Personal Challenge Completed

6 months ago I decided to challenge myself.  I decided that I wanted to ride my bike for 180 days in a row. It was tough staying motivated to do something every day for 180 days, but I made it. Its been an interesting ride.

Some days I rode longer than others, but I rode at least a mile every single day. The biggest challenge wasn't getting out and riding in the high heat of summer, but towards the end when the lower temperatures of fall arrived. I've proven to myself that I can set a goal and achieve it over a fairly long time period.

Here are some statistics from the last 180 days:

Total rides: 180
Total distance: 368.7 miles
Total Time: 29.75 hours
Total Burned: 44021 calories

My grandson asked me yesterday when I didn't ride if I was going to do it again.  The answer is yeas.  I am taking a short break but I will start a new 180 day challenge in the next few days and I hop to greatly improve upon those statistics.  This one will be a real challenge with the cold windy days ahead, but I will do it.

What challenge will you give yourself?

Get on your bike and ride!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What is your dream?

As I look at where I am and where I need to go in terms of my fitness and weight loss I realize this is an important question - what is your dream?  There must be an underlying reason to this whole journey that is both concrete and measurable.  It is what will help to keep us motivated and on track.

I have been thinking about this question a lot and I'm not sure I have a fully defined dream as yet.  I have an idea of what it might be, but I have not fully voiced this dream even to myself.  To be honest I am a bit scared to mention it as that would mean I am going to have to hold myself accountable whether or not I make that dream come true. I do realize that it is important to give voice to your dreams or they will never come true.

I have been working on a novel called "A Quarter Ton to Kona" in which an overweight athlete overcomes several personal struggles to actually get to and complete the Ironman World Championship in Kona, Hawaii and become an Ironman.  In the back of my mind this is something that I think would be awesome, but the idea of going for it scares the hell out of me!

Right now I know that I am nowhere near where I would need to be to even contemplate a training plan to get me into shape to complete a full Ironman distance triathlon.  Do I think I can get there?  YES.  Will it be easy? NO.  Will it take time and dedication? Certainly!

So, I guess I am putting it out there - in the next 4 years I will to become an Ironman - completing a 2.4 mile swim, a 112 mile bike ride and a marathon run (26.2 miles) all in less than 17 hours.

So, what are your dreams???

August Challenge Wrap Up.

Its been a long month but I am happy to report I made the challenge of riding every day in August.  Surprisingly the last 2 days were among the hardest to get in as the weather wasn't very cooperative.

I am happy to report that I pedalled a total of 220.2 miles over the month.  That gives me an average ride length of 7.1 miles.  My longest ride was 12.5 miles on the 27th and the shortest was .48 miles on the 18th in the rain.

Looking ahead to the month of September I plan on challenging myself, but with an overall mileage goal and not with a daily riding goal.  My goal for the month is to better my August total by riding 240 miles.

Hope you are able to get ob your bikes and ride!!!!!

August Challenge Day 28 Ride 28 and a question of etiquette

It was another lovely morning for a ride.  I've been very lucky this month with my morning rides.  The temps were in the low 70's and there was a light southwest breeze.

I saw a rabbit again this morning.  He was sitting in the middle of the street as I turned onto Westchester.  He sat frozen for a minute trying to decide if I was real I think, then decided I was and went running under the bushes.

The three women walkers/joggers were out again this morning.  The were actually out on my first lap.  This is where the question of etiquette comes in.  They walk the same basic route as I ride, but in  counter clockwise direction while I am riding in a clockwise direction.  Obviously this means we pass each other frequently depending on timing.  This morning it was 8 times as on two of the laps they were on the walking path between the subdivisions while I was on the street.

Now the first time we usually say good morning to each other and once or  twice it might be a "good job" or "well done", but on many of the other occasions we end up smiling and nodding to each other.  The last time we pass we usually say "have a good day" and that's it.  My question is in regards to those times in between when we pass and really don't have much to say during that 2 to 3 second encounter.  What should I do?  Do I continue to nod and smile like and idiot?  Is there some point of etiquette that I'm missing that says what should happen on those other passes?

I would love feedback as to what others do in this situation.  I can't be alone in this.

Oh yeah, this morning takes me over 200 miles for the month!!!

As for stats:

10.4 Miles
45:12 Elapsed Time

Month to date:

28/28 rides
206.3 Miles
16:24:43 Elapsed time

Get on your bikes and ride!!!!

August Challenge Day 22 Ride 22

This morning as I got on my bike I decided that I was getting just a bit bored doing the same loops morning after morning.  I had found and ridden a couple of other Strava segments in the neighborhood as I wrote about here, so I decided to see if I could do better on 2 of them.  I wanted to add a bit of variety to keep it interesting.

So I headed out and rode.  I refused to look at my Garmin the whole time I rode this morning.  I really didn't know how far I had gone, nor how fast, nor how long I'd been on the bike.  I wanted it to be a surprise.

I rode those different roads and threw in a couple of laps around my usual loop just to get in the miles.  One interesting note was that the 2 women were out walking again this morning.

When I decided I'd had enough for the morning, I stopped, turned off the Garmin and put my bike away.

I then headed inside to see exactly what I had done.  I was pleasantly surprised when I plugged the Garmin into my laptop and Training Center showed that I had ridden 9.66 miles in 41:59 this morning.  I really had thought I had only done about 7 miles.

I then uploaded the data to Strava and learned that I had set a PR (personal record) on both of the segments this morning.  I am very happy with that.

So for the month I am now at:

22/22 Rides
166.6 Miles
13:09:52 Elapsed Time

Oh, one more thing.  I officially registered my dad and I for the Viva Bike Vegas Gran Fondo Pinarello 17 mile rides on September 21.  Anyone else want to join us???

As the very wise Freddie Mercury said:

Get On Your Bikes And RIDE!

August Challenge Day 14 Ride 14

Feeling pretty good about the August challenge at this point.  Its been 14 days and I've ridden every one of them.  A couple of items to note regarding this morning's ride and they both have to do with distance.  This morning's ride took me over 100 miles for the month, but more importantly it took me to 567 miles for the year which surpassed last year's total of 566 miles.

I'm riding more this year and I'm feeling good.  The bike is working well as well.

Today's stats:

10.4 miles
44:21 Elapsed time

Month to date

108.5 miles
8:34:50 elapsed time

How are you doing this month?

Keep those pedals turning!

August Challenge ride 13

Before I talk about this morning's ride I want to wish my eldest grandson Jacob a Happy Birthday!!!  Today he turns 11.

Only 3 things to mention about this morning's ride - some wind,a rabbit and some creaking.

This morning there was a southwest wind blowing 12 to 15 mph which meant I was cycling into the wind on the slower parts of my route.  It was definitely a bit more work.

On my 4th lap as I was heading north on Quarterhorse, a rabbit almost committed suicide by running across in front of me.  He timed it poorly, though and successfully made it across with a couple of feet to spare.  I guess he misjudged how fast I was in fact riding.

At about the 9 mile mark this morning, I started to notice a creaking coming from the left pedal and/or bottom bracket area.  It seemed to only do it when I was pushing the left pedal so I need to look at it this evening.  To avoid possibly damaging anything I took it really easy on the last mile this morning.

Today's stats:

10.4 miles
47:09 elapsed time

Month to date

98.1 miles
7:50:29 elapsed time

A side note, as of yesterday both my mom and dad were still in the challenge having walked and ridden everyday so far in August respectively. I believe my dad was even slightly ahead mileage-wise for the month.  I am so proud of them!!!!

Keep those pedals turning.

August Challenge Rdies 11 and 12

So far so good on the August Challenge.  12 days - 12 rides.  Not a bad streak but I'm not even halfway there yet.

These 2 rides happened almost exactly 9 hours apart.  Ride eleven was a fun little ramble around the neighborhood with the grand kids.  We had fun and I'm amazed at how quickly they are progressing.  Where a few weeks ago they would complain and want to take a break before we completed one lap, yesterday they were raring to go for multiple laps.  The 3 boys actually did 4 or 5 laps and were doing great!

Stats for ride 11:

3.0 miles
0:21:45 elapsed time

This morning it was back at it - up at 4:00 and out riding by 4:07.  There were a few remarkable things about this morning's ride.  The traffic was awfully busy for that time of the morning.  I must have been passed by 20+ cars. I know that's not a lot for most people, but that is one of the reasons that I like the early morning rides - virtually no traffic.  Among the cars were an NHP cruiser and about 10 minutes later an LVMPD cruiser.  What was remarkable was they both headed in the same direction - south on Pebble towards Durango.

I also saw a group of 4 riders headed north on Pebble towards fort Apache all decked out in their matching kits.  I couldn't read what they said but they were all while and green.

One other item to note was I saw a young boy - probably 11 or 12 riding a much too big bike with no lights.  He slowed and was waiting to turn onto El Capitan Way, but I slowed to wait for him to see if he was all right, but he disappeared.  Not sure if he changed his mind about turning or rode into the new sub on the corner, but I couldn't find him.  He just seemed out of place at that time of the morning.

Ride 12 stats:

10.4 miles
0:46:31 Elapsed time

Month to date:

87.7 miles
7:03:20 Elapsed time

Keep those pedals turning!

August Challenge Day 7

Its 4:00 am on a work day in August so I'm getting up and heading out on a ride.  I normally have a routine I follow which involves a trip to the restroom, but I changed it up slightly this morning and that impacted my ride.

The temperature was a reasonable 80 degrees with a light Southwest breeze.  A good morning for a ride.

Oh, one thing I forgot to mention yesterday, I passed the 500 mile mark for the year with yesterday's ride.  It took me until September 22 (the Viva Bike Vegas ride last year) to pass that mark.

I was feeling pretty good out there especially considering this is my seventh consecutive day of ride.  That is until about 4.5 miles into the ride I started to feel some rumblings in my intestinal tract.  Things weren't too bad and I convinced myself to carry on, which I managed to do until about 2 miles later when the rumblings became quite insistent and the call of nature was quite urgent.

I made it back to the house, having completed only 7.2 miles, but it was enough for this morning.

Stats:

7.2 Miles
32:22 Elapsed time

Month to date:

56.8 miles
4:21:36 Elapsed time

Keep those pedals turning!

100 Miles Of Nowhere...

Ok, here's the story for this:

(Fat Cyclist 100 MON)

I was competing in the 100 Miles of Nowhere Las Vegas Block edition. As I posted here, I signed up for this for the first time this year back in mid-April.  I figured I would have lots of time to train, get my stamina up and be ready to go.  While i had the time, things didn't quite work out as well as I had hoped in that regard.  My longest ride leading up to this event was only 20 miles.

My swag showed up 2 weeks ago.  Great swag from all of the sponsors.  Here is my race plate.

As I planned my event I decided to use laps around my block as my course for the event.  From training and testing ride I determined that it was approximately .47 miles around the block.  Doing the math that meant I would need to do 213 laps to hit 100 miles.

One concern I had was with the forecasted temperatures for June 1st.  !0 days out the forecasted high was 101 degrees Fahrenheit.  Way too hot to ride in all day.  Since a lot of my training is done before work when it is nice and cool, I decided to start my ride nice and early in order to try and beat the heat. So my plan was to get up and be on the bike by 4:00 AM.

As I posted yesterday here, I had just changed my seat and did a quick shakedown ride to check the position.  Friday night I washed my cycling attire, laid out all my supplies for before and during the ride, set my alarm for 3:30 AM and went to bed early for my at 9:00 PM.

The alarm went off, what seemed like way too soon and it was time to get up and get going.  I got dressed, headed downstairs and had a banana and some Oreo vanilla cookies washed down with a bottle of Starbucks Vanilla Frappacino.  I then aired up the tires and opened the garage.  I was relieved to feel the cool air come in as it was only about 65 degrees.  I turned on my Garmin and my lights and off I went.

The first lap wasn't too bad except for the 10 to 15 mph wind from the west.  This meant that I was pushing into the wind on the uphill prat of the lap.  Not bad, but I started thinking that it might prove to be a problem later on.  One lap down and a whole bunch more to go.

Very few people were out so early so i basically had the streets to myself  It was relatively peaceful and quiet.

I got into a pretty good rhythm and the laps started going by.  I kept a count of laps in my head and the goal was to complete at least 45 or 50 laps before I took my first rest.  As I rode along I noticed that the sky to the east was getting lighter and eventually at 40 laps I noticed the sun on the mountains o the west.  A few more laps and I actually saw the sun over the houses to the east.

As the laps were adding up, my saddle area was getting a little tender.  Let's face it, I just didn't have enough saddle time leading up to this ride.

I hit 53 laps, which was 25 miles and decided it was time for a rest.  I checked my Garmin when I went in and noticed that I had completed the 25 miles in 1:55 which equated o an average speed of 13.0 mph.  I was right on the pace that I had envisioned before the ride.  I knew I needed to get hydrated and eat some calories or I would be in trouble.

So, some powerade, more Oreos, a couple of fig newtons and I was back on my way.  As I rode the next laps, the neighborhood started waking up.  People were walking their dogs, backing out of their driveways and starting to do some work round their houses.

As the laps progressed I was thankful for the Garmin as I lost count and had no idea how any laps I completed.  fortunately I had my distance traveled on the Garmin. 

One thing to note is that during this stage I actually had a dog chase.  On the opposite of our block a woman was putting her 3 dogs into the car as I rode by.  I was almost by when the largest of the 3 dogs spotted me and all 3 took off after me barking.  The woman called after them and within a house or two they decided to listen and turned around.  

At approximately 12 miles I passed the house and my wife was there cheering me on!  Thank you dear! I completed the next lap to make 12 1/2 miles in just under an hour and it was time for my next break.   I had just under 3 hours seat time and a total of 37 1/2 miles so far.  My saddle area was also quite sore.

A banana, a powerade, some pringles and a couple of fig newtons and I was back on my way.

My wife took a picture of me during the ride:

Not much to remark on for this segment of the ride.  I did a bunch of laps, the sun was out and warming things up and surprisingly my legs didn't feel much worse for wear.  My saddle season was another matter, though.  I was getting quite sore.

Just after the 50 mile mark it was time for another break.  Still maintaining about the same pace as these miles took just under an hour as well.  Here I was at 50 miles and 4 hours into my ride.

More powerade, a Honey Stinger Blueberry Buzz bar, a few more pringles and some oreos and I was on my way again.

I noticed that I was slightly slower and this was due to shifting my position on the saddle looking for some relief.  It wasn't to be found, though.  I toughed it out to 62.5 miles and decided that was it for this event.  I had completed the 100 Miles Of Nowhere Las Vegas Metric Century around the block edition.  I was pleased to have made it that far since this was 3 times the farthest ride I had taken in the last 3 years.

Now for a nap, some sushi and Cold Stone Creamery.

May ride #13

Today is the last day of May.  I had hoped to get in 23 rides this month, but sadly my number is only 13.  Of course if I compare where I am this year versus last year it looks a bit better or not. :)  Last May I got in 20 rides for a grand total of 176 miles.  This may my 13 rides total only 104 miles.  What has improved is my total mileage for the year which is at 347 miles this year and only 286 miles through May of last year.

Today's ride was a short one as a check and adjustment of seat position in preparation for the 100 Miles of Nowhere I am riding tomorrow.  As such it was a successful ride as I believe I have the new seat dialed in and the bike is ready to go.  Now let's hope that I am ready for it.

If all goes according to plan, and let's face it when it comes to these things that is a rare occurrence, I should start about 4:00 AM and finish up between 2:00 and 3:00 pm.  I am being very conservative with my speed estimates and generous with rest stops - about 10 minutes every hour.

Look for an update either tomorrow afternoon or on Sunday.

May Ride #11

So I got up at 4:00 am,got into my cycling clothes, got my piece of gum, pumped up the tires and was on the road by 4:20.  I noticed right away that there was a Southwest wind again this morning.  This meant extra resistance on the uphill part of my lap around the block. Checking out the official weather after my ride it shows 20 mph with gusts to 26. Just another spring morning in Las Vegas!

I was feeling pretty good the first few laps, but about lap 6 It was getting tough to make the pedals turn.  No sure why, but I powered through.  One thing I like about the laps around the block is I generally  get to coast for about 20 to 30 seconds each lap.  I use that as recovery time.  Its almost like doing interval training.

After powering through 3 or 4 tough laps, its like my body decided to quit protesting and just get it done.  It never really became easier, but it wasn't as hard either.  I suspect the wind and my mental state towards it was as much to blame.  Once I accepted that it wasn't changing and that I was just going to do it, it felt easier.

Somewhere along the way I must have lost count and skipped a lap number since I finished at 9.97 miles and not the 10.47 I had thought.  That means I did 21 and not 22 laps.

Autumn - A time to begin?

Autumn is the time of harvest, the time for enjoying nature's bounty.  Not typically a time one thinks of for getting back on track with a fitness and weight loss routine.

I will admit it, I have not been following any plan for the past 4 months.  I have not watched what I eat, I have not exercised, I have not been active.  That's the cold hard truth.  Sure I sugar coat things and try to give reasons or make excuses, but the bottom line is I indulged myself calorically and was nothing more than a slug sitting, watching TV or playing on the computer.

Sure I had great intentions and high hopes for myself, but I never got around to putting those intentions into any kind of meaningful action.  That is changing here and now.

I am restarting my fitness and weight loss drive and I'm going to try and hold myself accountable by posting my goals and my progress here.

My slovenly ways have led to my gaining back a significant portion of the weight I had lost last year leading up to Pumpkinman.  Here I am one year later and almost 40 lbs. heavier.  Yes, 40 pounds!  So, now is the time to get my ass moving and do what I keep meaning to.

I've started by modifying my diet.  I am going back to the low carb diet as that is what seems to work the best for me.  It is fairly simple and straight forward.  Its so much easier for me to just say no to certain foods than to eat them in moderation.

My goal is to be under 400 lbs by Thanksgiving and in the 370's by Christmas.  These are aggressive goals and will take work and dedication, but that is my plan.

Today's starting weight: 427.4.