Tag: wheel

Why Can’t I Lose Weight?

On By Michel McDonaldIn Diet, Health2 Comments

I don’t understand why I’m not able to lose weight.  I have changed my diet completely, I have basically done a 180° and yet I still can’t lose weight.

I stopped drinking soda, coffee and tea and I only drink water but that didn’t make any difference because I’m still gaining.  I stopped making pasta meals and started eating more veggies and sometimes only eat veggies and yet that hasn’t made any difference because I’m still gaining.

I haven’t started exercising though because I’m in too much pain.  If I had a back wheel for my bicycle then I would be able to ride my bike, although it has a weight limit of 250lbs and I’m 258 now so I would probably have to wait a bit to do that.  I tried walking but I get back pain after like 5 minutes then I have to sit down.  I have degenerative disc disease in my spine which makes it very difficult to do anything really.

I am seeing the doctor this week on Thursday and I know he’s going to bitch at me for not losing weight again this month.  But nobody can say I haven’t tried because I have made the change to my diet.  Until I can get an easier way to exercise, I’m kinda stuck.

A New Hope For My Bike

On By Michel McDonaldIn Bike, Cycling, Diet, ExerciseLeave a comment

I was at the grocery store yesterday and I ran into a guy who I gave my old bike seat to when I bought my ergo bike seat.  We were talking about bikes and he asked if I was riding and I told him about the saga of my back wheel drama and he told me that he has an old mountain bike that he was using for parts with a back wheel that I can have (HAVE!).

The bike store was going to charge me $40 for the wheel and $10 to install it and most likely there will be taxes and chances are it’s going to be $55 or so which I can’t afford.  I haven’t had a bike in 6 months or so to even ride to the store, I’ve been walking everywhere so this will be great.

He told me he has to dig it out because it’s in the garage and I’m sure it’s deep in there so I’m not expecting it any time soon but it does give me some hope that some day I might return to the bike trail.

I know it’s a “don’t keep your hopes up” type of thing and I’m not but at the same time it gives me a glimmer of hope at least.  I won’t be holding my breath or counting down the days and I don’t expect much since he’s giving it to me for free, I really don’t even know if it will fit either so there’s that.  He said it was for a mountain bike and mine is a mountain bike so I told him it has to be a 26 inch wheel and he said he would check or bring it on by the house to compare.

Also there is a good chance that the gears might not be the same gears.  If it doesn’t have the same, what’s it called?  A cassette?  If it’s not the same then perhaps I might have trouble, or I can bring it to the bike store and say here, let me pay you that $10 to remove this from this and put it on that.

I really hope that it does happen because I really need to get my fat arse back out there and make it smaller.  And actually my bike has a weight limit of 250lbs which I am over so I’ll probably have to veg out for a week to lose 10lbs at least so I can start riding it.  God forbid I break the bike with my fat arse lol.

Wish me luck!

The Situation With My Bike

On By Michel McDonaldIn Cycling, ExerciseLeave a comment

A couple of months ago my bike bit the dust. Well, the back wheel did. What happened was, I rode it to the store and all was ok, it started wobbling but not enough for me to stop and take notice. When I left the store, I unlocked my bike, put the groceries in the bag on the back rack and left. That’s when it took a turn for the worst. Get it? It’s a wheel… it took a “turn”… no?

Anyway, as I was leaving the space that I locked it up at, I got on it and started riding away. It was wobbling something terrible and I got off of it but couldn’t see anything wrong. I got back on it and continued to ride. All of a sudden something terrible happened and I had to get off the bike.

The sun was going down so it was hard to see what was wrong but I did notice that the long screw that holds the wheel onto the bike in the middle had unscrewed all the way over on the left side. The nuts on the right side were missing and so was everything else that was supposed to be in there. I didn’t see anything on the ground so I don’t know when that happened.

I walked the bike home which was a huge mistake, I should have gone across the street from where I was to use Chips cousins phone to have him come get me and the bike because walking it home ruined the back wheel.

The end of the long screw was digging into the middle of the wheel which screwed it up so much that the bike store told me that they can’t fix my wheel, I’d have to buy a new one which is $39.95 plus tax plus $7 to install.

I don’t know if by install they mean they will take the gears (cassette?) off my old wheel and put them on the new wheel or if he means that the new wheel has all the gears on it and installing means placing it on my bike frame. All I know is if it’s the latter, why should I pay someone $7 to do something that I can do for free.

I have put so much money into this mountain bike of mine, I just can’t keep sinking more and more money into it. The only original thing that is left on it is the frame and the chain. Everything else has been replaced.

When I had my first accident on the Oak st. bridge, I had to replace the handlebar stem and a new front wheel. I had to replace the pedals because one of them was broken because it was cheap plastic. My seat was making me impotent so I had to buy an ergo seat which gave me back problems and shoulder pain that wouldn’t go away for 8 months which is why I had to replace the handlebars with beach cruiser handlebars. My front tire got a bubble in it and broke the wiring for my bike computer so I had to buy a new computer and new tires.

I’m just going to get the new wheel and get it over with. I need my bike back for going to doctors appointments. I refuse to take the bus to visit the doctor with lunatics getting in my face at the bus station downtown. I also need it for the daily trip to the grocery store and so I can get back on the bike trail and lose this weight.

Drunk Bus Station People

On By Michel McDonaldIn Doctor, Health, PeopleLeave a comment

Since Darrin is working now and my bicycle is missing a wheel, I have to take the bus to my doctors appointments and anywhere else that is too far to walk. I don’t mind taking the bus, in fact, I recommend it to anyone because it’s green.

Unfortunately, our city has a station in Downtown Bakersfield where all the busses come.  If you have to transfer then you just go downtown and walk over to your next bus. If it’s there great, if not wait.

So I took the bus to my doctor’s appointment, all is well with bus travel. I leave and have to go to the bus station to transfer to the 2. It’s not there so I have to wait.

I’m sitting in one of the seats waiting and the number 2 (going in the opposite direction that I need to go) comes and people get off. I hear a guy taking his bike off the bike rack in the front and turn around and look at how nice his bike is and watch him struggle to put the rack up.

Out of nowhere, another guys face is literally 1 inch away from my face. He said “why were you looking at me just now?” and I could smell the beer on his breath. “I wasn’t looking at you, I was looking at the guy taking his bike off the rack” as if I owe him an explanation.

He backs away and sits across from me, staring at me.

Uncomfortable, I get up and walk 40 feet away. I’m staring off into the distance so that it doesn’t appear that I’m looking at anyone or anything in particular. I don’t want to get accused of looking at anyone again.

I feel like I’m being watched and I turn around and he’s sitting down 2 feet behind me.

Are you serious?

He comes up to me, again 1 inch from my face but whispers into my ear “I bet you watch anus videos all day long, don’t you?” I smell the beer on his breath and it is not pleasant.

“Uh, no, I don’t think so” I say to him with a dirty look on my face. Trying to convey to him that he has the wrong impression of me and hoping he’ll leave me alone.

I’m trying not to look at him, not even for a second and he tries to start a conversation with me but I’m giving him 1 word answers, trying to let him know that I am uninterested in talking to him.

He asks if I have a badge.  Why are people always asking me if I’m a cop?  I mean seriously!  Does a Lego Indiana Jones t-shirt scream cop?  No, it screams video game geek.  I tell him “I don’t have a badge, if I did have a badge it would say ‘The Nerd Herd’” (you know from Chuck) and he laughed and said “well at least your honest.”

He’s asking me questions and finally I said “Look, I don’t want to get into a fight with you, I just want to go home” but apparently that was the wrong thing to say because now he starts laughing as if I just told the funniest joke. “You think you can take me HAHAHAHA that is so funny because I will kick your ass so hard….”

I just walked away. I figured, he’s not going to just let me walk away and wait for my bus, no he’s going to stalk me until my bus comes. And for all I know he might get on the bus and follow me home. Then he would know where I live. I can’t have that. So I left.

I left the bus station altogether. I just kept walking until I got to the corner that City Hall is on right next to the police station. Not to go make a complaint, the bus stops there.

I didn’t have to wait long but if he were on that bus I would’ve hoofed it all the way to the house which is about 25 blocks. My leg is still injured and walking to that bus stop which was about 5 blocks was causing a lot of pain but I would rather suffer a bit of leg pain to avoid that guy knowing where I live.

What makes people do things like that? I looked at the time on my cell phone when he was harassing me and it was only 11am and he’s already piss drunk. I don’t understand alcoholism.

First of all, I don’t know if he was hitting on me or if he was trying to find a gay person to beat up. You can never tell anymore what someones motives are. He didn’t look like a typical gay person, he looked like a typical red neck which Bakersfield is most known for.

And if he was gay trying to get a piece of this action (yeah right, that’s hilarious) why wasn’t he a little nicer about it? I mean seriously, you catch more flies with honey that with vinegar.

Anyway, I NEED to either get my bike fixed or get a new bike before my next appointment because I am NOT taking the bus again. Period! End of discussion.

My New Leg Injury

On By Michel McDonaldIn Doctor, Exercise, Health, HumorLeave a comment

I’m sitting here in my room reading “Official Book Club Selection, a Memoir According to Kathy Griffin” on my Nook and I hear the ice cream truck. Darrin hears it too and he tells me to go stop him. I opened the door and saw he’s already across the street, he says run to stop him.

I’m in my bare feet and I’m running and waving like a maniac. They aren’t looking in the rear view mirror either. I think they get off on that.

I pass about 6 houses and figure they aren’t going to look in the mirror and they are driving the same speed that I am running which means, I have to pick up speed to catch up.

That’s when it goes horribly wrong. I pick up speed and just then “POP” my left calf makes this popping sound and I can feel the pop too. Crack one of your knuckles, that’s the popping sound that I heard.

I immediately had to stop because my calf tightened up, sort of like a Charley horse. Not only could I not continue running but I can’t even walk, heck, I couldn’t even stand up straight. My left leg hurts like hell when I have it straight like my right leg. The only way my leg is comfortable is if it’s lifted up in the back, like I’m on crutches. The tendon is tightened so that it hurts when I straighten my leg out.

I look towards our house to see if Darrin has come out of the house to come to me as if I had stopped the truck and he sees me bent over and I used a sort of sign language, as if I’m mimeing like I’m driving a car but rocking the wheel too far to the left and right. That was my way of saying, get in the car and come get me.

He’s not coming and I’m standing there with my leg bent back, I can’t go anywhere but I start hobbling towards the house. I saw the white car coming around the corner and he stops at where I’m at and opens the door and I painfully got in.

He drove to where the Ice Cream truck is because I’ll be damned if I hurt myself in vain. He gets our “Mama Flip” ice creams which is soft serve in a cup with chocolate syrup and sprinkles.

We come home and I’m not only about ready to throw up but I’m also about ready to pass out. He goes in the house to get the crutches that we have had since his mother broke her leg in 2000 and I go in the house with the intentions of laying down with some ice on it with hopes it will get better. It’s not getting better.

I went to WebMD.com and looked it up and it tells me to immediately go seek medical help so we went to the E.R. where I sat for about 3 1/2 hours waiting for them to call me. After 1/2 hour I told Darrin to go home, I’d call him. No sense in both of us being bored and losing internet time lol.

The doctor couldn’t do an emergency MRI or even x-rays but he bends my leg back and forth and moves my foot and he gives me his diagnosis which I couldn’t remember (remember that I have a learning disorder?) but all I can say is he thinks I must have torn a muscle which is what I figured out right when it happened.

He tells me to rest and put ice on it for 15-20 minutes several times per day for the first 3-4 days then after that replace the ice with heat. He also gave me a prescription for Motrin and a muscle relaxer. I can’t say the name of it because I can’t read his writing lol. I have some ibuprofen from when I had the neck and shoulder pain so I can take that until we can get to the pharmacy tomorrow (followed by Subway or Panda, you know, while we’re there lol).

I have to report to my doctor in the next 1-2 weeks to let him know what happened and maybe perhaps get an x-ray or MRI done if it’s still hurting by then. Oh and I get to be on crutches for a while too which in a way is a good thing because now I don’t have to take the dog out, I can’t if I’m on crutches (wicked evil grin).

Unfortunately, I can’t count on Darrin to do the dishes for me and when I make dinner he’ll have to bring it to me. If I leave dinner up to him we’ll be eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for a while. Or soup, he loves making soup lol.

I was afraid I would miss my shows but when I got home it was some hometown sports show plus the Closer is on tonight instead of my Sunday night Fox cartoons. Oh well, I’m glad I didn’t miss them but it would’ve been nice to know they weren’t going to be on so I wouldn’t have been stressing about miss them during my 3 1/2 hour wait time lol.

Anyway, so I’m off to go rest and ice my leg.

My Bike Wheel

On By Michel McDonaldIn Cycling, ExerciseLeave a comment

It has been over a month since my back wheel decided it didn’t want me to ride my bike anymore. I was riding the store and all of a sudden it started getting wobbly but I dismissed it. By the time I left the store I had noticed that it was getting really bad so I got off the bike and saw the problem. The long screw holding the wheel onto the frame had unscrewed to the left. I don’t know why but it did and everything on the right side fell out. All the nuts are gone and the ball bearings, everything is missing.

Chips cousins girlfriend told me that her tenant fixes bikes but I didn’t know him and I would rather just go to the bike shop. Well, we never made time to go and my bike has been sitting in the patio all this time while I’ve had to walk to the store every day.

So yesterday I was walking by her house and went to the door and was talking to her and we decided to ask him about fixing the wheel and I brought the wheel to him and told him I would bring him the money to fix it. He said without looking at it that it might only cost $2-4 to fix it and I told him if it’s that cheap I will give you $20.

I brought him $20 this morning and he said whoa wait, don’t pay me until after I fixed it. Well, I didn’t want him to have to pay for the parts then I end up running out of money and not be able to pay him until November and I wanted my bike back sooner than later.

He took me to where my wheel was sitting and showed me something. I didn’t have my camera with me so I couldn’t take a picture but there is an internal problem. When I was riding the bike, or maybe when I had to walk it home, that long screw had started scraping on the inside of the wheel. So now there is a huge dent from that which will probably prevent him from being able to fix it at all.

He told me that if he can fix all that then he will but he doesn’t even know if he can so he gave me the $20 back and said if I can’t fix it you’re gonna have to go buy a new wheel.

If he can’t fix the wheel then that’s fine, I’ll just get it back from him because I don’t want to have to buy a new tire again, Darrin bought me the tire that is on that wheel and it matches my front tire lol.

I’m not in that much of a hurry to get it back BUT I would like to ride my bike to the store again you know? It’s faster when I’m in a hurry, especially late at night when they are closing in 15-20 minutes. Also, I’d like to get back on the bike to get my exercise again.

Lohan Back on Twitter with Traffic Safety Tips

On By Michel McDonaldIn Amplify, Celebrities, NewsLeave a comment

Poor Lindsay, she can’t catch a break. She Tweets about the Paparazzi and she gets a full spread in the today shows gossip website.

Listen to me, poor Lindsay HA! Even though I think she deserves to still be in jail I still feel sorry for her. I miss the old Lindsay and hope she returns to us one of these days.

Amplify’d from scoop.newsvine.com

Lohan back on Twitter with traffic safety tips

Lindsay Lohan has only been out of rehab for less than 48 hours and it didn’t take long for the starlet to return to Twitter — and she’s offering up safety tips when it comes to getting behind the wheel, Access Hollywood reports.

“Clearly.. Paparazzi shouldn’t be allowed to take pictures or video while someone’s driving or at a stop light. 4every1′s sake #trafficpolice,” Lohan on Thursday afternoon.

Her Twitter followers last heard from her on July 19 when she asked another tweeter if he owned an iPad.

As previously reported on AccessHollywood.com, the 24-year-old actress had her driver’s license reinstated on Monday. Lohan was spotted at a Los Angeles-area DMV on Wednesday, where she was required to show proof of insurance in order to get her license back.

To see Lindsay behind the wheel following her rehab stint, click here!

Read more at scoop.newsvine.com

See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/9d52

Goodbye Bicycle

On By Michel McDonaldIn CyclingLeave a comment

Well so much for exercise.  I went to the grocery store and as soon as I got on the bike to come home something felt a little strange with the chain.  I rode in front of the store from where I locked my bike at and tried to fiddle with the pedals to find out why the chain was giving me trouble but I couldn’t figure it out.

So I was fine to ride to the street I turn right on but then it started acting a little strange, the wheel didn’t feel right, it was wobbling.  I got off the bike in the middle of the street and had to walk it over to the sidewalk.  At first I thought the townie basket was coming off and was pushing against the wheel so I took the heavy groceries out.  That wasn’t it.

I still didn’t see it because the sun was almost finished going down so it was too dark to see, but then I saw it.  The bolt that goes all the way through the wheel was sticking out too far on the left.  The 2 nuts on the ride side were gone, I don’t even know what happened to those.  So since there was no long bolt to hold on to the frame on the right side the wheel couldn’t keep me balanced since it was only holding on the left side.

I had to walk the rest of the way home carrying 1 heavy grocery bag on my left hand and 1 light but still annoying grocery bag on my right hand while both hands held onto the handlebars.  The entire time I was walking the back wheel was rubbing against the brakes and making this awful noise which I can’t explain how it sounded.  Well, it sounded like some deep voiced animal either dying or giving birth.

I have 2 missing bolts and no idea where they are and no money until next week to be able to do anything about it.  It’s not going to be expensive, well, I don’t think it will be.  I mean it’s just a matter of screwing the bolt centered again and buying 2 nuts right?  Maybe?  I’m sure the nuts aren’t too expensive at Home Depot or maybe the bike store has them cheap.  Or who knows, maybe I have to bring the back wheel to the bike store and have them fix it and charge me $20 for it.

I wonder how this happened.  Last weekend when I rode the bike on my 22 mile trip I tightened everything .  In fact I did a full maintenance job on the entire bicycle to get it ready to ride with no issues.  How in the heck could that bolt screw itself all the way to the left?  It doesn’t make any sense at all.

Whatever, it doesn’t matter.  I’ll get it fixed and everything with be fine… blah blah blah.

Update 2011-01-28: As of this date I still do not have a new back wheel.  I just can’t afford it.

My Interesting Ride Today

On By Michel McDonaldIn Bike, Cycling, ExerciseLeave a comment

I went on my ride this morning but I found that I had a few problems.

  • As I was riding the bike I got to where Kaiser Permanente hospital is and their lights were shining on me and I went to look at the computer to see what time it was and to see how fast I was going with my new tires and seat but the screen was blank.  So I pulled over to find out what the issue was.  When I put the wheel back on the front fork I put it on backwards so my magnet was on the wrong side of the wheel lol.  So I put it on the correct side and spun the wheel but it still didn’t work.  It’s because of what my pimpled front tire did to the computer wire, it stripped it so there are wires that are exposed so it doesn’t work now.  So today I have no reference of how fast I was going or how many calories I burned.
  • When I left the house I didn’t notice that my back wheel had a bump to it.  As I was riding on the bike trail I could feel the bump and I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to do about it because it’s a brand spanking new tire.  When Darrin bought me the new tires he also bought me new tubes that had the presta valves.  My front wheel is brand new (26×2.00) but my back wheel (26×1.95) is the original wheel on the bike so since they are both different sizes they both won’t accept presta valve because the presta valve tubes have this big ring under the valve.  The regular tubes that you buy don’t so I just had to change the tube on the bike trail then all was good.
  • And now my new seat lol.  Yesterday when I first put the new seat on I rode it down the street then had to come back to adjust it.  Then I rode around a bit and had to make an adjustment here and there and I thought I had it all worked out but I guess I didn’t.  So on my bike ride this morning I think I pulled over 3 times to make adjustments.  I finally got it to a comfortable position.  I had to raise my handlebars though because even though the instructions are to lower the seat by 1 inch I did that yesterday and my legs were bending too much so I put it back so today all I had to do was raise the handlebars and that fixed that issue.

Since my computer didn’t work today I’m going to have to write down an old time when I used to go 16 miles so I can at least have something to write down.  I’ll have to fix that wire today so that I can use it tomorrow.

“The Bicycle Seat” website that I got the new seat from say to give it at least 3 weeks and considering I’ve already given my old seat and the gel cover to a neighbor I have no choice but to give it 3 weeks lol.  I can’t ride any other way.  But I do want to give it some time to get used to because I’m not numb today in the naughty parts but my butt is killing me lol.  My arms are killing me too ugh.

New Tires For My Bike

On By Michel McDonaldIn BikeLeave a comment

We went to Sports Authority today when Darrin came home from work and he bought me 2 new tires so I don’t just have a replacement for the front wheel but one for each.  He said when you buy tires for a car you don’t just buy 1, you buy 4.  Good thing I didn’t need 4 because these tires were $20 each.  Plus he bought me 2 new tubes even though I just bought 2 new tubes.  But the ones that I just bought can be backup for these lol.

Edit: I would just like to add that the new tubes that Darrin bought me to go with these new tires were difficult as HELL to pump air into lol.  They have “Presta Valve” which means I gotta start using my Nashbar pump again lol.  The pump I am referring to is the pump I bought from Nashbar.com, it’s not a nashbar brand.  Anyway, it has both regular and presta so I can use that now.  The reason I haven’t been using it is because it wasn’t working with the regular tubes, it was always letting the air out while I was pumping so I could only get 20PSI into the tires with that pump.  I had to go to my old pump to put 60PSI into my tires.

Anyway, with the “nashbar” pump it took me forever to put the air into them.  I should be in bed by now asleep and in dream land but instead I’m still awake.  It’s almost 11pm and here I am blogging about how I’m still awake.  UGH!