RTAWW #6

The header came back to the page, but now the color is gone - at least that is what I'm seeing on my laptop's view of the page and I didn't even mess with it. So...Sunday is my weekly weigh in day.  I only weigh in once a week and try to stay off the scale because I think it messes with me mentally when I see my weight fluctuating throughout the week, and because I only weigh in once, I try to make sure that that one weigh-in is a good one so I have to pay attention to my activities and eating throughout the week to make sure it (my weight) goes in the right direction - down. Thankfully my weight went down this week. My last official weigh in was 181.6 and this one was 178.6.  That's great - a bit under a kilo and half. It's the first week since we were displaced by the fire that my weight has gone down so I feel really good about it. I hope I can keep up the progress and be consistent - like I am with these daily journal blog post thingys.
       I have some ideas for topics to write about but I don't really feel like writing right now because I need to plan some stuff for tomorrow.  I hereby claim today as Short Sunday. And tomorrow will be Mini Monday, then Tiny Tuesday, then Where Was Wednesday, then Thoughtless Thursday, then Fabulously Fickle Friday, and Shorter Saturday.  I sure they won't all be short and I'll have pictures and such. Besides I need to talk about my new bike!!!! Ride on! Eat less, move more, and keep breathing.

RTAWW #5 - eat less, move more...drink more water

No picture or anything today. "Andrew, you're so boring." Me: Shrug my shoulders and say, "eh," which is to imply, "oh well, what do you do?" So, I did good today at the eat less. I can't say that it's anything new, but I did my normal 8 hr window of eating which often turns into a 6 or less hours like today.  But while I ate less today, I didn't move so much - unless you consider traveling 400 miles moving ;). Yes, I was trapped in a car most of the day which isn't the best situation for eating healthy food since I like thinks like popcorn to munch on to keep me awake or like that last time I made this same trip, my mom gave me a box of Dewar's peanut butter chews - so I had to eat them. All of them. Of course I ate them to keep myself awake. If you don't know what Dewar's peanut butter chews are, I'm sorry you haven't lived yet. They are good, and if you're ever in Bakersfield and you do the ice cream thing, then I would check out Dewar's (and Rosemary's - probably my favorite ice cream). I bet you can order a box of chews on their website. Anyway, moving on away from sweets. I wanted to say that I love water. Water is my weight loss "secret."  I truly believe that water is what allows me to eat less easily. I've noticed that if I'm not drinking enough water, then I'm eating more and that means that I'm likely gaining weight.  When I am drinking enough water, I've noticed that my appetite is curbed. I try to drink most of my water in the morning and then throughout the day and only a bit at night so I'm not getting up all night. The point is, that water made my long trip relatively easy because I had my camelbak bottle hanging out with me in the cup holder next to my seat. Water's good for other stuff to like staying alive - or lesser things like not getting headaches or keeping your body functioning properly so you don't get sick as easily. OK that's all, I didn't do too much today, but water is good and kept me feeling fine on our trip back to Bakersfield. So eat less, move more, and keep breathing, and drink water.  Tomorrow I weigh-in. 

RTAWW # 4 - Maybe a few thoughts on Zwift and Strava

     So, the header to my blog disappeared. I'll have to figure that out sometime, but I don't think it's on my super important things to do list.  I was wondering what I should write about today - maybe my love for soup (I had some miso soup today), or about writing to several bike companies and their responses, or about the new (used) bike that I got a screamin' wicked good deal on, but I think I want to talk a little about some thoughts on Zwift and Strava. I got to thinking about this while I went on a walk today at Upper Bidwell Park - here:

      For those who don't know, Zwift is a like a computer game that you are able to attach to your bike trainer so you can spin on your bike at home and race/ride in various places (in the world?) on your tv screen.  It's a nice way to make spinning a bit more fun and interesting.  Strava is an app that tracks your riding/running which is shared with people who "follow" you. It also has many other little features which help you track progress and such. 

       I was thinking about Zwift because someone I know was asking if/how/why people like using Zwift.  The overall consensus that I'm taking from reading the replies is that people who use it like it.  I've never used it and don't have the money to buy a nice "smart" trainer to make the gaming experience accurate and worth your time.  I'm not sold on the idea.  I think it is cool that you can kind of interact with other people and the best feature is that it is great for getting in a ride (spinning) with little time because it's done in the convenience of your home and can be done in any weather.  The down side is, in my opinion, that it may detract from people taking the time to get out and getting that fresh air and actually interacting with people and nature. The other thing is that in my experience with spinning is that most people don't publicly share their spinning sessions.  I don't think that they need to - I pretty much never have (maybe a few times by manually entering the activity into Strava). This aspect of sharing activities is what made me think of Strava. I've had mixed emotions about using Strava for a while now.  I don't really use it much anymore. But I think that's about to change. The reason that I will start using Strava again is because, I think it is important to share your rides. I like seeing that my friends were out for a ride. I get ideas on places where I can ride. I get to see the sites that they saw (if they share a picture or two from the ride). And maybe most importantly, I get inspired to get out and enjoy a bike ride myself. 

     The connection of the two - Zwift and Strava - is that I see Zwift as a potential to detract from inspiring others to get out and ride your bikes where people can see cyclists. Not only does getting out and riding in public healthy for you, but it can inspire others to ride, and help the public image of cycling (for commuting or health or fun) - especially if you obey the law by not running stop signs or using hand signals and so on. 

     The short story is that I think both programs have their place, but I think it is important for people to get out into the fresh air where they can see others and others can see them so maybe more people will want to ride and enjoy life on two wheels. Ride on!

RTAWW #3

Who doesn't love an acronym? Third day into this and I'm already tired of writing out my own title to the "series."  The good news is that I'm pretty darn happy with my day today.  I was able to do a good amount of reading for my thesis paper and in between I did various stretches and exercises. I'm sure I'll talk about them in more depth as I figure out a better routine or schedule for doing them.  I also watched some GCN videos on Youtube today.  I particularly liked this one about time efficient training.

As usual they have some good advice, but I think the biggest take away is that consistency is key. Today felt like a day that was more consistent with my goals as far as eating and staying more active.  This evening my wife and I went on a walk to get the heart rate up and the legs stretched out and even though it was a bit cold, it felt great (even my wife, who needed quite a bit of persuasion to go for this walk, said that it felt good and that she was glad that I talked her into going for the walk.
      Another thing that came up in the video is that having some kind of goal might be a good idea, so I'm tentatively setting one for myself for the distant future - a year and a half-ish into the future.  I'd like to do the Sherman Pass RR (climb) again if it's still going on, or at least go at it at race pace and see if I can smash my only attempt from several years ago.
       The last bit, which is my favorite part of the video, is the emphasis on the importance of getting adequate rest - exactly what I'm going to do right now. Ah, yes, sleep. 

Road to a Weight Weenie #2

So because someone was questioning my title from yesterday, I will inform the plebs ;) as to the meaning of the title. Our good friends at urbandictionary.com have this as a definition:

weight weenie

Road Bicycle enthusiast who becomes obsessed with subtracting weight from his bicycle at all costs, including overriding safety concerns and practicality. A Weight Weenie will always replace a 100 gram component with a 99 gram component regardless of all other factors, including cost, durability, and overall design and functionality. Materials that are commonly used in the pursuit of lightness include: aluminum, carbon fiber, composites, and titanium.

Your bike weighs only 8 pounds, you must be a total Weight Weenie !

The point is that I'm trying to be concerned with weight. The easiest way to have less weight while riding a bike is to lose weight of your body (it happens to be the cheapest way too!) so that's what I'm going for.  Maybe after I get a bit lighter myself, I'll concern myself with my future bikes. 

I spent most of my day in our car driving through California, so I can't say that my eating practices today were the best, but I stuck to my time frame of eating so I don't feel too bad. I'll probably only feel bad about it if I weigh in on Sunday more than I did this morning. I usually don't weigh myself but once a week, but I figured I should put an official weigh up, and this morning I was 181.6.  The plan is to weigh less than that on Sunday. Have a good night.  "Move More, Eat Less, and Keep Breathing!"

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!! Road to a Weight Weenie #1

       So I'm going to do some cycling journaling because I am hoping that it will help keep me honest and going in the right direction - the lighter direction. I can't say that it's really a new year's resolution because I've been losing weight for a while now.  I maxed out at 209 lb over last summer and I worked my way down to 173 before the fire. If you have questions about the fire, look up the Campfire in Paradise, CA.  We were displaced and are living with my parents in Bakersfield.  Over the holiday's I went back up to 180 and now I'm getting back on track - that is back to my schedule before the fire with some additional exercises. 
        Basically I don't eat 'til 10 and then stop eating at 6. That is about the extent of my effort to lose weight and it had worked for me when I was in my own home with all of our food. We tend to be vegan, but here in my parents home we have been eating out a lot and well Thanksgiving and Christmas brought sweets up the yingyang (ying-yang?ying yang?). No matter how it's spelled the sweets were up there - they're not up there anymore I imagine.  Because the sweets have now been flushed through the system it's time to get this 5'10" frame back to the leaner side. 
        My goal has been, and still is, to get to 155 lb where my race weight is 145 or lower (I'm fairly light naturally?).  Another goal is to get bikes. I had 3 bikes burn up and my access to a TT bike melted away as well (since my brother kindly let me use his TT bike when I wanted, but his home also burned up).  One of my mom's friends has given me a Specialized Crossroads that I have nicknamed "ashy anne" or "the ol' crossroads" or "the phoenix."

This bike is getting run through the ringer. It is essentially my road/cx/mtn/TT bike right now.  I can't say I'm' pushing it too hard because I'm not really that fit right now, but it's taking me through sand and mud and everything it's not made to do and that makes it pretty fun.

        Something that I wanted to share that for some reason has inspired me is a TED talk I saw on Youtube about how fat leaves the body.  I had always thought that fat leaves your body, after being broken down, in your feces or urine. This is not completely inaccurate but it turns out you breathe out most of it.  This knowledge has created in me the desire to get out and be a bit more active and get myself breathing a bit harder. I also liked the guys catch phrase at the end - something like "Move more, eat less, and keep breathing."  That is my mantra for 2019 - Move More, Eat Less, and Keep Breathing!  Since I'm planning on doing this often (we'll see how long it lasts) I think this is enough for now. Below is the video that I watched. Maybe you already knew about how fat leaves that body, maybe it's off base (I didn't do too much research on the legitimacy of the information) and I did spoil the punch line of the guy's talk but it was a good presentation.

      Hope your new year brings some cycling happiness!

Performancebike.com - Facebook - A Package....I won!

This deserves a quick blogging because I was and am very pleasantly surprised.  My mother-in-law who is visiting from Russia went out front for a bit and when she came back in she said there was a package.  I didn't believe her because I thought it was the phone book in a plastic bag I had left out there from the day before.  She then went out and grabbed a box and brought it in to prove her point.   I didn't think anything of it because I knew we were expecting some things my wife had ordered.  Nothing for me.  No worries. After half an hour I decided to clear the doorway of this box.  I look at the shipping information and notice it's from Performancebike... PERFORMANCEBIKE.COM?! It is for me!  I had totally forgotten that I had won a drawing on their facebook page.  And besides winning I didn't have very high expectations for actually getting anything.   BOOYA! Open up the box and there were three items inside!  I was only expecting one of the three things (again I probably wasn't paying much attention to the contest details).  A book, chamois butter, and co2 cartridge pump kit, all for me! 

The Stuff in the Box

There they are: Chamois Butt'r Original, Pro Cycling on $10 a Day by Phil Gaimon and Lezyne Caddy Kit-S (which will probably be replacing my plastic sandwich bag).  Big thanks to Performancebike.com for the great cycling stuff and big shout out for them! Follow them on Facebook and you can have opportunities to win great and useful items like these and much more since they have drawings pretty often.  Check out their website too.  I've bought things from them in the past which is actually how I got introduced to them and the Facebook page and I am glad I did!

Here's the drawing I entered which is pretty typical.

Performance Bicycle

February 6 at 8:46am · Edited · 

Friday Giveaway time, inspired by pro cyclist Phil Gaimon! LIKE this post & answer our question below, by 8PM ET 2/6, for a chance to win one of 3 prize packs including: a copy of Phil's book 'Pro Cycling On $10 A Day', aLezyne Inflation Wallet Kit and a tube of Paceline Chamois Butt'r.

What question do you most want to ask a pro cyclist?

And here's my question (I don't think it really played any role in the winning) if you were wondering what it was.

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• Andrew Gates Where's your favorite place to ride and do You have a favorite street?

  Like · Reply · 1 · February 6 at 9:03am
• 

  Performance Bicycle Congrats Andrew, you are one of today's winners! Claim your prize here by 2/11: http://woobox.com/3cih6g
  

  
  

  
  

  

  
  

  Pro Cycling on $10 A Day Prize Claim

  Claim your Phil Gaimon inspired prize

  WOOBOX.COM

Keep pedaling!