Has anyone taken up Bycyling?

[mbsbike2002 0]

J - That sounds like an awesome class. Something I need to look into as well.

HP - Thanks. I'm hoping that I can get it down below two-fitty by Tuesday AM. Also, thank you for the SS gift; it came in the mail yesterday!

TX - Very cool. Our "office" has also been turned into a workout room. We have the treadmill, bike trainer and bowflex in there. The wife was all pissed this morning, 'cause she wanted to hang something to dry. For the first time ever, there's not a piece of gear that's not used nearly every day.

What kind of trainer system do you have? I'm not real thrilled with the one I bought and I was considering taking it back for a different one.

B

[mbsbike2002 0]

Okay, so today was going to be a nice 11 mile ride. It was a beautiful afternoon. Nary a cloud in the sky, about 54, with a nice freshening breeze off the lake. I loaded Buttercup up on her spiffy new Thule tray-style rack (no hanging from the tube for my girl), and we set off for the parking lot of the Nebbie Williams Elementary School, which is the start and end point for "Tour de les Shores". I unloaded her in the parking lot, got my gear on and situated, and decided that I would practice a couple of starts and stops before heading out onto the road. (Let me know if you've heard this one before...)

I slipped my shoe onto the right pedal and gave a nice push. I lifted the left leg up, slipped it onto the pedal with out any issues, and rode a lap or two around the parking lot. I slowed towards a stop, slipped my feet off the pedals and came to a complete stop in the upright and not battered position. Thinking that surely this must be a fluke, I tried again, with similar successful results. Thank god(dess) for platform pedals :eek:...

Feeling full of pluck and ready for a nice ride, I departed Nebbie's parking lot (got to love old southern names like Nebbie), and proceeded on my tour of "The Shores," a subdivision along the lake. About 2.5 miles in, I decided that I would like a nice refreshing taste of my Nuun beverage, reached back to get a water bottle, and realized that in my haste, I left both bottles on the back bumper of Grover (the land rover). My first thought (after "well, eff me raw!") was that the ride was over, and I should consider it better than Friday's effort.

But, then I thought... "Over? Did you say 'over'? Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? Hell, no! And it ain't over now!!!" So, I continued to pedal my thirsty ass up and down and up and down the goddamned hills and rode almost all of my entire predetermined route.

I did encounter two problems on my route - first was a hill with a 15% grade. I might have made it up in granny gear, but there was a truck behind me that didn't want to go around. Made me two nervous to do the weaving climb thing. I did the walk of shame for about 100 yards to the crest. Second, my route called for me to ride about 1/4 mile on a 4 lane divided boulevard. When I scoped out the route, there wasn't any traffic. Today, there was a lot of traffic. Since that 1/4 mile is almost all uphill, I decided that the best approach was to turn back and add some miles somewhere else.

Total elapsed moving time 55 minutes. Total distance travelled 10.3 miles. Total climb 679 feet. I would have ridden some more, but I was one thirsty guy...

I also forgot to turn on the recording feature of my HRM, so I can't share the graph of my incipient heart attack with you. Maybe tomorrow...

Bike on...

B

[TexasFire 84]

Ha! To get hubby to buy the gym, I had to vow that I would never hang clothes on it! LOL Honestly, I really think it will get used way too much for that. My trainer is a Travel Trac Century V Fluid Plus. I tried a magnetic in the store and just didn't care for it. I still have to figure out what I want to do with the adjustment lever, because I don't want it permanently mounted on my handlebar. Just letting it sit there on the bar seems to work fine, though...so I may just leave well enough alone. This way I can pop her off the trainer pretty quick and take her outside for a good spin.

[TexasFire 84]

B - Which lake are you riding on?

[mbsbike2002 0]

Ha! To get hubby to buy the gym, I had to vow that I would never hang clothes on it! LOL Honestly, I really think it will get used way too much for that. My trainer is a Travel Trac Century V Fluid Plus. I tried a magnetic in the store and just didn't care for it. I still have to figure out what I want to do with the adjustment lever, because I don't want it permanently mounted on my handlebar. Just letting it sit there on the bar seems to work fine, though...so I may just leave well enough alone. This way I can pop her off the trainer pretty quick and take her outside for a good spin.

I've got the Blackburn Ultimate - It's got some kind of centrifugal clutch thing going on, but it's not very smooth at lower RPM (kind of like the magnetic). I'm thinking about taking it back and getting a fluid trainer - should be much smoother.

B - Which lake are you riding on?

Lake Ray Hubbard. The neighborhood that I'm riding in is about 2 miles from our house, so I can get there quickly. There are a couple of sections that I can go for over a mile without stopping, and there are some good hills (for me at least) to get some hill legs going. I have so much more power for climbing on the recumbent than on the upright (I'm not coordinated enough to stand), and last time I did good leg workouts, I could leg press about 600-700 pounds (It's been a few years, but I could probably get back there pretty quickly).

When you ride your long rides, where do you ride them? I'm not confident enough to ride alone on most of the roads out here in the sticks (I've been known to go 100+ on the hwy in front of our house, and I'm not alone in that), and I'm not a big fan of riding a bunch of laps on a short-ish course. I figure I can get to about 20 miles around here before I have to find a new source for longer rides.

B

[TexasFire 84]

Hearing crickets again...

Where is everyone? :cry

[mbsbike2002 0]

Hopefully J's getting a chance to enjoy her time with Alison. Everybody else seems to be a little sparse this weekend...

Someone a few houses away is smoking up a briskett. Makes me so hungry (and sad that I cannot have any smoked meat...)

B

[hoosierpoms 0]

b...why Cant you have smoked meat? ??

[mbsbike2002 0]

Even before my fill on Friday, the only way to get meat down (no matter how finely chopped and thoroughly chewed) was to load it up with fatty or sugary sauces. The smallest amount got stuck. With my fill, even my Protein Shakes are getting a little stuck...

B

[TexasFire 84]

Okay, B...what are you eating if you can't have any meat whatsoever? I usually have the same problem with things getting stuck all the time, and I haven't had a fill for a long time...I think at least two months. I still try...and still get stuck...and it really pisses me off when I can't eat the simplest things. Makes hubby feel bad, too, when we are out to eat and he's chowing down and I can't get past the second bite. It is really getting frustrating.

[mbsbike2002 0]

When I'm doing well with the band, and the weight is coming off, I drink about 1200 kcal/day of Protein beverages. At home, I have:

1/3 cup Hood Carb Countdown milk

1/3 cup pasteurized egg whites

6 ice cubes

1 scoop Designer whey chocolate protein

3 tsp coffee (decaf or full caf, depending on time of day)

3 or 4 tsp unsweetened cocoa or Hershey's Special Dark Blend (best stuff ever)

2 packets equal

All blended up in the blender

and, viola - closest thing I have found to a Starbucks Mocha Frappuccino, but no sugar and only about 200 kcal.

Other than that, the Atkins ready-to-drink shakes or Isopure ready-to-drink zero carb drinks.< /p>

On the other hand, almost anything bad for me will go right down - potatoes, aforementioned starbucks, gooey sugary things.

I can get meat down that's in Soups, but all of the sodium makes me bloated...

I get frustrated, too. I thought that the band would let me have small quantities of normal foods, but not so much. For me, it seems to be all or nothing. Once I get to goal, I will have a complete unfill and slowly learn how to eat again. By then, exercise will be so fully inculcated into my life, that I should be able to eat damn near anything and maintain.

B

[TexasFire 84]

Wow, almost pure liquids? I would die! But I must say that your shake recipe sounds yummy and I will be trying it in the morning. Thanks for sharing that.

Yeah, the junk goes down fine for me, too. Like the Drumstick ice cream cone that hubby just brought home for me and I promptly ate! He is such a saboteur! LOL

Yes, exercise is so ingrained me now that I hope that I NEVER have the chance to regain the weight.

[mbsbike2002 0]

Yes. Every once in a while, I'll give myself a treat and have some Soup with extra meat chopped up in it.

The approach that I have been trying to take for the last few weeks (and it seems to be working okay) is that i can have as many Protein Drinks in a day as I need. If I think I'm hungry, but don't want a Protein Shake, then I probably am not really hungry. Usually works out to 1,000-1,200 calories a day. This works real well at home, not as much at work, hence the need for a fill...

I would be soooooooo pissed if my wife brought home something like that for me. Thankfully, she's not really into sweets, though. She did just make a sugar-free, low-fat chocolate cheesecake though. There's about 150kcal per slice, and even before the fill, I could get maybe 1/3 to 1/2 a slice down. It's very, very good. I'll have to wait a few weeks to have some (if there's any left :eek: ).

B

[mbsbike2002 0]

Yes, exercise is so ingrained me now that I hope that I NEVER have the chance to regain the weight.

Exercise seems to be the key. The last time I lost any appreciable amount of weight was the fall of 2002. I lost 30 pounds in 3 months (the same rate as now). I ate ~3,000kcal a day of hamburger patties and butter (go adkins), and i rode the exercise bike very vigorously for an hour a day and went to lift weights 3-4 times a week.

I worked from home, so I could strictly control the foods to which I was exposed. We moved from Boston in January, and within a few months, I had gained 20 of the pounds back - I was still eating okay, but I couldn't work out at lunch time as I had been doing during the previous several months.

Similarly, between mid-June and my surgery, I lost 20ish pounds - all from riding the bike - my diet wasn't that good (too many "last meals")...

Already, my attitude about exercise has changed so much. I get really grouchy about not being able to ride as much or do some of the other things while I finish the last two weeks of this semester. Before, I wouldn't have really given a crap. By the time I get to goal, it will be as much a part of me as breathing (or, eating).

I've also decided that once I get below 240, I will start the couch to 5K program. I don't have any desire to run (cycling is my thing), but it's great cross training and a good interval training regimen as well. My wife was trying to talk me out of it (hard on the joints, etc - which I do get), and I was getting all pissy - funny how roles change...

Anyway, I'm going to go curl up with my puppy (who is very skilled at making me fall asleep).

Goodnight all!

B

[babygrl1234 6]

Hey all. Hope you all had a Merry Christmas. Sorry for going on hiatus for so long, I had a lot of shizz going on.

I have been pretty much a food and exercise wreck. No working out. Eating huge amounts of crap. I had to sit myself down after Christmas and get real honest with myself.

It is pretty obvious that I am addicted to sugar. Addicted as a drug addict is to his drugs. I can't just have a little bit. This was really brought to light when I was polishing up a huge (think 1 lb size) bag of M&Ms. I was so sick to my stomach yet I kept popping those bitches in my mouth as if I could not get enough. I have been doing a lot of research on it and it seems that I just have to get myself off the stuff. I am now on day three and feeling mighty shitty. Pretty much everything has sugar in it. It basically fucking sucks. But I am not going to be able to lose anymore weight if I don't get off the candy crack. I have read that it takes about 4 days of withdrawal and then on the 5th day you feel much better. Well after today I will be halfway there. I really think I understand now how difficult it is for an alcoholic.

Anyhow that has been my past few days. I have enjoyed the biking adventure, and I am way jealous of y'all down there. Ican'y wait until it warms up here.