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

Day 111: Of Satelittes and Tumbling Mexicans

Update: 211.8 lbs, 46.4 lbs so far, 38 lb Goal Reached Day 74. - 3.6 lbs to NEW 50 lb goal.

Sorry I missed posting yesterday, I actually even was down from today's weight, but won't post it since I missed my official post. Needless to say, I'm back up to where I was day before yesterday, but it's all still good.

Wanted to get in some more training-type of rides, so I set out last night for a 20+ miler. For all you tech-geeks out there, you can click here to see the GPS downloaded map of my ride. Now, the really cool part of this geek-tech is that you can actually follow along the ride, and see different speeds, elevations, etc along the way. Click here to go to the player, and then click on Large version, change the speed to something like 1x, or .5x, and then click the Play button to follow along. You can even click on the Hybrid button to see the scenery mixed with the map. You can dial in too close out there because the satellite images haven't been updated yet, but you get the idea.

So, anyway, I'm cruising along on my route, right about the point where I normally see the guy who has the most amazing set up -- a TV on his front porch where he watches and reads in his chair out there -- when another dude on his road bike passes me! I was doing about 15 mph at the time, and didn't feel like I was going all that slow, but since I had been passed, I stepped it up a few mph to catch up with him, and then stayed with him, pretty much till we hit the top of the Ravena hill, where we went our separate ways. I normally would turn into Keizer like he did, but since I wanted to get up over 20 miles, I went out to the Mission Park first. (Obligatory pic of my bike in front of the giant Cottonwood since I took one of Nick's last time. Sorry, crummy camera phone pic this time.)



Now, I know what you're saying...boring, give me something to laugh about. Ok, here you go -- I put the bike down for the second time at the park. I had been telling myself every few minutes "remember, you're in clipless pedals...you have to unclip before stopping." However, it was so nice when I rolled into the park, that I basically forgot as I crossed a small patch of gravel, and rolled into the grass by the picnic table I had spotted. About the time the bike came to a halt I remember "you're in clipless, dude," but it was too late -- 211.8 lbs of prime mexican hitting the grass. Nice thing was, at least this time it wasn't pavement, but still, you put that many lbs in contact with the ground unexpectedly, it'll make you a little sore there the next day. Since I had just rolled up in front of 3 cars parked right there, I quickly looked to see how big of an audience I had watching The Amazing Tumbling Mexican Riders, but fortunately for me, they all had gone to see the Nation's Largest Black Cottonwood.

Anyway, the rest of the ride was uneventful. I might not have been properly hydrated as the old legs were getting crampy towards the end, but felt good to get in a little longer ride -- gotta get ready for that big 70 mile section of the Livestrong Challenge! Other cool thing was I later found out that I only have about 3.5 degrees of separation from the gentleman with the front porch entertainment system...it's such a small world!

Hasta!

Day 109: Day Two On Baby Blue

Update: 211.8 lbs, 46.4 lbs so far, 38 lb Goal Reached Day 74. - 3.6 lbs to NEW 50 lb goal.

She's not really baby blue, more of something closer to navy, but not as dark...more like like a Royal Hayes blue. And even though she's blue, I think it's a she, not a he, if a bike is gender crazinated like that anyway.

Well no long post today. Had a good weigh in and got out and rode my Loop this morning in the 45 degree weather and fog. Still getting my sea legs on the clipless pedals but wanted to shout out some props to J-Dub for his admission to the BGT Club (Big Guys Tumbling Club).

We're off to a service for Great Grandma today, who left us to go be with her Maker last Friday. She lived a full life, gave us some great laughs and lots of great memories, and has been ready to go for the past 30 years. She was frustrated every time she survived another surgery, but has no need for frustration any longer! Anyway, no more time for the blogging nonsense, gotta get ready and hit the road.

Hasta Grandma!

Paul

Day 108: Congrats Mr. Lopez! It's A....Bike!

Update: 212.8 lbs, 45.4 lbs so far, 38 lb Goal Reached Day 74. - 4.6 lbs to NEW 50 lb goal.

Well, after a couple go arounds of false labor and being sent home without a new bundle of joy, we finally had a successful delivery. A 24 lb, 6 ounce healthy, happy, blue Torelli Gran Sasso, last night at 7:30 pm. I promptly snugged Baby T into the SUV and drove carefully home to share with the rest of the family...who weren't quite as excited as the proud father.

One thing that's different about riding this bike than Nick's for the past two weeks is that I'm in clipless pedals for the first time. If you're not familiar with clipless pedals, they basically snap and lock your shoes into the bike, and they don't release them until you do the hokey pokey in them to get then to un-release. The LBS owner had me on the bike in a trainer for about 20 minutes, clipping in and out, telling me how to be a tripod at stops, choosing a side and sticking with it, etc, etc, etc.....'yeah, yeah, give me my bike and let me get out on the road fella!'


Now everyone I've talked to, and I mean EVERYONE, tells you "you're gonna put the bike down at least once with those clipless pedals." Some people said it's a rule that you put it down twice, and one guy I knew said he put his down half a dozen times the first week or so, so I've been hesitant to try them out myself, but I know the power and efficiency gain is great, and that I'd always wonder if I should have put them on, so I just did. The great thing was that Nick said he just took his time his first ride to clip and unclip several hundred times, and consequently hadn't actually put his bike down due to being unable to clip. (Some funny story about eating donuts at midnight , and solving a Rubiks cube in a trackstand, while on his bike and falling over, but you'll have to ask him for the deets on that one.)

Anyway, I didn't really get to ride last night, but thought I'd hop up on the bike, snap in and out a couple times, maybe rip around the block, before parking it and going in. So here's Rule #1 of my Riding With Clipless Pedals. Don't Clip In If You're Not Planning on Going Somewhere. After clipping in the left foot, I thought 'hmm, now how do I clip in the right foot without the trainer to hold the bike nice and steady for me while I climb up like on a horse?' Stupid me...you move first, then clip in the other foot. Cause what happens if you don't get moving and try to figure out how to balance a bike in mid-air so you can (stupidly) try to clip in the other foot, is 212.8 lbs of prime mexican hitting the driveway with a bike between his legs. Yeah baby.

So the first time trying to get on and ride the new addition, it threw me. Bucked me right off. With a scraped leg and elbow, I just wheeled it right into the garage, and turned off the lights. At 5 this morning, I mustered enough gumption to give it a go once again, and actually took a spin at The Loop. Since I was taking a little extra time to test out the clipless, and listen to the wheels, tires, gears and chains to make sure everything was ok, I didn't set any land speed records, but did get in 50 minutes of quality time with the Blue Bomber. (Hmmm, ok, I thought I'd try out a name, but not sure that worked. A little nod to Pastor B for the name, but don't know if it really fits....maybe I'll keep trying.)

40 degress is chilly at 5 am, but at least I didn't pull the bike down on top of me!

Hasta!