First Ride and a Weighty Disclosure

I finally got out for my first ride outdoors on Monday. The Surly and I headed down the hill from my house to get on the bike path towards downtown - the paths are fine except where you have to cross streets - lots of snow in those places. I have been riding the trainer in my basement 2-3 times a week, but there is no substitute for riding outside with hills, wind, temperature, etc. all affecting performance. I was surprised at how slow I felt. I think I know why.


When I got married 25 years ago, I weighed 175. About 5 years ago, I weighed a lifetime high of 206. Diabetes took me down to 155 before the meds kicked in, causing weight gain. I was able to hold steady for a year or so at about 165-170. Just after Christmas this year, however, I weighed in at 183. Too much good food, not enough exercise. That is going to change.

To motivate me and to keep me honest, until I get down to my goal weight of 165, I am going to post regular updates on what I weigh and what I am doing for exercise. I may even post what I am eating. This blog is going to become a virtual version of Wii Fit. To keep this from becoming to self involved, I invite anybody else who has similar goals to do the same - either by posting or writing something in the comments.

So here is my first report:

Monday, January 18
Weight - 180.5
Exercise - 45 minute bike ride on city paths

KC Sprints

On Saturday (after spending the entire day putting in a new garage door opener when our old one broke) I went to Duffy's to meet Gravy and Kew and to watch the KC Sprints roller races. Gravy was his usual anonymous self:


This picture is from the FFL blog.

The races featured two guys going head to head on rollers - the front fork was fixed so no fear of falling. The racers were required to go all out for 500 meters - a full on 30-40 second sprint. They had two modes of competition - challenge matches and a bracketed tournament. I left before the tournament as I:

a) had more work to do on my garage opener to finish the installation.
b) was not all that entertained as it was pretty much the same thing every time - 30 seconds of two guys pedaling like mad, followed by 5 minutes of setting up the bikes for the next two guys. It would have been more fun if I had known more of the racers (or if I was inclined to wager).

These guys were brave enough (or stupid enough) to chug a beer right before their race.


No puking while I was there, though.

The screen behind the competitors showed speed and distance covered, so you could see who was going the fastest. The fastest I saw before I left was this guy in yellow on the right - who got the computer to register faster than 50 mph. Most guys were in the mid to low 40's.


I was hoping to get outside with the bike this weekend, but just more listening to Coach Troy for me this week.

Dr. Road Rage

From the L.A. Times:

A doctor convicted of assaulting two cyclists in Brentwood by driving in front of them and slamming on his brakes was sentenced today to five years in prison, ending a case a judge described as a wake-up call about tensions between cyclists and motorists on Los Angeles' streets.  

The complete story is here.

Is it spring yet?

Can't find studded tires?

You could always try these instead:

I've had enough -- I'm buying these.

Have a pending order in. Apparently, they're hard to get this time of year.

Time to Catch Up

I have been lazy about updating this blog - mostly because I have just been lazy, period. Too much watching football and eating, and not enough time on the bike have made it easy to ignore the blog, so I thought that I would catch up today with some random stuff.

Julie and I went to Chicago for our regular trip to the Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic the week before Christmas. The convention moved from the Hilton and Towers south to the gigantic McCormack Place convention center. This was good and bad, as there was more room for clinics, concerts, and displays, but made it inconvenient to travel back and forth to the hotels, restaurants and shopping.

The display room in particular was huge:


We attended a great concert by the Chicago Symphony Brass up at Orchestra Hall in the Loop:


One nice thing about the move to this site - it is closer to Chinatown which has fun shopping and some great places to eat:


We still managed to get up to the Magnificent Mile for some shopping. Here are Christmas decorations at Bloomingdale's and at Macy's:


I've always enjoyed the architecture in Chicago, it is a fascinating blend of old and new. Here is a view of the Wrigley building and the Tribune tower with the new Trump tower in the background, and a picture of the buildings along the river taken next to the Trump tower.


After returning, we had our Christmas totally screwed up by the weather. We didn't get to see my wife's new nephew due to their family having to fly back to Arizona before we could get up to Omaha to see them. My son (who is in the Husker marching band) had his trip to San Diego cancelled, only to see his sister (who is in the LSE band) take his place. She missed the family celebrations as we couldn't get up to Omaha to see family until after she had left for San Diego.

My big Christmas present was this Spinervals DVD.


With this weather, it looks like the only group rides in my near future will be with this guy:

This is my first Virtual Reality workout DVD - all of my others feature other cyclists on trainers. I must say it is a little weird when Troy calls "Car up" or scolds me for not staying on his wheel. I am convinced that by the end of winter I will be able to take some pulls, and maybe even drop him.

In other cycling news, the Tour de Nebraska brochure is out - we are heading to south-central Nebraska. Dates are June 23-27, the route runs from Clay Center to Minden to Cambridge to Alma to Red Cloud and back to Clay Center. Day 1 - 57 miles, Day 2 - 65 miles, Day 3 - 60 miles, Day 4 - 73 miles, Day 5 - 54 miles. It will be a counter-clockwise loop, so with a SW wind we should have some kind of tailwind the last two days. Looks pretty easy, should be plenty of time for exploring the towns. Anybody else going to do the tour this summer?