Not sure how

But I lost 8 pounds since the last time I weighed myself. I think I peaked at around 284 and when I weighed myself this morning (at 5:30am...stupid work) I weighed 276. Haven't done anything special, but it felt nice. I guess I'm just not eating a lot.

Back in the Saddle Again

Cue Aerosmith. I finally got time to ride today. Short 1.5 mile trip in the neighborhood, but still something. It felt good. I hope to get up early enough to ride again tomorrow before my nephew's/godson's Baptism. We have to be there before noon tomorrow.

Why I haven't ridden my bike at all

Annoying, to say the least, that I haven't been able to ride my bike at all on this long vacation of mine. Well, at least I have an excuse. I've been working like a dog to get this project done.

We had major concrete work done. New driveway, sidewalk, front walk, and patio out back. The driveway was necessary, but we decided to do it all since we got a pretty good deal and all but the front walk needed to be done at some point. It was cheaper to do it all at once rather than spaced out.

This was the front of my house:



And here are some of how it looks now.





Along with my wife and help from my mother and in-laws, we redid the living room, steps, and hallway in the downstairs. I had a flood about a year and a half ago and we are finally finishing up the work that needed to be done to my house. The living room floor was last and we installed some great Bruce Lock & Fold flooring over the concrete slab.



This was before we finished with the staircase area. It's painted as of tonight. All that needs to be done is to install the molding. We have all new baseboard molding and door casing that will go in. I also need to reroute the cables for the Directv. I put in a hookup and there are loose cables in the attic that need to be connected to the dish. Also, with as bad as the transition from wall to ceiling is, we're putting up some small molding that will act as crown molding throughout most of the downstairs. I can't wait to be finished.

Unfortunately, this took up all of my vacation, but at least I have my house back together.

This sucks

I've been off work for two weeks and have thus far biked twice. I've been working like a dog to get my living room fixed and get the wood floors laid. Tomorrow is when I finally start that. We've done all the painting and room prep including laying tiles by the front door. I can't wait to be done.

30.7 MPH!!!!

So there's a spot on my route through my neighborhood that has a pretty good hill for me. Usually, I don't try to blow down because there is a stop sign down there not too far from the end of it. Well, I opened up, late, but still opened up. I hit a max of 30.7 mph on it, far better than the typical 20-25 I hit there.

Unfortunately, this led to problems later on. Since I only ride in the neighborhood, I usually ride through stop signs if there's no one coming. And I have plenty of visibility at most of them. I coasted through the first stop sign and then the road I turn on hits another road that bends around in a U, making it sort of a fork in the road. There is a stop sign for the way I go. I had to stop. Remember, I ride clipless now. Well, I didn't downshift enough before I had to stop. Needless to say, I had a bit of trouble getting started. Nearly went over, but managed to get unclipped again.

Let's just say, another lesson learned. Downshift at stop signs. Unless of course, I want to fall over. Not my idea of fun.

First clipless spandex ride

Finally got on the bike again after a week off it. I got my shoes and had ordered pedals, spandex, and a flat fixing kit. Whole hell of a lot of good the flat fixing kit is going to be with me forgetting to order a frame pump. Oh well.

I ordered the Nashbar Ventoux 2 Look compatible pedals to go with the shoes. I didn't fall, so that's a good thing. Easy to clip in and out. Much better than the clips. And the spandex made for a more comfortable ride.



Now it's time to bust my butt to get my shed cleaned out.

Ride, Mow, Wedding

I got up earlyish today so I could ride. Got in a two mile ride and mowed half of my backyard before I had to get dressed to go to a wedding. One of my wife's high school friends got married and had a great wedding. Too much food. Choice of 3 different entrees. Of course, I had one of each. :)

We were seated near the desert bar. Wow. Not good. I had quite a bit of everything. They had a build your own sundae thing. It was great. Peanut butter cake? Don't mind if I do. Peanut butter is my weakness. I could live on Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. And peanut butter and jelly.

Anyway, weigh in is supposed to be tomorrow. I think I'll skip it and go for two laps of my 2 mile route. Then it's off to the parent's place to have dinner for my dad's birthday. And all of one more week of work before I take two weeks of vacation at home. I can't wait.

I plan on biking a lot during that time. Also, installing the hardwood floor in the living room and hallway and tile at the front door. I think I have a round of golf planned with my brother at some point since he's a teacher and he's off for the summer. He should have his new clubs by then. Can't wait. I haven't been golfing in a few months.

New stuff and a ride

So, I found out there is a bike shop right around the corner from me across from the ShopRite that we usually go grocery shopping at. If I had known, I would have gone there for my bike first. It's huge. Lots of gear, lots of bikes. They have some group rides including a Tuesday night D level ride that goes 10-12mph for an hour. I may try it out soon. Need to work up my stamina first. Anyway, I went there on my way home from work and came back with this:

It's like wearing a cloud on my head. The old helmet was like wearing vice grips. It stabbed me in the forehead and the back of the head on its largest setting. This is an XXL helmet and actually fits and I don't need it opened up all the way.

And when I got home, I rode 2 miles in about 10 minutes, averaging almost 13mph. I could have finished faster, but I tried to keep my speed down on what pass for hills around here.

Oh and I almost forgot, the shoes showed up on Chainlove on Wednesday. I have shoes on the way, just need pedals to go with them. I haven't decided on them yet, but probably a pair of the Nashbar LOOK style to start with.

Short Ride

Only a short 2 mile ride today. I had a long week of work and didn't get to ride once during the week. I took the normal 2 mile loop and averaged 12.6mph.

On a great note, I didn't have any problems getting in the clips today. I'm getting better at this. I still want clipless pedals and shoes, but I can deal with this for the time being.

Until at least chainlove.com puts up road shoes for $25 again. I hemmed and hawed on them the last time they came up figuring I might get a pair that were more walkable. I was wrong. Nothing in road shoes for under $100 since then. Couple pairs of $60 mountain biking shoes, but no roadies.

They sell some brand called NorthWave. Looking around on the internet, I found that they run wide, like an E. Perfect width for me. For some reason widths are very hard to come by in cycling shoes. It's like a big secret that you can't know until you put the shoe on your foot.

Speaking of Chainlove.com, this is a great site. It's like Woot.com for cycling gear. One item at a time. Unlike woot which only reloads at 1am, chainlove reloads all the time. And not necessarily when an item sells out. It's addicting watching to see if a good item comes up. and even better is the tracker at http://chain.gearattack.com which refreshes automatically on a set time that you choose. It polls chainlove once a minute so you don't have to.

Quick Ride and a Weigh In

It was already in the 90s by the time I got up at 9:45am. After hemming and hawing for a while, I decided to go on a short trip, just the first mile trip.



Got home, did a bit of gardening, shaved my head since my hair was getting long, and then weighed in before the shower. Came in at 276.5 lbs and 41% fat. I know for a fact I was 44% the last time I weighed in and around 280-281 or so. Now that I am blogging, I can keep track a little better. Sunday is going to be weigh in day. Preferably before I head out on the bike next time. I want to try to keep it the same each week.

Up to 3 miles

Let's start off with this. Damn it's hot out. The northeast is hitting a massive heatwave. It's going to 95 today. And of course, in NJ, it's always freaking humid. It was about 80 when I left and the fog hadn't quite burned off yet. It was an awful lot hotter by the time I got home. And the sun was out.

I kind of combined my 1 mile initial route and my 2 mile second trip together today, but it was intended to be two laps of my 2 mile trip. Unfortunately, I forgot my water bottle at home and had to make a quick trip of the first lap to come back and get it.



Today was also the first time I managed to get both feet in the clips. I started with my right foot in and was able to get the left foot in on the fly. Unfortunately on my second trip, I got my foot out and couldn't get it back in. And that brings me to my rant.

What the f@!% is it with people? I was coming down Haverford Road and I can hear a car coming up behind me. There's also a car coming up ahead of me. Not a problem, except that where the three cars will inevitably meet, there are cars parked on both sides of the street. It would be a squeeze to get the two cars through, let alone me too. So I slow down early so I don't get killed. Well, the fat bitch behind me starts blowing her horn no more than five feet behind me. Needless to say, I swerved right to the curb, and pulled both feet out, nearly wiping out in the process. Fat pig goes on to pull into her driveway just past the parked cars after the other car comes through. So, I have no idea if she was honking at me or trying to tell the other car to come through, but her stupidity nearly put me on the pavement. Personally, if I'm trying to signal a car that's facing me, the horn is not the way to do it. A couple of flicks of the high beams always do the trick. She'd be screaming bloody murder if I caused her kid to fall by doing the same thing, but of course, I have sense.

Anyway, I reset my trip computer at the beginning and even remembered to stop it while I ran in to get the water bottle. And now I have to mow the lawn in the brutal heat. I'm going to try to just do the front yard today and make this place look presentable at least. I can do the back yard tomorrow if I find it too hot.

Second Ride...Finally

I finally got a chance to go for my second ride. I had planned on Sunday, but I had a ton of yardwork that had to get done and by the time I finished, it was getting dark and I have no desire to ride in the dark yet. So, since I have to work until midnight tonight, I wasn't coming in until the afternoon, so when I woke up, I geared up for a ride. Right now, that only includes 1 water bottle. I know that once I start adding up the miles, I'm going to need some tools and a bag to store my cell phone and id and stuff just in case, but for now, just riding around the neighborhood, I think I'm ok.

So here's the route I took this morning:



I forgot to reset my computer before the ride, so I have no idea how long it really took me, maybe 10-15 minutes, but I was sure beat by the time I got home.

Observations from my second ride:

1. Still can't get in the clips with my right foot. Clipless pedals and shoes are looking more and more tempting.
2. My rear end was killing me and I had to readjust a few times. Real shorts may be in my future. Under mesh shorts of course.
3. A longer ride is going to at least require another water bottle and cage. Or even a Camelbak, which I already own.
4. A seat bag with tools and room to store my cellphone and id is probably a good idea too.
5. And finally, I gotta remember to reset the computer either before each ride or when I get back to the house.
   

First Real Bike

After months of thinking it over and constantly changing my mind, I finally took the leap and bought my first real road bike yesterday, a Trek 1.2. The last road bike I had was a blue huffy 10 speed that I put red foam grips on. With the added weight of my basket for my paper route, it must have weighed 35-40 lbs. The Trek comes in at a slender 25 or so.

I took it for my first ride today since it was too dark by the time I got home yesterday after getting fit by the shop. I got all of a little over a mile on it. My legs burn and I was pretty sweaty.

I had a hell of a time trying to get my feet into the straps on the pedals. I managed to get my left foot in, but not the right. I stopped about halfway out to fix the straps and I still couldn't get them to work. I plan on trying again later today I hope. I still managed to get up to around 25mph on my street coming home. And I was keeping an eye on the computer to keep my cadence around 90 or so. (I got the Cateye Astrale 8 computer with the bike)

And as for the shop, I highly recommend them. Peddler's Shop in Deptford. http://www.pscycles.com The salesman that helped me was Eric, a young skinny guy who didn't treat me funny because of my large girth. I told him I wanted a road bike and he took his time to explain the differences between a couple I was interested in. All in all a great experience, plus I get 10 years of tuneups, free installation of any accessories I buy there, and free flat service. If I get a flat, I pay for the tube and they install it. Sweet deal.

Welcome

Hello and welcome to my weight loss journey. I figured this was as good a way as any to keep track of how I am doing on my way from fat and out of shape, to trim and built like a Greek god. Or at least in shape.

I'm tipping the scales at 280lbs. these days. My heaviest ever. I've ballooned since high school, when I graduated in 1997. I was weighing in around 185lbs when I played both football and ice hockey senior year. I went to college and probably got up to 200lbs by the end of my freshman year. Lots of beer and fast food. I know I got up around 240lbs, maybe even a bit higher, sometime in 2002 when I started Atkins. I was down around 220lbs by the time I got married in July of 2003. And pretty much ever since then, I've been steadily climbing.

I joined a gym that I went to faithfully 4 times a week when I worked at the FAA Tech Center outside of Atlantic City. I really don't recall seeing much of a change in weight at the time and I was eating a lot better too. Doing a lot of weight lifting and a lot of elliptical machine. I was around 250 or 260 when I was going to get laid off.

I beat my company to the punch and landed a new job before they could lay me off. That was in June of 2006. While I really like my job now, I have to work a lot of off hours testing in a lab with no windows and lots of artificial light. Especially when we have long events, it can be hell on the GI tract. People bring crap food in the middle of the night and the vending machine is right down the hall. Lots of coffee (with Splenda please) or soda (usually Coke) and sugary snacks like candy bars or cookies from the jerks that bring the crap food. Needless to say, I've gained weight. I love sweets, but I also like fruits and try to bring some with me every day.

I carry a lunch with me everyday. Usually a sandwich of something like turkey and cheese on whole wheat (I never eat white bread anymore) and some fruit and snacks. Or if there's no lunchmeat in the house, I'll grab a lean pocket from the freezer. But even trying to eat well isn't doing much when the candy is plentiful and exercise is nonexistant. I've been waiting diligently for the LA Fitness to be built outside of my development, but I fear I'll be waiting a long time as they still haven't broken ground.

So, after that long winded welcome, the moral of the story is Jim + bike + eating better = healthier, thinner, more athletic Jim who can go play hockey on a Friday night at the local rink and not feel like he's going to die and doesn't end up developing diabetes.