WEEK TWELVE

Having been inspired by Heft On Wheels by Mike Magnuson, I thought all I got to do is start cycling like a maniac and… uh… Well he started, he started cycling like a mad bastard and quit smoking and drinking and I seem to recall he lost his first 30 pounds in a month or two… Of course I think he was riding a couple hours a day, six days a week… Anyway, I’m ahead of the game I’m not nearly as huge as he was to start with, smoking and drinking? Never done it… What are my vices…? Licorice and root beer (I am the most boring person you will ever meet in your life). That’s it, all I have to do is cut back on the licorice and root beer and ride lots and the pounds will just come FLYING off!

Well it hasn’t quite worked out that way… Oh I have been losing a bit of weight – about a pound a week. I stopped standing on the scale a couple weeks ago because I was getting a little depressed about it. I tried to cheer myself with the delusion that I’m simple building muscle faster than I’m loosing fat… or something like that.

Anyway, there’s NO WAY I was going to live on three protein shakes a day like mike did to shave off the next thirty or forty pounds. I was loath to even have to start counting calories or weight watchers points. I did have a look at what I eat this past week and I have to admit I eat HUGE breakfasts. Like a massive bowl of cold cereal with soy milk – it’s usually some sort of Organic Nature’s Path whole cereal… but as often as not I also mix in some Nature’s Path organic kiddies cereals (Koala Krip – crispy rice with cocoa and sugar… or Leaping Lemur’s – chocolate and peanut butter flavoured organic corn puffs…) or if we’re out of cereal or milk I’ll have, like, four to six pieces of toast with heaps of peanut butter and jam…. Breakfast: it’s the most important meal of the day, right? Oh and from time to time I make a big batch of pancakes sure it’s all organic and I mix in tofu – but let’s face it pancakes are just a vehicle for the consumption of maple syrup… lots and lots of maple syrup…

So I replaced the traditional massive breakfast with two apples and a banana and tried to cut back on the between meal snacking…. And bippity-bam, at the end of a week, Tim’s under 200lbs! BOO-YAH!

I’m not sure about what to do next week. I’ve been having a hard time getting up earlier in the morning with it staying darker later and I really need to work some mountain biking into the “training schedule”. Some “specificity”. Say that five times, fast!

Here’s how the week went:

Date: Monday, 4 August 2008
“Rest Day”. Really, I don’t think I went anywhere today…. Might have been working on Der Übersandbox…

Date: Tuesday, 5 August 2008
Another “Rest Day” – spent most of the day waiting around for sand to arrive. Then I spent the evening shifting 10cubic yards of wet sand from my back lane into the yard… I did nip out in the morning up to Long and McQuade and bought a violin…. ~20km?

Date: Wednesday, 6 August 2008
Yet another “Rest Day”. I did roll over to Broadway and haul $500 worth of groceries home… 5km

Date: Thursday, 7 August 2008
Yet another “Rest Day” – I did take the kids out to the zoo and then rode over and bought another violin for Finnegan, then rode to the Safeway at the “Centre at Circle and 8th”, then to broadway to pick up some laundry soap I had left behind… probably 30+km hauling kids, groceries, etc…

Date: Friday, 8 August 2008
Time: 2:31:12
Distance: 61.29km
Average Speed: 24.32kph
Temp: 31°C
Wind: SE 22kph, gusting to 33kph
Conditions: blazing sun
Notes: A ride in the late morning/early afternoon. Damn it was hot.

I fixed the 1FG today (which has been out of commission for a year now… sad…).

Date: Saturday, 9 August 2008
Time: 2:53:20
Distance: 71.78km
Average Speed: 24.84kph
Temp: 20°C
Wind: SE15kph
Conditions: Cloudy – Light rain
Notes:
The forecast, when I woke up, of “A few showers with thunderstorms ending this morning then clearing. Wind becoming southeast 30 km/h early this morning…” concerned me a little… But it turned out to be a great ride. I only got lightly sprinkled on as I reentered the city and saw no signs of thunderstorms in any direction (with their un-fun lightening and hail…).

I also rode out to Sutherland to do a presentation on bicycle maintenance and safety to the Sierra Youth Coalitions’ “Youth Action Gathering”. Another ~20km.


Date: Sunday, 10 August 2008
Time: 3:59:07
Distance: 100.73km
Average Speed: 25.27kph
Temp: 17°C
Wind: SE 13kph
Conditions: cloudy - sunny
Notes: Once again when I got up the Environment Canada conditions and forecast read:
Thunderstorm with Rain!!? (that’s what said when I got up…) Cloudy with sunny periods. 30 percent chance of showers early this morning and 70 percent chance of showers this afternoon. Risk of a thunderstorm. Wind southeast 20 km/h becoming light this morning. High 28. UV index 6 or high.

When I got outside it didn’t look like it had rained at all, and while it was a bit cloudy directly overhead when I started, it was clear skies to the southwest… by about an hour into the ride the sun was out and I had clear skies overhead the rest of the trip. Not one drop of rain…