All excuses for why I have been carrying extra pounds for the last year, and frankly none of them very good. Last July I was a trim 185lbs and feeling better than I had in a long time. Jill had given me a huge amount of freedom to "get it out of my system" and ride as much as I could before Cooper arrived, and I did just that. The Punisher and I were putting in big rides on a consistent basis and I was climbing better than ever.
Cooper showed up and exercise and sleep diminished as expected. The real curve ball was rupturing my Achilles in November, effectively limiting my ability to exercise and increasing my pity eating. On the verge of wondering if my fat pants were still going to fit, I decided no more. I got a road bike up in Calgary and started putting in hard days on the bike at least 2 of my 3 nights in Calgary each week.
While that certainly helped, 2 or 3 days per week just was getting it done. So after we got back from Alaska I decided to quit using the excuses, suck it up and get it done. Every pound you can lose makes climbing easier, and climbing is just a way of life in the front range.
My big push started about 2 weeks ago in Calgary, and here are some of the details about what I've been doing to drop the last couple of pounds...
July 15 - Got Ruby out and did a 2 hour, 30 mile loop out to the Olympic Village site including a big climb up to the bobsled run.
July 17 - Did a 9 - 10 mile mountain bike ride with Tony B. in Oklahoma City.
July 19 - After driving back from OK the day before , got up and did a 50 mile, 2.5 hour ride to Carter Lake
July 20 - Singlespeed mountain bike ride at Teller Farm - 12+ miles and 1:15
July 22 - Hall Ranch ride with Marc from Ohio - 13+ miles and 1:40 ride time
July 24 - Hall Ranch ride and added on part of Picture Rock - 14.5 miles and 1:37 ride time
July 25 - Road ride to Berthoud and back. First 20mph avg ride ever, 26 miles 1:18 ride time
July 26 - Ride at Ned with Jill on the singlespeed for 5 miles before getting rained out, then 12 more miles in South Boulder after that
So in that 10 or 11 day stretch the totals add up something like this:
Mountain biking - 65 miles, 8 hours ride time and 7,000 feet of climbing
Road biking - 104 miles, 6 hours ride time and 4,500 feet of climbing
And today after skipping my trainer session last night so I could go catch "The Hangover", I drug myself up out of bed at 6am for 1:15 on the trainer with another hard session planned for tonight when I get done with work. I've found that if I force myself to just get up and go ride that I am always happy that I did so, but I certainly question that decision when the alarm goes off at 5:45.
Part of the newly found motivation is that this weekend is (first and foremost) Cooper's 1 year birthday, but secondly the Laramie Enduro which was to be my season goal. Unfortunately it filled up very quickly this year and I didn't get in from the wait list. So I'm left to look to other goals for the year. Last Sunday, despite having lots and lots of miles in my legs that week, I felt absolutely incredible on the singlespeed.
Time to up the ante. I will break 190.
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