I can see the finish line..

As we are on the straight away I can see it already.. Yes the finish line..!

The year is coming to an end soon and with the weather changing I don't see my numbers taking a huge drop or a huge increase..

As I woke up this morning I felt sort of melancholic and went reading old posts and a lot of comments from them, till I got to the post that give me the idea for this one.. Do you remember the What your goals are? Well if you don't, just follow the link and it will bring you to it..

So mine were extremely ambitious and involved huge changes in my life and my family life.. Did I accomplish any of them? Did anything change from the day I wrote them to now? Lets find out..!

My goals for 2016:

- Moving to Malaga with the family. DONE!
- Get a job that allows me to follow my dream. (wait for iit is coming) Working on it.
- Buy a nice BIG house in Malaga. Discarded, at least for now
- Start our own B&B. Discarded
- Start offering my cycling guide services in Malaga. I started..!!
- Go back to Argentina to get my older son, Pablito. Leaving on the 25th for Argentina
- Ride 15.000 Km for the year. Have you seen where I live? Not this year..!
- Climb 150.000 meters in a year. Will be close..! Stay tuned for this one
- Lower my weight to 85 kilos. Ha..! Not even close..!
- Write more in my blog. And better should I add. Ons and offs.. I like interaction and the blog doesn't give me that
- Become financially independent. Working on it every day

- Meet more PdC members. Yes..! Yeehoo, thebongolian, maratsafin and Paul from Scotland

-And the most important one….. TO BE AND MAKE MAKE FAMILY HAPPIER..!!! We are HAPPIER!

So to me has been a nice mix of yes and nos but I will take it as us (family and me) finishing ahead with all the changes that we faced..

The Pablo's Cycling Tours Facebook page is running and I am looking forward to this business to take off.. by the way if you didn't like the page yet please do.. If you already did.. Thank you very much..! Feel free to suggest anything that might help.. Good and bad critics are the only way to move forward.

But enough about me.. Tell me, tell us...

What your finish line looks like?

Discovering the HC climb

What did I had in my mind? No idea..!! But sure it didn’t look like this..!!

This was my third day of climbing.. It was a while since I had 3 days in a route of riding much less of this much climbing.. It was a painful day where I had plenty of shot of my friends behinds…

At the start of the climb things looked like this… And they didn’t change much more for the next 14 km… 6% average gradients..

We even passed 2 tunnels… This one was scary..! Couldn’t see poop in there..!

I am not sure when but this climb was part of the Vuelta?? Maybe 2015?? No clue.. Kill my ignorance.. And Go Purito..!!!

As I got to the top… Antonio and Juan Diego were eating.. Texting and ready to come down… I was like 5 minutes slower then them..

No matter what my time said of me… I was in a good spirit..!! Dead but in a good mood..!

The view of Málaga and the mediterranean sea from the top of this mountain… Is great to get to the top on your own... It gives extra value to it..

And once we made it back home… Refreshments were on..!!

Great day..!! I am done..! So when are you booking your trip to Coín..?

Thanks for reading and sharing.. Don't forget to follow us in +Facebook HERE IS THE LINK

Pablo

The Weekend Report & Retreat Guy

Getting to know the flat bits.. What flats?

As you saw this far every time I head out I come back home with a lot of elevation even taking the little man to school and back is like 100 meters of gain in less then 5 km.. Don't get me wrong I really enjoy doing hills.. Enjoy is one thing and fast at it is another one Clear?

Example? I have to climb this one every day to get home..

Today was a little different.. To begin started going down the hill to meet a friend that had a broken hand for the last 40 days and today was his first ride outdoors.. So far so good right? down the hill and meeting a guy that had a broken hand...
OK he picked the route because he knows the area better then I do and probably knows what would suit his rehab better then what I do..

We started heading for the flats, even downhill for the first couple of km.. Fast so far but understandable.. Is downhill or flat... or at least looks that way...
We saw a lot of people riding but since I was at the front sheltering him from the wind I didn't take many pictures... But I did manage to get a shot at out view and this guys coming at us..

After a while we had to start going up since we were going down at the start.. This wall came at us out of nowhere..! Totally unexpected and hard for me to go up specially because I never put the small chain ring on the front.. I swear I did..! But I didn't!!!

By the time we got back into town +Strava  said we did 59 km.. 684 meters of elevation at 26.1 km/h..! Not bad for a guy with a recent broken hand and a fat guy trying to get form..! Now was time for some refreshments..!!

My new riding buddies are not only showing me the new roads and mountains.. They are also teaching me a bit about beers and gastronomy here.. This is a place just down the route from were we live and a point of social gathering here in town..

Here is a picture of La Alameda, Coin about 300 meters from my house.. While I was there with the guys the MTB group joined us after their ride... And soon after then my wife, kids and dogs.. The beauty of keeping everything together in a familiar environment..

Looking forward to the day I could start my B&B and show you guys what all this is really about..!!

Hope you enjoyed and if you like it share the story

See you next time

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

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.