Biking Update - December 19, 2009

Another week without bicycling. Mom is doing much better (but keep praying), but work and holiday life got in the way this week. December is never the time of year to start a diet. It is easier to maintain one (an object in motion tends to stay in motion) but not to make progress. So I am reasonably happy with the way things are. Hoping to resume in earnest in January, if not before.

Biking Update - December 13, 2008

This is one of those fun weeks where I have a lot to talk about both in terms of weight loss and biking. First, this was one of those rare winter weeks where I did get to bike. Last Saturday, CRChair and I took a long COLD ride along the beach in Stratford. I had been wanting to bike for several weeks, but the weather had not cooperated. Finally, we had a sunny, dry day. We brought out Trek (i.e. non-folding) bikes and by the time we were able to bike (more on why it was so late, later) we realized sunset was pending and most of the biking trails would be closing. So we went to the beach instead, because the roads never close. We got there with temperatures around 35 - the coldest we had ever ridden in - but were dressed up in our "winter biking clothes". Multiple layers, long sleeves, long-fingered gloves, etc. It was a great ride, but much colder than I had expected. The layering worked, but was not entirely effective until we had been moving hard for a while and were generating internal heat. We went about 8 miles in the end, took a lot of really nice sunset photos, and confirmed that humans lose a LOT of heat out of the top of their heads... especially when wearing helmets with wind holes in them.

The other biking story of the week concerns my new folding bike - a Dahon Matrix. I reported the purchase last week, and that we had brought it to a local bike shop, Amity Bikes in Woodbridge, CT. What I did not know at the last report, was that I was in for a LONG day when I came to pick up the bike. We got there about 11:30 AM and found that a squirrel-related emergency had stopped them from working on my bike Friday, so they had only just started on it when we arrived. They asked us to give them an hour, so we went to lunch. When we got back, the owner had a worried look on his face. "Uh, did you buy this in a scratch-and-dent, as-is sale?" Nope. "Um... You'd better come in back with me." He showed me a number of scratches that I had failed to notice the first time, informed me that the front wheel was unusable, one of the shifters was completely useless, that the stem was broken and unsafe, that the clamp that held the seat in place had been stripped, and... well, you get the picture. Apparently, when I got my great deal on this bike, the online bike store sent me the worst one in their inventory. They were able to replace all of the components, and most of them actually got upgraded in the process. But I wound up spending $150 on a bike that I have saved a little over $300 on. I have contacted the bike shop that sold this to me to see what we can work out. So far, they have opened a ticket for me, and are researching my case. I'll let you know how it goes. Dahon, on the other hand, has been great to work with and sent me a bottle of touch-up paint for the scratches free of charge. And the bike itself rides beautifully. If the weather agrees, I hope to do my first real ride on the Matrix tomorrow.

Weight-wise this has been a good week, too, as I finally fell below 225 and stayed below it for at least 3 days. You may recall that 230 was my goal weight, and now I am seeing how low I can go. After thanksgiving, I saw a spike in weight and then a quick return to nominal. But it was struggle for a bit afterwards to begin losing again. Now that I am eating on plan again, every day, and exercising regularly, I appear to be losing regularly again. I am hoping to reach 220 lbs by February - giving me time for Christmas to cause food issues - but at this rate I might reach that by the end of the year. Either way, I have now lost over 60 lbs since I started back in June. This is amazingly encouraging to me, and hopefully means good things for my health in the long-term.

Biking Update - December 6, 2008

Last week, I did not post an update because I was away for a little Thanksgiving vacation in Bath, NY and its surroundings. While away on that trip, I declared a "free day" where I could eat what I wanted. These "free days" are important to a diet plan, because it allows me to be able to say when I am tempted, "I won't have that today. The free day is coming in X days, and I can have it then." It is amazing how much pressure that takes off when I see someone else having a piece of cake, eating potato chips, or wolfing down mozzarella sticks. And you can see on the graph this week that the "free days" really show how easy it would be to put back on the pounds I have lost. That extreme spike is Thanksgiving Day, Black Friday, and that weekend. I gained almost 10 lbs over those 4 days! Luckily, when I came back to the plan on Monday, most of the pounds came right off as well. Proof that weight quickly gained, can be quickly lost... but weight left on over time, takes time to take off. I ended off this week at the low I had achieved just before Thanksgiving.

I also learned something else on this vacation. My family has a history of diabetes. I myself have never been diagnosed with even a pre-diabetic condition, but the doctor is watching me closely. Everyone who has diabetes has also had a weight problem, so we were never sure what was the cause and what was the effect. I learned this time around that my body reacts STRONGLY to sugar - as opposed to other fattening ingredients like carbs and fats. On Thanksgiving Day, I had 4 chocolate chip cookies - not large ones, normal sized - as my only sugar intake. (I have been pretty much sugar-free on the plan since July.) When I was done, my body began to shake and would not stop. After simply being uncomfortable for a bit, I got up and took a long walk around downtown Bath which burned off the excess energy. The same thing happened the next night when I had a piece of chocolate cake. (Photo to the right is from one of those walks.) Apparently, my body reacts STRONGLY to sugar and especially strongly processed sugars. It appears I might do well to avoid refined sugar in the future, even on my "free days".

But, finally, I *DO* have some biking news for my "biking update." When I was first exploring getting a bike in the late Spring, I became enamored of folding bikes because of the ease of storage and transport. And because they seemed like something a super-spy would use. While looking, the best option seemed to be the Dahon Matrix because it provided a full-sized bike (with suspension to protect my back) with no folding-bike compromises. But at the time, I decided it was impractical because folding bikes were - in general - much more expensive than standard bikes. Plus, most of them had a maximum rider weight of 230 lbs, and at the time I was MUCH more than that (see graph). But since then, I have melted off the weight and kept it off for a few months. And while up in Bath, it became evident that it would have been VERY nice to have a bike along on a trip where it was impractical to bring along the standard bikes (because of added weight and uncertainty of weather). Well, on Thanksgiving Day Performance Bike had a 20% off of everything in the store sale. They had already discounted the bike for the winter season by 15% and thrown in a free storage bag. After struggling with the decision all day, I finally decided this was my ONLY chance to get this folder for a price I was willing to pay, so I went ahead and purchased it. The bike came Wednesday and I put it together (with some difficulty) and brought it over to the bike shop to be trued up yesterday. It is a beautiful machine, and I look forward to using it on many trips and situations.