Set back or more muscle?

Today after a week or so was time to weight myself and see if there was any improvements on my battle against the extra kilos... And to my surprise the numbers on the evil machine said something I didn't like.. 97 kilos..!? 

Is not all that much of a set back but still.. I wanted to be closer to 96 even this week and no the next number up..

But why this happened? I know if I have a week off where we fall out of track we all going to understand the weight gain, but I didn't..!!

I exercised... I watched what I ate every day... I made sure everything was wrote down to not have any excuses to actually gain any extra weight and even lose another 1/2 a kilo like I been doing..

Look at how many calories I took in:

 OK 2 days I forgot to write everything down but still I kept it around my intake.. Oh you are focusing on the red line and see I went over my normal.. Yes true.. But..

How many calories we burned?

So you can see the days I went over I also burned a lot..! The balance indicates that I kept ahead of the game every day..

So If this is correct.... Why an increase of the weight? Why a stop at dropping the weight? 

I even got complements from others asking me if I lost weight and how much was it..

Why the scale plays with out feelings like that? 

The possible answer?

Muscle gain?!

Is this the true behind the problem with the evil device? Or just a bunch of made up excuses that "professionals" give us when we can't get to our goals?

it sure is confusing and it also makes some sense that if you are eating right for most of the time... Working out and doing your homework the way it should this could not happen..!

According to +Strava I rode my bike for over 220 km last week... 

+MyFitnessPal said that I ate what I should 5 out of 7 days... (had 2 cheat days, also 100 km day on the bike the same day)

People that I know and see me says that I look better..

So can you tell me....

Why the scale stopped going down?

Pablo

Thanks for the coffee..!!!

The Saturday morning started like every other weekend.. Getting up and getting ready to head out in search of the next adventure... The main difference is that I had an idea of what was ahead of me this day...

The ride for the day? (notice is still dark? #winter)

We agreed with the boys to have a bit of an earlier start due to an appointment we all had to attend later on this morning. Start time? 7:00 AM, left the house a few minutes after 6:30 and took my time to get to the start of the ride.. After all I am riding the CX bike and I know it will be a hard long day on the bike..

As we started the ride, I noticed that I was over dressed and too warm but i would find a chance to loose the vest as we ride..
Not much longer passed when one of the boys had a mechanical and I pull to the side to remove the vest finally.. I was steaming.. An I mean really steaming..!! And since we were standing and the sky started to open before our eyes.

Had to take a pic of this Fall morning sky, open sky..

After that stop was a bit of a hammer fest going up and down the rolling country roads that bring Belfast and Stangford together here is where we were going to take the ferry to get to the other side of the Strangford lake...

While waiting everyone had the chance to take some pics and and socialize a bit.. Pics? Me too..!!!

Ships, bikes and great view..

And one more because pictures are nice..!

Finally the ferry got there and we got on.. Here is some of the guys and a lot of bikes...LOTS of them..!

Another reason if you needed to ride your bike... Friends and smiles to fill the experience.

Others opted for taking all of it in.. 

After the ferry ride was a bit of a hard hammering to reach our appointment.. Remember? Well the place for it was our coffee stop of almost every Saturday..

Why I don't just call it the coffee stop? Hold on I am getting there..

As you remember from last week we are all doing a charity to come up with some money to help the ones that a a bit less lucky then us.. or just having a hard time in life and might need a little help getting back on their feet..

Well today we had an appointment because Mrs Harrison's was our good soul of the day and donate to us the coffee and scone of the day for all the cyclists that stopped by.. We alone had a group of over 20 people.. 

In exchange for her donation each person donated £5 on her name to the charity fund.

Here she is with our group..

After this pic was taken it was time to head home.. Another hour of hard riding where I felt like my soul was taken away from me...

At the end of the day the ride looked like this:

That is what 110 km of riding with 800 meters of climbing... How long it took? 3: 40 minutes at 30.5 km/h... Fun right? And on a CX bike with wide tires more..! 

It was a great day where a lot of people came together to help others and have fun while doing it.. 

Read more about this challenge: HERE

If you care to help others and can obviously click: HERE

Special thanks to Harrison's for the donation..!!!

Thanks for reading..!

See you at the next adventure..!

Pablo

The Weekend Report Guy

Take that FAT..!

Oh yeah..!!! You can make that 2 weeks in a row that I am holding my ground on this battle.. Is two weeks that I am progressing if not much is a lot when you you are trying your best..

After the first 2 weeks I am down a whole kilo and a bit more..! Remember 1 kilo = 2.20462 lbs so I lost 1.1 kilo since this battle started.. That is 2 weeks ago people, stay on track please..! ;)

My goal is to lose about 0.5 kilo a week yes that is a pound or so.. I know is not much but according to everything I read and my personal experience is easier to keep that weight off when you lose it little by little.. (read somewhere that the ideal is 300 grams a week) then when you lose a lot very quick.. Here you can insert any of those "miracle diets" you know those that say lose 10 pounds in a week and stuff like that... 2 days after you finish the diet you have 15 pounds more... Sounds familiar??

Lets take a look at where I started and what sort of evolution I had:

Do you see? started at 97.8 kilos... the first week, even less after a few days I went to 95.5..!!! Great..! I been down this route before, I knew it wasn't true.... After the first week I was 97.2..! That was nice and a more reasonable number... But look at what happened a few days later... 98.1..!!! Oh oh..! No need to panic..!! I experienced this before as well.... After 2 weeks of just controlling what I am eating the magical number is? 96.7 kilos..! 

Wondering about the weight fluctuation?

My answer? WATER 70 % of your body is fluids.. some days you hold fluids some others you release them all...
Example? 98.1 kilos day... I had a normal few days, maybe ate a bit more of salt then usual and my body decided to retain some fluids in.. Our bodies are machines that has been at work and developing for the last 30.000 years... Is complex in there...

Another example? the 95.5 kilos day... rode my bike like a maniac the day before and didn't drink enough fluids (beer and coffee doesn't count) So I was exercising, this means sweating sweat means fluids... there is all the extra weight I lost that day.. When it when to normal levels everything was under control again... Advice? never weight yourself after a workout session or sauna... is a false happiness..

Well there you go my friends... There is no magic diet or pill to get to where you want to get.. Compromise and keep an eye on your meals.. is so easy to over eat.. And how hard is to burn it...!!!??? Don't get me started..!

See you all next week with an update of this journey to a better shape..!!

Pablo

P.S: Feel free to ask anything in the comments.. If I can I will answer your question. If not I am sure we can find an answer with +Google Chrome

The two halves ride

My Sunday started like most of the Sundays of the year.. Getting up.. Having breakfast.. Using the toilet.. Filling my water bottle.. Pumping the tires..Taking a quick look at the bike.. All good time to set off..!

Sunday Traditional ride.. I mentioned this one before.. (check previous post for full description) but like every Sunday this one had to have something different right? Well whenever things need to spiced up leave it up to me..!

So how can we make this ride unique? I been riding the CX bike for a few days (month) already and certainly can't hold on to the wheel of the fast guys and end up somewhere like 5 minutes behind them on the normal loop.. And slowing them down a lot.. So What to do?? I know..! After Saturday I saw a lot of tired faces.. So decided to set an earlier group to leave before the main bunch..

So sent an e-mail letting everyone else know and that I would meet anyone else at the start point to leave 10 minutes before the big, main and mean bunch...
So here I was and another guy showed up and we left knowing that the bunch will be on our heals in no time..!

We were off and set a pace that we could hold.. Bah the other guy was setting the pace.. I was having a hard time holding his wheel.. We were doing some 28 km/h for the whole loop and I am guessing the mean main peloton left later then usual or was having an off day because I never saw them.. Woohoo...! One for the rabbit..!! We got away..!!

Left my riding partner and headed home. Not before saying thanks for the towing services.. The CX bike is going to kill me..!

As I got home asked my lovely wife if she was serious the night before about starting to ride with me.. For my surprise she was..!!! She run upstairs change clothes and was ready to leave..!
Hey hold on..! I have to set the bike for you..! So took some quick measurements and set the bike for her... Dropped the saddle... Move the sit forward.. All those little things and she was ready to go..! She even started her +Strava app on her phone to track the ride..!!!

So here she is going a bump on the path..! She seems to be smiling..!

The weather and views were very nice..! Specially the weather, remember we are in Belfast..

We had to deal with bad traffic... ;-) (no we didn't)

We had the opportunity to see an alien riding its bike as well..! +NASA should look here on earth :)

And we made it home in time to cook lunch for the family as a family..!

Proud of her..! She did very well for the first time on a road bike..! She is also looking forward to our next ride.. and so am I..!

By the end of the day my +Strava said I had 75 km and like 600 meters done for the day.. But to be honest I didn't really care.. I had the best 23 km of riding at the end and to top it off with my best buddy...!!

Thanks for reading my blog and hope you come back for more stories like this..

Suggestions and advice is always welcome, I am new at this writing stuff..

Pablo

The Weekend report Guy

Not just a Saturday ride.

It was a special day today, you could feel it at the start of our "traditional" Saturday run.. People smiling.. lots of people showing up, so many that we had to split the groups in order to have a safe ride..

Half the bunch in this shot.. close to 20 (?)

As you noticed all the shots I take are from the back of the bunch.. As I am fat and slow and to add dilemma I am riding my CX bike, like I am not slow enough on my own.. But oh well..

This pics were taken after the mist was gone.. I could not see much since my glasses kept foggin up so the first hour or so I rode without them... Then I could see the route and take clear shots of my companions for the day..

So after 2 hours chasing those guys around at a (thanks boys) civilized pace was time to stop to have a cup of coffee and perhaps a little something to refuel the system for the way home...

The little something + coffee

Up to here we all were riding together.. But I wanted to have a little head start after the coffee stop and I took off on my own expecting the slower riders to follow but that never happened and I ended up riding the whole way back to Scrabo on my own.. No boys and girls I wasn't super strong.. Someone had a flat so they all waited for it and them took off...It was really estrange not to be caught by the bunch.. Now I know why...

So after we regroup at Scrabo it was time for a picture session... Yes we had to poss for pictures for a great event that the guys are putting together and unfortunately I won't be able to do for more then one reason..

The event? L2L500 is a 3 day event that my buddies are putting together to ride 500 km in 3 days around Northern Ireland... Tough guys..!
But the part I really want to mention to you all is that on the side they started running a charity for different organizations and collecting donations and working hard to help others.. If you want to help them to help others follow this LINK, is for a good cause!

Thanks for donating..!!!

So it was picture time..!!! A few pics I took?
The boys getting ready for the shooting..

Look at the happy faces for a good cause..!

And may this day be remembered as the day that the 0745 Rouleurs took over Scrabo (tower)

After the session was time to head home and enjoy the rest of the day with the family and some friends that were coming over.. It was a great day all around..

The ride itself? Does it matter? Ok just for those that like numbers and maps I will leave you a link to the +Strava LINK HERE

I could post here pics of the BBQ we had and the beer I am drinking but I have the recipes part for this stuff...

Hope you guys are having a great weekend as I am..!! We Still have tomorrow..! 

Maybe I will have something good to write about and some decent pictures as well..!!!

Till next adventure..!

Pablo

P.S: Go Rouleurs!

The longest day

Thought about doing this ride in more then one opportunity for different reasons.. You know one of those that has a lot of different things that attract amateur cyclist like me and maybe you to embark on what we like to think as  an epic adventure... With a friend as a companion..
Beware this post will have a lot of pictures of New Jersey.

When you head North in NJ you find country roads like this one..

So I had the alarm set for 5 am to have an early start since June is one hot month in NJ... Around 4:50 AM I got up because I couldn't stay in bed any longer.. My body and my brain were ready to tackle what would end up been a great and looong day on the saddle..

Got up, had breakfast I think you noticed by now that I don't function well without food... Filled my bottles grabbed some +Clif Bar & Company pumped some air on the tires (120 lbs) as I am a big guy not to have any surprises with snake bites and stuff like that... Went to the bathroom.. Kissed the wife and the kids.. And head out the door to wait for Vasil... 6:14 am showed the +Garmin when we hit the start ride bottom...

We were not far from the house when we started to hit the first couple of ups and downs of out long trip.

As you head North of Somerville you enter the Watchun Mountains that are not really steep but offers you a nice challenge with plenty of category 4 climbs according to +Strava

We had a run into some of the local fauna, I had to take a picture of this creature... And then get it out of the route before traffic got heavier..

As we continuing going up and down in our constant way to the farther and highest point of NJ we saw a lot of up and down routes...

I am very thankful for the shade since it started to get hot by now.. But as you pedal the wind feels great in your face..

We came across a bison ranch and I coudln't resist to stop and take a pic of this creatures...

And finally after some 5 hours or something like that we reached the highest point of New Jersey.. Called guest what? High Point, NJ can't remember how high it is and at that point all I could think of was that it looked like a mini Ventoux....

The view from the top of it was amazing..!

And one to remember the place for ever..

After that was time to stop somewhere and reload for the way back... I mean it was lunch time and the bars were not making the trick anymore...

Lunch time..!!!!

And we also used this time to rest a little and refill the bottles... Water wasn't lasting that long anymore.. It was like 30 + Celsius that is like over 90 F...!!!

Ah there it is..! Took us 5:20 minutes to reach the rest point.. As you can see there wasn't much flat involved in it either..

We still had some riding to do to get back home so we finished our drinks, filled our bottles and hit the route again... After all this was only half way... No we didn't finish the pizza... And I couldn't put it in my jersey pocket.. Too messy... (only 2 slices were left)

After putting a nice and brave face into the head wind and the hit and some more hills we run out of water again and had to stop to buy some... It felt soooo wrong to buy water here...

That was one of our last stops before we got home... I can't tell you how happy I was when I saw familiar routes again.. Then I felt like a second wind came into me and I could push the pedals again..

The way there took a lot out of me and on our way back poor Vasil had to do most of the work.. I was spent..!

We finally got home and as I mentioned it it was hot..! Good thing the kids had the little pool up and I could jump in to cool down...

But felt much better after a little refreshment...

So what was all this at the end of the day? Let me see....

That my friends reads:

242 km.... 3393 meters of elevation gain.... and all of this in 9:23 minutes..

If you want to see more details about this ride here is the link to what I called THE LONGEST DAY

Thanks for reading

Thanks for sharing

Stay tuned more stories are coming..!!

Pablo

Round 1 goes to....!!!!

ME...!!!! 

Yes I beat the scale during the first week of THE BATTLE click on the link if you have no idea of what I am talking about..

What did the scale say? It said that I lost 600 grams..! That is about a pound to my U.S friends... And also that is above what I had planned...

As I mentioned last week on the "original" post I use +MyFitnessPal to track my meals, exercise and obviously any changes on my weight.. I don't believe in "diets" and only for one reason.. They are meant to work as long as you are on it... You are done with them and go back to your regular habits and the weight comes back with them..

When you track your every meal and sea what are you putting in your body your brain react in a different way.. Also... Have you see how long you have to walk to burn a donut? Crazy...! It takes a lot of effort to burn some fat.. Yes I said "some fat"

In order to lose weight I do simple maths... 

- Needed calories a day: 
This is an individual thing.. According to your job and level of physical activity you will have to pick your calorie intake.

- Calories used a day: 
Also individual... I have no idea if you work out or not... If you spend a lot of time sitting in a dark office of the tenth floor of a big city or if you are a mail man that is walking all over the town..

- Result?
Is really simple really.. In order to lose weight you can't take more calories in that the ones that you are using..

So is really up to you and no one else. look:

Calories in - calories used = weight lose or..... well you know the other option.

Now that you have the secret formula is up to you what you do with it.. This is a personal experience and works for me.. Worked for me in the past and now I am starting a new goal of reaching first 90 kilos and once there see what I can do..

The scale after one week of battling said...."insert drum roll here".... 97.2 kilos..!!!!

Thanks for all the support guys..! Is easier to do it as a group and if you have any tips for me to improve or try I am all ears.. Or is it eyes since we are reading?

Stay tuned..! to see how the next battle unfolds..

And because a post is not completed without a pic... Here it is my indoor torture chamber 

I know those socks rule..!!!

Almost forgot to say thanks to the 3 big helpers I have in this battle +MyFitnessPal for tracking all the eating...! +Strava  for tracking all the activities and @zwift for keeping me motivated to keep cycling my fat away while indoors...

Till next adventure or update

Pablo

Another weekend went by... What this one left?

Another weekend went by and left us a lot of memories and stories to tell from it.. Hikes, family walks bike rides with friends, events and an afternoon with friends having a cup of coffee is just a few of the thing that come to mind right away..

Views of the place where we live also are tattooed in our retinas, Belfast.. (and from the bike looks even better)  

This past weekend had a few things I really loved...

Friday, because the weekend starts on Friday on our way to school we broke the routine with my son Felix (7 year old) and took a detour that took us from our normal way to a hiking trail into the hills and close to his school..!! Post a couple of pictures here

With this we made a change that he really enjoyed and now wants to do every day.. Made something simple a memory that is going to stay with him for life.. Or at least I hope.

On Saturday I have no idea what exactly we did but it was busy and we were all over the place... I believe I added the +Amazon.com stuff here to the blog and that took me a while.. (by the way if you need to buy something from Amazon please use the blog to get to it, they will give me a few pennies here and there)

Later on that day we started to cook... WE? We is more then one person.. They put me in the kitchen and told me to cook.. I don't mind.. I like to eat well and the kids and wife love the home made pizza (no yeast) that I make, by the way that is a link to the recipe, steps and pictures of how to make this yummy and healthy pizza..!!!

Sunday finally..!!!

This means going out for a ride with the boys form the club and have a little social life away from the family.. Don't get me wrong.. I love them but they are a bit annoyed by me been home so much again after a week of me out of work... (have an interview Wednesday, fingers crossed) So they ask me to pleaaase!! go for a ride..! So I did..

As you know the preparation to go for a ride starts the night before... Getting the kit ready, water bottles, GPS, food, snack, checking the bike and all that fun stuff that half the time I forget to do..

So finally I got out and it was totally worth it..!

That is the sort of terrain you have around +Belfast  rolling hills in any direction you head out of.. Some steeper then others but everything looks amazing under the sun.

After our traditional all out crazy fast ride we stop for coffee and I saw this view that I had to take a shot off

Then a few other guys and me went on for a little extra spin to relax and enjoy the art of just riding your bike..

Today the sun was a pleasant companion..

After my buddies went their way and I went mine I decided that I wanted to go a little longer and take a few more pics...

Caught this guy pushing his bike up this hill... So I followed him.. (zoom in you can see it in the middle)

Why he was walking? Maybe this ramp discourage him?

But it was nice to get to the top and have this view as a reward... Belfast..! From the bike..!!

That was my weekend... I hope you guys enjoyed it reading and I wish there was a way for each one on you to share your story with all of us..!! Oh wait.!! There is..! Follow this LINK and become part of a great community.

Till next adventure.. 

Pablo.

The Canberra Report - West Kowen Forest

Mike from bike.sipols.com here with another Canberra Report. This time we are hitting the dirt in West Kowen Forest.

Two things hit me whenever I ride West Kowen:

1. I'm sure it wasn't this hilly last time!
2. I really should ride here more often.

West Kowen offers quite a different style of riding to its sibling East Kowen. East Kowen is a renowned singletrack racing mecca, which hosts the Mont and Kowalski Classic. West Kowen certainly can't compete for flowy singletrack. But what West Kowen has, is space. Its a great place to go exploring on the fire trails and is dotted with old singletracks from back before East Kowen existed. So today I went exploring up to the ACT Fire Observation Tower.

The easiest access point from Queanbeyan is through the Molonglo Gorge entry road. After hopping past the gate (no unauthorised motor vehicles or motor bikes allowed, but cyclists are free to go where they wish), you are presented with a steep paved climb, as a challenge to keep out the unworthy. This one peaks out at about 18%.


After that warmup, I followed my nose north, following fire trails through the pine forest.



It involved climbs so steep that at times I had to dismount and push, but the views from the top were worth it.



On the way back I rode some of the old beaten up singletrack and spotted a chance for some stumpsurfing. Hang ten!



The fire trails around here really give you a physical challenge. The forest skirts the northern end of the Tinderry range, and the fire trails have been built with no regard for gradient. Towards the end there were a few kangaroos around, particularly in the grassier areas around the old homestead.



Much like in East Kowen, I saw whole flocks of yellow-tailed black cockatoos enjoying the pine forest.



So in the end it was 840m of climbing for 37kms - see what I meant about climby rides earlier!

For more details and photos on West Kowen plus some archival singletrack, check out Canberra Bike Rides.