Progress so far...

June 30th 2009 - 22 stone 4Ibs. Current weight - 17 stone 1Ib. Weight loss - 5 stone 3Ibs. Commuting miles - 3389.
Non commuting miles - 359. Mileage this week - 101 miles. Total mileage - 3748 miles.


Wednesday 24 February 2010

Battle won...Not the war though...

My inner wimp was really giving it loads this morning, from very early O'Clock I was contemplating not pedalling, we had a good snow fall last night so I was anticipating very bad roads. But the lean mean fighting machine won the argument and I got up at my usual 0500hrs and got my pedalling kit on and opened the front door. I'm glad I did get up to pedal, most of the snow had gone and it was pretty warm (relative term). It must have rained in the night after we went to bed.

The pedal in was very good, I was feeling quite strong and felt I got a bit of a lick on. I went through the City Centre and for the first time ever, beat the 50 minute pedal in mark!

How the body and mind and mind works I have no idea, yesterday I felt bloody awful, no enthusiasm and feeling pretty leaden. I even had a dose of saddle soreness as well to contend with, the first lot I've had in months, yet today I'm flying along feeling good. Bizarre.

I fitted some of these at the weekend:



They're Giant Ergo Contact Bar Ends, they seem to be doing the trick with the numb hand thing and aiding my hill climbing, I don't know if it's these that have upped my pace a bit, I know they've stretched me out on my bike so maybe I'm a bit lower when I'm pedalling. I've also noticed my knees are getting a bit closer together when I'm pedalling too. All fat bikers will know exactly what I mean by that!

The pedal home yesterday was a bit grim, a headwind and snow to contend with, I chose the city centre route home as the cut was still icy and although there was loads of traffic I never had any Joby's to speak of. Selly Oak as usual was grid locked and maybe I shouldn't feel all smug, but I was getting one or two hard stares off car drivers as I rode past their traffic jam. I suppose me smiling at them wasn't helping their mood. Just trying to be friendly like!

8 comments:

  1. You know the "Don't Ever Stop" at the top - can you change it to "Don't Stop Believing" and then when I enter your web page, play the Journey song?

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  2. I'm glad you explained what they were, I couldn't guess!

    It mainly for comfort reasons that I prefer dropbars on a road bike. I very rarely use the 'drop' part of the bar though.

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  3. Red, last week I started holding onto the ends of my bars as if there were bar ends there. It seemed to help my breathing, I guess because my arms were a bit wider giving making my lungs less constricted (dunno, might be bollocks that), also I was in a better position going up the 2 steepish hills I have. So I bought those at the weekend. The last 2 days have seen what I think is a marked improvement in my pedalling. Again, might be bollocks and just a coincidence.

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  4. Its not corny - infact, the second I posted that comment I had a little sing a long with it on my ipod just to start the day!

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  5. You must live your life like an episode of McGyver!

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  6. Hey Clive you better not be dissing McGyver, you will have Slema and Patty Bouvier after you

    Changing my handle bar grips was the first upgrade on my bike, I fitted a pair of Ergon GR2, not cheap but well worth the money. They support the wrist and have bar end grips as well.

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  7. Old Wind Man, Anything for comfort for my old bones! Or - any fool can be uncomfortable! ;-)

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