118: 7 Puncture Holes

Update: 209.2 lbs, 49.0 lbs so far, 38 lb Goal Reached Day 74. - 1.0 lbs to NEW 50 lb goal.

Many of you will probably not read this post, as it's Friday afternoon, and amazingly nice outside, and you should be anywhere but stuck in front of your computer right now. However, I missed posting this morning, and just wanted to keep some tidbits of info flowing.

First off, I'm down to 1 lb left to reach my 50 lb goal. Tomorrow *could* be the big day, but if not, I'm thinking sometime this next week, which gives a few of you a pretty good shot at the Starbucks Challenge. But you know how the weightloss is, she's an evil temptress...so you just never know.

Next, if you read yesterday's post, you know I was stranded on my bike ride like the passengers of Oceanic 815. Turns out my spare tube had 7, yes seven puncture holes in it. It's no wonder I couldn't put air into the tire, it just wouldn't hold it. Took it in and made sure the pump works, so I'm feeling much better about the next time I need to change a tire on the road....I'm gonna be like the dad on A Christmas Story when he get's a flat...."4 minutes.....time me!"

Lastly, I've never been a warm weather guy...I sweat plenty as it is during the winter. However, I gotta say, riding out in the sun is pretty cool. I read somewhere that it's easier to move through warm air than it is through cold air, and of course, you don't have to wear jackets and pants, which also cut down on the traveling speed. I went from being the sweatiest worship leader to the sweatiest guy on a bike. But it's all good, I hit my highest average speed for the 12 mile loop today at 16.7 mph, and got it done in around 43 minutes. Not.Too.Shabby.

Hasta.

Day 117: So This ONE Brown Guy Is On The Side Of The Road

Update: 209.4 lbs, 48.8 lbs so far, 38 lb Goal Reached Day 74. - 1.2 lbs to NEW 50 lb goal.

The Windsor Island Road Driving Range is about a mile and a half from our house, right along The Loop I normally ride. Their sprinkler system comes on at 6 a.m. sharp -- I know this because I had already been in the entrance to their parking lot for about a half hour when they came on, fixing a flat.

If you've been following along, that's the second flat I've been a part of in the past week. Feeling pretty good about it, since we'd just done one, I jumped right in -- had the wheel off in seconds, tools out, spare tube ready, old tube off, and ready to go. Tried to get the tire on a couple different ways before it finally made sense, and actually had it all put back together in relatively decent time. It was no 1 minute and 19 second tire change, but it was decent enough for a first solo effort.

The problem came when I tried to pump it up. The 'missle launcher' that I carry on my bike, which came through for Nick and I the other night, did NOT for me today. Now, I also need to try a different pump because it also could be the spare tube itself, but this pump is no fun to work with. I'm really considering a portable air gun and CO2 cartridges after this episode. After being there for 35 minutes with no air staying in the tire, I gave up, packed everything away, and started the trek back home.

Since I didn't want to ruin my new cleats, I took my shoes off and carried them in one hand. Since that part of Windsor Island Road is really rough, or at least would be on a flat tube/tire/rim -- I also hoisted the bike up on one shoulder and started the Walk of Shame. So yeah, there was the big brown guy, in socks, walking down Windsor Island Road, with a bike on his shoulder. Really wasn't too bad since that's what most of our trips to Disneyland have felt like...me carrying some 20+ lb kid all over the parks, for 4 days solid.

If any of you have any connections with the City of Keizer, we could use a little better street cleaning...lots of glass, rocks, and other cruddies right in the walking path. Also, if you're ever in a situation where you're walking down a road in your socks, I can strongly suggest walking on the painted stripe, it's the smoothest part of a rough road. Lastly, big thanks to the husband/wife team on the tandem bike that apparently were on an important time trial and didn't even take the time to hollar over and ask if I needed anything...giving the bike community a good name!

Hasta!

Day 116: We Don't Need No Stinkin' Notches

Update: 210.8 lbs, 47.4 lbs so far, 38 lb Goal Reached Day 74. - 2.6 lbs to NEW 50 lb goal.

Nothing really exciting to post today. After the side of the road excitement, and being hauled into the pokey over the past few days, yesterday was pretty much normal, aside from the fact that our office is under construction and we're all being displaced for a couple days. That being said, short post ahead.

I've hit another bit of a plateau here, hanging around 211 for several days, and once again, despite the fact that I've been busting my buns with exercise. In the past 7 days, I've put 132 miles on my ride, Blue Screen of Death. (Still working on that name thing....) I knew one was coming, I'd been shedding some quick pounds, so I was bound to stall out with just a couple left to the 50 lb goal...that's been the way that I roll lately.

Anyway, looking for little victories here along the way to keep the encouragement and motivation going, which I think is important for anyone trying to keep at a long term goal, so here's a short one for today. When I started out almost 4 months ago now, I was pushing the limits of my belt, using the last notch, and hoping I wasn't going to have to buy the next model up from there. Well, it's gonna be time for a new belt before too long after all, but one going the other direction -- I'm now on the 5th notch in.

Day 120 is quickly approaching. I'd sure like to hit that goal by then, but am learning to be patient (or so I keep saying.) It's a beautiful day, I hope you can get out and enjoy it!

Hasta

Day 115: Judgement Day

Update: 211.0 lbs, 47.2 lbs so far, 38 lb Goal Reached Day 74. - 2.8 lbs to NEW 50 lb goal.

Sorry to all 25 of you regular readers who read in the morning hours shortly after I post -- my posting schedule has been wacky the past few days. Today's post also comes from another wacky start to the day...as well as from my heart to all of you. (Extra sap, free of charge.) Today will also be a little lesson in some law enforcement slang.

I'm writing to you today from munie (munincipal court) where I'm waiting for the verdict from the 13 and 1/2 (12 jurors, 1 judge, and half a chance) on my supposed speeding ticket earlier this month. I'm hoping not to have to do a bit (prison sentence) if/when found guilty, but if so, I hope it's just Coffee and a Day (in and out in less than a day.) Although I doubt I'll actually get the dog house (lock up) for my first speeding ticket in about 15 years, you never know what the Five-O (police officer) could try to do to get me down bad (accuse me wrongly.)

Judgement in: guilty, no fine reduction. Gotta go give them all my green (duh...money) and get back to town. Moral of the story...watch it in Woodburn, Officer Rodriquez has a quick and accurate speed gun.

Hasta!

Day 114: So These Two Brown Guys Are On The Side Of The Road...

Update: 211.0 lbs, 47.2 lbs so far, 38 lb Goal Reached Day 74. - 2.8 lbs to NEW 50 lb goal.

Last night was the inaugural ride of Team Lo-Lo for the Livestrong Challenge Portland training. It was a windy, chilly evening that was destined to have it's fair share of interesting moments. Getting the 'nice outfit' comment from guests just before my ride should have been the first clue, but nonetheless, we headed on out.

Actually the ride was fine up until 'the moment' - it was great to be riding with someone else instead of just flying solo, like I normally do. The only real bummer was a fairly steady headwind on a couple different stretches, but good training since we're bound to have some wind on our 70 mile ride in September, so I didn't really mind all that much.

At the top of Ravena, we decided to go out further to Mission State Park...but were cut down short in our efforts. About a mile or two past the top of the hill we heard the fateful noise, pulled over, and sure enough had a flat on the back of Nick's bike. Bummer to get a flat, but I really was glad that we were riding together rather than riding solo, especially since it was the first time I had to be part of changing any kind of flat on the road. In a strange way, I actually was kind of excited that it happened - one of those rites of passage that ever cyclist has to go through at some point. Today I would become a man, well, as much of a man as a big brown guy could be in lycra on the side of the road anyway.

In fact, as I looked around, I thought 'it's good that it's well into the evening so that none of 'our people' are out here working the fields...I don't think we'd go over all that well in our cute little outfits.' We both have these funky new tires that have the structure that all my kids had anytime they wanted to throw a fit in my arms and essentially lost all bones in their bodies and tried to ooze out of my arms. On most traditional tires, you can stuff the tubes up in there, and then put it on the wheel, but not so much on these, you have some crazy triple hand magic manuevering you need to do to accomplish the task. I won't go into the whole gory story but 5-10 cars, two other cyclists, one crazy guy on a moter scooter, a split Cliff bar, and 30-35 minutes later, we were back on the road.

Since we couldn't really read the Arabic markings on the hand pump tire guage, and since it was now getting much more chilly than when we took off, we headed back in to safety. Still got in 16 miles, so not a bad little ride. You can see the MotionBased GPS Player version of our ride here. The long pause at the top is when we were changing the tire.

Day 113: WWW.30miles.com - Windsor, Wheatland, Waconda Loop

Update: 211.0 lbs, 47.2 lbs so far, 38 lb Goal Reached Day 74. - 2.8 lbs to NEW 50 lb goal.

Cheesy graphic, cheey title, but it's Sunday, and I'm in a hurry. So there really is no www.30miles.com - well, there is, but it's just a holding page to snag traffic, but I couldn't pass on the three W's that I travelled being part of today's blog.

Yesterday was my longest ride so far - a 30 miler. Actually, it was 31.05 miles, if I'm being precice, but just to hit 30 miles was a major, uh, well, milestone for me. Took me right at 2 hours, moving at a an average speed of 15.4 mph. You can click here for the general overview of the ride. OR, you can click here see the fancy MotionBased GPS Player version which actually lets you track along and see speed, distance, elevation, and now thanks to my new heart monitor, my heart rate at any given point of the ride. If you do, click on Large, then click on Hybrid, then slow the speed down to 1x or .5x and hit play. It's almost like you're burning calories right along with me!



You can also drag along the playhead, and the best part here is that if you slide it along right up to about 11:21, you see my speed is averaging around 15-16 mph, and my heart rate is 144 bpm, or so. Now slide it to the next mark at 11:46, and you see my speed up to 24 mph and my heart rate is 176 bpm. Yeah, that's right...double german shepherd attack --- I just cannot figure out their morning schedule yet, and did not expect them.

Anyway, the rest of the ride was uneventful. The first stretch of Howell Prarie road is smooth as Triangle Lake at 6 in the morning though, and I actually picked up speed going uphill. (Not that I'd know what to do with a smooth lake, or any body of water, mind you.)

Hope you all have a great weekend!

Hasta!

ps - first date guessed has passed...sorry KeeWee