June Rides - Part The First: A New Hope

I decided earlier this year to try and post here a bit more regular-like. I thought, at the very least, I could dump all the photos I've taken during rides at the end of the month with a few captions and, collectively, that might give a nice survey of what we got up to over the year on our bikes.

I've been riding a lot more so far this month - and taking a lot more pictures - so I decided to start try and post weekly instead. We'll see how it goes....

Also, this one is going to be about a bit more than just the rides I've done this last week.

I'm a bit overweight. Like, if you looked my height and weight up on a Body Mass Index chart it would tell you I'm "obese". I don't think I'm THAT obese... the number may be skewed a bit by the fact that I'm a bit more dense than the average person (in more ways than one!). My doctor didn't even believe me when I told her my weight (needed it for a referral for some tests) - she said "no you are not!" I said; "yes, I am.."

I realize fat and body size aren't the be all and end all. "Be comfortable in your body." I'm not here to fat-shame and get that as long as you are healthy, it doesn't really matter at all how big you are. The problem is, I'm not feeling very healthy - or at least I've started to experience some health problems that are directly linked to or exacerbated by my weight, so I've decided to do something about it.

The problem is: HOW!? Not owning a car and walking or biking everywhere I go means I'm already a a fairly active person, and I don't have a terrible diet... It's really dispiriting reading or hearing about others that do things and loose a pile of weight - which SHOULD be inspiring - only to discover that you already DO (or don't do) those things! Mike Magnuson's Heft on Wheels (which I read about 10 years ago), I seem to recall he lost his first 30lbs (13.6Kg) by simply cutting beer, pizza and steak out of his diet - Three things I already don't consume (Okay, I have eaten home-made pizza from time to time - but I like to think it's a lot healthier than restaurant pizza...?). Will Wheaton also lost some weight and felt a lot better by "drinking less beer, eating better, and exercising more" in Project Reboot - things I mostly felt I was already doing (seriously though, it's a good read start here: Seven Things I Did to to Reboot My Life). Other friends (who were less fat than me to begin with) have bragged about losing 10 pounds  (4.5Kg) in a month by cutting pop out of their diet or 15 pounds (6.8Kg) by switching to a plant-based diet... things I already do... So, What CAN I do!? What would I have to cut out!? How much MORE exercise could I actually DO!? Why do I keep GAINING weight when it seems everyone else is losing it!?

A month or so ago Amanda started talking about a Keto diet that her sister and some friends are on and how well it's worked for them. I'm suspicious of most diet fads and am not really in favour of starving myself. I found a book on following a Keto diet as a vegan at the library (and later just bought myself a copy).



Reading through part of it, it seems to make sense and didn't set off too many bullshit detectors... So I decided to give it a go... I do like the idea of the once-a-week free day, where you get to eat WHATEVER?!

The idea is to follow a low carb (not NO CARB!) and (relatively) high fat diet, that kicks your body into a state of Ketosis - which burns fat for fuel instead of carbohydrates.

At the end of May, I seriously cut back my carbohydrate intake and not care so much about fats consumed.



Here's where we're starting at. Those are Kilograms (it's about 250 pounds!).

The first few days I was basically having a big pile of fried tofu with some salsa on top in the morning, and a huge salad with mixed greens. shredded carrot, toasted pumpkin seeds, hulled hemp seeds and chickpeas with a pile of homemade dressing (olive oil, balsamic or apple cider vinegar and some seasoning herbs - usually garlic and oregano) and the occasional handful of mixed nuts or tamari almonds .

Within a few days I was in Ketosis...



Ketosis achieved - Power to burn fat unlocked!

I've since added a smoothie into the mix - and other foods. I think most smoothies are gross - but I found a recipe that I don't mind, so that's more or less replaced breakfast.

What's really important is I don't really feel like I'm starving myself (as I always feared I would on any sort of "diet"). So far, I'm actually feeling less hungry, despite the significant decrease in the volume of food I'm taking in (previously, I was feeling hungry almost all of the time!).

I have to admit, I'm not super bean-counting at this point. I tracked carb intake for a couple days to get a general sense of things (doing this for Finnegan anyway, because... Type One Diabetes), but haven't been tracking caloric intake or anything just yet. Trying to ease myself into things...

So... the rides...



For this first full week of June I rode 180 Km - that's more than any other week since I started using my Bryton computer and Strava! Woo!

It has been crazy dry around here... and June kicked off with some pretty warm temperatures (like around 30°C)



like, dry enough for stuff to suddenly burst into flames - that kind of hot and dry!



SUPER dry!



Yeah, that ain't me...

On Saturday, 1 June, when I rolled downtown to the library there was a Crit going on around the city hall block (across from the Francis Morrison library - main branch). Part of a weekend stage race hosted in Saskatoon every year.



Starting on Monday I decided to crank up the rides - I planned to go for a minimum 20Km ride every day of the week... well... ALMOST every day. I also decided to take the Surly Steamroller out for a few rides a week - as it would force me to keep the legs moving and not coasting (being a fixie and all) and my theory was this would be more work and thus BURN MORE FAT! Or... something like that...




Goldfinch? I haven't often seen these in the city. I spotted a few this last week!



Geese!

I ended up going on TWO rides on Monday - the first was a quick 20Km loop from our house to the Circle Drive bridge, back down the other side to the new South Bridge, and home.



In the evening, Amanda and the kids were riding out to John Avant Park to go for a canoeing lesson.



So, I thought I'd tag along for an extra ride.



Found the place and left the family there.




First I did a quick ride around the "lake"



DUCKLINGS!!!

Then rather than go straight home the way I came, I decided I'd take a different, more circuitous route, to check out some of the cycling infrastructure on the east side... I headed a block east to McOrmond Drive and found (what looked like) a multi-use trail. It was about 3m wide and make of asphalt, but there were no actual signs indicating that it was multi-use (as there are in other parts)....? I knew that at the far end of McOrmond Drive - where it meets the new Chief Mistawasis Bridge there is a multi-use trail paralleling the road, so I assumed it was and rode along it...



AT some point, it kind of narrowed, though...



...and continued like that for some time... 1.5m is the standard for sidewalk - not multi-use trails! Am I allowed to ride on this?



eventually is widened out again into a double-wide concrete path.



AT some point, there even appeared directional, separate pathways on BOTH sides of McOrmond Drive, so I switched over to the other side of the street.



...and then that ended... It seems like the PLAN is to have separated, directional pathways on both sides of the street... but it's nowhere even close to being finished and no work seems to be happening to make that a reality at the moment...





Finally some signs actually indicating this is a shared, multi-use pathway!

Heading across the Chief Mistawasis Bridge I notice the difference in the expansion joints on the pedestrian/cyclist portion versus the roadway



Pedestrian/cyclist portion - big-ass bolts sticking up from the ground - hate to hit these on a skateboard!!! Wasn't even fun rolling over them on bicycle tires.



relatively smooth roadway section!? WTF!?

Over 50Km between those two rides.

Tuesday I went for a few more rides. One on the Steamroller, like I had the day before. Then a few commuting rides - groceries and taking Keira to an evening writing class.



while crossing the Circle Drive bridge I ran into my friend Susan and her sweet new ride!

Just a year ago Susan was in a terrible mountain bike accident which involved some spinal cord damage in her neck!! After a summer of being in bed and year off work with daily physio, she got herself a new bike that was a little easier on/supportive of the head and neck and has been out riding it! Hopefully we'll get some rides in together again this summer!



It was Norco Demo Day at River Landing - I rolled past, but it looked like it was pretty much all mountain bikes, so I didn't linger...

Heading across the river with Keira



On the way to pick up Keira the sun was just starting to set and brilliantly lit up the bridge - and the river was so calm!



Bridge and Beaver!



Riding Home.

On Wednesday was our last violin lesson for the (school) year.



I brought along my cello (to play a few duets I'd been working on with Keira) and a half-dozen Darkside Donuts!!



I'd been promising the kids we'd take donuts to our last lesson for weeks... so I had my first "Free Day" and ate a donut. It didn't kick me out of Ketosis!

I should have taken a picture of the donuts - they are always so fabulous looking...

In the afternoon I rode downtown for an Active Transportation Advisory Group meeting at city hall.

Thursday was a busy day with dress rehearsals downtown at TCUP for Irish dance (Keira's in the afternoon, mine in the evening). So, I took a quick ride around the circle and south bridges loop. Didnt' take any pictures.

Friday... lets call it a "rest day". Though we did walk downtown to TCUP for our Irish Dance final recital.

Saturday was another epic ride out to the east side with Keira.



But first we rode downtown to the library - taking the 4th avenue bike lane - possibly for the last time before they REMOVE IT... because... Saskatoon...



Then we rode north along the Meewasin Trail to the Circle drive bridge to cross over.

And eventually we got to Alice Turner library where there was a Knowlympics event that Keira wished to attend.



Riding home we noted the new growth on a bunch of the evergreens we passed - so soft!



And it was late enough in the day that the beavers were already out!



BEAVER!

Sunday I went off on another adventure ride around the cities north and east ends.



The goslings are getting bigger!



view from the Chief Mistawasis Bridge bridge looking back towards downtown. It's so far north that it doesn't even feel like it's in the city anymore. I think it's the ONLY bridge that you can't see any of the other bridges from!



McOrmond Drive - heading in the opposite direction I went on Monday. Threatening rain clouds in the distance.

this is a pedestrian overpass connecting parts of the Evergreen Neighbourhood that are bisected by McOrmond Drive.


Evergreen is an interesting new neighbourhood with a LOT of "linear parks" with multi-use pathways that (almost) all the homes in the neighbourhood back onto.

I thought I'd explore it as I rode home. Unfortuatnely I haven't looked at a map (like the one above) before I left and it is a rather circuitous neighbourhood! I wish there were some way-finding maps at the entrance to the neighbourhood!



I did find ONE way-finding sign in one of the parks - unfortuntaly it wasn't of the entire neighbourhood - only the one park I was in...



One of the linear parks.



leaving Evergreen I did find a map of the Northeast Swale...



Again, incomplete multi-use infrastructure...

That's it for the pictures of rides.

AND....!? After a week of my new diet and a lot of riding....?



That's down 4.1Kg (that's about 9 pounds)! Not bad. If I could keep that rate of weight loss for another six or seven weeks I'd be a pretty happy dude.... Of course, at some point, that rate will probably drop (demising returns and all that). I think the key is to have realistic expectations. I'd be thrilled to, ultimately, get somewhere in the 85-90Kg. If I could get to 90-95Kg by the end of summer, I'd be pretty happy. We'll see how it goes....