Category: Cycling

Discouraging

On By Michel McDonaldIn Cycling, Diet, ExerciseLeave a comment

I bought my new bike wheel on April 13th, I think.  My first ride was on April 14th so I’m going to assume it’s the 13th when I got the wheel.  I have 2 weeks worth of riding in my log which technically is only 3 days per week.  But in those 2 weeks I haven’t lost 1lb.  It’s a bit discouraging when you ride so far and get no results from it.

I guess in all fairness I wouldn’t lose the weight so easily with only 3 days per week but I’ve just stared exercising again so it’s not going to be easy on my legs to just get back into the routine again.  I mean, when I first started riding last year I only rode for half a mile before my legs were just killing me because I hadn’t ridden in so many years.  And it took me 2 weeks just to get to the point where I was riding for 6 miles a day.  Then I went up to 10 miles a day then next thing you know I was able to ride 18 miles.  That of course was only 2 days that I did that.  I knew it was too much so I went back to 10 miles per day.

My point is that I’ve started up again going 10 miles a day instead of easing myself into it.  So it’s a bit discouraging that 30 miles a week gives me no results.

That first week that I was riding Darrin got his check on that Friday so he wanted to go to Hometown Buffet on Sunday for dinner when he got off work.  Then the very next day was his day off and he took me to China Town Buffet.  Oh and plus we went to Taco Bell.  I knew I wasn’t going to lose weight that first week but come on, the buffets and Taco Bell were a bit much for someone who is working so hard to lose weight.

The 2nd week I wasn’t even trying hard enough to eat right.  I’d have a bowl of cereal for breakfast or some days just toast then go ride and eat a Tiger’s Milk bar when I got to the half hour mark when I took my break to give me the strength and energy to get back home.  But then I’d come home and I was so hungry that I’d end up eating 2 sandwiches.  Some days I’d eat a whole box of Macaroni and Cheese (cooked of course duh lol).  That’s definitely not good for trying to lose some weight.

I’ve taken the last 2 days off.  The day before yesterday I took off because I had ridden 2 days in a row and my legs just needed a break.  Then that day I couldn’t breathe through my nose so I took yesterday off thinking I was coming down with a cold but I was fine.  I’m still a little stuffed up.  But I’m taking today off too because it’s Chips day off.  Plus our dog doesn’t seem to be doing too well for some reason.  I don’t know whats wrong with her.  She might be constipated or she might be sick.  We can’t take her to the vet so we’re watching her.

This week I have to really focus on what I eat and I have to try hard to get motivated to ride because I don’t want to be discouraged.  I need to lose this weight.  We’re talkin 90lbs here that I have to lose.  I have to try so hard to eat less to shrink my stomach so that I get full faster so I don’t overeat.  I’m going to try the best that I can.  I don’t have any money until Friday though so I have to eat what we got in the house.  I’m going to buy a head of lettuce though to try to eat some salad for lunch today and maybe for dinner too.  That should help start getting my stomach smaller.

I think one of the things that is stopping me is the stress from thinking about it too hard.  They say that stress raises your Cortisol levels which makes it harder to lose the weight.  I’ve been documenting my every move (my rides that is) so maybe that is causing more stress than anything.  Plus the stress every time I weigh myself.  UGH!

I think the new plan should be to write down all the info from the bike computer but not think too much about it.  Try my best to start eating salads and maybe even sliced cucumbers and carrots etc.  Just eat veggies as much as possible to help with my hunger pangs.  And maybe put the scale in the back of the car so Darrin takes it to work with him so I don’t have any way of weighing myself every day.  Just do my weekly weigh in.  Or maybe a month weigh in.  That should help if I only weigh in once a month.

Oh that reminds me.  (I’m sorry, this post is getting too long.)  A few years ago I think I was 212lbs and so I started eating salads.  I wasn’t restricting myself on what I put in it.  I put sliced olives, hard-boiled egg or tuna, cucumbers, carrot and I used the salad mix (not head of lettuce) and I used ranch dressing.  I didn’t weigh myself at all for 3 months and I got down to 170lbs.  All of a sudden I weighed myself and that was the end of the weight loss.  Weighing myself put stress on me to keep losing weight so I was constantly weighing myself and the weight started coming back on.  Maybe I should just act like I’m not trying to lose weight and eat the salads again but not weigh myself ever again lol.

Bicycle

On By Michel McDonaldIn CyclingLeave a comment

I woke up at 7am with the alarm clock with the intention of leaving the house at 8:30am or when Darrin left for work.  But then I realized that I might be getting a package in the mail any day now so I just decided to wait another hour for the mail.  It’s a good thing I did because she left a big package on my doorstep and didn’t even ring the bell.  She just left it there.  If I wasn’t home when she dropped it off then someone could have taken it.  It was the Big City Slider Station from Publishers Clearing House lol.  Yeah I know, I could have gotten it from Wal-Mart but I can pay for it over the next 4 months.  I don’t have the money to spend at Wal-Mart right now.

Before the mail came I thought that I would go to Albertson’s real fast and see what they have in the way of energy bars.  When I get to a certain point my stomach starts hurting because all of a sudden it’s like I’m starving or something.  I don’t know why it does that so I wanted to get some energy bars.  They aren’t too bad I guess, most of them are a bit expensive like $1.50 – $2.  But then I saw the Tiger’s Milk bars which were only .89 cents but they also had a tag that said buy 1 get 1 free.  So I bought 3 of them and got 3 for free.  I’m going to have to go back later and buy 20 more for $10 lol.

So then I went to the bike path and didn’t stop for any rest, I was going to just rest at a Yokuts park just before Beach Park but then I figured that Beach Park is right next to Yokuts park so I might as well just keep going to Beach Park.  When I got there I sat on the cement bench and grabbed my Tiger’s Milk bar and enjoyed it.  My stomach was a little tiny bit hungry but it wasn’t too hungry but this Tiger’s Milk bar filled it.  I sat there for probably 15 minutes then I went on my way back the way I came to come home.

When I got home I took the bicycle computer off and when I opened the back door the dog (toy chihuahua) was jumping up for me to pick her up and I did then I started walking in the door and went to reach for the doorknob to close it and the computer fell out of my hand.  OMG!!!  I picked it up and it was flashing numbers as if I had just taken the battery out and replaced it so it wanted me to set it up.  This means that I had lost all my information.

Luckily I had looked at the info before I got home so I kinda knew what my trip odometer was.  It was about 10 miles which was the same exact amount of miles I went on April 17th so I just wrote down the same miles.  Also I looked at my average speed and it was 12.2 so I wrote that down on my sheet (and in the bike computer stats in the Spark People page).  My time was about the same as April 17th also so I just put 52 minutes and no seconds.  I don’t know how many calories or fat calories that was but I’m not really concerned.  The reason I say that is because going 12.2mph burns more calories than going 11.8mph.  Not that much but still, the numbers wouldn’t be the same.

So that’s it.  Tomorrow I’m going to leave at the same time as Darrin since I’m not expecting anything in the mail.  Well, I did buy him some ties for Church with crosses on them but I’m sure they will be in a small enough package that they can slip it into the big box outside.

Too Hot

On By Michel McDonaldIn CyclingLeave a comment

Well, I’ve decided that I’m going to wait until tomorrow to ride the bike.  I took yesterday off because it was Chips day off but now the weather is getting too hot for me to even want to go riding.  I just don’t feel like it anymore.

This is my issue, if it’s too cold I don’t want to go, if it’s too hot I don’t want to go.  Well, in Bakersfield it’s only normal for a month before summer then a month after the heat dies down before winter.  So I don’t have that many options.

This is what I’m thinking.  Since it’s getting hot outside but it’s cooler in the morning then I’m going to start going out at the same time that Darrin leaves for work.  So I’m going to get up at 8am and have something to eat then at 8:30am when he leaves I will leave too.  I know that I’ve said that before and then it never happened but this is how I’m going to do it starting tomorrow.

I really need this exercise and I don’t want to suffer in the process because of the heat.  I don’t think it’s that healthy to exercise when it’s 100+ outside.  That’s why the gym has the A/C going.

When summer does come though I’m going to have to make a real effort to get up earlier in the morning, like at the crack of dawn to leave the house and get it over with.  There is no way that I’m going to be out when it’s 110-120 outside.  No way.

Actually getting out there early in the morning is probably a very good idea no matter what the temperature is.  I’ve heard from trainers that it’s better to do your work out before you go to work early in the morning.  So, perhaps getting out there early is a smart move.  Maybe this will help me lose weight easier.

Early Bird

On By Michel McDonaldIn CyclingLeave a comment

I was hoping to beat the heat by going out on the bike early like around 10am.  I had my CamelBak filled with 2oz. of water and I had a 1 liter bottle filled to put in the water bottle cage just in case my CamelBak ran out of water.  I was all dressed and ready to go and I turned on my Dell DJ and looked at the screen and it says LOW BATTERY.

Are you kidding me?  That battery is supposed to last I don’t know, something like 8 to 12 hours or something like that.  The last time I used it was Sunday and I was only out for 2 hours, when I came home I turned it off (pausing it stops the music then it shuts off in 5 minutes automatically).  I’m thinking that some how maybe it didn’t shut off automatically and it jut stayed on.

Well, it’s charging and hopefully I’ll be out riding by 12 lol.  It takes a couple of hours to charge.  I don’t care how long it takes as long as I get to go out and be back in time for Stargate SG-1 lol.

Hot Ride

On By Michel McDonaldIn CyclingLeave a comment

Today it was 100 degrees.  Yes, in April it was that hot.  Normally the summer heat begins on May 1st but apparently it was early.  The 5 day forecast says that it’s going to be in the 80’s – 90’s so hopefully it won’t be too bad.

But since it was 100 degrees today it was a test for me to see if I could take it or not.  Apparently I passed because it wasn’t really that bad.  However, there was cool wind so it wasn’t a fair test.  Normally when it’s hot outside the wind is hot so I’m not sure how good of a test it was.

I will find out in either May or June how bad it’s going to be.  But no matter what temperature it is going to be I’m going to tough it out because I really want to lose this weight.

I’m thinking about adding ice packs to the inside of the CamelBak so that it will keep me cool on my back at least.  That will keep me cool and so I won’t die of heat exhaustion and it will keep the water cold in the process.  Luckily there are a lot of shady areas that I can rest in along the bike path in the parks and rest stop at Manor Street.

I just gotta remember to keep sunblock in stock and in my frame bag.  Oh and I’m going to have to reinstall the water cage on the frame to carry an extra bottle of water because today I had to refill my CamelBak with water from a drinking fountain and it tasted like a freakin garden hose.  YUCK!  No thank you, I’d much rather have clean and filtered water.

Sunblock

On By Michel McDonaldIn CyclingLeave a comment

A few years ago when we were working on getting the house by the college ready to sell I bought some sunblock.  I forgot when we started but it was taking far too long.  We were supposed to be finished before summer time so we wouldn’t have to deal with summer but we became extremely lazy.

Well, Summer came and we were working outside most of the time and I have sensitive skin so I bought some sunblock one day before going to the house.  I didn’t know what to buy as far as SPF because I wasn’t clear on all of that.  So I bought 2 kinds.

Hawaiian Tropic Ozone with 70SPF because it was the highest they had.  I figured that this would be for me since my skin burns in minutes compared to most people.

Banana Boat Sport 30SPF for Darrin.  But we didn’t use it all back then so I still have the bottles and it’s a good thing I do because now I need it for the bike.

My arms from my elbows down are really tanned which is surprising that they aren’t constantly in any pain lol.  My face and the top of my bald head get red very fast and easy so I’m going to be using this for my face since I have a skull cap to wear on my ride.

I think for now I’m going to use the Banana Boat Sport 30SPF but when summer comes and it gets really hot I may decide to start using the Hawaiian Tropic Ozone 70SPF just to give me a little added protection against the sun.

It’s too bad an umbrella on the bike would just slow me down LOL.

WD-40 On My Bike

On By Michel McDonaldIn CyclingLeave a comment

First off, I just want to say a big fat DUH! to myself.

I’ve been having trouble with my bicycle shifting gears.  On November 20th I had an accident going up a bridge while standing on the peddles to try to gain speed and the gears shifted and it made me fall.  I had to replace the handlebar and handlebar stem, buy a new computer and a new wheel.  I could have bought a new bike with all the money I spent replacing those parts.

It didn’t occur to me that the reason the bike kept shifting gears while I was riding because it needed some WD-40.  I’ve had bicycles my entire life and not once have I ever had to spray WD-40 on the chain or the gears.  So, now I know and I will keep the WD-40 with all my bicycle tools from now on lol.

DUH!

No Bike Ride Today

On By Michel McDonaldIn CyclingLeave a comment

It is unfortunate but today I couldn’t go on my bike ride.  I’ve been waiting all day for our new tenant to bring the check to keep the house available for him.  He mentioned that he had an appointment at 9:30am and I figured well you know how that goes.  Your appointment is early but you could be there for hours and hours and hours.  I waited 8 hours at a county hospital once and I had an emergency.

So it’s now 1pm and I haven’t gone on my bike ride because I’ve been waiting on this guy.  I would’ve been gone and back 5 times by now.

Although, it is a bit cold out today and the wind is blowing something fierce so that’s another reason why I’ve been waiting for these people to show up before I go out.  But now it’s too late cause I got Stargate SG-1 on at 3pm then Ghost Hunters is on the rest of the night.

Well that’s OK, I’m just gonna say that I missed today for 3 reasons.  The first reason is that my body might need to rest from yesterdays bike ride which is the first in months.  When you are not in shape you aren’t supposed to kill yourself up front lol.

Second, I don’t want to get sick from the wind and the cold.  I’m afraid that the wind is going to blow on my sweat and instead of drying my sweat it will make me colder and then make me sick.

Third my allergies are bad this year.  With the wind blowing as it is, I’m sure a ton of weeds and pollen are going to be blowing in my face causing me to have to pull over constantly to sneeze and blow my nose.

So, because I can’t think of any more lame excuses, tomorrow…

Bike Ride

On By Michel McDonaldIn Cycling, Daily BlogLeave a comment

I just came home from my bike ride and I did almost the same distance that I used to do on my regular bike rides before the accident.  Which means my body was already prepared and ready to go.  I fell 2 miles short of my past typical bike rides were which was fine.

Before my typical average miles were 11 1/2 miles going at an average speed of 11.9+/- miles per hour riding for typically 1 hour burning 550+/- calories and 64+/- fat calories.

So, I just need to get back to that point where I can do that and then some starting today.  Today by the way was 9.273 miles, average speed of 10.6 mph, time was 52 1/2 minutes, calories were 439.2 and fat calories were 43.7.  That’s pretty good, it’s getting close to what I was doing before, almost.

Oh and the camelbak was great.  I had 70oz of iced water in it and when I came home I poured the rest in a big blue cup and it filled it up and those cups are 32oz.  So I drank a little more than half of the water.  When I took it off I noticed that the only places on my shirt that were wet were where the camelbak was like the shoulder straps and my back was wet in the shape of the bag lol.  It looks funny.

And the skull cap was also great.  It kept my face dry and sweat out of my eyes and off of my sunglasses and it kept my helmet strap dry until I got home and by then it was just so soaked that the helmet strap was getting wet.  But that’s fine because my eyes and glasses were dry.

Bad Weather

On By Michel McDonaldIn CyclingLeave a comment

I woke up this morning thinking that I was going to be able to ride my bike then looked out the window and see these dark clouds in the sky and thought dammit, why can’t I catch a break?

But luckily I looked at the weather on Yahoo and it says that it’s going to be cloudy until around noon then it will clear up but it said nothing about rain.

Whew!  So that’s good.  That tells me that I can go on my bike ride, I just have to deal with it being a little cold outside until Noon.  I probably won’t be gone as long as I normally would because my legs are out of practice.