WEEK 68
Start Weight: 365.4
2 Week’s ago Weight: 278
Current Weight: 277.2lbs
This Week’s Weight Loss: .8lbs
Total Weight Loss: 88.2lbs
To Go: 67.2lbs
Miles Biked this Week: 103
Miles Biked last Week: 15
Total Miles Biked: 2707.52
Miles to Go: 4792.48
GEOGRAPHY (Where I'd be on the map having started at my house in
Salt Lake City, Utah, heading for Tokyo):
Pacific
Ocean (1971 miles off the west coast. I am heading for the Hawaiian
Islands which is 2650 miles from San Diego)
Weekly Bike/Workout Totals
Monday: 13.76 miles
Tuesday: 12.72 miles
Wednesday: REST
Thursday: 7.28 miles
Friday: REST
Saturday: 69.33
TODAY:
Well, I am writing this on Monday after my Saturday
weigh-in…
It’s actually been 2 weeks since I officially weighed in
and a lot has happened. I will admit that I didn’t weigh in last week because I
had a terrible week with eating. I would say I took a free week and it spiked
my weight up to about 290lbs! I just ate a lot and ate what ever I wanted.
Seems like that’s the 2nd time I’ve done this recently. I feel bad
for the set back, but I didn’t really feel guilty. It’s just what I felt I
needed to do.
Last week I got back on course and was perfect in all my
eating. I set a new record this week for this season’s riding, logging in 103
miles this week! Most of the mileage came from a 65-mile ride that my brother
Dallin and I went on this last Saturday. It was one of the rides I’ve wanted
to. It was basically riding from my house in Salt Lake City, across the valley,
around South Mountain, and into the next valley to Alpine, the town I grew up
in, and where my mother still lives.
I was talking to my brother a few days before the ride and
he wanted to come along. I was going to ride it solo, but was happy that he
wanted to come do it. Friday night he came over, we went to the store and
stocked up on Gatorade and energy bars, and got ready to ride. I wanted to get
some good sleep, but we didn’t get in bed until 11:30pm.
Well, our 4:15am wake up time came quick and we were out
the door and pedaling an hour later. The ride was actually very nice, and
pretty flat, but with some spurts of good hill climbing throughout. Some of the
biggest hills were climbing to 1300 East on 9400 South, and also the South
Mountain area. Dallin was doing this ride on his Mountain Bike complete with
knobby tires. It was also his first ride of the year! He’s a younger whiper
snapper, about 13 years younger than me. It reminded me of my first year or so
doing all my training on a mountain bike…it can be brutal. I recalled how I
would pedal so hard, yet road-bikers could pass me easily. I could tell there
was a lot of resistance for him riding this bike on the road, but he was doing
a good job plowing through.
South Mountain takes you from the original old city of
Draper up an ascent to the South bench of the valley. All the houses are built
on sand, and the mountain, though small, is doted with houses up it’s side and
on top. There is a South Mountain hill climb ride that probably a constant 20%
grade for miles. No thanks, that’s for the insane types. So instead of over the
mountain, we rode west along the bench, around the mountain.
We discovered some developed biking/walking paved trails
that took us around the mountain, and dropped us down onto the frontage road
that follows around the base of the mountain and lets out at Timpanogos
Highway. You cross the highway and there is a nice bike path that takes you
into highland. At that point it veers off to the South which would take us away
from Alpine, so we hoped back on the road and continued for 20 more minutes
until we arrived at my mom’s home.
I might add at this point that the temperature the day
before had been around 102 degrees! And it was forecast to be a 104-degree the
day of this ride! So we knew at some point we were going to be riding in some
extreme heat.
It felt good to have gotten this first half of the ride
done. Dallin was not sure about continuing on to the second half of the ride,
but with a little rest, taking off the 2000 pound backpack and making a quick
wardrobe change, he was ready for part 2!
I wanted to surprise my mother by knocking on her door
with bicycle at side, but of course, she was gone on some errands. I left and
empty Gatorade bottle and Power Bar wrapper hanging above her front door as
evidence that “We Were Here!” We also bumped into our friend Bonn who is quite
the serious rider. He was just heading out to go ride American Fork Canyon
which I think includes the Alpine Loop. That's a big ride! Bonn is in a different
league than me. He’s a nice young, skinny Specialized S-Works bike rider! He’s
in this serious. However it made me feel good he was impressed to see us 30+
miles away from Salt Lake.
We parted quickly because now the sun was out and we had a
good 3-4 hours of riding in the sun and climbing some more hills in front of
us.
As we took a different route out of Alpine, heading back
towards Salt Lake, I hit a bump and my seat post slide all the way down! This
bike post and the post tightening mechanism on the bike has failed me three
times now! It really ticked me off. I got off the bike and took my two 5mm Allen
wrenches and gave it a good tweak…and guess what? The bolts broke!
So there my brother and I are, standing in the sun, bike
saddle slid all the way down with no way to secure the saddle from rotating. I’m
not familiar with this area, but fortunately my brother said we were saved
because straight down the hill from where we were was a bike shop! Whew. The
ride almost had to be cancelled due to the seat problem.
We got there at 9:48am and the shop opened at 10am, so we
anxiously waited. Finally the shop owners at Infinite Cycles in Highland, Utah,
came to my rescue. They were so friendly and had my seat back in business. I
think the original bolt and nut that secure the post are made out of aluminum,
so to get that thing solid, they replaced it with a steel nut and bolt! For a mere $4.27 investment, I was back
on the road! I would have gladly paid $20!
Whew (again)!
Well, we continued pedaling, backtracking the way we came.
The sun was getting hot and I would say by 11am it was 90 degrees! I could tell
that Dallin was having an easier time on the ride back then when he came. Along
with reducing the weight of his pack, he also brought along some tunes. I think
that has a way of distracting the mind. I think I will look into something like
that!
Anyway, we rounded back around South Mountain and began
climbing some of the hills that we’d glided down on the approach. These hills
were harder in the sun. It was ride, climb, recover, ride, climb, recover.
Finally, just before we ascended our final big hill that would take us to a
Chevron for a break, it was all I could muster to get up that hill (17% grade!)
I think I know what “bonking” now feels like. I had hydrated well, eaten a Clif
Bar, Power Bar and a package of Pop Tarts during our ride thus far, but
something was missing. In front of the Chevron, we laid down under a tree in
some shade and rested. Ahhh, it felt so good. I could barely walk and move!
Then I noticed that I started seeing stars. I was getting light headed.
Something wasn’t right. So we just rested. Dallin didn’t want to eat anything,
but I felt like I needed something more than energy bars in my stomach. I
walked into the gas station after I gained my composure and bought me a jumbo
beef dog, a couple of sugar cookies, and refills of water and Gatorade.
I offered a cookie to Dallin, but he didn’t want one.
Strange. I just gobbled my food down and within a few minutes the rest and food
made me feel like continuing on.
The other psychological boost at that point of the ride was
beginning down the route with a nice descent down the hill from 1300 East to 700
East via 12300 South. Then it was pedaling with traffic for another hour or so.
As we counted down the blocks from 12300, to 2600 where my house is, it was a
long pedal. It was scorching hot, and every tree we’d pass into the shadows of
for even a second was a treat. Again, it was a long pedal counting down those
100 blocks!
There were a few ascents, that you’d see and just mumble
under your breath because you’re so hot and tired, but you’d just “do ‘em.”
Finally around the 4500 South area we called and let my wife know that we’d be
home soon. We took another quick break in the shade, and then took off on the
last lap.
As we rounded the corner coming back down my street, the
same street we’d left 8 hours earlier, there was cheering, as my wife, daughter
and neighbor kids welcomed us home! It was great to arrive home..finally! My
first request was A/C! The temperature when we arrived home was 99 degrees!
I sat, sipped lemonade, and enjoyed the A/C. Dallin sat
out on the front porch, both of us just spinning down. I was proud of my self
for doing this ride, but I was very proud of Dallin for not only doing the
ride, but doing it all on a knobby-tired mountain bike, and first ride of the
year! Total distance: 65 miles!
Dallin and I were initially going to go celebrate with
lunch somewhere, but we were tired and so he packed up and went home and took a
nap. I tried to nap, but soon got up and my family went off to Olive Garden and
ate lunch.
Then we returned home and I crashed.
Sunday morning, I felt fantastic!
I think a few things I learned from this ride are:
-Pace yourself, no need to try and be Superman and push
hard. For a long ride, finishing is what counts.
-Man cannot live by Power Bars alone. I seemed to need
real food at some point, and the advice I hear about eating every hour is
correct. But I think one should have a little more substance.
-The Body is able to do more than you think! On some of
the hills I considered giving up, but would look ahead, find a marker, and make
it to that marker. Once there, I’d find another and keep doing that until I
made it. That was only on a few hills, one being a 17% grade coming up to 1300
East on 9400 South.
It was a fun ride, yet taxing ride. But from my
perspective a few days later, I’d easily do it again and probably start at 2am
so I could completely avoid the heat.
Fuji is less than 2 month away. I so want to lose as much
weight as possible, and train as much as I can. But life is so busy with other
important things. Somehow I’ve got to balance it and make Fuji happen. I’m not
going to be 210 Again when I arrive at Fuji, however, I will be at least 100
pounds lighter that I was last year!
My in-laws called last night and I guess Fuji has been
named a UNESCO World Heritage site, and
this has caused a big influx of people wanting to hike the mountain. Usually
there are over 300,000 people each year that climb, but Japan expects that to
rise significantly! Great! Just want I need…ha ha. So it’s going to be crowded!
My father in-law also
feels he should not climb the mountain. He’s been taking care of a sick
relative and hasn’t had time to “train.” Also my in-laws are very worried about
me being able to do the climb, etc. I was a little bummed last night to hear
all this not so great news. Oh, well, we’re still going to do this. I honor my
father-in-law for keeping his priorities right!
One last item…
Dallin and I have a
hike planned on August 3rd up to Box Elder, about a 11,000 foot
mountain in my mothers “backyard” in Alpine. I have not climbed a mountain in
about 25 years! This will be an interesting challenge literally a few weeks
before I head to Japan. I’ve got to do, what I’ve got to do!
I hope all is well in your world!
Don
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| 5am: Heading from SLC to Alpine and back. My good brother does the ride with me! |
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| Water and Pop Tart break! |
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| Half-way point My mother's front door. |
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| That's not fat around my waist, just a spare inner-tube in case I get a flat! |
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| My brother trades out his 2000 pound back pack for a 10-pounder! |
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| Broken saddle post tightener! :( |
