Archive for the ‘ My Cycling ’ Category

5 pounds never seemed so much

I have set a soft goal of competing in the July Fight to Win Nationals at 189 pounds. The reason I say it’s a soft goal is because I’m not one of those guys that likes to cut weight for a tournament. I’d rather compete at my natural weight. It’s something I actually believe in.

Having said that, the weight divisions run in 20 pound increments. And at my current weight of 195 lb. I am near the bottom of the light-heavyweight division, where I competed back in May. That division tops out at 210 lb. and you better believe there will be guys dropping ten to twenty pounds to hit it.

Rather than face that, I’d really like to top out the 169 to 189 lb. division. There’s just one problem. While I’ve been dropping weight fairly steadily since September, I’ve hit a bit of a wall. For four weeks, now, I’ve been holding at 195 lb. If I increase my cardio with cycling, I gain a couple of pounds due to water retention. So that’s not the right direction. If I try restricting calories, my body wants to go into starvation mode.

Not sure how I’m gonna actually shed the few extra pounds, but it just might be a bigger challenge than getting on the mats.

2010
06/19
CATEGORY
BJJ
My Cycling
fitness
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Good thing I’m not dieting

Okay, I’ve been gradually losing weight for the past few months. Actually, since September 2009, I’ve dropped from a high of 225 lb. to a low of 194 lb. And I’ve done this without any attempt to diet. It’s just from training.

Over the past couple of months, my metabolism has been in the stratosphere. I was averaging a pound a week of weight loss on a 5,000 calories a day meal plan. So I could definitely not be accused of restricting calories.

Now I’ve hit a bit of a wall. But the irony is that I’ve added cycling back into my regimen to increase my cardio and to help me lean out a little more. But instead, I’m actually gaining weight back. I can literally see the differences from day to day. If I skip a day of cycling, my body will return to 195 lb. If I bike, I’ll weigh in at 197 to 198 lb.

I know, I know, it’s probably just water weight. My body sees the cycling and is saying, “Whoa!!! What the…”. I know all that. But it’s still a bit frustrating to see it happen.

On the plus side, I feel as if my cardio hasn’t been this good since I was in the Navy, which is saying a lot since I went back on the asthma inhalers for the first time in 6 years. Just gotta keep plugging away.

Now, you may be wondering why I even care about dropping weight if I’m not trying to diet. Well, there’s a goal I’ve been trying to get to. And it’s been tied to being more competitive in my Jiu Jitsu. In the Colorado State Championships, this past May, I weighed in at 197 lb. The weight class went from 190 lb. to 210 lb. One of my opponents dieted down from 235 lb. And the guy was utterly ripped. So I figured that rather than come in at the bottom of my weight class, I’d come in at the top.

But this is where things get complicated.

Since my last competition, several things have changed, which is making me wonder whether hitting 189 lb. is really a great goal. For example:

  • I’ve added the cycling to further drive my cardio and my endurance
  • I’ve been dealing with shoulder injuries for the past 2 years. But via physical therapy, my right shoulder is 100% and my left shoulder is operating around 80%. In fact, I’m actually starting to lift the heavy weights again.
  • Going through heavier weights has the adverse effect of increasing muscle mass, which increases ones weight. And this can be counter productive to a weight goal.
  • Then I looked at the weight brackets for the Grappling-X tournament in July only to find out that I’d meet the same goal of topping out my bracket if I don’t try to drop at all. In this promotion, the Master’s Light-Heavyweight division runs from 181 lb. to 200 lb.

It was this last observation that got me thinking I should just let things be. The downside of this mentality is that competing in both Masters and Adult divisions will be difficult. 195 lb. tops out the Cruiser weight bracket in the Adults division. It’s amazing what a mere 2 lb. can make.

I suppose I’ll just register under my current weight and just see what happens. This is definitely not something I need to worry about.

2010
06/07
CATEGORY
BJJ
My Cycling
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2009 Tour de France is over

Not sure of my overall feelings on this. I was really looking forward to watching Lance Armstrong get back into it after a 4 year absence from the sport. Man it would have been awesome to watch him smoke people and to quiet the critics about doping, steroids, etc. Well…, it didn’t quite go like that.

The first week of the Tour were the most exciting for me to watch. Each day there was endless drama about who would be the leader for team Astana– Armstrong, Leipheimer, or Contador. And each day, you got to hear them all downplay it. Ironically, while all of this was going on, I really didn’t hear all that much about drugs, cheating, etc. So this year’s race did accomplish something.

In the end, it wasn’t the performance I was expecting. But perhaps it was much more. I have never seen Levi Leipheimer ride so well. It was too bad he had to leave it early due to an injury. At various points, I was really rooting for him.

It’s hard for me to get too excited about Alberto Contador. He’s not Lance. But despite how much I didn’t want him to win, he was nothing short of amazing on those climbs. I know what it feels like to get that “kick” as you’re going up a climb. For a guy my size, it doesn’t happen often. But when it does, it feels great. This guy just kept kicking and kicking and kicking. There was simply no stopping him.

Then there was Lance. I liked how he referred to himself as an old fart on the last real day of the race. At 38, he’s hardly old. But he certainly is at a disadvantage versus the younger Contador and contenders. Despite the fact that he didn’t win, Lance was still Lance. I don’t care what any critic says. The guy took 4 years off and began training earlier this year for the race. He still kicked butt. He still earned my respect. And after it’s all over, I’m still in awe of him.

For next year, it would be nice to see a little bit of a re-organization. It’s hard to watch such top contenders on the same team. I really didn’t like the drama that was created. I suppose it’s like watching baseball with a team full of stars. But I miss the old days where the team was organized to protect the leader. Next time, let’s have a definitive leader as opposed to waiting to see who emerges.

2009
07/26
CATEGORY
Mike Stuff
Misc. Rants
My Cycling
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Slowly Making Progress

Well, it has been a while since my last post. Sorry about that.

The Tour de France has come and gone. I had fully intended to write a nice post on it. A couple of posts ago, I wrote about how this Tour had left me wanting. But I must admit, it got good at the end. There seems to be no end to the drama in this sport.

For those who missed it all, Chicken Legs “pulled himself out” of the race. He had basically one the thing. But I guess the allegations of blood doping finally caught up with him. What a shame.

Levi Leipheimer, on the other hand, and Team Discovery both surprised me with incredible performances. Together, they made for a great race.

Anyway, while I won’t be invited to any races any time soon, I’ve made some progress in my own personal riding. Though when you compare my results with what these super humans do, I look like I should be using a walker instead of a bike :)

When I started off the season in April (rather late due to snow and rain from our messed up season), I was turning in a 14.2 mph round trip on my 25 mile ride, which both begins and ends on a pretty nice, 2 mile hill ride. My goal at the time was to get back up to a round trip average of 15 mph. Well, I’ve hit that fine.

Have you ever felt like you’ve hit a wall? Well, that’s where I am now. Check out my last several ride performances (mph).

  • 16.8
  • 17
  • 17
  • 17.2
  • 17.2
  • 17.3
  • 17.3
  • 17.3
  • 17.3
  • 17.4
  • 17.3

I’ve been varying my rides a bit lately and have added a lot more hills into the mix. I’ve also increased my riding distance to a little over 30 miles per ride. Last week, I even did a 40 mile one. Just trying to increase things and get better in the areas I’m week. And I suppose I’m hoping that at some point I might be able to pass 18 mph on my 25 mile course. Still, this pales in comparison to the averages these professionals will hold to. But then again, I’m just an amateur who has been riding for a few years.

Having said that, from the house to the end of the valley road to the house is approximately 5 miles. And I can now average 32 mph on the way out to the main road. This calls for me in one pretty much my top gear pedaling around 100 rpm. Of course my return time is nowhere close to this. But who cares? It’s great time for me.

I have no aspirations for racing. I’m almost 40 and have no desire to hurt myself in a fluke accident. I ride for fun and to stay in shape. I suppose I get a competitive bug every now and then and will attack and pass a rider a mile up the road from me. But it’s a great motivator to work on my sprinting and it stresses my heart a bit. But that’s about it. I lost my asthma symptoms nearly 4 years ago. But I still have a smaller than average heart to contend with. While many seasoned riders averaging my weekly miles will hover in the 140bpm heart zone, I tend to average around 160bpm. And I’m still hitting the high 180′s when I do certain climbs or sprints. My heart reminds me of the old Castrol motor oil commercials. It’s simply higher revving. What can I say? It’s what God has equipped me with.

I hope to make the continued increases up to and past 18mph. But soon we’ll be in the winter weather and my riding patterns will change. I’ve got a treadmill now. And I have my indoor trainer. I don’t want to let the whole winter and spring season go without riding. But you never really know how de-motivating ice, snow and cold can be. Then again, I can be quite determined too. ;)

2007
08/10
CATEGORY
My Cycling
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Back in Business, Thanks to the Helpful Hardware Man

Okay, I’m back in business! I’m speaking of my cycling. After the numerous maintenance problems I described last week, I’ve finally got my bike back in tip-top shape. The biggest problem I actually had was finding replacement screws for my Speedplay Zero cleats. I would have thought that the wide-spread popularity of these pedals would have ensured the availability for replacement screws. But nope. I was wrong. I searched all over the place for a mention of them. When I tried to inquire and order just the screws, my only option was for a pair of replacement cleats, which happened to come with more screws. Hmm… not ready to shell out $35 for screws. Know what I mean?

Anyway, after finally figuring out the size of the screw, which wasn’t easy because it’s hard to tell the difference between an M4 and an 8-32 screw, I managed to find them at a local ACE Hardware. Hallelujah!!!  Seriously, you have no idea what I went through. It wasn’t enough that these screws were metric. They were also countersunk so that they could sit flush with the cleat.

To make things more interesting, walking around the driveway, with all the rocks, didn’t help my situation. Apparently, I had worn down the screws so much that it was hard to get the screwdriver to get any bite. It took a lot of work, but I finally managed to get all 8 screws out of both shoes. After a little bit of cleanup, the new screws were a piece of cake to insert.

Apart from the shoe fun, I also put a little thought into my tire situation. I estimate I had put nearly 1500 miles on my last set of tires. Replacing them didn’t take much thought. What did require me to think a bit was the potential use of Slime Lite tubes. These were never an option a year or so ago. I’m very weight conscious when it comes to my bike. With pedals and cages, my bike weighs close to 14 pounds. Trying to put heavy, wobbly Slime tubes in didn’t make much sense. Well, with a little branding help, I was convinced otherwise. I had an excellent ride yesterday and didn’t feel any side effect from the new tubes. Instead, I felt a new level of confidence that descending the mountain road at full speed wasn’t a foolish feat. I didn’t worry about a blowout sending me into the windshield of an oncoming car. While the ride wasn’t my best time, it was my second best ever as I found myself climbing that final road back at speeds of 10 to 11 miles per hour. That’s a huge improvement over my normal 6 to 7.

So… it’s great to be back in the saddle.

2007
07/12
CATEGORY
My Cycling
2 comments