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.

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.

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.

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.

The Weekend Report is now on Strava

Because sometimes an image is worth a thousand words...

Yes..! We have our own Club at +Strava where we can enjoy the benefit of the data from others..Where we can see our fellow riders, friends from all over the world take on routes that are a dream to ride on.. Tackle single track trails up a mountain or just a commute to work..

The point is that this is a community where you will see the numbers grow every week.. You want to know why? Because we like to show what we can do.. Is human nature.. And lets face it.. We are very human..!

Feel free to invite your friends to this growing community of "nice" people. Where the only think I ask you to do is that... Be yourself and be nice to the other kids.

Here is a link to our Club "The Weekend Report" 

See you there or here..!!

Ride safe..!

Pablo Alves