Yesterday’s single-speed ride wore me out. I went to bed early and slept well last night.
I was up early today, undecided what riding I was going to do today. It looks like I’m not riding. I’ve been doing housework this morning. I need to mow two lawns. Then I need to hang around the house for the trick-or-treaters that will come by.
Maybe I’ll find the time to get the brakes adjusted on the recumbent.
Happy Halloween!
On Thursday I had some candy at work. One of the departments was doing a trick-or-treat thing. I ate a small amount of candy and left it at that.
I worked from home on Friday (due to a health issue). Later in the day I went grocery shopping, and bought several large bags of candy for the kids that will expect some. I made it a goal to not eat any of this candy, no matter how much is left. I’ll take the leftovers to work. So far, so good.
Today, I shirked a bunch of responsibilities and drove out to Bluegrass Bicycle for the LBC Crestwood ride that Tom was leading. Actually, as ride captain, he had to trail behind everyone else.
I’ve ridden that ride before. It’s roughly 25 miles of rolling hills in the Kentucky countryside. I decided to ride my single speed bike. I wasn’t really even sure if I could finish the ride on that bike.
I did fine. I walked two hills. I averaged 14.2 mph. I was near the rear of the ride, but not completely at the end. I did feel like I was going to cough up a lung a few times. I think that’s a good route to get faster on a single speed. It’s hilly enough to be challenging, but not so long or hilly to be impossible.
My weight has dropped back to about 216 after peaking above 220. I need to keep the momentum going. I’m 41 lbs from my goal. I let it slip away before. I don’t want to do that again.
In my previous post I mention that I’ve been “out of control”. That’s true. I’m fixing that. Cooking meals at home is saving me money and helping me eat healthier. Bringing coffee to work saves me money and keeps me from being as tempted by the snacks at the coffee shop. Taking a lunch to work is saving money and calories over eating out.
I may, or may not, ride another LBC ride tomorrow. I have a lot of things to do, but I would like to get some more riding in.
I haven’t been under control recently. I eat too much. I spend too much. I eat the wrong things. I’ve gotten out of the habit of cooking. I’ve gotten into the habit of stopping at restaurants and coffee shops way too often.
I’ve gained weight. My weight this morning was 221.2. I’ve erased a lot of progress, but that’s changing today.
My Dinner - Low Carb
I haven’t spent a penny today. I brought a lunch to work. I carried a thermos of coffee to work. I cooked dinner tonight. I have leftovers for tomorrow’s lunch.
I want to be at my goal weight of 175 (less than 50 lbs away) in one year. Then I want to maintain between 170 and 180 indefinitely.
In addition to controlling myself again, I’m going to start doing some upper-body exercises. I have a set of dumbbells, but haven’t touched them in a while. I need to quit busying myself with stupid stuff. I can exercise all I need in a few minutes a day.
This past weekend was the RCCS Big South Fork overnight trip. Tim spent considerable time planning the routes and the camping.
We drove to Great Meadows Campground Saturday morning. This is located here.
There were three of us: Tim, Michael, and myself. There was 115 miles of riding spread over two days. This certainly wasn’t the longest ride I’ve done, but it was the hardest.
The ride was mostly gravel and extremely hilly. It was one of those rides that you aren’t sure if you can finish, but gives you a huge sense of accomplishment when you do.
We did the rides as planned. We didn’t shorten a route or catch a ride. We rode across streams, over very rough terrain, and had a ball.
I’m still coming down off of the “high” from this adventure. My legs are finally starting to feel normal. I’m not going to give a full write-up, as I’m sure Tim or Michael will, and they are better at it.
Next time I’ll remember to bring the sausage. Michael will remember his tent stakes.
The 111 pictures I took can be seen here. I’ll put a few in this post as a teaser. Be sure to check out Tim’s and Michael’s sites as they will post their pictures also.
These first two pictures were stolen from Tim. They are both of me at the creek (river?) crossing.
This is a traveled road. We are currently having drought conditions. I’d hate to see cars try to cross this after a heavy rain.
I really enjoyed the footbridge.
Resting LHTs
Sunday was a beautiful day also.
The fall colors were quite nice.
Not much of a welcome to Tennessee.
Tired, but happy.
Three Surlys, checking out the view.
Tim, Michael, and I rode a beautiful route on Sunday. Tim planned it all, and did a wonderful job of finding the gravel roads using nothing but Google.
I’m mostly just going to post pictures. You can see all the pictures I shot that day here (including the not-so-great ones).
I will say that my shorter, flatter commute has killed my fitness level. This was supposed to be an 80-mile ride. We shortened it to 66 miles. I was really dragging toward the end. I still had a great time and want to do it again.
Tim divided his write-up into sections here, here, here, and here.
The RCCS is having the weekly Saturday morning coffee ride. This week though, the ride is ending at Shelby Park where Bicycling For Louisville is putting on the Shelby Park Pedaler’s Picnic. At the same time as the picnic is the Bluegrass Boondoggle, a crazy bike polo event that involves bikes and carnage. I’ll watch safely from the sidelines.
I hope to see you on Saturday!
Amazon Kindle
I already have a huge lack of free time, but I’ve purchased something to further eat into my time. I bought an Amazon Kindle.
I love to read. I hate taking the time to buy (or check out) a book, and I hate the clutter in my home.
Back in February, my daughter got a Nook. I’m not sure how much she uses it, but I was intrigued. I didn’t like the small touchscreen. The Kindle has a keyboard. I like buttons.
Although I will save time on buying books, the ease of buying them, will now cause me to read that much more. I’m definitely going to have to control my eating. Reading doesn’t really burn many calories.
Kristy left yesterday morning. She won’t be back for a month.
I drove to work yesterday. I paid $8.75 to park the truck. Ugh.
I’ve been having problems getting up in the morning. This morning I got up early and rode to the coffee shop (where I’m at now). I’ll be leaving here shortly to go to work.
My single-speed bike has been switched over to a fixed-gear. Riding fixed is different. It works well for riding around town. I certainly wouldn’t want to ride it on a long, hilly ride.
My weight continues to climb. This probably in part due to the snacks at the coffee shops. I would be better off if I limited myself to just the coffee.
There are two RCCS rides this weekend. Saturday morning at 8:30, there is an easy urban ride starting at Sunergos. Sunday is the 80-mile gravel ride that is “training” for the overnight ride coming up later this month. Can you join us?
I’ve been gaining weight. I haven’t been weighing myself regularly. These things need to change. I have a goal to be back under 200 lbs by 3/1/2011.
Here’s my monthly weight chart. It looks like I’m heading toward 220 lbs.
This blog started as a way to document my weight loss and keep me accountable for my eating habits. Once I started bicycling that was simply added into the mix. More recently, the weight loss aspects have been ignored. I’ve gained some weight. I don’t weigh myself regularly anymore.
Which vehicle to take to the coffee shop?
This is, in part, due to my focus on bicycling for transportation. Bicycling for transportation has become such I big part of my life that moved into Louisville (while continuing to pay the mortgage on my old house) so that I could bicycle everywhere. It’s been wonderful. I have not driven to work since moving. When my wife and I go out to eat, I’ll even meet her there rather than drive (if she’ll let me).
I rode my bike to the coffee shop the other day, when the white truck in the picture on the right pulled up. One individual drove that huge diesel-powered truck, just to grab some coffee. I have nothing against trucks. I own one. I just believe in using the right tool for the job.
I’ve been very busy for the last week. Some of it has been the have-to-do stuff. Some of it is want-to-do. In either case it has left me sleep-deprived. I was up late last night driving to Danville and back. I had intended to ride the Harvest Homecoming ride today. I changed my mind at the last minute and went back to bed. I don’t regret the decision. I needed the sleep.
So, this blog… where does it go? What should I focus on? I would love to show some positive results in my weight loss and/or fitness. The truth is, I haven’t really improved either of those since February of 2009. I’m in much better shape than when I started in 2007, but I don’t think I’ll ever get to my goal weight of 175. Maybe this is where I need to focus on waist size and strength. I should add some weight training to the mix.
So, I haven’t been writing about every bike ride recently. It’s safe to assume I ride every day now. I will continue to do so, except maybe today, where I probably won’t be leaving the house. I will write about exceptional rides. I will write about what I decide to use as a metric to measure my progress, but I need to figure that out still.
I love bicycles and bicycle advocacy. I don’t think I’m a great bicycle advocate, other than just being out there on the road. I’m not eloquent or persuasive. I’ll leave the “advocacy with words” to those smarter than I. I’ll just ride my bike. :)