Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Year one - One year summary


Today is the last day of my first year of my fitness and weight lose program. One year ago tomorrow I signed up for Jenny Craig's program and started my fitness and weight lose. I started out at 410 pounds and today I weighted in at 351 pounds. I had wanted to make it to 350 but I am pleased with what I have done. So that is 59 pounds for the year or 4.92 pounds a month, or 1.13 pounds a week or 2.6 ounces a day.
My BMI has gone from 50.6 to 43.3 - I am not sure if that is good or poor - I am sure it is too high but I really do not know what a good BMI should be for me - what is important to me is it has gone down - If I understand it correctly the 50.6 means half my weight was fat - how bad was that. My present of body fat went from 50.2 to 40.7 I am not sure how this is different from the BMI but it is also down which is good.
Another thing that to me is notable with regard to my fitness is that I have decreased the amount of insulin I take each day by 256% and I am no longer having problems with swelling in my lower leg for which I was required to wear compression stockings.
My weight lose has really slowed down for the last six weeks in spite of my increased efforts for the last two weeks to kick it. I still look really fat to myself and even through others have told me they can see a change it is hard because I am not seeing changes. As I notes in an earlier blog I did find out where the fat was coming from and I was pleased to see that but it also means that when I look at myself with or with out a mirror I can not see much change.
I am walking between 6500 and 8700 steps a day most days but that is still short of the 10000 Jenny recommends - something for me to work on. I fell sure that as we go through winter my riding mileage will drop but I do plan to ride as much as I can at least on weekends when I can ride during the warmer part of the day also one can walk at almost any temperature as long as it is dry. I want to not only preserve the fitness I has achieved but to continue to improve it - I have heard this can be difficult but that is my goal.
One other thing I have just begun to notice in the last two weeks or so is that my weight lose or improved fitness or most likely both is have an effect on my cycling speed - I did the 75 miles routes both days at the MS Tour for Cure and was pleased and a little surprised I could do both days. The several rides I have done since then have been really different for my - it is almost like I have someone else's legs and stamina. My general pace has increased from about 17 mpg to 20 plus mph and there for my average speed has increase from 13 - 15 mph to 16 - 18 mph and these are on routes with some hills. I still depend on the Bionx to help me climb hills but at 19.5 mph it is not helping and the fact that I can pedal at or above 20 mph for long stretch of flat to slightly rolling terrain it just such a achievement for me. Ten months ago when I was trying to start riding 5 miles with the Bionx would put me in my recliner for a 2 hour nap.
I never compare myself with other cyclist - I my opinion any cyclist who rides is better than I am and I will feel that way until I can give up my dependence on the Bionx and ride more or less the way I do now or better with out it - may be in another 50 to 60 pounds. So when every I talk about what I have done I am just talking about compared to how I was - I do so enjoy riding and riding with other cyclist from any of the several group of cyclist I am associated with.
Looking forward to the next year and getting thinner and fitter.

My weight today was 351 pounds.

Sunday, September 27, 2009

My really nice weekend

My forum posts -

Saturday
I had a nice ride - did the 34 instead of the 50 - when we got to the turn where one can do the 50 or 34 it was raining and I was already cold so I did the 34 - nice ride - nice group.

My GPS data is HERE

My pictures are HERE


Sunday
Had a great 42 mile ride - Happy Birthday Dave - Rain had just about stopped by 10 AM and most of the 42 group left at 10:30 AM - the roads were still very wet but still dried pretty quickly - the weather turned beautiful by about 11:30 AM - the trike has developed a tick in the front end by the crank - I want to find out what it is a get it out.

My GPS data is HERE

My pictures are HERE


I also did a 4 mile ride with my brother - he has recently expressed an interest in cycling. It was raining a little and we got wet but he really want to ride and I remember the desire to ride when one first gets interested so I was very willing to ride with him in spite of the rain. We went to the American Tobacco Trail the northern part which was paved. He seemed to enjoy the ride but still has to get accustom to riding before he can enjoy it completely and that just takes time in the saddle - I am sure with his generally better health and fitness that he will very shortly surpass my level but that is fine me I just hope he enjoys it as much as I do.

Friday, September 25, 2009

So that is what's been going on.




I have been controlling what I eat - I do not like the concept of dieting - and getting a fair amount of exercise. The idea was to lose weight, get fit and healthy and be able to ride better and faster. As far as I can remember I have never not been fat and I really would like to not be and and that is part of what I am working on. For eleven and a half months I have been doing this and the scale has been telling me I am losing weight, I have lost almost 60 pounds, and my walking and cycling has been letting me see I am making progress with fitness, but even through some have told me I looked like I had lost weight I was having trouble seeing it. I would look at myself and still this a really fat guy because I am still a fat guy but I was not seeing changes. Wednesday I got a photo taken like the ones I had when I started and I found where the weight was going - as you can see I have lost a lot of fat from my back - I really did not know this and it was quite a surprise and also very nice to know what has been happening.

Sunday, September 20, 2009

Tim's Birthday Ride


From my forum post -

Turtle and I had a real great time on Tim's ride. There were about 12 of us. I got to see on some new roads for me. Also did over 100 miles one weekend this weekend.

My GPS data is HERE

My Pictures are HERE


Well I had a great ride and I think everyone else did also - Bob and I both broke spokes. I am getting tire of this. This is about the 5th one I have broken and I can not find any reason why. Oh well guess I will just have to get the wheel off and repair it Monday. There were new roads for me on this ride - we pulled up to stop one time and I did not know why we were stopping - turned out to be a store that they regularly stop at that was having work done on the front where they sell gas and we entered the store at the rear. We also went to see there progress on Betsy and Brian's new house - we were promised cake and ice cream but since the sheet-rock was not up yet I guess that will have to happen later - lol - the place looks like it will be real nice when finished through. After the ride a bunch of us went to the Tangerine Cafe for lunch - nice place - good food. I felt good on this ride and enjoyed it - I did get a good workout and felt a little tire after the ride - it was not as far as the week before at the Tour but we road the shorter distance at a higher pace and stopped less, I think it is time to make the 50 to 60 mile distance my normal weekend daily distance up fro the 35 to 45. I just hope the weather will let me ride enough to maintain my riding level and fitness. I do not mind riding in the cold at least it it is not too cold as long as it is not wet.

Saturday, September 19, 2009

My first Saltbox Village 50 mile ride,


From my forum post -

Turtle and I had a great ride - we had abou 12 on the ride and al did the 50 - I hoped we did not pressure those thinking about the 34 to do the 50 - everyone seemed to have a good ride.

My GPS data is HERE

My Pictures are HERE

This was such a great rid

Sunday, September 13, 2009

My MS Tour for Cure 2009



I was really looking forward to this ride/event for a long time. I had spent the spring and summer training for it. My training went well and I was able to ride both 75 miles ride and really enjoy myself. I was tire and am a bit sore but it is not too bad. I lost over a pound during the ride taking me to a new low weight of 351.4 pounds.
Team CBC, my team, was wonderful - everything was well organized, managed and fun. Sitting around our tent village or the gathering at the B&B talking and visiting with the members of the team was a lot of fun. I only know a few of the members but everyone was friendly and pleasant. We had great weather but some of the roads could have been in better shape.
I had never been on this ride before but I have done 12 MS Tours when I lived in Louisiana. I did two from Lake Charles Louisiana, one form Shreveport Louisiana and rest from New Orleans even through we started from the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain. These rides were different we would start at one place ride 75 miles spend the night there then ride back on a different route. I think I like the setup in New Bern better.

Friday
When I arrived they had a lot of the tents setup including mine. I help setup about five and the large team tent shelter, I was not much help but did what I could.
I went over to the convention center and picked up my packet - I was rider 1876 - sounded like a good year to me. I heard there were over 2400 riders - I saw a rider with number 2537 so there may have been more than 2500 of us. I saw about a dozed recumbents but I was the only trike.
At 6:00 PM Team CBC had a gathering at a Bed and Breakfast about two blocks from our campsite for beer of course and conversation, it was a lot of fun. I believe the B&B was called Harmony House but am not sure. I walked back to camp at about 9:00 PM and some of us gathered around and just talked and visited. I went to bed about 11:00 PM

Saturday - My GPS data is HERE
I slept well only problem was getting myself to go to bed - was enjoying sitting around talk with everyone so much.
I got up at 6:20 took my meds. and got dressed to ride then to retrieve my trike from the van. The morning was beautiful and it looked like a great day. I ate breakfast - PB&J on a bagel - I only allow my self PB&J at rides where it is provided - lol.
Then we gathered together for our team photo - what a crowd. I did not know how the start of the ride was set up so when I went to line up I could not get to the area where the 17 to 18 mph and got stuck by the 11 to 12 mph average group. It did not brother me much but I would liked to have been with some of the Team CBC riders. By the time we started there were a lot of riders on the course and a lot of the were going a bit slower than I wanted to go. I spent the next two hours passing a lot of other riders. I really enjoyed riding with so many people but I found some of the roads to be in pretty poor shape.
The rest stops were very well done. The voluntaries and MS Staff who maned them were great, the stops were well provided at least to me.
I had a bit of a problem with flats. I had four, yes four. I have only ever had one other flat while out riding. I believe the first and second were caused by the same piece of glass that cut through the tire. I could not find it when I got the first flat. I never did find what caused the third and forth - these were both slow leaks and the forth flat was fixed at the lunch rest stop by the bike shop folks, thankfully it held. Theses flats added about one hour and twenty minutes to my ride time.
I was riding well and did not have any problems until mile 62 - some parts of my legs just started to ache and even feel like a pull. I did well but was tired and once finished I worried that I might have to shorten or skip my Sunday ride. I really did enjoy my ride even with the four flats. Arriving at the finish line and having the MS folk cheer was really special and made me feel good. I am sure that for a lot of the cyclist and most of Team CBC riding 75 miles was not much of a challenge but for me to ride 25 miles farther than I have ridden since I started riding again was a real victory.
When I was riding in Louisiana I rode 5 centuries and 12 MS Tour as well as several Tour De Cure for the ADA. At that time I rode 100K often. But that was about 10 years ago and a lot of pounds.
After the ride I meet my Dad who was there volunteering with other Ham Radio operators providing communications and driving SAGs (Support And Gear vehicles) - Dad was SAG 13. Dad offered me the shower in his room and them took me to dinner. We then walked a round a bit and listened to the awards. When Dad went back to his room I drifted back to the Team CBC camp and a bunch of us sat around and talked about our experiences on this and other rides and about life in general. This was a real special time. There is something I like about spending time with cyclist. I was hard to make myself get up to leave and go to bed but I did so a little after 10:00 PM. Man oh man did I sleep.

Sunday - My GPS data is HERE

I woke up at about 5:40 AM but did not get up til 6:15 AM. I packed up some of my stuff. I should have packed up as much as I could and get more of it to the van in the morning - I only took one load in the morning. Next time I will do as must as possible because it was really hard doing it after the ride. I took my load of stuff to the van and picked up the trike - all tires holding pressure - nice.
Breakfast - PB&J on a bagel again - cool. I still was not able to get with the group for the start but was not as far back as Saturday.
There was a police car partly blocking the left hand turn right after the start line so the whole group went straight, the wrong way, with a few turns we got back on track.
It was a bit cooler and I took it a bit easier - I kept my speed between 17 and 19 mph - I ended up with the same average as Saturday but I did not get as tired. I had a real good ride - in spite of how I felt the night before I was feeling strong and was riding well. I spent some time drafting when ever I could find a group. I am too short for DF(diamond frame) cyclist to draft off of, other recumbents can but DF cannot - I feel a little guilty drafting when I can not pull but if I could find a group where just one person was doing all the pulling it did not hurt the group. I would just ride my 17 - 19 mph pace and wait to see if someone passed me then I would try to jump on the end. I spent a good deal of time drafting a group that including four other Team CBC riders - I am sorry I do not know their names but it was two DF cyclists and one tandem couple. I estimate that I estimate I was able to draft for about one third of the route compared to almost none on Saturday.
The rest stops I stopped at were great again - well done, well stocked and well staffed - my thanks to the rest stop people. I only used four of the seven stops I was just not use to stopping so often but it was nice to know one could if one needed to stop.
Six miles past rest stop four, the lunch stop, I came upon a accident, at the time I did not know who it was but I did know it was a Team CBC group of riders, They had already made a cell phone call but I knew from listing to my radio that the Tour staff was not real sure where they were - I called net control and reported the accident. I was able to provide net control with more location information, the riders number and a description of the accident and his current status. It was nice to be able to help, it is one of the reason I got into Ham Radio.
We had a pretty rough hear wind for part of the ride but toward the end of the ride we turned and it became a tail wind. Usually when I turn from a head wind the wind turns to so I still have a head wind or at least it seems that way.
The rest of the ride was quite and pleasant - I rode most of the time solo passing others from time to time and getting passed also. I tried to jump in and draft off some of those passing me and was able to a little but most were too fast or we would come to a rest stop and get separated.
I had a real good ride - my legs were kind of like on auto pilot. I would be just riding along not really thinking about riding and I would then check my speed and I would be doing 18 - 19 mph. Kind of like my legs were set to pedal that speed - now I just had to increase that setting. When I arrived at the finish line I enjoyed hearing the MS folks cheering us for having done and finished the ride. I felt well, I was tired but well.
I put the trike away in the van and walked back to the campsite. There I rested a bit, talk with others who had or were returning from their rides. Then I began the task of finishing up my packing and hauling my gear back to the van. Two things, next time I do something like this I will pack up as much as I can the night before or the morning of the ride and haul as much as I can back to the van before the ride because I would be not as tired and it would be a lot cooler in the morning and second I want to get some sort of cart or wagon to use instead of carrying everything.
Taking down the tent I had never setup was interesting and trying to pack it back into a bag that was way to small for it to have ever have come out of was interesting shall we say. Once again doing so when so tire was not fun but the tent was wet so had to wait until after the ride.
Need less to say I got everything packed up and drove home with no trouble and I am looking forward to doing this again as well as some similar events.

Team CBC raised the most money and won the largest team Big Wheel. I though we should have won the jersey contest also but we did not even place.

My pictures from Saturday are HERE.

My pictures From Sunday are HERE.

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Something interesting at least to me.

While I was out doing my morning walk/run across the street walking the other way was a lady and her trainer (there is a high-end personal ladies only fitness center near where I walk) walked pass - I said good day as I do to any I meet while walking and they said hello. The the trainer who I do not know said - you walk here a lot (I have seem him about 8 - 10 times walking with different ladies) - I said yes twice a day every day and once at home in the evening - he said something to the lady I could not hear then to me he siad you are doing good, how much have you reduced - I told him 57 pounds anf they both clapped for me - it was strange but nice.

My weight today was 352.4 pounds.

Saturday, September 5, 2009

Shelby Hamfest 2009, Dallas NC


Attending the Shelby 2009 Hamfest this year with Dad, having a real good time - weather has been fine a bit hot but not bad at least it is dry. I like the new location it is very large - almost too large. We got here at about 7AM and I walked around the place until 11AM when I took my first break. about 12:30 we went back to the hotel for a rest after lunch. We went back for a couple of hours at about 3:30PM.

My pictures are HERE

Friday, September 4, 2009

Slow Spoke Thru night ride 09-03-09


From my forum post -

I had a good ride - it was a bit annoying for me, myself and 3 others got stuck at the first traffic light and by the time we stop sign everyone was gone - I almost caught the group at the next light but then again they got through and Andrea and I got caught by the traffic light and even through I tried I could not catch the group - I was doing 21 - 24 mph on all the flats a good bit more on the down hills and 6 to 12 on the climbs and I still could not catch them. I assume they turned at the visitors center as last week and if so I did catch them just after they had turned - I turned then tried to catch them again - I did pass a couple of riders but did not catch the main group. I was not a bad ride I just wanted to ride with the group a little - I can ride alone in Garner, no need to drive to Cary.

MY GPS data is HERE

My pictures are HERE

I guess this seems a little silly but I do enjoy riding with the groups, I do not mind riding alone and I do do a good bit of it - it is just that the point of this ride is group riding and if I get dropped after we leave town because I can not keep up that's fine but to not even have a chance to hang with the group because of a traffic light or two is annoying. I guess it is just me I imagine most others could have caught up with out a problem - will I ever get to that point?

My weight was 355.4 pounds - still stuck :(