Stronger, Fitter, Faster

Stronger

Twelve years behind a desk does things to your body. For the first time in ten years I've started hitting a gym 3x a week but that doesn't mean I can muster too many pushups just yet.

Fitter

Lose a serious amount of weight. This is definitely key to making everything else work, so I'll be focusing on dropping pounds to get not only into a healthy range of BMI, but to also increase my endurance and fitness.

« July 2009 | Main | December 2009 »

3 posts from September 2009

Off to Interbike

_DSX3108.jpg, originally uploaded by Hugger Industries.

Near the end of high school, I finally scored a job at a local bike shop, fulfilling my dream to have fun while making $3.35/hour. It was 1989 and every year then and after, I secretly lusted after the Interbike passes my friends deeper in the bike industry would score each year. I went off to college, kept riding bikes off and on for fun, and even still I would attend if given the chance.

My chance is finally here, thanks to Bike Hugger. Though I sort of despise Las Vegas for its over the top drunkedness, smoking, and depressing gambling addicts, I made an exception to my life rule of never setting foot in a vegas casino again to live a 20 year old dream: visiting Interbike, the largest bike industry trade show in North America. There will be new bikes, new parts, and famous riders (I hope to meet George Hincapie) on display and I'll be there covering it all.

Check out both Bike Hugger and their Interbike hub site for updates.

Posted on September 22, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (0)

A clydesdale no more

A clydesdale no more, originally uploaded by mathowie.

I was hoping to hit this milestone last week, but I'll take it a few days after the big bet deadline: I finally moved into non-clydesdale range!

Posted on September 5, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (1)

Success

200!, originally uploaded by mathowie.

So the big bet diet challenge is officially over today and I'm happy to say I just squeaked in. I wanted to dip below 200 to have it truly be a win, but getting down to 200 was the original bet and for the last few days I've hovered right around 200.8lbs.

It wasn't easy and though I wrote up the basics on my personal blog, I didn't mention that dieting affected my riding and racing more than I thought. Eating light and riding a ton left me feeling exhausted most of the time, with longer recovery times after rides, and an overall feeling of weakness when I raced.

Today on a club ride was actually the first time in several months that I felt fantastic. As I've watched my average wattage on training rides go from 220 to 200 to 180 and even 160 for long slow ones, today was the first time in many weeks where I felt strong, I climbed well, and I averaged more than 200 watts for an hour.

I'm going to stick with my good habits and I hope to eventually fall into the 180-190lb range by the end of the year, and I hope this fall's cyclocross season goes well with my new trimmer self.

Posted on September 1, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (4)