Month: November 2008

18 Miles

On By Michel McDonaldIn Cycling, ExerciseLeave a comment

Today I have broken my record of 11 miles by going 18 miles.  Here are the numbers from the computer:

18.290 miles, max speed 26.8, average speed 10.7, time 1:42:33, calories 835.7, fat calories 81.2.

My max speed could go up but as I’ve said before, the weight is what is slowing me down.  I’m 236lbs and that’s a lot for the bike to carry.  As it is even with 20.7 pressure in my tires which is what it’s supposed to have (Edit: WRONG!  It’s supposed to be 60 I believe) , they look like they are going flat when I am sitting on the bike.  That’s definitely heavy lol.  And I feel that my weight is what is holding me back from going faster.  But as the weight goes down my speed will go up.  I have faith that it will.  When the speed goes up then I will be able to go longer distance.  For now the 18 miles that I rode today will be my bike route.  I won’t go further than that.

More Rain

On By Michel McDonaldIn Daily BlogLeave a comment

It rained this morning and I was going to go riding when Darrin left for church but it was still raining so I just decided to stay home until the rain stopped instead.  He just came home so we’ll eat then I’ll wait 20 min before going out.

BAH it’s still raining.  I’m gonna just have to wait for the rain to stop.

Bike Maintenance

On By Michel McDonaldIn CyclingLeave a comment

Yesterday when I came home from riding my bike I tightened the gears on the handlebars and fixed that but decided today was the day I was going to do maintenance on my bike.  I wanted to get some degreaser and cleaner for the gears on the back wheel and the chain and scrub it all to clean it then put some new grease on it but I need Darrin to take me to the bike store.  I don’t want to ride it there because it’s kinda far and I don’t want to have to have bottles of cleaner and grease in bags hanging on my handlebars.  Yeah I know I could use a backpack but that’s ok.  I’d rather be driven there.  I’d also like to walk through the store looking around and not worry that my bike is getting stolen.

What I did do today was I took the back wheel off because it has been wobbling and I know it’s not supposed to do that.  Before I figured out how to fix it I noticed that the ball bearings were getting close to falling out.  That’s not good.  I knew that I am lucky that I finally got around to fixing it because if it got any looser that I’d be in trouble.  I got it tightened but too tight so I had to loosen it hehe.

All fixed but not lubed up so hopefully soon I can get the cleaner and grease and get that done.

O.J. Back In Court

On By Michel McDonaldIn NewsLeave a comment

O.J. Simpson and C.J. Stewart were back in court today in front of the same judge who sentenced them both to life in prison for attempted robbery.  They were both asking for a new trial because the foreman juror has been fired from multiple jobs for racial slurs.  So basically they are saying that they didn’t get a fair trial because of race.  They are always bringing the race card in.

The judge denied their motion for a new trial and said see you in December for sentencing.

The judge denied a few motions today actually.  The lawyers for O.J. brought him a suit to wear and the judge said no he can’t wear it, he has to wear what he came in which is his blue prison suit.  Then they asked if it was ok that he not be there because they didn’t want him to be on tv without a suit and she denied that.  This of course was at the very beginning.  After O.J.’s attorneys asked about the suit issue, C.J.’s attorneys asked about the suit for him and she denied that as well.

No Sweat

On By Michel McDonaldIn CyclingLeave a comment

You know the old saying “No Sweat” which typically means no problem.  Well, in my case it is a literal translation.  When I’m riding the bike there is literally no sweat coming from my body.  The only thing that is wet on me is my collar and my hair as well as the helmet straps.  When I get home from my long bike ride I take off the helmet and let my hair dry and that’s the extent of the problem.  I don’t have to change my shirt or quickly take a shower because my body is drenched because it just isn’t.  My body is as dry as a bone all except for my cranium.

I mean, I’m very grateful that I am not sweating and ruining shirts with the sweat stains or having to buy so much Degree for men that it will last me until eternity.

Maybe the weather is the problem.  Maybe since it’s in the 70’s outside when I go riding.  It’s too cold for me to sweat.  In fact if I didn’t wear a helmet made out of Styrofoam I probably would be completely dry.

So, I absolutely will not need bike shirts until Spring of 2009 when the weather is going to start getting too hot again,  I have faith that when it is so hot outside like 100 degree weather, I will be drenched just from typing this blog out.  Hmmm maybe I should wear bike shirts and shorts everyday in the summer lol.

11 Miles

On By Michel McDonaldIn Cycling, Diet, ExerciseLeave a comment

Wow I thought 9 miles yesterday was awesome but today I surpassed that by going 11 miles.  I was riding for 62 minutes total.  That’s awesome.

My legs aren’t getting as tired as fast as they usually are.  I mean there were some points where I had to stop because I was going slower and so I knew if I stopped, got off the bike and drank some water and gave my legs a rest for a minute or 2 that I would recharge and it worked.  I’d get back on the bike and go 12-14 mph again.

I don’t know where I was this time.  I will have to look it up on google map.  I saw a bunch of mobile homes.  There was a stop light ahead.  I just looked at the google map website and it was Manor st. where I stopped and started going back.

Anyway, here are the stats from the computer.  11.231 miles, 29.7 max speed, 10.9 average speed, time 1:01:54, 536.2 calories and 53.5 fat calories.

Tomorrow is my official weigh in day and I will update the image on the Spark page but I weighed myself and I was 236lbs.  I was 244lbs.  But it isn’t official until I weigh in tomorrow after my bike ride.

Frustrated

On By Michel McDonaldIn Diet, ExerciseLeave a comment

I’m probably checking my weight too often but it just doesn’t seem like I’m losing any weight.  This has been my problem though, I check my weight and I don’t lose then I get frustrated and then stop exercising/dieting and go back to my old eating habits and idle behavior.

I do realize that since I’m building muscle with riding the bike that I probably am losing fat but just building muscle.  And since muscle weighs more than fat then that is probably why I haven’t lost any weight.  I just have to stick it out for a bit longer and just not think about my weight.

9 Miles

On By Michel McDonaldIn CyclingLeave a comment

These are what the cyclo-computer says.  9.014 miles, maximum speed reached (mxs) 27.0, average speed (avs) 10.7, time 50:35, calories 436.6, fat calories 43.5.

Boy are my legs swollen lol.  9 miles is the longest I’ve gone so far and I plan on breaking that record too.  What I did was I rode to Beach Park which took about 16 or 17 minutes (not including the times I stopped at the lights and had to stop to drink water) then once I was there I sat on a picnic table and rested my legs for about 10 minutes.  Then I got up and went on the bike trail and rode for about 9 minutes.  I was going to do 10 minutes but my legs were just killing me.  So what I did was I stopped and stood there for a few minutes and watched the 2 people on the 2 horses and waved then watched them pass me.  Then I got back on it and went back to Beach park where I sat on the bench at the trail entrance before going back home.

I just can’t believe that I finally started riding my bike again.  I think this is so cool.  When I was a kid all I had was the bike, I didn’t have the helmet or water cage with bottle or the frame bag with the tools or the computer.  It was just me on the bike.  Not even any protective gear.  And I also didn’t have the extra baggage that I do now with all this weight.  That’s one reason why I don’t recall having any pain and swelling in my thighs.

Well, I just have to wait until I can do this all over again tomorrow and just hope that I go further.

It’s Too Cold

On By Michel McDonaldIn CyclingLeave a comment

I’m waiting for the heat to kick in lol.  I just went to my bike to the cyclo-computer to find out the temp outside and it says 49.5 degrees.  Hell to the no.  No freakin way am I going out bike riding when it’s this cold.  But I’m dying to get it over with lol.

Why is it either too hot or it’s too cold?  It’s never in between!  The only time of the year that it’s in between is 1 month before the summer heat which usually starts in May and 2 weeks after the heat is over in the end of September to the beginning of October.

Now, keep in mind that I love the cold.  I can’t wait for the cold every year but when it gets this cold and I have a purpose for being outside then I’m not so sure about it anymore lol.  I do know one thing is for sure, I’m gonna need some bike gloves.  I didn’t get them because they were a little much and I have bills to pay but now I think they are really important for my ride.  Especially when it becomes really cold and it hurts to hold the rubber grips on the handlebars.

Normally when I go bike riding I wear a regular t-shirt and a pair of shorts.  I don’t wear pants or a jacket because it gets too hot for that.  Even when it’s cold outside I still sweat in them.  And the ride is so long that my head is usually soaking wet.  Which is also not good when it’s this cold outside because it could cause me to catch a very bad cold.  I’m going to have to wait until it’s at least in the 60’s outside.  That’s what the temp usually has been the last few weeks that I’ve been riding and that’s ok.  And perhaps if I have to wait until noon for the temp to be up that high then so be it.  I just don’t want to miss out on riding because it’s too cold.

Presidential Election

On By Michel McDonaldIn Political

I was not going to post anything that has to do with the president at all because people get so uptight when it comes to discussing who our president is.  The Democrats always fight with the Republicans and vice versa and there is never a common ground.  They just get so mad and so this post is not going to spark up a debate.  At least here it’s not because comments are disabled.

The point of this post is to show you how as of this very minute the votes were calculated from the whole USA and of course my county of Kern.  Ok so all you have to do is click the little image and it will open up to full size.