got motivated to lose some pounds before the impending maui trip...

rode my cross bike in the hills of los gatos (st. joseph's hill and kennedy trail) last saturday for about two and a half hours. i was slow but heck, i put no pressure on myself and just enjoyed it.

then on sunday (father's day) we took an impromptu trip up to my sister's house in petaluma where i snuck out for about two hours and went to Helen Putnam Park which was tiny but still beautiful and good for a fatty like me :)



then on monday i rode in to work. felt beat down but just trying to burn calories.

rode in again today and was dog-ass slow. i've been eating less and eating better. less beer too. less calories at night. in the end i really think that was the biggest reason for my lack of energy to get into work in any reasonable amount of time...

but hey, this is not some optimized training regime, it's caloric WAR!

rode in again. got a late, late start and wasn't feeling particularly fast - not that it would make any real difference if i was.

it was a beautiful morning to be out on the bike. i needed some sun time and it was just perfect.

noticed a lot of folks out on foothill. turns out my late departure meant i was out there with a monday morning ride from Los Altos to Santa Cruz and El Camino. apparently a couple of local bike groups do it together.

there were some not-slow old guys out today...

rode in today. apparently it was ride to work day. yip-e...

some old dude with *plenty* of room decided it was best to drive by me as close as humanly possible without running my ass over. i caught up to him and said "buddy, give me a little room." he was all cranky and indignant. asshole. probably some old school crotchety guy that thinks bikes should be on the sidewalk. riiiight...

rode in today. jess took my briefcase in for me - and it's pretty heavy - but as i suspected it really made no effective difference.

i caught up with some older guy on a mountain bike on foothill. he was moving along at a pretty good clip. we hit a light and when it turned green we got rolling then i figured i'd take a pull at the front. when he saw me cruising by he jumped hard - but not to pass me - just to make sure i didn't pass him...

and we're on foothill which, though it has a decent shoulder, still aint the best place to ride CHIPS style - side by side. so i chuckle and let off, waving him forward saying "go ahead buddy." then he's like "no, no" and won't pull forward.

one reason i like riding to work on my bike is because i avoid jackass drivers who will speed up when they see you need to change lanes in front of them for whatever reason. this jackass took that strategy onto the bike. fabulous...

i just figured we could help each other go a bit faster, taking turns at the front. most people are down for doing that around here. clearly he wasn't thinking the same thing. well, we came to the little rise just before page mill (going north on foothill) and though he was about as strong as i was and a similar weight/build i figured i'd lay it on a bit heading up the rise - see just how strong he was. though i eased into it he still jumped when he saw me moving up and we did some lame-ass side-by-side drag race thing. near the end i got out of the saddle and he relented.

whatever mr. ego man on the mtb. i just wanted to work together to go faster...

rode in to work again. funny thing is i felt noticably stronger than i did yesterday morning. was just able to hammer more.

was i actually much faster overall? probably not. lights and such make it hard to compare door-to-door times. was i able to hammer more when i wanted to? yes.

which leads me to the biggest mystery of cycling: when will you have good legs and when will you they feel like they're filled with lead?

i have yet to hear of anyone that claims to know the answer - even the pros.

rode in to work this morning. it was nice. gotta do it more often ;-)

i enjoy the little bit of competition that goes on with commuters and non-commuters out for a ride. today i was more of the predator - and that always feel nice :)

didn't ride to work monday or tuesday like i had hoped to - but i did take my son to preschool in the burley trailer. only 15 minutes or so but still a decent little spin.

rode to work again today. it was nice... it was mostly dry with patches of sprinkles and downright rain.

i do love riding in the rain so it was nice.

ended up more or less dry by the time i made it to work (1:40 - 1:45).

as has always been the case i get cold after a decent ride - which is saying something 'cause i pretty much never get cold otherwise...

long story short i'm enjoying being back on the bike. no big goals of cross racing in the Bs or road racing in Cat whatever.

just being realistic about riding to burn some calories so i can put on my swim trunks in Maui and not feel like a total fatass...

rode in to work again today. nothing interesting to report :)

the wife has insisted that i get back on the bike.

apparently i'm just too cranky when i'm not riding.

i've always noticed a "mood shift" when i stopped riding for a bit - but in time i just felt normal. apparently i was just getting used to cranky as the norm :)

aaaanyway, last sunday (4/29/07) i swapped out the platform pedals with clips and straps on my once cross/mtb racer turned pure commuter bike and did about two hours out to los gatos, finding every bit of dirt path on the los gatos creek trail up to the lower parts of St. Joseph's Hill then took the fast route (streets) back home.

it was super fun really. i do love to ride...

then on tuesday (5/1/07) i rode to work in redwood city from san jose. it was about 1:40 and for a fat ass like me a bit of a ride :)

that was quite possibly more fun than the weekend ride. caught up (just barely) with a decidedly non-racy guy i'd seen on the caltrain bike car a number of times. i think it was a combination of me being fat and slow and him being pretty fast for a non-race type - but we ended up battering each other for 20 minutes or so. good times...

we'll see if i get back on my bike tomorrow to ride in again :)

oh, and my additional eating has probably outpaced my recent riding so who cares if i've bot a big white belly when i go to maui again this summer...