only one minor incident: An oncoming car laid on his horn. Why, no one could figure out. We were two abreast in our lane with no cars behind us. This guy had the road all to himself. Asshat.

As we approached Creedmoor, I could feel myself flagging. I had done that Fourth of July ride the other day, and then Saturday I did a route of about 20 miles, but with lots of hills — some of them pretty tough. Now, I watched as the rest of the B’s became little dots on the horizon, and I didn’t feel particularly interested in trying to catch them.

At the convenience store in Creedmoor, I joked that Buddy had used the facilities, bought some Gatorade, and almost finished the bottle by the time I got there. But I think everyone was happy for a break. The heat had moved in already, and we were all drenched in sweat.

When it was time to leave, I made sure everyone knew the turn we needed to take. “The road turns right 90 degrees,” I said, “and then you bear right almost immediately. I want to make sure you know that, because you’ll be way ahead of me.”

Sure enough, I was dropped coming out of the parking lot. They scampered off in the distance, while I pedaled steadily, just putting miles under my wheels, but not trying to catch them. The sun beating down on my back was wearing me out.

Just before reaching I-35, I could see Buddy ahead of me. I held out my arm to signal that I would be pulling into another convenience store lot. He apparently didn’t see me, and kept going. I stopped anyway.

I got not one, but two full bottles of ice water, and went through both of them. I finished a Luna bar that Maggie had given me back at the first rest stop. And I rested. I’d come less than 10 miles since Creedmoor, but I was done.

The route isn’t terribly hilly, but there are some good rollers. And I knew that on the way back, I’d have to climb Davis Hill from the backside. That prospect didn’t appeal to me at all.

So I made an executive decision. Slaughter Lane has a bike lane almost all the way back to the Starbucks. It’s seven miles, and Slaughter is a four-lane divided street with heavy traffic that likes to exceed the speed limit. Just the kind of road I hate to ride on. But it was a straight shot back, and would probably cut about two miles off our regular route.

At one point on that stretch, I could tell just how tuckered out I was, when the front tire went into the gutter, and rubbed against the slightly raised asphalt as I corrected the steering. The asphalt was just high enough about the gutter that the edge grabbed the wheel, and I thought for a terrifying instant that I would fall over, into the traffic lane. Bye-bye Ray.

I recovered, and redoubled my efforts to stay with it. I did get the rest of the way to Starbucks, where everyone was enjoying their drinks on the patio.

It turned out that they did some bonus miles. Buddy was far enough behind them that he couldn’t tell them the correct turn at a certain point, and instead of going south, they went north. By the time they’d figured out where they went wrong, they had to add about four miles to their trip.

For me, this was an annual reminder. I seem to get caught riding too far, too long, without a) enough base mileage, or b) enough rest. Our good riding in Texas happens in the spring and fall anyway. Forget summer. For the next month or two, I’ll ride within myself, and when September comes, think about piling on some more mileage. In the meantime, I’ll make sure I’m as diligent about taking my rest days as I am about my ride days.

Recent Posts

Categories

Archives