wildernessVoice

…or How to be Stupidly Misleading with Titles

So, for anyone who knows anything about me, I’m like… sort of into cycling… just a tad. I don’t want to say that I’m addicted to it, but I may have a bit of a problem. You see, I like having the “right” equipment for the right job. And I like my bikes to be rather light weight.

Now, for those of you unfamiliar with the impact of a bike’s weight on one’s ability to scoot, let me just say it’s significant. And folks will pay mucho bucks to be able to conserve weight. In cycling terms, I am what is affectionately known as a “weight weenie”. And weight weenies measure their… let’s just say we like to be light. Did I already say that?

Perhaps this is a good place for an illustration. This here is where I spend around 150 to 200 miles per week. There’s no GPS, no leather wrapped wheel, and no stereo system. But the air conditioning is pretty good . Well, and I’m not trying to shock anyone now, this particular bike has probably close to $6,000 invested in it. Those wheels are actually made out of a compound known as carbon fiber. In fact almost every part of the bike is made out of it or titanium. That’s pretty expensive. And as far as weight is concerned, it weighs in around the high 14lb. range. It’s not quite 15lbs. with the pedals on it. Now, that’s pretty light. But I’ve had my eyes set on a couple different bike choices that I’d like to get around Christmas time in time for this next seaason. And let’s just say the cheapest one I’m looking at probably costs around $10,000. Yep, but hey… I get to drop another .6lbs. That’s right. For four grand more, I can drop just over one half of one pound. And this is the type of stuff we weight weenies are cursed to live with.

But it doesn’t end here. Oh, that would be just too convenient. You see? I’m also into Mountain Biking. And this sport is also susceptible to the weight weenie. On the far left is my latest pride and joy. This is my 21lb. Fetish Cycle. It’s simply made for fast x-country riding and for climbing hills. There’s no extra suspension stuff to weigh me down. In the middle, is my hardcore full suspension bike. I’ve got quite a bit invested in this one, almost as much as in my roadbike. This one is made for some really bumpy terrain and for drop offs. I’m not all that comfortable with hucking. At 38, I start to fear the breaking of a hip or collarbone. And then the one on the far right is my first bike I ever built. I pretty much built up all of these bikes from choice parts. But this green machine was my first, and as such, it holds a special place in my heart. It’s currently configured as a single speed. That means there are no gears to change. I use this for serious x-country riding after I’m already in shape.

So, by now I should probably explain the title. If you go back to my little cost example, you’ll find that dropping a half pound to one pound of bike weight can cost a lot of fortune. In reality, there are limits and they’re nothing close to this obscene amount of money. I really haven’t seen anything go for much more than $20,000 in price. But who would spend that kind of money? That’s just ridiculous, huh?

But recently I completed a pretty grueling die regimen that has left me around 38lbs. lighter than I was just three months earlier. And it was grueling because I wasn’t focused on just losing some excess weight or even fat. I concentrated on losing a good bit of muscle mass too. I had spent so much time and energy over the years adding size to various parts of me. My simple take was “bigger is better”. Well, that gets hard to sustain after a while. It’s hard on the knees, it’s hard to fit in clothes without buying really baggy stuff, and it’s hard as heck to haul up a hill. So, I decided to cut.

Some of you may have seen an update to my avatar. If not, you can find a larger version on my About Me page. This shot was taken a week ago, after hitting my goal. Now, I’m in sustaining mode. I’m back to carb loading before my rides and I’m trying to increase my intensity over the next few weeks. One of the downsides of what I went through is it placed a pretty rough load on my heart. Having done this before, it will take me another 2 to 3 weeks to get my heart rate back to an optimum level, but I’ll also have to exert myself much less to get up the same hills. And my performance on the flats should also improve as I won’t present such a large target to those headwinds.

Anyway, I figured I could keep investing in new, lighter gear. And I probably will. Or I could drop unnecessary body weight, which is actually a good thing in the long run. This probably falls into that category of zippo interest. But now you know just a tad bit more about me than you did a few minutes ago. This is a major part of my life and I wanted to share it.

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