Day 165-Weigh-in Day: 320.6lbs

WEEK 23

Start Weight: 365.4

Last Week's Weight: 316.8

Current Weight: 320.6

This Week’s Weight Loss: +3.8lbs

Total Weight Loss: 44.8lbs

Miles Biked this Week: 14.08

Total Miles Biked: 1419.03

Miles to Go: 6080.97

GEOGRAPHY (Where I'd be on the map having started at my house in Salt Lake City, Utah, heading for Tokyo):

Pacific Ocean (714 miles off the west coast. I am heading for the Hawaiian Islands)

TODAY:

I have been dreading this weigh-in as I know that this week, I did not really do any biking. I have been a little busy, and have had 2 flat tires in a week. Every time I fix my flat tire, The next morning when I got to ride to work, there is no time to fix the tire and go. I finding rose thorns in the tire. Somewhere on my route, I run over rose thorns, and nice long one makes it all the way to the tube. Every Rose Has Thorns!

I find myself in a rut, and I think that I am finding that it is going to take a re-dedication of not to just continuing to move forward…that is fairly easy…but to take my workouts to the next level. I almost feel I need a trainer, or a coach to push me harder and teach me where I need to be going.

Everything I’ve done up to this point is basically from the power I’ve scraped up within, but I think there is a point where you need the help of others to help you get to the next level. Last night while I was watching the Olympics, I saw a story about, Roger Bannister, the first man to run a 4-minute mile. When he actually broke the 4-minute barrier, he was running with his friends to help him keep pace. In his interview he actually said he needed his running pals to run with him, one out in front of him so he could try to keep up with them as he tried to reach his goal.

So, I need to find someone or some people to help me along. Sometimes it’s easy to become complacent. Maybe I should join a bike riders club.

One thing that helps is to be accountable to all of you. I think over the past 5 months I’ve done great…had a few weeks where I’ve had to face up to unproductive weeks, but over all, I’ve made great progress. It’s a great thing to get to report here on this blog. Accountability!

Here’s the reality of my weight…

I have averaged 10 pounds of weight loss every month since March…until now. I should have hit the 50 pound mark 11 days ago, but I am at the 45 pound mark. I’m a little off schedule…but not too bad. It’s time to hit that 50 pound mark and move on. By September 1st, I’ve got to be at the 60 pound mark, and that’s like 3 weeks away. I don’t like to see myself getting behind.

LEARNED:

Here’s a few things that I have learned this week.

1)    Mountain Bike-Riding a mountain bike on the road is okay, but if you want less resistance on the ride, a road bike is the best. I need a road bike.

2)    Clip-in Cleats. I should get clip-in cycling cleats. When you use clip-in cleats, your quads power the downward motion of the pedal, and the hamstrings power the pulling-up motion. So it's not just about pedaling, but about pulling too…pushing and pulling at the same time. I need clip-in cleats.

3)    A Leather Seat. I should get a good ole hard leather seat. When you get a “softer” seat, your butt slides and moves, like a shoe that fits a little loose. Sooner or later with all the motion, and over longer rides, you’ll develop sores and blisters. I have noticed this to be true with my “gel seat.” I need a leather seat.

4)    Long Rides. This past week, a cyclist who has been riding for 7 years, and does hundred-mile rides quite often told me to not focus so much on the hills right now, but rather focus on long distance and being able to stay in the saddle for 6-8 hours at a time. This is what I would need to do to ride to Mount Fuji. He said I should go on long rides, and every week, trying to add another 5-10 miles onto each ride until I am up to 100 miles.

EATING:

I need to put more veggies and fruit in my diet. This is a constant challenge. This does not happen unless:

1.    You have a nice full fridge of fruits and veggies

2.    You plan out your meals every day

This past week my wife needed to prepare dinner for someone in our neighborhood who requested that the meal not have any salt or sugar in it due to their dietary restrictions. I thought, wow, what a bummer. She prepared Grilled Chicken on our George Forman grill, steamed broccoli and brown rice, with some sugar free ice cream. It was actually a meal we eat often in our house, so I realized that we were eating low sodium/sugar quite often, and as you know, not as bad as it sounds.

FILM:

Stand by…

P.S. You probably noticed that we didn’t do the “Giveaway Tuesday” this past Tuesday. I didn’t have anyone the week before enter the drawing. I’ve got to work on promoting my blog a little better so that you folks will want to come back and win some free stuff. I will figure out how to do this. 

I ride by some apartments quite often called, "Mallard Crossing." Now I know why.
This was literally a few blocks from the apartments.