And what about Sunday?

I felt like poop this morning.. Stuffy nose, hard to breath, was awake till 2:30 in the morning and had a few beers while cooking and with the people we had over.. When the alarm went off this morning I wanted to stay in bed so bad but I managed to drag myself out of bed to join my Sunday group ride and I think they are my friends.. Or at least there is a friendship.. Well it was a good day as I pedaled I felt better..

It looked like this when we started..

The guy in green was his first road group ride.. He is a mtbiker so has plenty of stamina..

We were heading over that bump ahead..

The view as we climbed the first part…

This other guy got the visit of the man with the hammer… He was beat..!

After the long climb we stopped to fill the water bottles at Carratraca’s water fountain, it comes straight from the mountains.

And after a long downhill and some assistance to the guy that blew up… My well earned reward..

After that stop for beer and some chips with jamon serrano I headed for another few km since no one was home and I forgot my keys… At the end of the day my ride looked like THIS

I am starting to offer these kind of experience to anyone coming to Málaga.. If you would like to join me for one of my rides feel free to contact.. Comments will be the first step and we take it from there..

Hope you like this report and see you next time..

Pablo

The Weekend Report Guy

Looking for the climbing legs..

I had a quiet weekend when it comes to riding.. I did not ride much.. All I did was was this ride where I was curious to see how fast I could do it and what kind of power I could produce while at it..

So FTP territory right? But please tell me... FTP means??  I came up with my own definition.. F*ck That Pablo..!! But what did I actually did??

I headed out on Saturday without much of a clue on what I wanted to do.. Then I run into a guy I know that was doing this loop I know where I can push a bit since is rolling terrain for a bit over the first half... Here is where I wanted to test my legs and power... The result??? 240W... Not a big number... But a number to work with from now on.. The ride? Strava says.... This are rolling terrains..

Today?? I went looking for my climbing legs...

My playground for the day looked like this..

And I was riding with this guy...

And we did this ride... not bad for a Tuesday... If you are too lazy to click on the link it says 52 km and over 1000 meters of climbing in two hours...

So That was it for today... See you next time..Thanks for reading and sharing..

Pablo

The Weekend Report Guy

The Weight Update.

It has been a hard week for me... The beginning of a journey is never easy.. To break the routine and bad habits is hard... To get away from those things that bring us comfort is even harder.. With all this in mind let me tell you that I managed to drop some weight..!!!

Seems proper to post a picture celebrating this achievement 

How much weight did I actually lose?

2.1 kilos in a week..!!! It was not easy... Took a lot of self control.. And exercise.. As I started last week I was at 98.8 kilos and was doing my eating the wrong way when it comes to numbers.. After a quick look at the numbers from previous days I knew something was wrong..Something had to change..!

So I went to +MyFitnessPal and checked all my numbers... Soon after that I realized that I had the wrong set up..!! I wanted to lose 250 grams a week instead of my (high) goal of a kilo a week.. So as you can imagine I was eating way too much and not moving around enough to burn all the calories I was taking..

Once that was changed it was time to have a talk with myself.. This has to stop..! You have to control the way you eat..And so I did...No more of 1600 calories a day was the goal... And to be honest I don't think it was a single day I was able to eat only that many calories.. I really enjoy eating.. And most of the days I was just under 2000 calories a day...

Wondering why...????

But that was already a treat after a long day in the saddle..(I really love riding bicycles) So are you seen what I did? You need a bit more of explanation? OK is coming.. But believe me most of my lunches during the week looked like this...

In order to eat as much as I do and still lose weight I was really active last week... And here is a short list of my physical activities:

Monday to Friday I walked an average of 10 km a day.. dropping and picking my son from school walking has a huge impact..! I burn close to 1000 calories with these walks.
Saturday and Sunday are my long ride days..Or at least I try to make that happen.. So I rode between the 2 days close to 7 hours...

So you see is simple to lose weight you have to eat only what your body needs.. Do you do that or you eat what you want? First do that and then you will see the body get all the extra weight off by itself..

Thanks for reading and sharing (?) 

See you at the next weight update

Pablo 

The Weekend Report Guy

Getting better... Mejorando

Today was a day where I wanted to go longer but then as I started riding I changed my mind... This late starts are not good for me and my life style since I don't really like to be home much later then noon... 

Number one reason is because I like to spend some time with the family all together since during the week everyone is busy with school and work.. 

And number two is that now that the Summer is getting closer the temperatures start to raise really quick after 12 o'clock... With that said I cut my ride a bit shorter then what I had planned...

What did I have plan? I wanted to do a 100 km ride since we moved to Spain this is a "pending" matter.. I do not like pending matters..!But today wasn't the day to set the score right... Maybe tomorrow..

So today's ride looked like this.... I mean the view..

As I took the picture above I could not help but to think of what life over there would be like.. 

The traffic was a bit heavy today as the motorcycles love to go all out around the bents of this twisting roads going up and down the hill... But it got heavier at some point.. And made for a great view..

And around the time I took the previous picture I heard some voices coming behind me... So I got company for the last 2 km of the climb... And they passed me with 500 meters to go on the climb.. But I was the winner because I could take this pic..!!

But remember I said I heard voices... So there was more then one person.. Here is the rest of the "amigos" that passed me on the climb and kept me company for a little while.. The shot is a place where I took a few pictures before..

We talk for a few minutes asked them where they were from and what they had planned for the day.. Our plans didn't match and I turned around to start my journey back home... 

As you can imagine most of the way home is all downhill so I put the camera away and enjoyed the speed and view around me... 

Here is another one of those houses that belong to a fairy tale history...

Then I stopped somewhere to take a few pictures...Stopped the GPS took the pictures and got back on the bike... Something missing?? Hmmm no, not really... All downhill for the next 10 km or so.. In my head I was good that will bring the average speed of the ride back up as going up was a drag..

After 10 km I looked at the GPS and I saw that the average speed was stuck on 22.7 km/h... Dammit..! Forgot to restart the GPS..! Lost about 10 km of the ride and a good portion of high speed downhills.. Oh well.. Lesson learned.. Leave the computer alone..!

After all the ups and downs of the ride including stops and pictures..... The numbers of the ride in  STRAVA 

Thanks for reading and sharing another story

Hope you liked the story and pictures

See you next time. 

Pablo

The Weekend Report Guy

My weight loss journey...

Remember a few months back I was posting about this journey and then I just stopped doing it... Why did I stop? Simple..! I got comfortable... I was happy..!! I got down to my so call normal weight of somewhere around 92 kilos...

So me at 92 kilos? Something like this...

Why the picture in a cycling kit? Various reasons.. #1 there is no place to hide..! The moment you accept that you are having a problem is easier to tackle it and start doing something about it..  So me at 92 kilos is not the image of a ballet dancer or anything close to it but at least I am light and able to move around easier...

Me at 99 kilos? This picture was taken yesterday by one of my cycling mates..

Well people tell me that I carry well my weight but that is not the point... After living with my body for 38 years I know signs that is time to start losing weight or at least try to do so..

Examples:

- When I am over weight I snore at night... This is a problem because not only I had problems resting... It makes my better half complain about it as well...
- Hard to get up the hills on the bike... And if you look around this blog you will realize that is a big part of what I do in my life.
- Is not healthy for my joins... Specially that right knee that got in an accident a while back.. Also is post about that in the blog if you like to know that story.

We could keep going all day naming all the issues that carrying extra weight in you r body brings and we all know that this change with each person since each body is different and reacts in different ways to carrying extra weight.

Eating a lot is something I love to do..! I really enjoy a big meal but we all know is not healthy for the body or the wallet either..! So it is time to start doing something about this again...

What do I do to try to keep this under control? How do I manage to lose weight? Or I better say how do I try to lose weight...

I am sure you read or hear about portion control before... Well this is what I do... Now how do you keep track of your meals? I have a partner to do this.. A virtual friend that with today technology is always with me... There is hundreds of them but I use +MyFitnessPal to keep and eye on what I eat and how many calories I burn.. The calories part I do with +Strava  and they are both linked so it is very easy.

So keep and eye on  My weight loss journey... as I will be posting updates with the journey numbers.. Remember I started at 99.1 kilos... Today I am at 98.8 kilos..!! this is after the first week..!

Thanks for reading and if you need some help losing weight join me in this journey..!

See you next week..!

Pablo 

The Weekend Report  "Fat" Guy

My first Cat 1 climb experience

My getting stronger and fitter journey is involving a lot of different aspects of my life.. The riding around here as I mention in previous posts is very challenging for a heavy rider like me so on top of all the training is time to start watching what I eat as well....(but is another post coming about this topic soon) What do I mean by challenging rides?? Just look at my riding area...

Don't get me wrong..!!! I am not complaining..! I love this..! Is so challenging that every where I go I end up with a few hundred meters of climbing by the time I come back home... Today as an example I used +Strava  to monitor my school run... By the time I got home it was 4.1 km and 100+ meters of elevation!

But this is about the Saturday ride... I know is already Monday but I had a busy weekend with the family (Happy Easter!!!) So my roads on Saturday looked like this most of the time...

Like this going up or down most of the time.. Sometimes a bit more rough...

And 99% of the time my views looked like this...

At points the roads got really rough that the local authorities let you know ahead of time... And by the way can you see those antennas in the back high up? I was heading there.. Just not yet...

But before I got there I had to climb a bit more... And also go down some nice towns in between the mountains...

After making a few wrong turns here and there I was finally on the right track to conquer my first ever category 1 climb... All I had to do was follow this road.

8 km of roads that only kept going up.. And then up some more.. Along the way you could see this kind of views that would be much better on a MTB to explore...

A very narrow road to the top of my first monster climb...

As I was climbing and came out of the trees I saw the Mediterranean see in the distance..

Then it was back at going up... The gradients?? For the curious ones my +Garmin said 12% here... I don't think it ever when under 7% for the whole climb..

As you go up there is painting on the road that tells you how far you have climbed... The painting started at 5 km to go to the top... I tried to take some pics but they didn't come out any good as I was struggling to bread much less to aim at a painting on the route while riding.. Did I ever mention that all my pictures are taken from the bike while riding?? Well almost all of them..
But I was almost there at the top of the climb... But Before getting there lets just demoralize the poor fu**/r with this ramp..

That was something like 100 meters North of 14%.... The cherry on top???

But I think everything is worth it when you get to the top... Dismount your bike and hold to it as you realized that you are dizzy as hell and everything is spinning around you.... Then just then after you catch up your breath and the feeling of puking is leaving your body on that moment when you finally can look at the horizon and see how far you got up..

That I believe is the city of +Benalmadena Unica

And my trusty companion that took me all the way up there... The Mediterranean sea at the back..

For those that would like to follow this route one day here is the Strava link to my ride..

If you are ever in this part of the world drop me a line and hopefully I can take you up here for a spin.

Thanks for reading.. Hope you enjoyed the story.. If you have someone that might enjoy this share it!

See you ate the next update?

Pablo

The Weekend Report Guy

Tres Cruces Trip

The story about today revolves about this climb according to +Strava is a category 2 climb that extends over 8 km at an average of 6%... Is a climb that is fun to do... Where you have to pace yourself at the start where the hard part is...

Lots of ramps..!! Where the average goes to 10% 12% and some more..

The first couple of km are the hardest ones (to me)

Along the way you have paintings on the route... Telling you distance and gradient

My riding partners where ahead of me most of the time....

Then I got into a climbing cadence that was comfortable to me and started catching people...!!! Woohoo..!!! Looking back at some riders...

Then the route turned interesting to my taste... There were big ramps of over 14% and where I could not take any pictures since I was climbing at a nice pace... Between this ramps there were some flat sections and even some downhill ones... This are the ones I used to keep my pace high and not to rest.. and caught up with my buddies....

Got to the top second from our group and then I had the chance to take some pictures after crossing the finish line... "meta"

The view at the top was short of amazing..!!!

After this picture was time to turn around and hit the flattish routes where I like to have both hands on the bike so there were only a few more pictures of nothing in particular...

At the end of the day for those that like numbers and ride profiles +Strava  said I did THIS

Thanks for reading and sharing

See you next time

Pablo 

The Weekend Report Guy

What commuting is about?

Is it really to get from one point of the town to another? Is it really just a matter of transportation? Do you just get on the bike to "get to work"?

Maybe I am just a weird guy that enjoys riding his bike a lot more then the average commuter, but when I swing my leg over the bike and roll out of my drive way every morning is like opening the doors of the world..!

The options of how to get to my next destination are endless... The adventures that creates this every day journey are amazing... The possibilities of discovering new people or places are always there..

Now as everyone in this world sometimes I get caught in the routine of just going and coming from and to... BUT...!!! I also conscious of this situation and I am all in  to blow this at any chance I get..

How do I do it? Like this..:

The problem I see with everyone is taking everything for granted.. We have great views everywhere..! Now do you take the time to see them?

You can see awesome people doing some great stuff that demand a lot of dedication.. How many times you drive, ride the bus over the river and never stop to enjoy the view at what people is doing there? I repeat... There is a lot of awesome people there... Take a minute to discover them..

And because I like to create a consciousness on people, educate them I post the last one... I am not blaming the poor choice of parking of all this drivers... I blame the poor vial education system and the structure around the city to support everyone needs...

Just to you to think next time you decided to park on the cycling lane.. Where do I have to go to avoid the car on the cycling lane??? Yes I have to go right on the street... And you all hate cyclist on the street right? Believe me I was hit by a car once (six months in bed were not fun) but it was a true accident.. Poor lady was in a shock.. (you can check that story here in the blog as well)

So my point is... I DO NOT WANT TO RIDE ON THE STREET but sometimes I have to...

Thanks for reading and sharing

Pablo

The Weekend Report Guy

Happy "windy" Monday commute..!

Monday here and with it comes the routine of going to work and the biking commute.. Do not get me wrong..! I really enjoy my commute or for the most part I do..

How not to like it when you have this kind of views to reward you on your way to work?

This is Belfast at sunrise time for you.. it was a bit cloudy... Extremely windy..! for my luck most of it was on my back while going to work.. Some sections was a strong cross wind, you know when you are riding in between buildings or trees and come to an opening.. For sure I felt like the bike was going to do her own thing..

But it was worth it..! And it was surprisingly warm..! I was sweating a lot by the time I got to work.. Good thing there is a changing room at work where I can hang my clothes to dry for the ride back home..

My STRAVA ride looked like this.. Easy enough right?

My view at the time I got to work? A very nice one..!!!

That is Cave Hill, maybe when the weather turns for better or the days get longer I take a trip up there with the bike to show you the view from up there..

On my way home I had less fun since it was dark, windy, head wind to be more precise and had to stay focus on not to lose the bike to the wind and the coming traffic... (no pictures) And to top it all out my light run out of battery with like 10 blocks to go...!!! Charging it now...

Took a few pics of people parked on the bike path or lane but they came out too dark and hard to see... I am starting a hashtag #isnotok to tag people parked like excrement on places that create a hazardous problem for cyclists and people walking..

Thanks for reading and sharing (?)

Pablo

The Weekend Report guy

What about Sunday?

Well last night I went to bed too late and have a few too many slices of pizza and beers… My body asked me to stay in bed longer then usual and I listened to it..

by the time I got up and had breakfast and check the internet it was too late to go for a real ride.. With time limitations and a goal to get to (10.000 Km) I decided to get on the trainer and make the best out of my little time..

The result? in images? This was my vision after the session… Or was it during it?

I did some intervals… Climbing intervals to be more precise.. Zwift – Watopia – The Gorby

After that we had a quick lunch with the family and headed out to the local trail that starts no more then 400 meters from our door steps

Some pics?

The beginning of it..

The water fall walk way

A closer look

Steep stairways 

Jessie checking the tunnel for us

A gravel route with no cars and full of leafs

A selfie?

Moos 

And us, my family

And that is the way you spend a surprisingly warm day in Belfast... I called it "Hiking in the backyard"

Those pictures were taken by me at the Castlereagh hills area, we live right at the foot steps or the area..

Hope to see you at the next post..

Thanks for reading

Pablo

The Weekend Report Guy