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

How did it happen?

I would say it was somewhere during the early months of the year of 2011 when a first boss and now friend who we are going to call Holm's here started annoying me (again) about making a fantasy cycling team for an online competition called VDS.
He insisted so much that I finally agreed to make a team, part curiosity and part to have him stop asking me about it.. So I began selecting my 25 riders team... I had just an idea of who to pick because of him yelling names at the computer screen for over the years.. I had no actual knowledge about the cycling sport, pro peloton or any of the other races besides the +Le Tour De France.
So how did I start selecting my team? I follow a few simple rules

- I am from Argentina so I picked every Argentine cyclist available.
- My wife is from Germany, followed the same rule... Or almost.
- Complete the rest of the roster with South Americans, Colombians, Brazilians and Venezuelans.
- Oh one of my best friends is from Slovakia so I ended up having a few of those as well.

That's it..! Team was formed and submitted, now Holmovka will leave me alone... No he didn't..! As the season started he kept talking to me about this race and that race... And I was curious to see how my team was doing after all is a competition and I was part of it..

First was the Spring Classics... (most of them from Belgium) Then the Ardennes (don't kill me with the spelling) The what became one of my favourite races of the year +Giro d'Italia just to name a few... There hundreds of races that you can follow now a days...

So I was hooked into "following" professional cycling..

As mid age smoker, over weight internet addict father of 3 I was happy with my life for the most part.. The kids started to grow older and start to annoy me with the typical question of why do you smoke? My answer? Because I am an idiot... My daughter then asked me why an idiot..?? because only an idiot does something that knows is bad for him, can kill him and still keeps doing it..
I probably repeated this thousands of times that I convinced myself of quitting smoking.. if I didn't have the strength to do it for me I would do it for my kids.. (used to smoke almost 2 packs a day)

So in April of 2011 I quit smoking...!!! Hardest thing I ever done..! Now remember I was already over weight right? Let me put it in perspective to you... 1.78 cm/5'10'' 110 kilos at the time of quitting more or less.. Most likely more...110 kilos= 242 lbs.

By May of the same year I had gained somewhere around 20 kilos=45 lbs!! Nothing was safe at home.. or at work.. or at the Chinese buffet.. Or any place I decided to go to.. Cookies, donuts, chips, grapes,peanuts, ANYTHING that I could reach and eat was fair game for me..

So if you can put numbers together.. I was between 140 and 150 kilos at that time... That is a lot of Lbs..! (280? 300?) I don't even wanted to know..! Right about then is when it crossed my mind that i quit smoking to be around longer for the family and I was stuffing my body with all sort of food, not always the healthiest choice in foods either..

This is a pic from October 2011, already melted a few kilos then...

That day I decided that it was enough and I had to start doing something again to lose weight and control my eating habits.. But what could I do?? It was the talk of the week or so at home, at work and with friends..

Finally again Holm's said to me: "Pablo just start riding your bike more often and increase the distance a little every week" Hey..!!! I already know a little about cycling and  own a bike..!! I was commuting a whole mile every day between work and home..(both ways included in that mile) Sounded easy enough so I started..!!

My store brand MTB was OK to go to work and back.. And maybe go around the block a few times... But to actually ride for an hour? Well that was a bit too much for it.. I still did it in more then one occasion but wasn't the most comfortable ride ever...

Then I finally bought a used road bike and that was the beginning of a new story and chapter of my life...

Since then I recorded almost every km/mile I had done in +Strava and you can see my full profile Here.

And this is how I started my way into cycling and everything that comes with it.. Hope you had fun reading this little story about this one more story teller of the web..

Till next adventure.

Pablo Alves.