Day 535-Weigh-in Day: 278.4lbs

WEEK 75

Start Weight: 365.4lbs

Last Week: 284.4lbs

Current Weight: 278.4lbs

This Week’s Weight Loss: 6lbs

Total Weight Loss: 87lbs

To Go: 68.4lbs

Miles Biked this Week: 33.93

Total Miles Biked: 2841.08

Miles to Go: 4658.92

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

Pacific Ocean (2103 miles off the west coast. I am heading for the Hawaiian Islands which is 2650 miles from San Diego)

Weekly Bike/Workout Totals

Monday: 5.45

Tuesday: 6.46

Wednesday: 14.95

Thursday: 7.07

Friday: REST (Bike shop packing bike)

Saturday: REST

TODAY:

This has been a good week. I didn’t get in any long distance rides, but I did do some good hill climbing. On Wednesday, after work, in temperatures in the high 90s, I decided to just do a good constant climb up to 1300 East. I remember doing this route last year and huffing and puffing like crazy through the first 5 miles. On Wednesday, I was huffing and puffing, but I felt I had some good control of the climbing and just worked through it. There was definitely improvement from last year.

I ate on the mark this week and have seen the weight coming back down to where I was before I fell off the wagon a few weeks ago. I’m getting back into the zone I was in, and that’s a good place to be as I am close to a week away from Fuji!

I have gotten the travel plans from Travis, my biking buddy in Japan, pretty much finalized. We’ll be meeting for dinner Sunday evening before we take off. Travis has been a great support! I’ve expressed my excitement, yet anxiousness about the ride, but he has been there calming me down. He came up with a motto for the ride which I like…”We don’t have to get there fast, we just have to get there!”

My cameraman Robert is ready to go. I’ve bought extra SD cards for all three of our cameras. For any video buffs out there, we’ll be shooting things on:

-Panasonic AF100

-Panasonic SDT-750

-GoPro Hero2

Of course everything will be shot in Full 1080p HD!

I’m meeting Robert in Shinjuku (a district in Tokyo) this coming week to go over the plan of attack for our shoot. It’s one thing to find a good cameraman, it’s another to talk them into hiking to the top of Mount Fuji with you…and shoot along the way. It will be a fun adventure.

I understand that once you’re to the top of Fuji, you can hike around the crater. It takes an hour, but there is a post office half way around that you can drop letters, postcards, etc., off at and they will put a Mount Fuji postal stamp on your letter. Now that is a cool thing. I’ll have to see how our timing is going once we arrive at the top. I’d love to send a postcard to myself from the highest point in Japan. If you’d like me to send one to you, simply send your request on the back of a $50 bill and I will take care of it ;)

I dropped my bike off at Highlander Bike to have them pack it up for the flight on Monday. We’ll be flying United Airlines, and I’ll be checking in my Jamis Bosanova road bike under the plane. The bike literally is being disassembled, handlebars and all, and carefully packed in a box. My plan once I arrive in Japan is to go find a good local bike shop that will put my bike back together again for me.

Of course the Mount Fuji ride is the focus of our going to Japan, but after the ride we’ll have a couple of weeks to hang out with my wife’s family. They are awesome people and we’re hoping to be nice to them ‘cause the population of the house will almost double in size with the number of people living there. It will be crazy especially with a “Okiina Gaijin” living there.

BTW, it’s FREE DAY today and I’m enjoying a Little Debbie’s crappy pastry and a bowl of Rice a Roni. It’s all I could find since we’re cleaning out the fridge in prep for the trip. L

I will be blogging every day from Japan, sharing pictures and video clips of all the highlights. Please comment to me on the blog if you have any questions or special requests while in Japan.

I can’t believe the time has come! Fuji is right around the corner, and I am looking to getting this ride and hike done so I can stop dreaming about it every night ;)

Don

Here is current picture of Mount Fuji a few minutes ago! :)