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

A quick spin + Photos

When you are short of time there is little you can do.. But you always can do something.. So we met earlier then usual and headed out with the guys...

The weather was certainly different then our usual sunny sky.. El tiempo estaba diferente..No habia un cielo soleado..

With the low clouds everything looked different.. Con las nubes bajas todo se veia diferente.. Our target was the white building at the top.. Nuestro objetivo la construccion blanca en lo alto

And we were getting closer.. Y nos acercabamos mas..

Primero a cruzar por Tolox... But first we had to cross Tolox

Do you remember Tourbecco? This is Vueltecco!? Se acuerdan de Tourbecco? Este es Vueltecco..!?

The start of a good hard climb. El inicio de una buena y dura subida..

Y al llegar a la cima... And when we reached the top..

Thanks to our +BELGIUM  friends for taking the picture. Gracias a nuestros amigos Belgas por tomar la foto.

After the las picture was a fasts downhill to our homes.. No more pics...For now.. Despues de la ultima foto era hora de descender hacia nuestras casas asi que no mas fotos.. por ahora..

+Strava dice que hicimos esta VUELTA/RIDE according to Strava. Not bad for a day in a hurry.. Nada mal por un dia a los apurones..

Hope you guys liked the short report. Espero les alla gustado el corto reporte.

Thanks for reading and sharing - Gracias por leer y compartir

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

Goals? Plans? Dreams? Bring 2016..!!

We all have them right? So do I...!!! But this is why I wasn't sure on how to name the post... We should start by knowing the difference between them...

Using my own words to define each one..

Goals: list of things I would like to achieve over a determinate period of time.. They have to be real, easy or hard to accomplish is up to us.

Plan:  they are more like a structured way of accomplishing a pre-determinate idea. Is making a way to reach this plans.

Dreams: anything that comes to your mind real or not... Fiction or reality... Everything that you would like to reach or do in life... Just remember sometimes you can reach them and make them your reality..!!

Lets start by naming what I consider goals for this year:

- I am riding 15.000 km.
- Climbing 150.000 meters.
- I am going to weight 85 kilos, and STAY THERE...!!!
- Write more often in my blog... and better should I say...

What about the plans? 

- We are moving to Málaga, Spain.
- Find a job that allows me to follow my dreams.. Is coming...
- Rent a nice big house for the family... And future guests.
- Go to Argentina to bring my older son, time for him to join the family.
- Start offering my cycling guide services to people in Málaga.
- Start a B&B business to go with the cycling services.

And the dreams??

- Buying a nice BIG HOUSE..!!!
- Have the B&B running in our big house... Did I mention it has a pool?
- Promote the already established cycling guide services all over the world.
- Meet thousands of new friends while enjoying the mountains and the Mediterranean sea.
- And last but not least... Make sure my family and I are as happy as possible..!!

Bring on the 2016 and lets start working on all those goals, plans and dreams..!!!

As soon as we are there you all will know about it..!!! 

And as soon as we are ready we will be waiting for you all...!!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR !!!

Pablo & Family

See you soon

Thanks for reading and sharing

Pablo

The Weekend Report Guy

My Strava

Our Strava Club, join us..!!!

Hello Sunrise..!

I am on windbreak duty on Sunday's as I show my wife a bit around this part of the world.. She is new to cycling and "allergic" to hills so I have to select the routes for her..

Some of our views today..

A great sunrise to say good morning from Comber, Northern Ireland

It was a mostly flat route.. All along a lake that by now I should know the name but I am all that concerned about it.. Then we have the sun rising over some little bumps in the distance.

After the sun finally came up we could appreciate the beauty of the country side around us...

This was a route from Castlereagh to Comber and back following some main routes early enough to be out of traffics harm..

In and out after all was done was some 48 km and a new record distance for my wife..! Also this was her fastest ride yet..!

Me? I am training to become stronger as the cold weather is setting in... Lots of schedule training and also trying to reach my distance goal for the year.. 10.000 km.. 7625 km so far this year.. I will get there???

Thanks for reading and feel free to follow my cycling activities HERE or our club at Strava

Thanks for reading and sharing

Pablo

The Weekend Report Guy

Steady is the key..?

Yes is that time of the week where you see this on +Twitter about this guy living in Northern Ireland trying to get back in shape... What guy?

This one..!!! Remember?

If you are not all that familiar with the story and want to catch up look between the previous posts is some related (each week an update) about how I am trying to lose some weight and most important to keep it off..!!

So today was the day I picked to step on the scale and see how the last couple of days were reflecting on my weight... Here is a report in the way of a picture to show whats going on..:

Can you see the progress? Last week I was at 96.2 kilos and this week?? 95.4 kilos..!!! Exciting isn't it? If you are not a person that has struggle with weight for most of your adult life you won't get it.. But thanks for reading any ways...

NOTE: you see this is one more reason to use +MyFitnessPal for tracking your progress or going the other way... Pictures and reports help you visualize where you are and where you want to be.

So this is a lost of 800 grams from last week to this one..!!! Almost double what my weekly goal is..!! I am happy with this new number on the scale..! It brings me closer to my goal..
What my goal is? originally I was thinking of 80 kilos but giving it a second thought... I might split it.. and stop at 85 kilos... A day at the time is what is going to work best.. Either way I am closer now then a month and a half ago when this "fight" started..

How did I manage this drop of weight? Here it goes:

- Discipline keep my portions at normal size and write everyone down, no diet, just control.

- Options I could drive Felix to school, I am walking with him every morning.. (45 to 60 minutes) and the dog loves it as well..

- Water at some point last week I started drinking a large glass of water every time I went pee, 2 reason for this behavior. 1 wasn't drinking enough to begin with. 2 helps me understand is not hunger but appetite what I constantly have. I can eat 24/7 no issues.

- Exercise sorry there is no other way, no magic spell.. It demands you getting up and moving.. I really enjoy riding my bicycle as you can see on the rest of my blog. last week I rode somewhere around 200 km in 7:30 hours over the 7 days. You can check my profile at +Strava add to this that lots of this cycling is done indoors using #gozwift.

And as you can see I am doing something that everyone can do.. it is a matter of options and will to chose the right path..

Now what way are you going to go? 

Is up to you. And you only..!

Thanks for reading and see you at the next post or update.

Pablo

The Weekend Report Guy

Set back? What set back?

Yes is that time of the week when I step on the scale and see what the result of a week of working out and writing down my meals and snacks (add drinks and anything that contains calories) did for me..
As you noticed already I am not using the word diet on any of my posts, maybe a hashtag to bring in more readers trying to do the same in this fight against the fat or overweight... Or maybe someone just trying to stay in shape and looking for a way of doing so without actually going into a "DIET"

Let's do a quick recap using that image.. This is week 4 already since I restart this journey against my weight.. And you can see how the weights goes up and down all the time.. Is normal..
My goal is to lose 500 grams a week.. Not a crazy number, but a bit on the high side of expectations, you set your goal low is too easy.. too high and is too hard.. Both ways are easy to get away and frustrate and then quit..

So if you clicked here for the first time you have an idea of where this post is coming from by now and what it is about as well... To have the full story just go back to previous posts and you will get the full scoop of this fat fighter..

Well I know you want to know what happened when I stepped on the scale this morning right? What do you think happened? Remember last week weight? OK I help you 97 kilos... It was a bit of a set back numbers ways... OK, OK the number on the scale this week was......

96.2 kilos...!!! I hope you get my excitement !! Seriously is almost a kilo in a week.. That almost put me back on track to lose the 500 gram a week.. 4 weeks = 2 kilos... Started at 97.8 kilos and I am down to 96.2 kilos so is a lost of 1.6 kilos in 4 weeks..!! 400 grams a week thus far..!!! I can live with that..

Want to know how I did it?

Want to know what my tools are?

For those that answer yes here is the answers:

Watching what I am eating... Seriously, write everything down I use +MyFitnessPal for it and is working. I eat whatever I want whenever I want... (portions is the key!)

The other aspect of it is to work out.. Sorry there is no magic pill... I don't have a secret formula.. It demands you to get moving.. To track my physical activities I use +Strava  last week I rode 369 km on my bike and walked somewhere around 20 km... Yes I spend a lot of time working out.. Or better say moving around.

But you want to know why I move around so much? Because I like to eat..! And eat a lot sometimes..! So I earn my "extra portions" by working out.. is like a reward program..

Example: want that extra slice of pizza tonight? If you are anything like me the answer is yes.. OK.. EARN IT..!! average pizza slice is like 400 calories.. This means a walk with the dog for 1 hour.. See what I did there? Killed 3 birds with one stone! Walked the dog, exercise and earn my extra slice of pizza..!!

Now if you have any comments or suggestions please feel free to leave a comment and if you think this can help someone you know share it..

Thanks for reading 

See you next week?

Pablo 

The Weekend Report Guy

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

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.

Remember that one?

Do you ever think about that time on the bike? What do I mean? That time when you knew you wanted to do this riding stuff for the rest of your life..

Well this post is about that day.. That summer evening in Hillsborough, NJ somewhere in September or August of the year 2011.. At a local Club race event..

The race itself is a well organized event for a small amount of people, during the 3 years i was riding with this group I can't recall seen more then 40 of 50 people at the time during the peek of this races. yes 40 or 50 people racing together in open roads with traffic can be dangerous but here is where the "handicap" starts playing a great effect in splitting the groups for various reasons:

1- Safety..! Is much easier for cars to go around 4 or 6 riders at the time then 40.. Right?
2- Competition..! everyone has more fun if they know they have chance of getting away and winning.

At any given event of this Club CRCofA will be any amounts of groups set to go at 6 pm from the Woodfern Elementary School..
Between each group will be a time gap of 2 minutes, sometimes 3 according to the level of the riders that start after each group..

With the slower riders starting at 6 and the faster ones following after them in intervals of 2 minutes like was mentioned above..
The course is very much the same every Thursday... A loop around 8 miles long with a little bit of everything, OK we are missing a proper climb here but believe me there is a few short steep hills that I learned to hate on the beginning of my racing days with them..

So you understand a bit of what is coming this is me (already lost a ton of weight here! I was bigger when the ride itself took place)

So after the introduction now you are ready to know what the race, Well to me was more like an introduction to racing looked like right?

Summer evening in NJ, hot and humid...  Remember this was my beginning.. I was set to go with the slower group..! No wait..! I left by my self 1 minute before the slower group..!! because I knew the first part of the course... On the first group was the older riders and the new riders.. And not this is not offensive I am saying older riders with lots of respect for them..!  Specially after they passed me in the first part of the course like I was standing on the side of the route.. I kind off held their wheel for a few minutes... To me holding a wheel meant I could see them for a while...

The fun didn't last long at all as we hit the rail road bridge.. Man I hated that bridge a little more after each lap..!! Not long but steep.. I was still getting used to the gear changing stuff.. So quiet often I was on the wrong gear going up that thing.. suffering and I think I walked up to it once or twice (and that's all you are getting from me)

By the second lap around this circuit when we were going "again" over this bridge and after hitting a lot of other rollers and going as fast as I ever went on the bike I was cooked..! Done! Finito! Kaput! and still had to finish 1 and 1/2 lap more..!?? Here was coming the bridge again.. When Mr Frank pulls next to me and grabs me by my gym shorts and t-shirt and pulls me over the bridge..

Now at that moment I felt a lot of different feeling in me.. Shame! Lets face it, no one likes to be slower and weaker then the old man. I did my best to finish the second lap, didn't even try to go for the third one rolled quiet and deep in my thoughts about what just happened to me...

Stayed by the finish line still thinking about what happened and watch everyone crossing the line.. net to Mr Frank since he is the one keeping track of all the results and points and all that.. I was quiet.. Clapping as everyone was crossing the line..

Now you read Mr Frank here a few times right? He is close to 70 if not there already (sorry if I am wrong Mr F) cancer survivor, at that point he was going for treatment 2 times a week if I remember correctly... And this was the guy pushing me from behind on every little bump on the route and waiting for me and trying to pace me on the flats..

Here is a pic of him with Felix and his 2 granddaughters

Like him there was is a lot of people at the CRCofA.. And that is the ride I remember, the people I remember and you know what? This day after everything was done and I was home showered and trying to understand all of it.. If to continue or not...

That day..Yes that day I decided to become a cyclist..! 

Just to be one of those old guys riding their bikes if i get there..

Do you remember yours?

Thanks for reading..

Till next time.

Pablo Alves

Let the battle begin..!

It has been 3 to 4 weeks of some serious eating here at home, add to this the new schedules that we are trying to get used to, the lack of exercise, work, kids, Savannah's B-Day... Our wedding anniversary and Felix B-day.. One after another one..!

All good reasons to stuff my mouth, lets face it when you like to eat you can find reasons to do so every day.. And guess what? I really like to eat..

So after all this i stepped on the scale this morning... To be honest not all that surprised by what the little devil machine told me but i was hoping for something better... Hope is the last thing you lost right? I read that somewhere..

The number? Well how to put it? in a way that hurts my ego a little less... 97.8 kilos/ 216 lbs after thinking for a little while I couldn't find a way to put it that sounded any better.. 

What do I look like at this weight? 

Not too bad in street clothes actually

But remember I am a pretend cyclist and Lycra doesn't hide anything... (don't worry this time I will save the picture for my self)

So that said is time to start watching what I eat and what I do to go back to chasing a goal that I can't reach.. My goal? 85 kilos/187 lbs I been chasing this for the last 3 years and the only time I got close to it was because of an accident where I lost a lot of muscle due to bed rest.. As soon as I got up from bed I saw my weight creeping up to where it is today..

How I am planning to do this? 

Simple (in theory) 

- Watch what I eat.

- Exercise

So basically there is no secret right? If it was that simple we all be +Victoria secret models or professional athletes.

Is a never ending war to keep the weight down no? We try this and try that to see what makes it easier and works for each of us.. 

To me what works or better say helps to control and loose some weight is to track each activity and meal that I eat.

Thankfully with networking and technology this task became much easier.. The tracking I mean, the keeping the weight down still hard work..

So how i am planning to do this?

Using this tools:

+MyFitnessPal to track mostly the meals I eat.

+Strava to track the exercise part of it.

#zwift and +The Sufferfest to keep me motivated to go on the turbo trainer.

- Using this blog and all the network of friends and users to keep me going and motivated.

Can you help? Do you want to take part of this challenge with me?

I hope so.. Union makes us stronger to conquer anything.

Hope to see your comment down below with any advise you want to give me or just a cheers for support..

LET THE BATTLE BEGIN..

Pablo Alves.  

A B-Day Weekend..

No, not my B-Day... So hold your thoughts there for a minute, I didn't have the opportunity to go and ride a monster ride or an epic day on the saddle... But I had the pleasure of spending the whole weekend with some of the most important people in my life...

This is us

As the title says this was a b-day weekend.. The little man became 7 and we decided to do stuff that makes him happy... We looked around during the week for possible alternatives on what to do..
don't forget we live in Belfast, Northern Ireland so we decided for an indoor fun and active place..

On our way to this place we passed this:

You see this and think of? Belfast..!

Our option was at the end W5 and it was a great decision..! Glad we picked this place.. The kids and also us grown ups had a great time with the different games, experiments, facts, exploring and puzzles to mention a few of the activities..

Some climbing? Not sure how this is called..

We made some music..!!

We completed puzzles..!

We learned some physics laws..!

Made and watched hot air balloons rise..!

- First you filled them with hot air, then when they got full or reached the pressure needed they went up..!

Another view..!?

The little one enjoying some indoors climbing. (This looked really cool!! I wanted to go in!)

After a nice day out with the kids was time to come home and start cooking for the hungry family.. Katja and I decided to make an Argentinian BBQ for dinner for us and some friends that were coming... (salads, bread and other stuff too)

Here is a pic of the main dish... Obviously before grilling it... (Asado, Short ribs, beef)

The cook, having fun by the grill.. Noticed the matching clothes with the food? ;-)

In Argentinian tradition Asado and Vino goes together (BBQ and Wine)

And we found some tasty wine from back home.

And after 2 to 3 hours of slow cooking and drinking some German beer while doing it..

Dinner was ready..!!

We all sat together at the table, inside by this time since the weather got cold really quick when the sun started to go down..

We ate, we drunk, we sang happy b-day to Felix and had cake..(by the way the cake was made by Savannah from scratch.. Our daughter)

The B-Day boy had a great time and made it all worth it..!

The only problem with this is that I didn't ride the bike at all..! Ate a lot..! Drank a lot ! and gained some weight that I have to try to burn during the week..

Thanks for reading my blog.

Till next adventure.

Pablo Alves.