Hey, I'm Trying to Sleep Here

198 pounds....

The weight isn't going anywhere when you aren't trying to lose it. Also, I'm catching a cold. Runny nose has been happening for 2 days now. I guess my sore lymph nodes in my neck the other day should have been an indicator.

Here is the look that Mr. Worf aka "The Old Man" was giving me this morning while I was doing my yoga and stretching.

I'm a Shoveling Man, oh yes I am

198 pounds....

The weight is there, but staying steady at the moment. Less intake would help this I have a feeling.

Here is a picture of what I look like shoveling snow this morning. You can't tell in the picture, but I have come up with a way to stop my ear buds from falling out. Duct tape. Yup, I now look like some race car driver with his ear buds taped to his ears. In my case, my duct tape is clear so it's hard to tell that I have it on. It worked like a champ though and I will be using that method much more until I can get some in the canal ear buds. Needless to say, as the sun came up, I starting sweating a ton. The chocolate in my ice cream last night didn't help either. For those not in the know, I'm allergic to chocolate, it raises my body temperature.


This much done along with the walk in the front and half the deck in the back for the grill. I'm one of those odd guys that grills all year round.

This much to go.

This is the view into the garage. Hey that looks like an S-Works in there. It is an S-Works in there. Quick photo of the new bike.

Some days life's a bummer, then.....

196 pounds....

The Fat Loss week is going well. I've lost 4 pounds and I'm feeling better so hopefully it will continue. The headaches have calmed down some and the sugar cravings are just about gone.

Some days life's a bummer like this.

Mr. Worf had a relapse this past week and could hardly walk on Monday morning. We were starting to see signs of it on Sunday night, but it was full blown on Monday. He had slipped a few times on Sunday on the slippery floor and outside on the ice. So I have a feeling that was part of the problem. I took him to the chiropractor Monday and Tuesday and by Wednesday he was back to his old self.

Then, some days are like this.

Rosie sleeping and smiling all at the same time. It is really hard to see her eyes when her hair is this long.

Then there are days that are totally awesome and you get this delivered to you by FedEx.

Ernesto Marenchin "SoloGoat" send me these. I have a 24 Solo poster that I'm getting people to sign. When I was at the Nationals up at 9 mile I missed seeing Ernesto because he had crashed and broke a rib. So I emailed him and asked if I could send the poster to him. He said it wasn't a problem and asked if I wanted some number signed number plates. Needless to say I didn't say no.

I'm now an S-Works Epic Owner

198 pounds....

This week is a Fat Loss week and it is going good so far. Nasty headache today though. Not sure if it is caffeine or allergy related. Either way, it has been sucky.

I bought a 2007 S-Works Epic this past weekend from this guy. I bought it after watching how he took care of it up at the Cheq 40 race. We happened to be staying with the same people that weekend and met by chance. At that time I asked what he did with his bikes at the end of the year and he said that he usually sold them. I mentioned that I would be interested and he contacted me last month about it. And presto, chango, I'm the owner of a really nice bike.

When I get a chance, I'll post a picture of it. He has done some pretty nice mods to it, seat post, stem, handle bars. Not sure if I'll keep them or not since the seat post is a straight one and I currently use the Thompson swept back one that originally came with the 2007 S-Works. The handle bars and such I'll have to see how they feel before making a judgement. I guess the same will have to be done with the seat post. I need to talk to some guys that do bike fits and see what would be the most comfortable for me. This will be the bike that I attempt Trans Iowa on so I better have a nice fit going or I'm not going to be happy after a few hours.

The first big obvious thing about the bike is that it is way lighter than my current one. I'll do the scale thing later and let you guys know. I wouldn't be surprised if it was 10 pounds.

Blah!

198 pounds....

What do you expect after finishing the Master Cleanser and then eating a steak? I gained back some of the weight, but I guess a good thing is that my cravings for sugar are gone. No soda or candy bars here.

Now I just have to figure out a better way to work with my allergies and prescriptions. I don't want to be on medication everyday. One reason is that my blood pressure has slowly went up over the past year and I'm trying to figure out which prescription is doing it. I didn't have this problem before all the allergy medications. Barb is able to take my blood pressure so we will be keeping a close eye on it. Also, I will be starting a log on it to see if we can figure out what is the trigger.

So the past couple of days have been sinus headaches and finally today I have broken down and taken a Claritin in hopes of it helping. If not, Tylenol will be not far behind.

Work is work and school is school. I did get back on the bike for some spinning yesterday. Been trying to let my left knee heal some before getting to my Off Season Graeme Street Training. My left knee has been slightly swollen for the past month and pretty tight. I have been doing some stretching and last week during the fast I didn't exercise at all. Yesterday's workout felt nice and seemed to stretch the whole body out. It was pretty noticeable throughout the day.

NASCAR season is over and Jimmy Johnson wins another points championship. Darn. I guess Daytona isn't that very away after all.

Say What?

197 pounds....

I stopped the Master Cleanser on Saturday because I felt like absolute shit when I got up. The day before I felt bad until I started moving around and such. But Saturday was much worse. I was either detoxing like mad or was getting sick. I broke the fast and started eating soup. By the afternoon I felt much better which was a good thing since Barb and I had tickets to go see Alter Bridge. If you get the chance you must go see them. They are very good live. I was quite surprised since I have been so babied by seeing the likes of Dream Theater, Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, and such.

Did I mention that I finally rode a century. It was a gravel century but that is what makes it so special. Last month I did the Trans Iowa tune up ride and was able to get in over 106 miles that day. Woohoo!

This is a short week. We will be heading up north for Thanksgiving. We are even taking the dogs. So it should be an interesting trip.

The Master Cleanser Day 5

194 pounds....

Day 5 has been tough. Felt like crap this morning and have been sluggish all day. Today must have been a big detox for my body considering what I was passing this morning after the doing the flush.

I have officially entered Trans Iowa v4. Woohoo!! If nothing else I will ride more in one day than I ever had in my history of riding. It is hard to believe that I only started racing mountain bikes 2 years ago and got back into riding bikes only 2 years before that. Yup, I've only been back riding bikes for 4 years. I guess I should be quite pleased with all that I have done in such a short time.

The Master Cleanser Day 3

198 pounds....

The Iceman has come and gone. I was able to finish the race in 2:38:40. A nice improvement over the 3:01:49 from last year. Now if I can only continue that much improvement over the next couple of years and maybe get below the 2 hour mark.

The Iceman Cometh

That is all that is needed to be said at this moment.

Have been busy doing things and riding. If I get a chance, I'll catch you guys up on that later.

One Year Ago Today

One year ago today, Fluffy, my old poodle friend, past away. To this day I still miss her and keep expecting to see her looking out the front window when I come home. The funny thing is that Worf now is occasionally looking out the window for me when I come home. It just sort of tears my heart out when I see it, but how is he to know. He is probably looking for her also. She used to love to bark at squirrels and cats. I can still remember her playing on the couch in Kenosha looking out the window at the squirrel that used to play with her. Or the time that she escaped out the back in Memphis and just sat by the parking lot watching people go by. She didn't run away or cause trouble. Or the one time that Barb had her up north and Barb totally forgot about her being outside. Only to find Fluffy sleeping under a tree in the grass just soaking up the sunshine.

And with this past week of Mr. Worf being sick with the possibility of not recovering, it has made me appreciate him more now that he is all ok. I gave him a big hug today and whispered Fluffy's name in his ear. He seemed to perk up and look around, wondering also where she is off to. We both must miss her.

She had been my friend for over 17 years. So today we will remember her and hope to see her someday at the end of the path. Many hugs and kisses will be exchanged. I can't wait till then....

Cheq 40 - 4:04:49.8

194 pounds....

Still the same weight, maybe I can get going down instead of up.

The Cheq 40 race was this past weekend. I ended up going solo since Mr. Worf had a strange injury happen a few days before leaving. He could hardly walk on his hind legs and was having a tough time with everything. Barb elected to stay home with him instead of having him boarded. That also meant that the girls would be staying home with her.

So Thursday rolled around and I packed up the Neon. I headed up north to my parents place in Catawba for the night. Chatted with Mom and Dad and caught up with Vinnie on how he has been doing since he has been battling shingles.

Friday morning came and then off to Ladysmith to visit my brother. His Corvette has been going thru more modifications and is looking better than it has in the past. We did go out and pound it some on the county roads. One thing that I will be doing before we go to Road America is to get a neck collar. If he pins it and you're not ready, you head is snapping back real fast.

After spending time with Tim, it was off to Hayward to meet up with Ted and Andrea at the New Moon bike shop. Nice shop up there in the middle of no where. Then off to Telemark Resort and the house that Ted has been renting for many years.

I did a preride with Sonjay and Ty of the last 4 miles of the course. Pushed pretty hard during that time since there are so many hills. It was decided after this that we would be prestaging our bikes race morning at 6:00am.

5:00am came and off we went. Surprisingly, we were not the only ones out there at this time. And it was cold, very cold. We headed back for more sleep. I did my usual no food before the race while everyone else was doing their normal things.

The race went quite well for me besides having 2 rear chain sucks. I have never had this happen to me before. The chain jammed between the spokes and the cluster, not once, but twice. I'm not sure yet if I have a mistuned rear derailleur or what. I finished the race in 4:04:49.8. I would have been somewhat faster, but probably not much. I started the race with my shell on and that was WAY to hot. That forced me to stop and take it off. Later at the fire tower hills, I ended up walking quite a bit of those which didn't help much. I was on track with my Hammer products and the body overall felt pretty well. I did cramp some at about the 3 hour mark and needed more Endurolytes out of sequence, but they did their job for the rest of the race. I also stopped and gave another rider some Endurolytes since he was cramping up big time about 2 miles from the end. I then stopped again when a love bug got under my sun glasses and was bothering my vision big time. When I went to get it off the glasses, I dropped them. I was lucky enough to have them not get squished by another rider. By the end I was spent. I might have left some on the table, but not much. Overall, I am quite happy with my first time at this race. Hopefully I will be able to compete it in again next year.

I know I will be gearing my training for climbing before Iceman. Graeme Street has a 4 week climbing training plan that I will be doing once I am done with this week of recovery.

Congrats to all I know that were there and that competed: Ted, Ty, Christine, Carlos, Greg, Mike, Russell, Bubba, Rick, the other Mike, Andrew, Shawn, Connie, and Sonjay. Thanks to everyone for a fun weekend.

I even got to meet Gary Fisher. That was pretty cool.

Cyclo-MTB Week 2 Day 4

194 pounds....

Some weight came back, but I'm feeling somewhat better. I will need to work on my diet and eating habits to get back down below 190.

I have been working on Cyclo-MTB in preparation for the Cheq 40. Core training and intervals to help me out. My legs hurt, my arms hurt and my core hurts. I guess it's working. Next week will be a Peak week followed by a Race week. The summer has been flying by. After the Cheq 40, I will do a recovery week and then on to the 5 week Cyclo-Speed routine in attempts to get my ass faster on the bike. No matter what, I will be doing better than I am now.

Did you hear that Guitar Ted is going to be rerunning the 100 mile plus gravel ride known as the Guitar Ted Death Ride on October 27th? I think that I might venture down to Iowa for that ride if I'm able to dig up some lights by then. I'll be working hard on that so that I can go do my first century. And what better way to do the first one, but on the dirt.

The Master Cleanser Day 7 (part 2)

I caved in and broke the fast. It is nice to have made it 7 days, but it is even nicer to be back and eating food again. This week will be back to normal with workouts and such then. That will be nice.

Now I will have no problems with going out with John and getting some riding in this next weekend. We are also thinking about doing Levis/Trow Mounds Trails during Labor Day weekend. That would be cool since I haven't been up there before and IMBA has classified it as an Epic.

The Master Cleanser Day 7

188 pounds....

Nothing lost yesterday. I guess that happens when all you do is sit around and do laundry all frackin' day.

The body is somewhat better but still not happy. I think things will be better once I can get back on the bike and do some hard exercise.

The good news is Trans Iowa is on again for next year.

More rain, which the grass is loving, but the NASCAR race is hating.

The Master Cleanser Day 6

188 pounds....

Another day, another pound. The body is still feeling it. My head has not been happy with my sinuses. I still am having cravings though. I almost went out and got myself a Starbucks coffee today, but in the end I just got one for Barb instead.

At this point I will only be doing this for 10 days. I need to get back to training and getting ready for the Cheq 40 in September. Hopefully this will help out with sugar addiction issues.

Surprisingly, it is raining here. I wonder what Don at WORS has done to Mother Nature to have her be so pissed at him. I do believe that there has only been 1 race so far that hasn't seen rain.

The Master Cleanser Day 5

189 pounds....

Now that's how to take off 10 pounds in 5 days. Whew.... I really could go for a bagel or something for breakfast. But not today. Not for at least 5 more days.

The body is still passing mucus and such. My knee joints ache some and the body is doggie. Hopefully this will go away in the next few days. I'm not as cold as I was during the first one of these. Not sure what's up with that. Maybe it's because that one was during the winter and this one is during the summer. I don't know.

Barb and I have ordered tickets for the Harley 105th birthday bash. I figured what the hell, since it will be here in town we might as well go and see what it's all about. Tickets were cheap at only $65 considering all that you get. You can find out more on the Harley website.

The Master Cleanser Day 4

191 pounds....

The pounds are coming off which is nice. The body is not happy today though. My head and various joints ache. I think things will get better as the day goes on, but it sucks big time when the day starts that way.

Visited Dave today for my Thursday massage. That is really what the body needed. I also visited my chiropractor and again, that is really what the body needed. So day 4 continues and hopefully things will go well.

The Master Cleanser Day 3

193 pounds....

I guess the first day was just a teaser. The second day went ok but I really could have gone for some oatmeal with blueberries and peanut butter. Otherwise I made it through ok.

Today is the same. I get some food cravings and then I remember why I'm doing this and drink some more lemonade to help kill the hunger. Oh, I did cheat on the first two days by having some Maple Valley Maple Syrup candy. Is that a bad thing? Then today I had one stick of gum. Just needed something to chew on.

Work is work. Left wrist is still sore, but tomorrow is massage and chiropractor day so that should help some.

The Master Cleanser Day 2

194 pounds....

I lost 5 pounds in one day. Whoa! Overall yesterday felt pretty well. No big real issues. No headaches or sinus issues. Does that just mean today is going to be sucky instead? I guess I will find out as the day goes on.

Overall things are well. My body is still sore from the race this past weekend. The left wrist is still yelling at me and my neck and shoulders are stiff. Otherwise just kinda lazy and slow. As most people would say about me, that's pretty normal.

The Master Cleanser Day 1

199 pounds....

No wonder I feel the way that I do. I weigh more now than when I detoxed last time. Yuck!

We will see how bad the headaches and withdrawals are today. I have a feeling this is going to be tougher than the last one that I did.

The Night Before the Master Cleanser

I have no idea what I weigh at this moment. I haven't checked in a few days.

Tomorrow will be the start of the Master Cleanser for at least the next 10 days. Time to break the sugar and caffeine habit again. If nothing else, this will help me get things back in check.

Ore to Shore was a tough one. I have never seen so much fucking sand, let alone ride thru it, in my entire life. Except for maybe standing on the beaches of Florida. I went off the trail at a high rate of speed into the brush. I helped a downed rider until the EMT guys got there. I helped another guy with a flat. He was out of canisters so I let him borrow my pump. I fell down in the sand more times than I can remember. One time over the bars and like me, put my hands out to stop my landing. Needless to say, my left wrist is letting me know that I was there today. Otherwise, things went well. I also needed to stop once and refill my Camelbak. Cramped slightly along the way, but just upped my doses of Endurolytes and that fixed that. I finished in 4:48 at a whopping 10mph. Whew!

I'm here, but not here.......

Too heavy to tell....

The weight has been coming back on and staying. So needless to say after this weekend's race I'll be back for a 10 day detox.

Ore to Shore this weekend and we are getting ready. I'm feeling good and hopefully the race will be ok for me.

Cheq 40 is now a GO!

190 pounds....

Yup, still keeping it on. Hopefully I can get this back under control. We will see what happens over the next few days.

Barb and I have made it in to the Chequamegon Fat Tire Festival. To all of you who scoffed at my essay, who's laughing now.

Working on my RAGBRAI base

188 pounds....

The weight is there and as soon as I start eating better, it will come back off. Or at least I think it will. It might be possible that I have finally started adding muscle and that weight won't come off. hhhmmm....

I have ridden more road bike in the past couple of weeks than I have in quite some time. It has been over 11 hours on the bike/tandem and over 170 miles. At this rate, the new Brooks B17 saddle should be broken in on the tandem before RAGBRAI.

I have some rides recorded from my PowerTap, some not. But in general, I'm doing at least 2 hour rides with the longest being 4 hours and hopefully this weekend I will add another hour to that. The one thing that I did learn from riding RAGBRAI in 2005, it is not the mileage, but the time on the saddle that will pay off. Those 5+ hour days on the bike take their toll.

I have turned into one of those bike riders that wears an iPod. I know, I should be shot or something. But in my case, since I'm so deaf to begin with, there isn't a big change in how I ride. Without my hearing aids in, I can't hear all to well, so having some music in my head, isn't much different. I still hug the white line on the right and have a tendency to look over my shoulder a bunch. It is sweet to have tunes though when you are grinding out miles against the wind. I wish I had bought one sooner. I only use it when I'm solo at this point. I didn't want to upset or be rude to Dave when we rode yesterday, so I left it at home.

I guess the next thing to get might be a mirror that attaches to my helmet so I don't have to worry about looking back. I'm not sure how well that would go over when I'm out on the mountain bike trails. hhhmm......

Wednesday is Tandem Day

188 pounds....

At least I broke that 190 pound barrier again. I will be working on my diet again the rest of this week. The key things are eating good foods and not eating way late into the night.

Yesterday was a good workout day. I did about 3 hours on the tandem solo. I know, you're thinking, yeah, so what. The tandem weighs in at about 42 pounds. The other thing is that it has a new Brooks B17 saddle on it. I rode out in the Holy Hill area so I did some climbing, just what the legs needed. It was also hot and humid, so that I get ready for RAGBRAI. The new saddle didn't kill me too bad, but I can tell that it's new compared to the one that is on my Roubaix. Probably the funnest part of the ride is some of the looks that you get when you are solo on a tandem. People do double takes.

Off to work and riding later with Barb on the tandem. I got her a new iPod Shuffle so that she can listen to music while on the back.

Oink, Oink

190 pounds....

I am a pig and I am feeling it. Hopefully I can get this eating back under control and at least get back to under 185. This week will be an interesting one.

I did get out and ride this morning. I put about 2 hours in and rode up Hillzilla. The big hill in our area. It kicked me pretty hard and I was able to make it through though. I thought my head was gonna explode for a bit, but it didn't. It did hurt like hell though. He's the Cycling Peaks from the Power Tap data.


Otherwise things are well. The NASCAR races this past weekend were good. Hopefully will have a picture of my Dad and brother from the Victory Club soon.

Getting the Lead Out

184 pounds....

Down some, good eating habits help in that area. I'm also wondering if I was holding a bunch of water after this past weekend and doing the Liquid Endurance load for the HHHs (Horribly Hilly Hundreds).

I did get down to the bike shop on Tuesday and Alan checked out my rim, tubes and tire. He put new rim tape on and replaced the tire and a tube. Overall, once again they were very nice and worked with me on this.

I'm also getting a rear rack ordered up for the tandem. And a Yakima tandem bike rack has been put on hold for me down at the bike shop here in Brookfield.

Yesterday morning I ran 3 miles in under 35 minutes. Which is pretty good for me. I did this before work. Then after work, Barb and I put in about an hour and 30 minutes on the tandem. We are getting better on our starts and stops, but we still have some communication issues. Hopefully we will be able to work through those.

Today I got out and did some bike riding with Dave before my massage. Here is what the ride looks like in Cycling Peaks.


Overall, not a bad ride. My legs were heavy and sore, but that was to be expected. I tried to keep up with Dave as best as I could. He climbs much faster that I. So I have a tendency to be in catch up mode quite often. There were times though, I stayed with him and I think that took him by surprise.

The massage afterwards was well needed. My quads are sore to the touch so I guess they will be getting stronger. What's the old saying, No pain, No gain. If that's the case, I should be gaining a ton.

Well off to finish up the day. This weekend is the NASCAR weekend at the Milwaukee Mile. Tim and Vinnie are heading down for the races so that should be fun and interesting.

Horribly Hilly Hundreds Recap

187 pounds....

I must stop the sugar train that I am on or I will have worked to lose all this weight for nothing. Time to get off the train and back on the wagon.

The Horribly Hilly Hundreds were this past Saturday in Blue Mounds. I was able to convince Barb to let me stay over Friday night in Mount Horeb. Which worked out well, the place was a dive, but it was nice to be able to get up at 5:00am, get ready, pack the gear and drive over to the park. At this point I was feeling good. All prepped up and ready to go. I grab the bike off the car and start putting things together. I get to the point to air up the tires and I finally notice that the rear tire is flat. shit.... I hit it with the air pump and nothing. crap.... a fucking flat. No problem, I tear it all apart and think I find the hole. Check the rim and tire and find nothing. Replace the tube and put things back together with no problems. I ride down to the start, still all prepped and ready to go. But at this point, I only have 1 tube left. No problem, the rear has been fixed. So nothing to worry about.

Stage 1: 7:00am comes and off we go. I'm starting in the middle so as not to be a problem. The start is great, no issues. The first major climb comes, a 3 mile grind and that pretty much thins out the group. All I know is that it is a long climb and things hurt all over. But I'm still in it. This is the type of stuff that we ride through for the next 25 miles until the first rest stop. 45mph downhills with twisting, bending roads. It was really nice. The first downhill was touch and go because of the people around me. Too much brake being used by everyone. Once I got around them and out in the open, off to the fast descents I went. 15 miles or so in, John calls on the cell phone. While going to answer it, I didn't notice that my Brooks saddle cover goes off into the wind when I opened the Bento Box. Needless to say, I was kicking myself later on this. The first rest stop has water, food, the usual stuff. All I was after was water since I was on a Hammer Perpetuem/Sustained Energy fueling strategy for the entire ride with Hammer Supplements on the top of every hour. Overall I was still feeling pretty good at this point.

Stage 2: The next section added in more grade. I was still moving along pretty well. Some of the hills were requiring me to climb out of the saddle since they were steeper than my body wanted to do sitting down. Getting up, out of the saddle really let me know how hard I had been working my legs so far. The first up and out hurt pretty bad but I was able to work through it. The second and third time, was just just plain nasty. I hit the water stop to stretch and make sure I have enough water since the temps are in the high 80's. Before I know it, I'm at the next water stop which is just up the road from the second rest stop. I stop and top off my water and stretch some.

Stage 3: I blow through the rest stop since I don't really need anything there. At this point we are about 3 hours in. I ride up to the next road to go down and go straight instead of turning. I was confused about the last minute detour that the route would be taking due to construction. After riding about 2 miles and coming up on a road that shouldn't yet be on the route, I dig out the map and see that I should have turned back there when I didn't. crap.... I turn around and start heading back. I notice the ride isn't quite right and sure enough, I have a flat back tire. So I tear it all apart and think that I have found the hole in the tube again and still can't see anything on the rim or tire. Maybe next time I'll bring my glasses too. The last tube goes in and away I go. Guess what, the next stage has hills on it, too. The next out of the saddle hills really sucked. Hurt like hell, but I didn't give up and was able to climb them and not have to walk them like some riders were. There was a section of gravel on one of the roads that I gladly walked since my legs and back needed the stretch. I was able to do the dreaded long climb into Barneville and then guess what, the rear tire was flat again. So at that point, I decided to call it a day. As my father would say, I came in on the hook. The SAG guy came and picked me up and hauled me back to my car. He was really surprised to see that I had a Brooks saddle instead of one of those gel ones. I told him that I had tried many different gel ones and I ended up on a Brooks. So while in the SAG wagon I crossed the finish line at 5 hours, 32 minutes.

I'm not sure if I could have made the final 2 monster climbs or not. The 3 mile climb that we started out with was coming back up and then the final monster into the park that is probably the steepest climb of the day. I guess I will have to go back on another day and do this ride again and prove to myself that I can do it.

After packing things up and changing clothes, I enjoyed the food that they had for us. Also talked with some people that I met along the way. Even a mountain biker or two that was there. I guess I could always try this ride on my Epic to see how it would climb those big ones.

Here is what the Cycling Peaks of the HHH ride looked like.

I worked on all the tubes when I got home and I have found that they all have a hole in about the same spot. So after inspecting the rim and the tire, I think I have a tire problem. There is a blemish on the inside of the tire that might have been the culprit. I will take everything down to the bike shop tomorrow and ask Alan to take a look at things and get his opinion.

Horribly Hilly Hundreds Tomorrow

186 pounds....

I have been preloading with Liquid Endurance and have gained a pound or two. Hopefully that means I will be ready for tomorrow's ride through the hills.

Things have been busy and I haven't posted much lately. I need to tell you all about the past couple of weeks races and rides. Hopefully I can get that all done this weekend and following week.

Later......

Quick Recap of Some Things

185 pounds....

My weight has stabilized some. I have been working on getting my diet back under control. Sugar and caffeine are my enemies since once I get them I keep on wanting them.

Let's do some quick talking about the WORS race.

This was Barb's first race so we were all packing things up to get going. In my haste, I forgot the spare wheel set with the mud tires on. This proved to be an issue since the weather wasn't looking well. I figured out my mistake about halfway there. Since it was only Saturday, we turned around and went back for them. This proved to be a very smart idea. It added a ton of time to getting to Nine Mile to preride, but I was thanking myself on Sunday. The bad thing about this was that Barb missed the preride for the Beginners. Which I was really hoping she was going to be able to do so that she felt more at ease with the course and race. She did get a lap in on Saturday and so did I. The course had a lot of fire roads and ski trails. Some single track, but not really too bad. There were some climbs that would be challenging, but overall I found it fun.

Life after WORS Marathon #1

185 pounds....

Food, food, food and more food. If I keep eating like this, I will be back to where I was at Christmas time. Yuck.

Sorry for not updating this week, been busy with things.

We did survive the mudfest at Wausau. I will post more this weekend on that.

Otherwise life is good at this point.

I thought I would just let you know we are all alive and well.

More later....

Getting Ready for WORS Marathon Race #1 - Wausau

183 pounds....

This week has been so, so food wise. Been eating too much ice cream and not staying away from things that I shouldn't eat.

Yesterday was a day that won't be forgotten for some time. The Neon tried to commit suicide. The number 4 spark plug disintegrated, leaving only the metal core in the head. The car had been running rough the past couple of days and yesterday morning it started running really bad. The check engine light was blinking on and off and the car was not running real well. After my massage with Dave, I was just getting on to the freeway and all of a sudden something popped under the hood and smoke came out. The car sounded light a Farmall tractor. I quickly got the car off the road and shut things down. First off it sounded like maybe the timing belt was breaking, but luckily it wasn't that. I opened the hood to the find the spark plug wire popped out of the valve cover and steam rising out where it should have been. Not a good thing. I called AAA and got the car towed to the shop I always go to. They replaced the spark plug and wire and it fired right back up. What a surprise. Since they had the car, they did some other checking on the computer codes and did a tune up. Lucky for me it wasn't major or I'd be in a money pain cave right now.

This week I have been doing the Peak In Season Week and things have been going well so far. The race is on Sunday and think I'm as ready as I ever will be. We will be packing things up tonight and tomorrow morning. We hopefully will be to the course by 1pm Saturday afternoon so that I can do a preride lap. Barb will be doing the Beginners Preride at 3pm so that will help her out a ton.

I finally used my Mr. Clean car wash system last night. But not on my car, but on my bike. It worked really well and the bike came out pretty clean. I should have thought of using soap and water to clean it much sooner. It is much easier than trying to spray it all down with cleaner and then wipe it off. The only down side to water is the rust factor. Not a problem though if you lube things and keep an eye out.

Other things this week. I did hit up a regular Doctor about my neck and pinched nerve. X-Rays were taken and you can easily see the vertebrae that is out of place and the area that is pinching my nerve. His recommendation is to take 1 Aleve, twice a day for about a week. So far that has been helping out quite a bit. The subtle pain in my hand and arm has pretty much vanished. And I visited the Chiropractor yesterday and it seemed he got a better crack out of me which could be related to the Aleve.

Barb did the beginners ride this week at Hoyt Park. It is nice to see her excited about riding. The group there took very good care of her and taught her many things about riding. It seems it is easier for her to learn from someone other than me. That might be because I was never taught how to ride mountain bike, I just got on and went riding. Bubba and Coop took care of her and helped her through her falls and such. Hopefully this will become a weekly thing for her.

12 Hours of GEARS

182 pounds....

I ate well the past day and a half and my weight shows it.

I finished the 12 hour race in about 9.5 hours while being on the bike about 6.5 hours. 62+ miles in those hours and a 10th place finish. Sore/blistering hands and tight shoulders/neck didn't help me out any. The first 4 hours went pretty much like clock work. I had a runny nose from hell though and stopped a few times to blow it. Was also off on my guess of Endurolytes. I started with only 3 per hour and at the 2 hour mark my legs started cramping so I moved up to 7 per hour and was fine from there on. The Hammer Nutrition fuels and supplements worked like a champ. I'm very happy with the results in that department.

Barb did race the 6 hour event to get some ride time in before the WORS Wausau race. She did about 2.5 hours and about 15+ miles. A good milestone for her. She was out there before the 3 hour race started and did well during that time. But once the 3 hour guys got going, she pulled the plug because she was not ready for all the people on the course. Hopefully she will still want to race next Sunday. Only time will tell.

We did see some others while we were there. Bubba, his wife and kids were there. Also Russell and the newlyweds, Coop and Ann were there too.

Race Week Day 3

181 pounds....

Weight wise things are hanging pretty well. I guess all the custard from this past weekend didn't hurt me too bad. Good thing or I would be hating myself now.

This week has been ok so far. The shoulder and arm are bothering me some, but not quite a show stopper yet.

Things are all a go for this weekend's 12 hour race. I have been doing Graeme Street's In Season Training Plan Race Week 1. It is a nice taper down to the race on Saturday. I guess I'm still out of shape since some of the taper stuff still kicks me pretty hard. I started doing the Hammer Nutrition Race Day Boost and Liquid Endurance loads. So now we will see if they really do work in race conditions. They did work well for the 4 hour spin class earlier in the year, but now will be the big test. Not to mention the big test for the rest of the Hammer products that I will be taking with me.

The road bike is at the shop getting it dearly needed maintenance. Alan is replacing the ring gears since he said they looked pretty bad. Needless to say they are the originals and have over 2 summers and 1 hard winter training on them. So they were probably due to be replaced. I get the bike back tomorrow. Barb and I also supposed to get the tandem fitted for us tomorrow afternoon. That is going to be interesting.

It Lives

180 pounds....

Yes, I'm still alive. I have been riding my bike the past week and things are getting better with the pinched nerve and stuff.

Barb and I went out to the New Fane Trail today and spent some time on the course for next weekend's WEMS race. It is kinda cool to be able to ride a trail that kicked my ass last year to find that I can bite back this year. I will be attempting to ride for 12 hours. It's going to be interesting.

I tried out my new Michelin All Terrain tires today and they rode well out there. So I will be using them next weekend if it doesn't rain. If it rains, the Michelin Mud tires will come out.

Otherwise this past week I was able to get in a few multi hour rides, which has been a big improvement over the past few weeks.

This coming week I will get back to Graeme Street's In Season Training program in preparation for next weekend's race.

And yes, I did preride the Treadfest course at this weekend's WORS race with John. Had a blast there. Saw some people there that I haven't seen since the WORS banquet last year. The course was hilly and had a ton of off camber stuff. Should have raced it, but I wanted to get Barb out on the trail some so that her skills will improve and so that she is in a good frame of mind for the first WORS marathon race.

Getting There Slowly

177 pounds....

Off the fast and back to normal eating in time for the weekend up north.

Did the massage and chiropractor visits today. Seems to have helped some. I'm still not 100% though. I did get out and ride the mountain bike for about 90 minutes though. Some blacktop, some shoulder, and some pea gravel trail. Things nag slightly, but it still felt great to be out and riding.

Off to go get food and then clean everything up so that the bikes can come up north too. Will be trying to get some riding in on Saturday before the wedding we have to go to.

Fix the Body Fast Day 4

175 pounds....

I'm getting there but I still hurt. After work yesterday and some computer work at home, my arm and shoulder were yelling pretty loud. Chiropractor appointment this morning so hopefully that will help some.

Today will be the last day of fasting. The cold is almost gone and I really need to get back to a regular diet for the weekend up north. Too much of a hassle to bring everything there to continue the fast. Easier just to stop now and go from there.

I must be kidding when I say my arm is better since it hurts just typing this up. I hate this way more than any of you realize.

School day today so hopefully the arm will get a break.

Update after chiropractor visit. Something moved down in the area that didn't want to move before. So hopefully that will help this out some. I did come home and ride on the CompuTrainer for about 40 minutes. Just something nice and easy and to work up a little sweat. Things seem a little better. I will do my stretching next and see what the rest of the day brings.

Fix the Body Fast Day 3

176 pounds....

After feeling like crap for 2 weeks I decided to put the Master Cleanser to a test to see if it would help me get over this. I started fasting this past Saturday. Hard to tell if it is the fast that is making me feel better or if it was just time for my body to turn the corner to better health. Either way, things are feeling somewhat better. The neck, shoulder and arm thing still is not 100%. Which really sucks. If you are wondering what type of pain and injury I have here's an example. Sit in a chair, bend over and grab your toes. Now look up and to the right. At that point my neck and shoulder start screaming and my arm goes numb. I have been doing that type of movement some the past couple of days to help stretch out the areas that need stretching. It appears to be helping since this morning I can do this maneuver will only a small amount of pain.

The first WORS race was this weekend and I didn't make it there. Kinda sucks since I was really hoping to race there again and see if I have improved since last year. Hopefully I have with the weight loss and time on the bike since then.

Otherwise the NASCAR race was just ok. Hendrick Motorsports is cleaning up so far this year. I hate that, but there isn't much I do about it. I find it funny that Mark Martin is still in the top 15 in points even after sitting out 3 races. Nicky Hayden in MotoGP gets punted in turn one and fights a broken bike for the whole race. That has got to suck. Bad season to begin with and then some crashes into you to make it so much better.

Well, today is a work day and I guess I need to try and make it a good one.

RAGBRAI In - Iola WORS Out

181 pounds....

I'm still working on getting my neck, shoulder and arm back to normal. I have decided to pull the plug on this weekend's race since it is already Wednesday and I'm still not back to normal. Needless to say, I'm slightly bummed about missing the first race of the year. Hopefully I will be able to get out and just ride some this weekend. I attempted to ride this past weekend and it hurt really bad to lift my head and look to the right.

Pain and Suffering

182 pounds....

Haven't been paying attention to my weight because I have an injury going on, not to forget the cold that has decided to visit me also.

I started out this past Sunday with a kink in my neck. I could turn my head to the left ok, but not very far to the right. Monday it was still there and getting worse. Meanwhile, the cold had started kicking in full force. Runny nose and scratchy throat. Tuesday the neck starts pinching a nerve and my right arm starts to ache and be numb. I visit the chiropractor and he is unable to get a good manipulation in the area because the muscles are so tight. All this time, my aches and pains are getting worse. Wednesday is more of the same. The pain and numbness gets bad enough that I am having a really hard time working on a computer. I visit the chiropractor again while little success. Thursday morning is massage morning. Dave really works the hell out of my neck and shoulders and things loosen up some. I then go visit the chiropractor again and things crack more than before but I'm still not out of the woods. Again, as the day goes on, things get worse. I move from inflammation pills to muscle relaxers and throw in pain killers to help out. I usually have a pretty high pain tolerance, but this is more than I can stand. Friday morning and it is just as bad if not worse at this point. I'm typing in bursts in between the numbness and aches. More pills will be taken today to help cope. I hate this.....

Looking on the bright side, yesterday did have its good moments. Barb got a new Specialized Womans Epic Comp bike. We traded in her Stumpjumper and my Sequoia and paid the difference. Not to bad. She has a really nice bike now for her campaign in the WORS marathon series and the other point to point races that we have signed up for. Once again Alan at Ben's Cycle worked his magic on the fit. She will have to log some miles on it to see how it feels.

I need to bail and throw some food in me and then some pills to help cope with this. Today is a work day and this could prove to be interesting.

Peak Week 1 Day 1

184 pounds....

Oh my, I have been gaining, but I don't look like it. I guess that is a good thing. I have been eating more than usual and things that I shouldn't be. This week will be a lot of work to get myself back on track and eating normal.

Long time no see. The past week was pretty normal. Just poor eating habits sneaking back in though. Kopp's Custard is way to good, but way too bad for me.

I went on Thursday afternoon and got fitted on my mountain bike. Alan at Ben's Cycle has been a friend for a few years and has been working at getting better at fits. Serious training at Specialized and everything. I have been working him the past few months about me having to go somewhere else to get a really good fit. And this time he really surprised me. He worked on all aspects of the fit, from my feet, to knees, and everything else. Instead of using my custom inserts from my street shoes in my mountain bike shoes, we went with the Specialized inserts and some shims under the toes. My left cleat needed adjusting because my foot got tender from the spinning. Needless to say, Alan wanted to work that out so it wouldn't bother me later. So that was really cool and I'll talk more about how it rides after we talk about what we changed on the bike.

The bike, got a really good work over. Ergon grips, new seat post and seat, rebuild shock/fork, new front derailleur, new chain rings, new chain and new Shimano SPD pedals (last year's model and I can't find a link for them). Basically a ton of shit got changed on the bike to go along with the custom fit and revamped rider.

On Saturday morning we went and picked up garbage with REI at the River Cleanup on Menomonee River Parkway. That was a trip. The whole family went. Barb and the Girls. Needless to say, the girls just loved being able to run around and pick up yucky garbage. Many odd things were found by and in the river. It is unbelievable how much garbage there was and still is.

After that, Barb and the Girls went to a wedding of one of the teachers from Kinder Care.

I got my bike stuff together and headed out to John Muir for some riding. I listened to the movies on Specialized's website about shock setup and dialed it into the bike. I mixed up a 3 hour bottle of Perpetuem and cleaned up the Camelbak. I attempted to install an additional water bottle holder on my Epic, but there just wasn't enough room with the cages that I had. I will have to do more investigation on this. I should be able to carry two bottles on the bike. The first mile or so on the bike in the woods was awesome. Kinda unsure and not quite ready for it, but I did well. The trail has changed some because of cutting and stuff, but after getting settled in, I noticed that my pace is much faster than last year. I think the working out and losing weight is really going to pay off for me this year. I rode out to the connector to head to the Emma Carlin trails, but I forgot to check where the connector goes when you hit the road, so I was kind lost. Ended up riding down the road in the wrong direction. Should have gone forward instead of the left that I took. But anyway, I turned back and finished up the first loop in good shape and then did another. I'm not used to pulling a water bottle out and riding at the same time. It's going to take some getting used to. I didn't fall down and was only unable to do one climb all day. And the only reason that happened was because of the rocks and roots. I didn't make it to the correct gear fast enough and stalled. I rode fast and hard and easy and slow for over 2 hours. My left foot went numb at about the 1.5 hour mark and the right one followed about 10 minutes later. My ring finger and pinky on my right hand were numb also. But those things weren't bad enough for me to bail on riding. The fork and shock setup seemed to work pretty well. I wasn't bouncing all over the place and I seemed to have really good control. I ran my Michelin XCR X'trem tires with 30 pounds in the front and 35 pounds in the rear. I figured I could get away with that since I so much lighter than last year.

Afterwards the body was pretty stiff and the Recoverite felt good going down. Then it was off to Subway in East Troy for some dinner.

Alan and I spoke on Sunday, since I was fixing his laptop, about the numbness in my feet and hands and we both pretty much came to the conclusion that I need to ride more and see what happens. We have made some pretty drastic changes in the setup. Both the bike and the rider.

Build Week 2 Day 1

181 pounds....

I need to get my sweet tooth under control. I have ate more frozen custard in the past few days than the past few months. Once I get going, it's a tough one to stop. Will power is very powerful when you want it to be.

I did get outside on my bike by myself yesterday. It was kinda funny when I first started out because I was all over the place. Very different after riding for 4 months indoors. Not to mention after an ear surgery. My balance probably needs some work. Here's the ride in CyclingPeaks as reported by my PowerTap.


It was very windy, but it felt really great to be outside and riding. I felt snappy, light and strong all rolled into one. The hills didn't even feel to bad. I can't wait to get out on the Mountain Bike later this week after it comes back from the shop.

I was able to pick up a set of Ergon grips for the Mountain Bike. Those things are nice. I ended up getting them at Emery's in the Falls since Ben's kept screwing me around on them. Sometimes I wonder about Ben's. I get great prices there, but sometimes they do things really half assed.

Today was a recovery day so I did some PNF stretching that is on the Cyclo-SPEED DVD. Good stuff. I will be doing these more often.

I have been thinking about doing 12 hour races the first few WEMS events instead of 6 hours. I really want to push myself more and see how my training, riding, supplementation, and fueling work out. I think I can do this.

Work was normal with no issues. Kinda easy in fact. I have kicked the Hardware God's ass and have finally gotten a system together that works. Seems I have 8 or so bad Asus motherboards. What are the odds on that? All of their serial numbers are within 15 of each other. So basically it looks like there must have been a bad run.

Long Time No See

181 pounds....

The weight is what it is. I have ate horribly this week and I have been lucky to not have gained 5 pounds. Maybe getting on the scale tomorrow will prove otherwise.

So much to catch up on.

We did go up North over Easter weekend. Even Rosie and Worf joined us. They really enjoyed being able to run around without leases on. Rosie had the misfortune of falling in the creek behind my In-Laws house. That was a slightly tense moment since the water was really cold and I needed to bail in to save her since the ice on the bank wasn't going to let her scratch her way back on to shore. We both survived, but wet and cold.

These are photos from Vinnie's garage. Needless to say, my Dad is the King of the Piles. My brother is also featured in the photos.





My camera phone kinda sucks and I will have to get a real camera if I want to continue posting photos of any worth. As you can tell, the up North garage has quite a few things in it. There are more engine parts in there than you can image. It has only gotten worse over the years, but hey, Vinnie has to put up with it, not me. Tim, my brother, keeps threatening on a massive clean, but Vinnie will have none of that yet.

Otherwise the Easter trip was ok. The girls were left there for the week so that Barb and I could have some peace and quiet.

Barb started the Master Cleanser on Sunday and was off of it by Tuesday. She was really sick by then, but we are not sure if she had caught something from work or if the detox was doing her in. I guess we will have to see what happens to her if she tries it again.

I worked on doing Build Week 1 from Graeme Street's 14 Week In Season Training Program. Yes, it kicked me in the butt, but in the end it felt really good.

My shock and fork are back from Fox. So the Epic got taken down to Ben's on Thursday to start it's spring time checkup. The other bikes in the house will have to have that done to them also. Not to mention refits on them too. I have been pestering Alan to get me fitted better on all three bikes that I ride, so we will have to wait and see if he is able to deliver.

Barb and I were out on the tandem yesterday and rode the Glacial Drumlin trail out to Dousman. It was a good workout and far enough where Barb was able to break in her butt without killing her too bad. She was sore and not beat. The tandem is hardly broken in with only 60 miles on it so far since we bought it. Hopefully that will change in the next few months.

F1 this weekend in Bahrain and NASCAR in Texas. Chump Car is in Long Beach along with the American LeMans Series.

Barb is heading up to Stevens Point today to pick up the girls from my Mom and Dad. Then things will be back to what normal is around here. I'm not sure if that is good or bad.

The Birthday Bitch

178 pounds....

April 9th is my birthday. I missed posting on my birthday by 15 minutes. Not a problem. To me, it is just another day. To some, they just can't figure me out.

I'll catch everyone up on this past weekend later today.

Week 4 Day 5 Off Season Training

177 pounds....

Training is going well. I did lose strength during my fast and surgery downtime. But, this week has been good so far. The strength will come back with time. You get out what you put in.

Work today and hopefully the Hardware Gods have decided to stop mocking me.

Going up north this weekend and we are taking the dogs also. So Rosie and Mr. Worf get to take a trip. Hopefully they will travel well and be good dogs at the mother-in-law's house. The girls will be staying up there for the week, so Barb and I will have some peace and quiet.

Barb is thinking about doing the Master Cleanser to help jump start her weight loss program. I'm hoping that she will have the determination to go through with it.

Dan recommended that I do the essay to get into the Cheq 40. He said that Barb and I would be a good story to tell since we got married at Telemark Resort.

Week 4 Day 4 Off Season Training

177 pounds....

Things are looking well in the weight department. The Fat Loss Week shed a couple of pounds and this week's working out has helped keep it that way.

This week has been ok for the training so far. Been doing some yoga, core work, upper body resistance work and some indoor bike training. Everything feels good, except the right hamstring and back of the knee are tight. But they have been getting better with exercise and stretching. Hopefully by this time next week, it won't be an issue.

Been working and stuff otherwise. The Hardware Gods are mocking me. Seems I can't build a computer to save my life.

Massage this morning helped the body and mind feel better.

Off to shower and then to school. Steaks on the grill tonight. Woohoo!

Still pissed about the Cheq 40 race though.

Damn, Damn, Damn

I got my check back for the Cheq 40. I was really hoping to get in that one. Being able to the do the 3 big Midwest races all in the same year for a guy like me would have been big.

Back to Training

177 pounds....

I get to eat normally this week. No detox, no fat loss, no nothing but being back to normal. I will be moving backwards in my off season training plan to Week 4. That should be a good restarting point. And today is a recovery day. Woohoo!

I did get a good hard ride in yesterday on the last day of the Fat Loss Week and it looks like this in Cycling Peaks.



Not as hard as possibly could have done. But this was the Ore to Shore 28 mile course and is a bitch to ride on a road bike. Way to much up and down. Wrong gearing overall. Once the mountain bike is back together I will try this one on that.

Otherwise, back to work and the hell hole of computers that don't want to go together and run.

Fat Loss Week Day 7

176 pounds....

I haven't updated the past few days because I have been busy with Life. This is the last day of the Fat Loss Week, and at this point I have lost 4 pounds. Not too bad considering it is only 1 week long. As usual, the key will be keeping things off. I'm still in shock that I am under 180 pounds. If you would have asked me during the holidays if I could have been under 180 by this time, I would have said no way. But here I am and this is what I weigh. Determination and stubbornness help too.

Yesterday I did do a easy spin ride for an hour and this is what it looks like in CyclingPeaks.



As you can see, it was a pretty easy ride. Nothing pushed but just getting some easy time in. Today's ride will be a 40 minute push instead of easy like this one.

The past few days have kinda sucked because Barb is stressed over the tax bill stuff. Hopefully she will pull it back together and not be such a handful to be around. I have been digging into things to find additional deductions and such. Hopefully this will help us some. I think in the end we will be scraping the bottom of the barrel for a while. But my feeling is that, that is the way that it is and it doesn't pay to get all upset and stressed over it. You need to just work through it and make the best of it.

Otherwise, today is Martinsville NASCAR day. Another Car of Tomorrow race. I like the new car. Big and symmetrical. I like the left front fender being the same size as the right. Can't wait to see these vehicles on larger tracks.

I'm not sure if I will be going up north for Easter weekend or not. With the financial crunch happening, I would rather spend dog kennel money on going racing. But I'm not sure if I'm ready for the dirty looks from Barb if I went racing. Hopefully the wedding shower she is going to today will help her spirits.

Fat Loss Week Day 4

177 pounds....

I'm still hanging in there. If I'm able to start the racing season at under 180 pounds, I will consider that a major victory in getting into shape and better health. Not bad for a 43 year old guy, eh? Not to mention I'll be 44 in less than 2 weeks.

Today was Metabolic Boost day. Cut carbs all day and then eat a bunch of them for dinner after a hard 40 minute ride. Even got to have some Recoverite afterwards. Still no during exercise HEED though. That's a bummer because I really like that stuff. Here's the CompuTrainer ride in CyclingPeaks.



It was a good, hard, short ride. 10 minute warm up, the 25 minute ride, and then a 5 minute cool down.

Today was massage and chiropractor day. Both helped out a ton on body. My legs really needed the massage and my neck/back really needed the chiropractor.

Got shocking news from the accountant about our taxes. Apparently we owe a ton. Which sucks since it wasn't really planned. Since I get paid on 1099, I paid quarterly taxes last year per the accountants suggestion. Well, their suggestion wasn't quite enough. Almost 7 grand not enough. ouch! Needless to say, I'm digging for deductions that I may have missed. So far found a couple of computer classes that weren't reported so that might help some. But I don't think THAT much. I guess a new bike will have to wait till next year. Probably just as well since the driver and the motor needs to get better since the chassis is still much faster than those two.

My guy in the Survivor pool got booted off tonight. Darn, the pool is worth $360.

Fat Loss Week Day 3

177 pounds....

Yup, the Fat Loss Week is doing it like it's supposed to. Day 3 is a recovery day, so no biking or exercise. The carbs get cut really hard today and protein will be up. When I first looked at this diet last year, I wasn't sure it would produce results or not, but it does and I'll be sticking with it for a long time. Since racing season is coming, I don't think I'll be able to do another Fat Loss Week for some time, but no problem. I think if I eat well and continue training, I should be able to maintain or possibly lose some more weight.

Normal day today, back to work. The hornet's nest awaits. It was bad on Monday, but I was able to put out most fires.

Fat Loss Week Day 2

179 pounds....

Maybe this week I can get back to the 176 area that I was during the Master Cleanser. Day 2 of the Fat Loss week went well. Some carbs before lunch and then bring on the protein in the afternoon. So far so good.

Did a quickie on the CompuTrainer this morning and here is what it looks like in CyclingPeaks.



This ride was short and sweet.

Did some school things today. Started week 2 of my Server 2003 Infrastructure course. Name resolution. Interesting but boring stuff.

I'm over half way thru my latest audio book, Angels & Demons by Dan Brown. It has been pretty good so far. I will buy his next one, The Da Vinci Code.

That's about it.

Fat Loss Week Day 1

180 pounds....

At least I'm hanging out around the same weight. This week is the Fat Loss Week which is somewhat similar to a low carb week. I have done this type of thing a few times in the past with good results.

I did a couple CompuTrainer rides this morning and this is what the first one looks like in CyclingPeaks.



And this is the second one.



This first one is the profile from the 2006 WORS Iola Bump & Jump race. I purchased some software from RaceMate to convert GCX files into CompuTrainer Courses. Kinda neat stuff. But this course is a bitch on a road bike because of all the elevation changes. Once the moutain bike is back together, I'll have to try this course again with that one.

The second course is just one that comes with the trainer and was a climb or two in the beginning. Since it is a Fat Loss Week, I didn't want to push too hard today, but still I did give it a good effort.

Off to work today, I'm not sure what kind of a hornet's nest I'll be walking into but that is the way that it goes.

Sunday a Day Late

180 pounds....

Ok, eat like a pig and you will pay for it on the scale. Yup, that is what happens.

I did get a 30 minute ride in on the CompuTrainer and here's the CyclingPeaks of it.


I pushed hard for the 30 minutes. Good recovery after riding an hour yesterday. Monday I start my Fat Loss Week so things will be somewhat different.

I did get the girls bike's out yesterday. Sami and I even went for about a 30 minute ride on the tandem. She seems to like it. I might have a new stoker in the making here. Mary got out on her's some. She has grown some and I will need to do some seat adjustments. Hopefully this will be the year to get the training wheels off. Might need to buy her a Bookoo Mountain Bike to help your learn her bicycle balance.

Baby Busch wins Bristol. He isn't my most favorite driver and his comments in Victory Lane were not that stellar, but he did have a good car all day. JP Montoya got taught a lesson. That place must have been a mind blower to him after all he has seen over the years.

Battlestar Galactica finished up and won't be back until 2008! What a crock.

A Good Saturday

179 pounds....

I'm finding it hard to believe that I have been staying the same weight or losing any considering I have been eating like a pig. All over the map. No structure. I need to reel it back in and keep it on track and things will be much better.

A pretty normal Saturday. I got to sleep in some this morning. Barb and I did some CompuTrainer riding this morning. Here is the CyclingPeaks from that ride.


The cool thing is we went for 45 minutes on the course. Combine that with 10 minutes warm up and 5 minutes cool down, we did a full hour. Slowly but surely, I'm going to get back up to where I was before the Master Cleanser and the ear surgery.

Watched the BUSCH race from Bristol. It was nice to see Carl Edwards win, but it sucked that ABC decided not to air the back flip because they were out of time. Once again ABC/ESPN mess things up. Rusty Wallace will make me start watching the races with the sound off. He is almost worse than Darrell Waltrip.

I'm watching the IndyCar race now. As you can tell it must not have my attention to much if I'm doing my update while it's happening.

The big bummer from the past couple of days is that Eric Medlen, NHRA driver, passed away from injuries from a test crash on Monday. Our thoughts to his family and friends.

Another Trainer Day

180 pounds....

I'm still there and it is feeling good. Next week will be a Cyclo-FUEL Fat Loss Week so hopefully I will get back below 180.

I got my stitches and packing out yesterday. Woohoo. The itch has gone. That is a good thing. The bad thing is that the Doc has recommended that I don't push it too hard in the exercise area for the next few weeks. So after next week's Fat Loss Week, I will go back to my Off Season Training Plan Week 1 and start over. If nothing else, I could use the base.

I went yesterday and ordered up a new suit. Damn those things are expensive. A suit, that is jacket and pants, hard soled shoes, and a shirt came out to about $500.00. Ouch. I guess it takes money to look good in my case.

So basically at this point, things are slowly getting back to normal. Saturday I will go back to school and start getting back on track there. I would like to get my MCSA one of these months. Hopefully that will work out soon.

I did ride on the CompuTrainer this morning and this is what the CyclingPeaks of my ride looks like.


Better than yesterday. I did the same amount of time, but with more effort. I need to slowly work my way back up on the endurance side.

That's about it for now. Should be an easy day overall.

Back in the Saddle Again

180 pounds....

Back on 03/05/07 I reached the 180 pound mark. It is 03/21/07 and I'm still at that weight. Is that a good thing? I think so. The key is going to be whether or not I'm still there this time next week.

I decided to get back on the CompuTrainer today and go for a spin. It has been a while since I have been on the bike because I didn't want to bother my stitches. At this point, I figured it wouldn't be too bad for them if I rode today since they are being removed tomorrow morning at 7:30am. You don't think I'm anxious do you?

So here's the CyclingPeaks of my ride.



I know it's not much, but it is a start for me since I have been doing easy or no exercise for darn near a whole month. I hope over the next few days to keep this up and then start working on my off-season training plan again on Monday starting with Week 1. I'll work up some base again and then start Cyclo-MTB in preparation for the season. I'm hoping things work out well and that this season will be a fun and rewarding one.

I will be off to buy a suit, a shirt and some shoes today. The bitch about this is, this is the 3rd suit in 5 years. But in the end I guess it's a good reason since I have lost weight instead of gained.

Big & Baggy

180 pounds....

I went to the Men's Warehouse about my suit this morning. That was quite a laugh. I haven't tried on my suit in quite a bit. The pants felt like waders and the coat was big all over. If I hadn't brought along my suspenders, my pants would have been around my ankles. The seamstress said that since I'm at least 3 sizes smaller on both things, it is really hard to get a good look without buying new. So needless to say, that's what I'll be doing either tonight or tomorrow.

I also removed my fork and rear shock from my Epic and took them down to the bike shop so that they can be sent in for a rebuild. Hopefully they won't be away too long. I have a feeling that I have waited too long on these. I probably should have done this the beginning of the month. While I was there, I was able to score a set of pre-neo Look pedals for Barb for on the tandem. Nice, since those are hard to find now days.

Windy Monday

181 pounds....

I guess I should have expected to gain some weight after all the food I ate yesterday. I guess I will be going for a walk this morning to attempt to get my body moving.

Not sure what I'll be doing today yet. I have no plans. I do need to go get my suit refitted since it is huge on me now sometime this week. A company called me this past Friday and are interested in meeting with me. So, I need to get my suit in order and not to forget, a new pair of shoes.

Otherwise, the garbage has to go out today and that's about it. I guess I can keep reading my coaching manual and attempt to get that completed this week. It is an open book test so it shouldn't be that tough. It just takes the time to do it.

Typical Lazy Weekend

179 pounds....

I'm still below 180 after breaking the fast last week. Not bad. Hopefully this week I can get back to exercise after my stitches come out.

It has been a typical, lazy weekend. Been watching the NASCAR and F1 races and eating too much. I probably will be weighing a ton by the end of the week.

I have done some walking, but I guess I need to put in more to help the body keep moving. Otherwise, my ear and stitches itch. That's a good thing. My IV mark on my arm is not quite as black and blue as it was. Barb says my neck below my ear is yellow from the bruising. Kinda hard for me to notice though.

Bike stuff... I need to take my fork and shock off my Specialized Epic and get them rebuilt. Hopefully I can work on that this week. Shouldn't be that hard to take things apart.

Did I say anything about Barb and the accident that she had in my car, well my car has been fixed and looks good. You'd never know the rear bumper cover got replaced. I guess that is a good thing.

Pretty Much Back to Normal

178 pounds....

Man, I stepped on the scale and couldn't believe that it didn't go up further. Needless to say, I will be watching what I eat over the next week or so since I'm basically laid up after my surgery.

The Master Cleanser diet has been broken and I am back to eating normal solid food again. Yesterday was cereal, blueberries, soy milk, hard boiled eggs, a Subway Italian BMT on wheat, Lays Classic Potato chips, water, won ton soup, veggie roll, beef and broccoli and rice, and to finish it all up with a couple of slices of lunch meat. Whew, after writing all of that, I should have gained weight yesterday.

Today is a veg day. I'll just be hanging out around home and watching last night's Formula 1 practice from Australia and reading more of my Level 3 USA Cycling Coach book.

And yes, Rosie and Mr. Worf are off to get haircuts and baths today. If I'm energetic, I'll attempt posting a picture of them later.

Breaking the Fast Day 3

179 pounds....

And the weight returns. No problem there, since I figured it would come back. The digestive track is filling back up and therefore the weight comes back also.

Been good so far this morning. Cereal with blueberries and soymilk. And a glass of orange juice. I just need to make sure something moves out of me soon or I'll be doing some Smooth Move tea or a salt water flush tomorrow.

Another recuperation day after my surgery. Finished listening to the Dark Tower by Stephen King. I have been doing the audio CD's of this epic tale. Makes it kinda easy to do in the car when you are driving to and from work.

I will be doing Subway for lunch. Woohoo. The ladies there probably figured I died or something since they are so used to seeing me multiple times a week.

Breaking the Fast Day 2

176 pounds....

Well, another day, another pound.

I did do the salt water flush this morning since I wasn't able to yesterday. Yup, things are still moving, but the detox is coming to an end.

I have a feeling the pounds will be coming back on after today. I had a couple of bowls of soup today, some orange juice, soy pudding and some lemonade. So I have a feeling things will be getting back to normal here soon.

For a change of pace today, I started reading my USA Cycling Level 3 coach manual so that I can maybe get my certification as a cycling coach.

Otherwise, my ear and head feel better. Chewing things make the ear canal packing move around a bit and itch. Jaw is still letting me know that it is there also.

Breaking the Fast Day 1

177 pounds....

I lost another one today, but I also started breaking the fast today. So now we can watch my weight climb back up some. Hopefully I will be able to control how much comes back and maybe even start losing some again.

And today was my ear surgery. That pretty much took up most of my day. They did find that I had a hole in my head. Nothing new there some would say. But apparently it is an issue. The Doc filled it up with the cement that he was using on the ear canal and things are better. I will say, the side of head hurt like hell this afternoon. I needed some Tylenol to take care of that. I guess that is what happens when they do work on your skull. I also should have started breaking the fast sooner. The pain meds prescribed to me should be taken with food. Needless to say, I didn't use them since I haven't had solid food in me for over 2 weeks.

In regards to breaking the fast. I started drinking orange juice. I had a couple of glasses of that today. I also had some pineapple and watermelon. So far so good. Taking it slow and gentle to see how my stomach takes things.

I did do the Smooth Move tea tonight so that things will move around tomorrow. Not sure yet if I will be doing the salt water flush tomorrow morning or not. Probably will since I didn't get to do that today.

The Master Cleanser Day 16 (part 2)

And the fast will come to an end starting tonight. I started breaking the Master Cleanser diet tonight with 10 ounces of grapefruit/orange juice. I juiced up 3 oranges and 1 grapefruit, all peeled. I shared this mixture with my wife, Barb. Very tasty.

My ear surgery is tomorrow morning so I'm not sure when I will be posting, but the diet will be coming to an end over the next few days.

All in all, it has been a good experience. I will do this again. Probably not until after racing season.

So this blog will start to become my obsession with my weight, training, bike racing, computers and motor sports of all sorts. And maybe I'll throw in some things about the family. Who knows.

The Master Cleanser Day 16

178 pounds....

I'm not sure if I will lose any more weight during this detox or not. Seems my body has plateaued with the amount of exercise that I haven't been doing and the amount of calories from the lemonade.

Only a few more days to go and then I'll break the fast and get back to eating normal food. In speaking with Barb, I'll probably then start at Week 1 of my 14 Week Off Season Training so that I ease back into working out.

The salt water flush is STILL moving things out. Seems so odd that I'm still purging things out of me, but I guess that is why I did this, isn't it?

Anyway, today is my pre-op appointment with my ear Doctor. And tomorrow is the surgery. Woohoo, finally I will get this done and past and will be able to get back to normal.