Breaking the Bike

Lance Armstrong's $15,000 helmet. You might get a kick out of this.
http://www.wired.com/playbook/2010/07/armstrong-helmet-exclusive/

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 09:23:00 -0500

Yes, I read early on about the work Giro put into get Lance the “perfect helmet”. Giro got a special effects team to create a $15,000 replica of Lance in the time trial position. Then they put the model in a wind tunnel to find the perfect fit.

Giro isn’t the only helmet manufacturer that is shortening their helmets for similar performance in a head wind, but great performance in a crosswind. Kask has also done one, here you can see Bradley Wiggins wearing his helmet that I’ve affectionately called, The Bun.

(Sorry for the late reply.)

Ask your question, here: Ask BtB

So the Tour de France is complete and there are lots to talk...

Mon, 26 Jul 2010 12:47:02 -0500

Top 3 Finishers

Four Jersey Winners

Best Team Winners

So the Tour de France is complete and there are lots to talk about. The good, the bad, the crashes, headbutting, fistfights, chaingate, and jerseygate. It was a great race. I’ll sum up my comments here:

Prudhomme and the other organizers almost screwed up this Tour, and should be grovelling at the rider’s feet, thanking them for correcting their mistakes. It sucks to see a guy like Hushovd work 5x harder than Cavendish and Petacchi for the Green jersey, but loose it like he did. Renshaw shouldn’t have been kicked out for what he did, but he’s an idiot for thinking things were going to be ok. The king of the mountains jersey was won by a midget. Canadian news (which is indicative of many mass market news organizations) disgusts me. The UCI needs to take a step back and reevaluate many, many of their practices or it will bite them in the ass. And finally, Contador should sleep knowing that this win wasn’t really his.

The Organizers Should Be Punished

Prudhomme is obviously hitting the French media market talking up the huge success this year’s Tour was. He’s probably gloating in his achievement, but he shouldn’t be. This year’s tour was spectacular only because of one group of people: the riders. That sounds odd, right? Isn’t it always the riders that make the Tour so special. One can argue that, but the organizers could put together a course that heavily favors one group and would make for boring television. Remember how boring the NBA finals were when the best team in the East was probably only the 4 or 5 best team in the NBA, behind all West teams? Cycling, like other sports, are entertainment markets. This year’s Tour was full of people that could have really caused some heartache in the top 5 placings. Contador, Shleck, Menchov, Sanchez, Van Den Broeck, Armstrong, Basso, Evans, Sastre, Roche, Wiggins, Leipheimer, Kloden, and Vinokourov. All these guys had the capability to podium in this years Tour. As an organizer, you should make a challenging and course but make it so that all (baring any unplanned things, sickness, bad form, or random crazy crashes or mechanical incidents) have a chance to contend. Instead, Prudhomme kicked off the Tour with a cobbled filled course that basically eliminated many contenders, crashed out many riders, and pissed off more people than I can count. This AFTER a horrible stage with a rainy descent that all the riders expressed was to dangerous to be in the Tour. Schleck, Contador, Menchov, and Sanchez made it a race, but Prudhomme’s arrogance made me wish of things that could have been. These guys shouldn’t get off scott-free for the danger they put the riders in and the financial trouble they almost put the Tour investors in. More on their “punishment” (if you can call it that) later.

Poor, Poor Hushovd

I was pulling for you Thor…I really was. In the Sprinter’s jersey (green) classification there are point for stage wins and points out on the road. Petacchi and Cavendish only fought for stage wins, where Hushovd fought for stage wins AND intermediate points. I really felt he deserved the win, although you could tell towards the end of the race he wasn’t in the kind of form he was earlier on. It’s really upsetting that he had to take the hit when they neutralized stage 2 because only he and McEwen were the only ones that could have really fought for the points behind the breakaway stage winner. Worst case, assuming McEwen took 2nd place and Hushovd took 3rd (which is unlikely because McEwen was injured) and all other points remained, he would have been 1 point behind Petacchi but being that close can give you the extra bump Thor needed to grab a few more in his lower placed finishes. Second place would have him 1 point up on Petacchi. Thor fought, it makes me sad he finished third. (By the way, when McEwen retires, Versus should immediately offer him tons of money as a commentator…the man is awesome!)

Headbutting, Fist fighting, Ejections, Oh My!

Renshaw, Mark Cavendish’s leadout man, was ejected from the tour after head-butting Dean and breaking his line into Farrar. Couple things to note here. Dean did move into Renshaw, pushing him over. Instead of Renshaw holding his line which would in turn push Dean back, he headbutted him in the shoulder to stop the movement. Then after letting Cavendish go, Renshaw broke left blocking Farrar’s way to the line, almost forcing Farrar into the barrier. In my opinion the second part is more egregious than the first. As a leadout man, he know that after he’s done, he rides in a straight line as people pass all around him. Farrar could have seriously been hurt with his move left. So the two together makes the punishment have to be more than simply fined and relegated to the back of the field. BUT! After the stage 6 fist-fight between Barredo and Costa, and the ASO reporter walking right in front of McEwen all these sprinter should have been on edge and their best behavior. Most people thought Barredo should have been kicked out, and since he wasn’t, the officials were looking for a way to save face. Here came Renshaw and now all is better, right? Nope, but again Renshaw should have been on his best behavior. Riders were on edge, the ejection shouldn’t have come as a surprise.

Charteau, Short-teau

Did you see how short Anthony Charteau is? He has to be classified as a midget in some areas. Look at this video, the woman on the left had to bend down for the kisses. She’s on the shorter podium step! I guess that’s why he’s a great climber, he doesn’t have a whole lot of himself to carry up the mountains.

Hesjedal Is Getting Screw By His Home Country

Hesjedal, a Canadian cyclist for Garmin-Transitions, had the ride of his life. He finished 7th overall in one of the best showings for a Canadian ever. I follow cycling news outlets all over the world (English ones at least) and Canada’s media outlets said next to nothing about Hesjedal’s ride. He was in the top 10 for a long time, yet you barely heard a blip. Now finally as the Tour has ended, Hesjedal is getting news coverage. This guy could have rode with the country behind him and instead has to settle for the Johnny-Come-Lately News….disgusting.

The UCI is close to being bitten…

The UCI has done much for the sport of cycling, but as with any large governing body, it’s been infiltrated with lobbyists and politicians that have forgotten the people that has actually brought the sport to where it is. The riders, and that’s the good and the bad. If you followed Jerseygate, where Team RadioShack chose to change jerseys into ones in support of 28 million people suffering from cancer and were threatened to be kicked out of the Tour, then you know one of the things I’m talking about. The UCI is full of people that inconsistently enforce rules among other items that routinely piss-off the cyclists. With Jerseygate, the rules do say you aren’t allowed to change your kit once the race has started, yet there is precedence with this when an Italian cyclist (his name is alluding me right now) often wore unapproved kits and was never kicked out, but was fined heftily. I’m sure Armstrong would have happily paid all the fines out of his pocket to help the message, but NO the UCI threatened to kick the team out of the Tour. Race radios, the lack of cycling technology acceptance, allowing dangerous routes are among the few things pissing off cyclists today. Not to mention fans like me are getting tired of hearing about past dopers. The UCI should take a lesson from American baseball. The longer you let this linger the more you will alienate fans. Just stop and say, “Listen, riders doped for the past few years. We caught and punished the ones we know about, we’ve changed our practices to catch new dopers…but there will be no more investigations into previous dopers. That time is past, let’s look to the future.” I would be so happy with that, time to dust yourself off and move forward. I’m not a fan of standing unions, I think they have a time and a place and should be dissolved. But if the UCI keeps taking advantage of the cyclists the way they are doing, a cyclist union does not sound to far off. I don’t like the idea of a cyclist strike, but slow riding through multiple stages of major races would upset many investors into these major races. This would in turn push the money men hard on the UCI to change things. The riders need official representation in many of the decisions that are coming down the pipe, or else the UCI will be bitten.

39 Seconds and 1 Mechanical

There’s no rule that says you shouldn’t attack when someone has a mechanical problem. Can you really say you were the better rider when all the time you gained over your opponent was because of a malfunction and not talent. Problems happen, tires (or tyres) blow out, chains slip, brakes catch…and in general this is part of cycling. But it’s professional courtesy and ethical to not take advantage of these malfunctions. It’s an unwritten rule of the road to not attack when the Yellow jersey has a problem, it’s bad form and you’re asking for trouble up the road. If Contador would have won by anything more than 39 seconds, this whole conversation would be mute…but he didn’t. And Schleck would have most likely ridden last in the time trial, which could have made the difference. Contador knows this and no after-the-fact apology changes that this was his “doping” win. I say this because Contador should know that he wouldn’t have won this race if it wasn’t for his lapse in judgment (which is what you could call doping, a lapse in judgment). I know this may not be the popular opinion, and I could get flamed for it, but it’s true. Schleck was the strongest rider this year, stronger than Contador, but he’d better not hope that someone else will wait for him when he has trouble.

The Yo-Yo

Tue, 20 Jul 2010 12:13:32 -0500

Things have been good. Really good. When I look at my weight loss progress and compare it to other people’s weight loss progress, I’ve done really well. I don’t mean to be arrogant, but the fact remains that I’ve read numerous people’s weight loss troubles and have been extremely blessed in that I’ve consistently lost weight week-to-week. I didn’t have to write those post doldrums about how I ate so much pizza that I gained a few pounds and that I’d do better next week.

That ends today.

Why haven’t I posted lately? Well, I’ve had some problems. I hit the 50lb loss mark a few weeks ago and have had horrible eating issues lately. I had a workshop at work last week where lunch was provided, and it was horrible. An extreme deviation from healthy eating. I haven’t watched my points because I’ve been scared of what it would result. I’ve said at the beginning of every week, “I’ll do better this week”. Only to eat just as horribly as I did the previous week.

The only saving item is that I haven’t blown my weight up to dangerously. I Yo-Yo’d around the 220lb mark, and I’m still dancing around it. For you guys that don’t know, I want to hit 200lbs…in fact a few pounds less. So another 20lbs is going to be dangerously hard to hit if I keep eating like I had. I’ve also not ridden my bike as regularly as I could have. I’ve had some big family things come up, as well as events that I’ve attended that has precluded me from riding. It’s beginning to wear me down.

So, for all of you people that liked the fact that my posts tended to always be pretty rosy, I apologize. And for all of you that have read my posts in disgust that I was always loosing when you might be having trouble, here you go. I want to say: I’ll do better, but after over month of saying this…if feels like just words now. But that’s what this blog is for, maybe by finally telling you all, I’ll actually do what I have been telling myself for the past month. Thanks.

Remember This Friends:

Mon, 12 Jul 2010 08:10:26 -0500

Hello friends, remember this. You cannot ride away from the rain. It will attack you every time.

It has rained almost everyday last week, which really put a damper on my riding. So Saturday I pull out the old weather.com guide, it says 15% chance of rain. So I’m good to go. Ten minutes out, it starts sprinkling. I look at the sky to change direction to try to ride away from the rain, well it doesn’t work. After 30 minutes of drenching myself, I give up. I park at a CVS and wait for my brother-in-law to come pick me up. Sucked too because I only went half as far as I wanted to. The rain didn’t ease up until another hour later, so I guess I made the right choice.

I hopped on the trainer last night, but my computer battery died. I accidentally left it on yesterday. Oh well.

The Tour de France is underway… Wondering who to...

Wed, 07 Jul 2010 08:24:56 -0500

The Tour de France is underway… Wondering who to support?

This graph makes me laugh, especially the bad victory salutes. Enjoy.

Two Rides for the 4th

Tue, 06 Jul 2010 16:11:31 -0500

YEAH! I got in 2 rides this weekend (long weekend for me). The first one was after 1.5 weeks off the bike due to rain and other things. It was bad. I was huffing and puffing and hurting and feeling like throwing up and trying to eat something and failing…but still got in a decent amount of miles. Just a few miles became really really slow. Had a hard time riding above 10mph for a stretch, but did alright. The second ride I did much better, but still went down a road which I hate. There’s this one road that for some reason if you ride in this area everyone feels it’s a must have part of the ride. I don’t know why this is, but it’s horrible.

This road is a steady uphill run on a chip-seal surface that hasn’t been resurfaced in decades. Oh, some of the pot holes have been sealed, but we (as in fellow cyclists) all know what sealing a pot hole means…either a bump or it’s settled and is still sort of a pot hole. The start of this road also contain a nebulous vortex that creates a low pressure system guaranteeing that the wind will be in your face no matter when you ride this road…or what the weather is doing elsewhere. So after that road, I felt pretty spent and so the trek back wasn’t as fast as I had hoped but, I did feel better.

Thanks for all you guys support…I’m feeling good. I feel as though I’ve stagnated in my weight loss. (Only 1 lb over that past few weeks.) I might be at the point where I’m building some leg muscles but not sure. I hope I can kick this hump and shoot for my way down to my goal weight.

Little Victory: New Belt

Mon, 28 Jun 2010 15:10:22 -0500

I said a while ago I would post my “Little Victories” to the site and then you guys sat there patiently waiting for them…only to be disappointed. Not anymore!

Little Victories, defined as situations in my weight loss journey where things happen that aren’t overwhelmingly awesome, but can give you just enough boost to keep going for a while. I’ve talked to people before that claimed they couldn’t keep on their diet, workout routine, etc. because it was difficult to see results. I contend they weren’t looking in the right spots or seeing the certain things that might have given them enough boost to see the results they were initially expecting. Here’s one of my first.

About a month ago, I had to buy a new belt. Not because my old belt was worn out and needed replacing. Not because I saw this belt on the rack and OMG! I had to buy it. Not because of any of those…I ran out of holes. Putting my old belt on the tightest hole still didn’t make my pants feel secure. So I needed a smaller belt. Pretty awesome, huh!?!?

Keep in mind this is my “Little Victory”, yours may simply be you moved down one hole in your belt. But the key is to recognize these and treat them for what they are: results!

What are your “Little Victories”?

This guy makes me feel like a horrible cyclist…oh well....

Wed, 23 Jun 2010 08:23:05 -0500

This guy makes me feel like a horrible cyclist…oh well. I’m good for it.

If you haven’t seen this video yet, here you go.

Tour Talk: RadioShack

Tue, 22 Jun 2010 11:10:32 -0500

Just moments ago Johan Bruyneel announced on their website the team for the 2010 Tour de France. I totally called this team! I was going to post my predictions today but found out this morning when I got on the computer that Team RadioShack was listing their team this morning….so I can’t prove my calls were predicted correctly…but you trust me right!?!?

Here were my predictions:

Lance Armstrong - 7 time Tour winner, placed 3rd last year, now with a team completely devoted to helping him through the race. This should be awesome.
Andreas Kloden - 2 time Tour podium finisher. The man should be leading a team himself. Great rider and did so much for Contador last year that supporting Armstrong (the better tactician) should bode very well for him.
Levi Leipheimer - another rider that could probably be leading his own team. I like Levi, but I feel he likes the support role. He should have been the leader when Lance last retired, but Bruyneel brough in Basso and Leipheimer was happy to sit second again. Should support Armstrong very well.
Chris Horner - Chris missed last years Tour because of a political rift that forced him out. Horner even tried to find a new team before the Tour to ride with, but Bruyneel wouldn’t release him. When Horner signed with RadioShack, I knew that it had a stipulation that said (as long as he is healthy) he was definitely in the Tour. I’m also pleased with this pick just because of what a cool guy Horner is. After watching him drop out of a break in the Dauphine to pull Tejay Van Garderen back so he wouldn’t loose his podium finish time (Tejay isn’t on Team RadioShack), it was just the kind of classy move that I like about this guy.

So those guys were the shoe-ins. Horner because of last year gets on that list. The last five were a little more difficult, but there are a couple things based on hearing the political stuff from last year and understanding some of Bruyneel’s choices that I picked these guys (which as of this morning are confirmed for the team).

Jani Brajkovic - Jani just won the Dauphine Libere in front of Alberto Contador. Jani might not have had the legs for a grand tour against Contador, but showed he can stay with him in the short term. Because of this performance, I knew Brajkovic was in for the Tour.
Gregory Rast - this man is a beast. And he fits Bruyneel’s need for a yellow jersey defensive person. Rast can take the front of the peloton and seem like he can pull for hours! He’ll keep breaks roped in as well as keep attacks down to a minimum…almost single handed. Love watching this guy ride.
Yaroslav Popovych - Popo is a veteran on the road and knows exactly how Lance rides and understands Bruyneel’s tactics. He was a easy pick for this year’s Tour.

The last two people are a bit more difficult. These guys are the kind of domestiques that you need in the mountains as well as the guys that can possibly hit a break if necessary. There are a number of choices: Zubeldia, Muravyev, Paulinho, Rubiera, Vaitkus, or Beppu. Out of these, my guess is that Bruyneel (in this Lance comeback team) would want some tour experience in these last two riders. So that leaves Zubeldia, Muravyev, Paulinho, Rubiera, or Beppu. Vaitkus might be a good choice if Rast wasn’t on the team. Out of that group I removed Rubiera—age would be a factor and his lack of selection last year, good rider but doesn’t fit this Tour team—and Beppu—new to the team and Bruyneel would want someone that helps solidify the team dynamic…Beppu needs more experience on this team.

So here were my choices and why. I’ll also add what I think lead Bruyneel to choose this team.

Sergio Paulinho - Paulinho proved himself well last year even in the face of a political battle. Paulinho is a good climber and will be very beneficial in Stage 16 with 2 Cat 1 climbs and 2 Cat HC climbs.
Dmitriy Muravyev - Why did I pick him? Wasn’t he the political choice that last year was chosen because the Kazakh based team demands at least one Kazakh rider? Yeah, I think he might have been, but if you look at what he did last year it’s hard to count him out. This guy can pump it with the best of them and showed how well he gelled with the team in the midst of the power struggle last year. He’s a good rider and deserves a spot.

So why didn’t I choose Zubeldia, McCartney, Impey or Steegmans?

Haimar Zubeldia was a difficult choice to leave out. He works hard, but I think he was only chosen last year because Contador thought that with Horner on the team it would be Armstrong’s team and not Contador’s. So for this years team it appeared that it would again be either Zubeldia or Horner, since these two guys have very similar contributions. But since there was no way Horner would be sitting out, Zubeldia has to wait. This may be Horner’s last year (age) so Zubeldia will definitely have a place in the future.
Jason McCartney, another great climber and stage racer, was also difficult to leave out. He’s shown great promise in American races but much in the European theater. He’s got a stage at the Vuelta, but there are just too many powerful riders on the team. He’d probably fit well in Muravyev’s spot, but Bruyneel also like diverse teams and another American would not be that diverse.
Daryl Impey is young, and has many chances at a Tour in the future. I don’t think we need to worry about this kid’s future.
Gert Steegmans is a sprinter. And having sprinters on your team is good for stage wins but hurts the GC run. Often you need a sprinter and at least one lead out man, this means you truly only have 6 riders for GC support. If Bruyneel didn’t have 3 people that could be GC contenders it might work to have a sprinter on the team. But until there’s one standout leader in place, you won’t see a sprinter on Bruyneel’s TdF team.

Hope that helps, I was pumped when I heard I got it right. I hope Bruyneel’s predictability doesn’t hurt the team, maybe he’s saving the unpredictability for race time!

Thoughts?

More Tour Talk

Mon, 21 Jun 2010 20:08:23 -0500

Again, since the Tour de France is coming up, I am talking more about it rather than my weight loss progress….well, because it’s the Tour.

I talked last time about my predictions for Team Garmin-Transitions and this time I’ll talk about one of the other US teams in the Tour this year, HTC-Columbia.

Velonews released their Tour edition and talked about each team and their strengths and weaknesses. Here’s the team they presented:

Mark Cavendish (GB)
Bert Grabsch (G)
Bernhard Eisel (A)
Tony Martin (G)
Maxime Monfort (B)
Marco Pinotti (I)
Mark Renshaw (Aus)
Michael Rogers (Aus)
Hayden Roulston (NZ)
Kanstantsin Siutsou (Blr)
Peter Velits (Slv)

Not a bad set of choices, and honestly pretty much what I would have said save Siutsou and Velits. Not sure who I’d put in their place, Andre Greipl (G) maybe…but not clear on who else. With Kim Kirchen moving on (who by the way got completely shafted when it came to team support in last years Tour, Hincape didn’t even help out…really made me feel for the guy…now with him in a coma it upsets me even more since I felt Katusha would provide much better support and improve his chances of winning), HTC-Columbia has no leader for the GC outside Tony Martin. Monfort maybe, but Martin is looking much better this year. The problem? If Cavendish puts on a show like last year, HTC-Columbia will—once again—drop GC hopes and Tony will get very little team support.

This photo makes me really upset. It shouldn’t...

Mon, 21 Jun 2010 09:18:26 -0500

This photo makes me really upset. It shouldn’t “upset” me, maybe I’m becoming a bit sensitive to things like this now. But it really bothers me.

1) The escalators are outdoors. These things are probably super expensive to maintain because keeping them lubed after all the dirt and stuff flying around is a hassle.

2) Even gyms need handicap access. Escalators do nothing for handicap people.

So yeah, why are these here? If the business before the gym wanted them, that’s fine. It was probably a furniture warehouse full of couches and recliners so they catered to their clientele. But it’s probably cheaper for the gym to shut these down or get rid of them…and they should be gotten rid of due to the fact that THEY LEAD TO A FREAKING FITNESS CENTER!

I’ve heard there’s an LA Fitness on the entire second floor of a building in Hollywood. It’s a big building and having an elevator is necessary…but LA Fitness should deactivate the thing since they cover the entire floor and only allow access with a key or something. Take the stairs people…

And I’m done.

My Garmin-Transitions Picks

Wed, 16 Jun 2010 14:41:54 -0500

So the Tour de France is looming and Garmin is running a Facebook promotion that you could win a Felt F1 Team edition bike, a set of Mavic Cosmic Wheels, or a team edition Garmin Edge 500. The US team picks are interesting to me so I decided to publish my picks here so you can see what I think. (By the way, with Le Tour nearing you’ll see me publish more on the race as this is a cycling and health blog.)

The first few were pretty simple to choose. These are the leaders and the people that could make the best possible showing in the Tour.

Christian Vande Velde (Christian holds the key to Garmin’s overall win possibilities)
Tyler Farrar (After many 2nd place wins and Cavendish not looking so good this year, I think Farrar has multiple stage wins coming up.)
David Zabriskie (As a person who’s always provided great support in Grand Tours, he’s a shoe-in for the team.)
Julian Dean (Because he’s Tyler’s lead-out man)
David Millar (The Old Man, considered the Team’s leader. He’s also a good lead-out rider as well.)

Now it gets tough. Reading an article last year on Jonathan Vaughters choices for last years Tour, he put his hopes in the 3 time trials (2 ITTs and 1 TTT) of that race. Looking at how he did, I felt that if he had provided both Vande Velde and Wiggins one or two more climbing specialists they would have fared better in the overall standing. So this year, with more climbing and no Team Time Trial and a course that looks like the one where Vande Velde got a 5th place overall standing, I went with more climbing specialists as opposed to Vaughter’s previous picks.

Ryder Hesjedal (The Canadian has supported the team twice before and done a stellar job of it. I doubt he’ll get the pass on this year’s tour.)
Dan Martin (Probably the youngest choice, but looking in really good form this year. Would definitely benefit the team, and would give this guy some major needed experience)
Fredrick Kessiakoff (Another climber which can pull Vande Velde through some of these heavy climbs)
Tom Danielson (an all-rounder that will work well in the makeup)

Notable people left off the list. It’s good to note these two people being left off of my list. Danny Pate and Martijn Maaskant. These two guys have helped in the Tour before and either of them would do well again. Pate was really difficult and if he takes the place of either Martin or Danielson, I won’t be surprised. Maaskant, in my opinion, doesn’t fit well in this years Tour. If he is chosen for the Tour, you’ll know that Vaughters has put his eggs in the sprint finishes basket and on Farrar’s success. This will leave Vande Velde again under supported for the overall classification.

I think having Farrar supported by Dean, with duel roles support from Millar is adequate enough for Farrar to gather a few stage wins. Cavendish isn’t on form and has been seen being paced by riders like Hausler, etc. Farrar is faster than Hausler and just needs to do his thing. Vande Velde needs strong climbing support to keep from people breaking away, otherwise he can hold his own.

Hot Cal: Nice Weight Loss Tool

Fri, 11 Jun 2010 08:37:11 -0500

Hot Cal: Nice Weight Loss Tool:

Cool Tools for School (that sucked)

So I’ve a huge advocate of knowing what you eat. I’ve said many times before that the best part about Weight Watchers was the fact that I have to pay attention to everything I eat. It’s not necessarily the points system, but just knowing what I put into my stomach and seeing it’s impact makes a huge difference.

But I also know that Weight Watchers can be cost prohibitive for some people. That’s why I was stoked to find this free service called Hot Cal. It’s much like Weight Watchers except that it shows details based on Calories, Fat, Fiber, and Protein. It has a nice food diary that works much like WW and also takes into account activity and the change in caloric intake that occurs when you do work out. Most places with food diaries don’t consider the fact that after a long bike ride, you need more calories than normal, but this one does.

I’m not saying Hot Cal will be the difference between loosing weight and not, but based on my experience. You have to pay attention to what you are doing to effectively loose weight, and Hot Cal looks to definitely be one of those tools that will help you do just that.

Weight Report So news is in and it’s a positive…no...

Wed, 09 Jun 2010 09:59:39 -0500

Weight Report

So news is in and it’s a positive…no not positive poundage, but a good report. Here’s the quick stats:

Weight: 223.8 lbs (101.5 kg)
Loss Since Last Week: 1.2 lbs (0.544 kg)
Total Weight Loss: 46.2 lbs (21 kg)

So it’s good news. It’s leveling off a little bit and I think it’s for a couple reasons. So I’ll work to break through those issues.

Weight Watchers Points Values have reduced. So to keep loosing weight WW reduces your points as you loose weight, so you keep losing weight. What I’ve found was early on it was really easy to stay within my points values. I could often not you any of my weekly points and feel satisfied everyday. Now as my points values have reduced, it’s harder to keep it under and I find myself diving into my weekly points sooner. Does this mean I’ll stop loosing weight? No. But it can explain the slower loss.
Plateaus. It seems to be that ever ~20lbs or so I hit a slow down. At 240 it slowed down so now I’ve hit a slow down as well. Just gives me something to break through.

I’ve got a few more posts for you coming up just need time to work though them. I’ll get them posted as soon as I get them. Another gear post, I’m riding tonight, and something more on little victories.

Sorry for the lack of posts, I’ve been dealing with a...

Sun, 06 Jun 2010 10:03:00 -0500

Cone of Shame

Horrible Scar

Sorry for the lack of posts, I’ve been dealing with a family issue. My little girl, Elliot, (her personality is exactly like Dr. Elliot Reid’s on Scrubs, a little crazy but really sweet) had to have emergency surgery to remove a tumor.

I know this has nothing to do with weight loss or riding my bike, but I feel like I’ve been pretty open with you guys about my fight to loose this weight that you’ve had a little window into my personal life. So this is something else, and the reason I want to mention it now is that it had put me into a minor stint of depression. Now I don’t claim to have the kind of depression struggles that many people have, but I bet most of us feel really close—to what those people feel all the time—for short periods.

So in this depressive state, I wanted food. I wanted really bad. I could have eaten for 48 hours straight. But if it wasn’t for the super person that I have in my beloved wife, I would have. She kept those things at bay and I did well this weekend. Thanks, Babe.

So now Elliot’s home and just having her back around has put me in better spirits. She’s having trouble eating, so we are figuring out how to fix that. But all in all she’s close to her former self. If you are religious, a few prayers would be greatly appreciated.

Weight So I’m glad to see that I was able to burn off...

Wed, 02 Jun 2010 11:18:27 -0500

Weight

So I’m glad to see that I was able to burn off enough of the additional calories I ingested over the weekend. So I did loose some weight. Here’s the stats:

Weight: 225.0 lbs (102 kg)
Weight Loss since Last Week: 1.8 lbs (.81 kg)
Total weight Lost: 45 lbs (20.4 kg)
Weight Until Next Goal: 9 lbs (4.1 kg)

So there you have it. I’m kind of getting a bit excited about where I’m going. At 220 lbs, I will be under 100 kg…that’s a great thing to think about.

One key that I’ve been using to keep me motivated to loose is simple and achievable goals as well as simple things to get excited about. When you are eating healthy, it’s exciting to eat a big delicious but not exactly healthy meal. Things also like this 100 kg marker. That’s something most people wouldn’t think about but saying that I am 5 lbs from weighing under 100 kg is nice and motivating. That point, 220 lbs, is also a big deal because it means 50 lbs total loss. Little things, these are the things to get excited about and keep you going.

What motivates you?

Upped the Ante My friend and I decided to upgrade our ride. This...

Tue, 01 Jun 2010 14:51:09 -0500

Upped the Ante

My friend and I decided to upgrade our ride. This has been boiling in us for a number of weeks, but due to scheduling we stayed with our slower/shorter ride. But this weekend we decided to take the plunge or up the ante so to speak.

It was a 45.5 mile ride (as you can see, Hit the Watch if you are in the Dashboard) and pushed me pretty hard. I did really well the first 30 miles. No real problems and held pretty good. My friend Mark was upset that it wasn’t going faster…jerk. Then after the second break (where I hit the Lap button), I could really feel the drain. When we went over the Highway, it wasn’t bad but after that there were a number of hills that sucked it out of me. Finally on Ridgeview, I was gone. But it was nice to find 5-6 guys that were having a hard time as well and me and another guy pulled them the last 3-4 miles home.

Did you guys go riding on your long holiday?

Weekend Binge...again.

Tue, 01 Jun 2010 09:56:15 -0500

I don’t want to sound like a broken record, but this holiday weekend I binged a bit again. Saturday I really wanted a hamburger, which wouldn’t have been bad if it wasn’t for the great On The Border meal that happened later.

Sunday I took my beautiful and beloved wife out on a complete day to ourselves. We dropped the baby off at his grands, and took to the streets. After a filling breakfast at Another Broken Egg Cafe (which wasn’t healthy, but oh so good) we walked around White Rock Lake. We may have burned a few calories, but the walk was spontaneous so neither of us were dressed for the walk. Once the sweat started pouring a bit too much we made our way back to the car. Later a movie (Robin Hood, which was pretty good, by the way), which I drank a non-diet drink. Why can’t movie theaters carry something other than Diet Coke!?!? Then we topped of the day that evening with Greek food and Gelato ice cream. The few movies I’ve seen with Greek themes, they tend to be proud of their food and their weight. So I know the meal wasn’t that healthy.

For Memorial Day, I jumped back on the eating well bus. I an egg beaters, english muffin, canadian bacon breakfast sandwich and a very small lunch. Then for dinner I had grilled chicken, corn, and a salad. So I didn’t do too bad on Monday. But that doesn’t mean I’m not concerned about the scale this week. We will see.

Just an FYI, to counter this, I rode 45.5 miles on Saturday (will post about it later) and spent 40 minutes on the trainer on Monday. I can’t spend much more than 40 minutes on the trainer for some reason…would like to stay on it for closer to 1.5-2hrs but I never seem to make it.

Operation: Back on the Bike (Complete) Mission Status:...

Wed, 26 May 2010 13:26:14 -0500

Operation: Back on the Bike (Complete)

Mission Status: Success

Debriefing: So I got it. I got the Orbea Onix TRV. It feels awesome. Got fitted to the bike and could feel the difference immediately. Flipped the stem to a positive angle, helped me sit up higher and adjustments to the seat stopped it from feeling like I was reaching far out to grab the handlebar. Looks pretty slick right?

Two things I have to deal with. I think this is the problem with all bikes, but the saddle is a bit rough. My old bike’s saddle was a problem, every bike I sat on in my research had a saddle that didn’t agree with me (save Specialized, which has some good saddles as well as some Fiz’ik saddles I’ve sat on). So my butt got used to my last one, so I assume it will to this one as well. Second, the guy at the bike shop wrapped my bartape with some bottled up anger. It’s hard to see from the video but it’s as tight as hell and not much overlapping of the tape. I think he was able to use one spool for both sides. I have big hands and so a more “plush” handlebar suits me better. So I bought some more bartape and I’ll have to fix this issue when I can.

Tell me what you think! Also, the music is my angry, pissed off proclamation to the thieves that stole my other bike. Kind of a you-can’t-keep-me-down vibe. Also changed my background color in celebration.

Hope you like the video, I made it while my wife watched The Good Wife (hehe) so not too shabby for less than 1 hour of effort. Sorry for the few seconds of “blurry cam”.

Weigh Day!!! Big news on the weight front. Goal 2 has been hit!...

Thu, 20 May 2010 11:19:55 -0500

Weigh Day!!!

Big news on the weight front. Goal 2 has been hit! I weighed in at 228lbs! Seriously.. I hit that mark running. I was hoping to hit it earlier in the month, but no biggie…I’m still trucking!

So it’s a new weight goal. As I get closer to my final target weight (hope to hit 199lbs), I know that my weight loss week to week will slow down. So I’m thinking I should shrink the distance to my next goal weight down. I’m thinking 216lbs. Why? Because that’s 20% from my initial weight (270lbs). I hit 20%, then I keep on rolling.

I’m so close I can taste it…TASTE IT!