What not to do?

This is part of the weight update series.. So lets say that last week I was doing great..! Was controlling my portions.. Burning more then what I was consuming.. Drinking plenty of water and eating fruits and vegetables...
I was a good boy.....!!! Then Sunday came along...

You know one of those Sundays when you have a BBQ, hell I was the one cooking to begin with..! So how you can stay away from the delicious food?? Specially if it is a BBQ..! that is my weak spot..!!! MEAT..! 

Come on..! Tell me you are not wishing you were there with me last Sunday? On top of all this yummy sausages and meat there was plenty of stuff to go around and snack on.. Cheese, pickles, chips/crisps and who knows what else... So by the time the food was actually ready you were snacking away about 1000 calories..! And now was lunch time..!!?? 

So I was almost full by the time the first piece of meat left my grill.. And the owners of the house never let my cup be half empty.. Every time I turned around someone was filling it with nice Spanish cold beer...

This means that I had at least another 1500 calories just from drinking beer..!!! Are you keeping track of the calories? Good..!!! I didn't..!

In a normal day I am suppose to eat no more then 1600 calories during the day in order to lose my 1 kilo a week.. I am not going to lie to you most of the time I am over that amount but I compensate by going for a walk or riding my bike.. so everything is in check..

But Sunday was a special day and when you are a guest at a party and the food is crazy good you can't be rude and say no.. You have to eat... Well you don't have to but I love to..!!!

Besides these meat is something I really love.. Argentinian Asado..!!!

So my wild guess is that I ate about a kilo or more of that beef.. and is another like 2500 calories.. So I was way over my budget for the day.. And to finish it up there was chocolate cake and other sweets followed by more beer and stronger stuff for the ones that like that sort of thing.. I had more beer..

To culminated today's report let me tell you that the scale said I was 97.9 kilos on Monday morning.. That was an increase of 1.5 kilos from the week before..!!! It only takes one day of eating out of control for me to gain what cost me so much to lose..

Now is time to restart (I did Monday already) the battle and cut back on all the good stuff to reach my goal of 90 kilos at some point in life..

Hope you enjoyed the what not to do post.. Share if you know someone struggling with this..

See you next week?

Pablo 

The Weekend Report Guy

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.

The Canberra Report - Paddy's River Road

I've been invited by Pablo to share some of my rides here on The Weekend Report, so I hope you like hills! Contrary to the popular image of a sun-burnt flat country, here in Canberra, Australia we have hills all around. For a skinny climber dude like myself, this is a good thing. If you'd like to read more about Canberra's rides, check out my blog at bike.sipols.com.

Paddy's River road is the main connector the runs through the foothills of the Brindabella range, the most famous of the three ranges which surround Canberra. It makes a nice loop by itself in either direction. The southerly direction gives you the Pierces Creek climb, but I prefer northerly for ease of access. This ride is rolling, with plenty of climbing but not the crazy gradients of the deep south.

From Tuggeranong, you can either take the short way across Point Hut crossing or the higher Tharwa bridge. The Tharwa extension makes a nice flatter warmup, plus unlike Point Hut the Tharwa bridge doesn't flood (a critical consideration at this time of year).

On deep south rides, Tharwa can be a critical resupply point but here its just a town to pass through. There is a surprisingly steep lump straight out of Tharwa, before the road meanders up and down. Once you reach the lookout get your climbing legs ready.

The road climbs steeply up to the Corin dam turnoff (a great sidetrip), then the landscape opens up as you approach Tidbinbilla. Take this opportunity for a bit of a breather.

The Canberra Deep Space Centre has a cafe and is the default coffee stop around here but since thats a side trip, we're not going there today. After you pass the Space Centre turnoff, the road will descend, with a few lumps to keep you honest. Like most of this ride, this area is farming land so you'll see quite a few cows and sheep.

If the ride so far has tired you out, you'll pay for it through the lumps at the back of Pierces Creek, they may be short but they are steep too, with gradients reaching 11%. Around here the scenery transitions to pine forest, but still has a nice scattering of natives too.

After a hair-raising descent on tarmac of dubious provenance down Pierces Creek, the short option is to climb back up the Cotter, through to Adelaide Ave and wherever home may be. On this day, the Murrumbidgee was threatening to burst its banks (good thing we went via Tharwa at the beginning).

The Canberra Report is a collaboration between Pablo Alves and Michael Sipols. For more in-depth detail on this route, check out Michael's post on the Paddy's River Road at bike.sipols.com.