Let's Ride

Spring is here. I have pictures to prove it.

noreply@blogger.com (Nick) — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 14:51:00 +0000

I'm back after a long hiatus. Here are some recent pictures. More words to come.

New Hotness

noreply@blogger.com (Nick) — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 16:55:00 +0000

I've been lusting after a frame bag for some time now. I tend to carry more stuff than I really need on bike rides, just to be prepared ya know. And I get tired of always having to wear my camelbak with all that stuff in it. One day while perusing different biking websites I stumbled up a nice looking frame bag. It thought that would be quite handy. I got to thinking about it and decided that it would be even sweeter if it was leather. So I set out to make my own. I went to the leather store and picked up a nice big piece of green suede. I made a mock up of the bag in paper then cut the leather into the correct shapes. My wonderful wife did all of the sewing work. Admittedly the hardest and longest (and most frustrating) part of this was the sewing. She did a great job and the bag looks great! I'll be putting it through it's paces soon.

Turkey Day riding

noreply@blogger.com (Nick) — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 18:59:00 +0000

I had a great time at the Turkey Day ride this year. As always. Almost 30 riders showed up on what was supposed to be a cold wet day. The morning arrived and it was dry and warmer than expected. We set out on the bike paths around town for a few hours before going home to stuff ourselves with Thanksgiving dinner.

Group Shot

Track standoff

Water?

Black Friday turned out to be a good day as well. I came upon a steal of a deal on new steel cross frame with disc tabs. I had to bite. It should be arriving shortly.

New bike and Gnomes

noreply@blogger.com (Nick) — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 16:01:00 +0000

If you've read my previous posts you know that I was hoping to get the replacement Gary Fisher Ferrous frame built in time for Gnome Fest. I was waiting on the eccentric bottom bracket to arrive. The good new is that it did indeed arrive last Thursday. The day before Gnome Fest. The bad news is I had to finish the build in a hurry. However I was successful (thanks largely to the Rassussen crew being very helpful, patient and generally awesome) in getting it built and ready. And here it is:

It turned out pretty well. I was excited to get it to Gnome Fest and get some trail time with it.

Gnome Fest is a bunch of mountain bike riders, mostly single speeders, that get together once a year to celebrate Gnomes and mountain biking. The crew from Des Moines was Cory Fallor, Brian Sheesley, Matt McCutchen and Melissa Crook. We rolled out from Des Moines at about 7:30 on Friday morning. The goal was to get camp set up and a ride in before dark. The morning started off very foggy. You can see Duggan the Gnome is having a hard time seeing.

The driving arrangements put everyone in the minivan in front of me. While Duggan and my chocolate lab rode in my car. Cooper is relaxing on the road.

It wasn't until we got into Wisconsin that the fog really lifted. We were treated to good driving conditions and scenery.

We arrived early as planned and headed out for a ride. I was excited to give the Ferrous it's first workout and the bike did not disappoint. The steal of the Ferrous is quite different from the aluminum frame of the XCal. It is much more forgiving to ride and really deaden's the trail vibration that cause fatigue. I am very happy with the ride. The night ended with the tapping of two New Belgium kegs. Everyone was happy by the time the second keg ran out and we continued the happiness at our campsite. Also worth noting is the campsite fire was started by Melissa. Not one of the pyromaniac men. She is very proud of her fire:

Saturday morning arrived and so did the blahs. After breakfast the group split and Melissa headed out for a ride with the girls while the rest of us left for a ride of our own. We didn't last long though(and by we I mean me) and before long we were back at the campsite hydrating and snacking trying to repair the damage from the night before. We went out again in the afternoon with much better results.

We rode some really cool trails. This section is referred to as Toad Road.

I don't remember which section this is, but the rock wall on one side and the downhill slope on the other was fun to ride. There were lots of little sections like this.

We wrapped up Saturday by heading over to a near by campground which had showers. After two days of riding a shower was very necessary. Others wrapped up Saturday by renewing their wedding vows.

Gomez, I mean Gary, one of the patriarchs of Gnome Fest turned 50 and was in for a fat tire surprise. He got a Pugsley for a gift. Complete with custom color and stickers.

Saturday night ended in style with mini bike races.

With Saturday in the bag we woke up early on Sunday to get a ride in before heading home. Melissa again went off and joined the ladies to ride. She was enjoying the conversations with the girls while out riding. It was quite different for the humor us guys have. Which I'm sure she had enough of. Riding with the girls though she missed out on the group photo. Here are the guys on the lookout point.

I'm working on adding her to the picture, but with the dark shading on us it's really tough. Not too metion the strange pose she chose.

The rest of the Sunday morning ride was covering what we liked from the previous days. We road Toad Road again where Brian thought it would be a fun place to crash. He went down right here.

Luckily though he was ok, nothing broken, and we continued on. We wrapped up the riding and headed home. We all had a great time and are hoping to make a return trip next year. The trails at Levis Trow mounds are very fun. There is plenty of climbing and downhill. The trails are a bit spider web like so you can make a loop as long or short as you want with as much or little climbing and descending as well. Overall a very fun place to ride. I know I'm leaving a ton out, but for the sake of an already long post and to protect the innocent I will leave it at that.

Work in Progress

noreply@blogger.com (Nick) — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 14:17:00 +0000

The Ferrous frame is in. Unfortunately not all the pieces for it are. Still waiting on an EBB insert.

I built the bike up on Tuesday evening as far as I could. Which is surprising little without having a crank installed. With any luck the insert will be here today and I can finish the build in the nick of time for Gnome Fest. Otherwise it will be a singlespeed weekend. Singlespeeding an IMBA Epic sound like fun? I think I'll pack some ibuprofen. Although the suspension fork on the Ferrous will be missed more than the gears. Either way it looks like a fun weekend ahead. Camping and biking with my best friend. It doesn't get much better.

Cracked!

noreply@blogger.com (Nick) — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 19:06:00 +0000

Goodbye X Caliber.

Hello Ferrous.

Summer meltdown or not

noreply@blogger.com (Nick) — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 14:38:00 +0000

August riding is usually hot and lonely. Only the really motivated usually ride in the heat of August. This August however has been anything but too hot. With evening lows in the 50's and highs in the 70's it has been great riding weather. It feels more like fall than summer. With such great weather it's been very easy to get out and ride.

Saturday it was too muddy to ride off-road. Brian and I decided to hit the High Trestle Trail(A2W trail). He had never been on it and I had never ridden the whole thing. We started off in Ankeny at the sports complex. We rode out to where the bridge will soon be, to see the supports awaiting their new duty. It's a great valley view from the trail. It will complete a very attractive and probably very used trail. On the way back we took a detour in Slater to check out the trailhead for the Heart of Iowa Nature Trail. This is a crushed limestone trail that goes from Slater to Melbourne. It was in great shape and was just begging to be ridden. We decided we had time to ride to Cambridge and back. The trail was very much worth the ride. Without all the clearing needed for paving the trail seemed much more like you were riding through nature. Somewhat more mountain bike trailesqe than the usual paved bike path we have so much of. It was a very nice trail and a nice excursion. We ended the day back in Ankeny with almost 63 miles and a few extra hours of riding than we had planned.

Last night I made a point to get out and ride my mountain bike. Squirrel mowed almost the entire(Center) trail during the day. This is very exciting as it really cuts down on the itchy scratchy legs you get from hitting weeds at speed on the bike. Thanks for mowing buddy. I met up with Courtney and we rode a couple of laps. Finishing the last half lap in the dark. The trail was in tremendous shape. Too bad the rain is going to ruin it.

A "How to" for today

noreply@blogger.com (Nick) — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 14:42:00 +0000

Due to recent mountain biking experiences. I thought it would be a good idea to dedicate todays blog entry to a little bit of bike setup how to. So if you have a problem adjusting your rear derailleur or your chain keeps getting stuck between the hub and the cassette, today's entry is for you.

Here is a direct link to the "How to".

Derailleur Limit Screws (H-Screw and L-Screw)

Rear derailleurs "derail" or shove the chain off of one sprocket and move it to another. The upper derailleur pulley (called the "guide pulley") pushes the chain to the next sprocket. A proper gear adjustment aligns the guide pulley under the sprocket.

Changes to the inner wire tension causes movement in the derailleur. The derailleur body is fitted with a spring that is pulled tight, or relaxed, by the inner wire. Pulling the inner wire moves the derailleur cage and guide pulley in one direction and tightens the spring. Relaxing inner wire tension allows the spring to move the body and pulley in the opposite direction.

It is normal for a chain to make some noise during a shift. The shift may appear subjectively "noisy," "loud," or "rough". Factors like the type of chain or sprocket, the wear on each, and the amount and type of lubrication will affect the noise a chain makes during shifting. The limit screws typically can do nothing to affect the noise during a shift between cogs. Noise from the chain as it rides on the sprocket is, however, a useful symptom. There is for any given bike a "base level" of noise from the chain as it passes over the sprocket teeth. When the derailleur jockey wheel is out of alignment, the chain may make excessive noise. To demonstrate the "base level" noise, shift the bike to the second sprocket by pulling the inner wire. Continue to pedal and move the inner wire slightly to hear changes in the level of noise. The quietest level of noise may be considered the base level for that bike.

Derailleur pulleys are limited in both inward and outward motions by using the derailleur limit screws. Properly set, the derailleur will shift to both the extreme outward sprocket (the smallest in size) and the extreme innermost sprocket (the largest in size). The limit screws do not control the derailleur on the sprockets between the two extremes. These are set using the barrel adjuster and tension on the inner wire. The limit screws are usually marked "H" and "L". The "H" controls the outer most limit of the derailleur, and the "L" controls the inner most limit.

Using the shift lever to adjust limit screws can cause confusion and problems because it tends to focus attention on the inner wire tension (indexing) rather than limit screw settings. Instead of using the shift lever, pull the inner wire with one hand to simulate shift lever action. This will help eliminate confusion between indexing problems and limit screw problems. With the bike in a stand, practice shifting with this method before adjusting the limit screws.

Turning the limit screws adjusts the limit of travel of the pulleys. Tightening restricts the travel, while loosening allows more travel. The purpose of the following procedure is to find the tightest H-limit screw setting that will allow a good shift to the outermost cog, and the tightest L-screw setting that will allow a good shift to the innermost cog. The location of limit screws on the derailleur body may vary between manufacturers. Always look for the "H" and "L" marked adjacent to the screws.

H-Limit Screw
# Shift chain to outermost (largest) chainring. Shift chain to outermost rear sprocket (smallest sprocket).
# Check tension on rear inner wire. If inner wire appears to have any tension, it may interfere with the H-screw setting. Turn adjusting-barrel clockwise to eliminate inner wire tension. Proper cable tension (indexing) will be adjusted later.
# Pedal bike at a quick cadence, approximately 60 rpm or more.
# Pull inner wire to shift derailleur one sprocket inward. Adjust pull on inner wire until chain rides quietly on second sprocket. Release inner wire quickly to shift back to outermost sprocket and note shift. When adjusting the H-screw, be concerned with two situations:

1. The outward shift from the second sprocket to the outermost sprocket.
2. How the chain rides on the outermost sprocket.
3. Do not be concerned with how the chain rides when it is held on the second sprocket.
4. If the shift outward seems acceptable, tighten H-screw 1/4 turn clockwise and repeat shift. Even if shift appears acceptable, continue tightening H-screw by 1/4 turn increments and checking shift until shifting is slow or hesitant. Another symptom of a too tight H-limit screw is when the chain is on the smallest cog but makes a rattle from rubbing the second sprocket inward. View this last symptom by looking under the rear sprockets where the chain meets the sprockets. The inner plate of the chain will rub against the next sprocket inward making the noise.

5. When symptoms of a too tight H-screw appear, loosen H-screw 1/4 turn and check shift again. Repeat process of shifting and correcting by 1/4 turn increments. When too tight symptoms disappear, H-screw is at tightest acceptable setting, and limit screw setting is done.

NOTE: "Rapid Rise" or "Low-Normal" derailleurs use a reverse spring application. When the inner wire tension is completely relaxed, the derailleur sits on the inner most sprocket, which is reversed from other common derailleurs. When adjusting the H-limit screw, it is necessary to pull the inner wire until the chain is in the second to outermost sprocket then pull hard to shift to the outermost sprocket. The same concept is used to adjust the Shimano® "Rapid-Rise" or "Low-Normal" derailleurs. You want the tightest limit screw setting that allows good shifting to the extreme outer and inner cogs.

The cure for a case of the Mondays

noreply@blogger.com (Nick) — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 18:05:00 +0000

Mondays are good cycling days. The weekend is over, the work week has started. You've just finished up work on Monday and are wondering what to do now. My answer is usually go and ride. It gives you something to look forward to besides going to work again on Tuesday. On Monday I set out a little later than I had planned, so I took the camera with me to see if I could get any decent sunset shots while I was on the bike path.

I started at my house and headed toward the Great Western Trail. It's a short ride to the trail with a short section of gravel if you choose. I chose to go gravel.

When I got to the bike path I realized there was no way I was going to make it to Martensdale before the sun set. I started that way anyways and figured the surrounding landscape would offer up some decent sun setting shots. Below are a few I thought turned out well.

Now I'm no professional photographer, but I enjoy using pictures I've taken as background images for my computers. And since I work in front of a computer all day it's nice to have a lot options.

It turned out to be a beautiful night for an evening ride. The moon was bright, there wasn't much for clouds and it cooled off nicely. Evening rides are fast becoming my favorite. Stopping at the picnic table just south of the Highway 5 tunnel I met a couple of guys having a safety break. I joined them for a bit and enjoyed the company of other riders. Soon though I was off again enjoying the night air, my bike and my freedom.

I'm looking foward to the Taco Ride tonight. There should be a good turn out with the weather and the trail being just about perfect. Not to mentions the taco's...
See you on the trail.

About time for an update

noreply@blogger.com (Nick) — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 20:30:00 +0000

If you've been following my blog for long you'll already have noticed that I'm really good at posting for about a month. Then I take a long time off before I start posting again for about a month. That seems to be my cycle and I'm apparently OK with it. So with that I hope I've lowered your expectations enough that I won't disappoint you the next time I haven't posted in a while. Anyways....

It's been a busy time recently. I've been logging some miles on the cross bike as the trails have been too muddy to ride. I rediscovered how much fun going fast on the road can be. Though I'd still take trail riding any day over riding pavement. I rode a day on the RAG, my first century. Quite an accomplishment for me and I look forward to my next one(Go here to read about it). Tonight is Taco Ride Wednesday. I haven't seen many miles on the dirt lately and am excited to get back out there. From what I hear it's in primo condition. I'm guessing we'll have a big turnout if the weather cooperates. Maybe I'll see you there.

Check back soon for more updates. I should be good for at least a few more before the long break is back.

Broken: Part 2

noreply@blogger.com (Nick) — Tue, 26 May 2009 13:52:00 +0000

My luck has been up and down lately. The trails have been in great shape and I've been able to make time to ride them a lot in the last few weeks. There has even been enough good weather to get all of my household duties taken care of. Overall the weather, my free time and work time have all been working well together lately. That is the good part of my luck. But with that much good luck there has to be some bad luck. My bad luck lately is breaking stuff. It started a few weeks ago with the breaking of the rear wheel on my geared bike. Then the Rock Shox Reba on the same bike. With it off at SRAM hopefully getting fixed I am left with just one mountain bike. Which has been performing flawlessly. Until Sunday. Sunday I met Matt at Banner for some laps on the new trail. We hit the trail and right away I could tell I wasn't having an "on" day. I was missing lines and not carrying momentum, just generally riding poorly. Matt however was nailing everything.

After lap one we headed back to the cars for a little break. I wasn't running enough pressure in my rear tire and wanted to air it up. Before long we were off for lap #2. We started by riding the beginner loop in reverse. Things were getting better with lap #2. I was hitting my lines and was starting to feel better about my riding. That is until my front tire slid out from under me at a corner. I hit the ground with a thud. Luckily I wasn't going that fast and was already leaning into the corner so it wasn't much of a fall. I stood up and dusted myself off. Checked myself out and I was fine. The bike however was not. The corner was just too much for the front wheel and it was taco'd. Not just a little bent either, it was mangled. Matt managed to bend the wheel back enough to where it would at least fit in the fork. I limped back to the car and headed for home. Thanks for the help Matt. I hope you had a few more good laps. Here is the aftermath:

A tougher wheel is on order.

Broken

noreply@blogger.com (Nick) — Wed, 06 May 2009 17:29:00 +0000

This has been a tough year for my mountain bike. I broke a chain on the womble trip and ended up replacing the chain and cassette. I tore a hole in my rear tire which then needed to be replaced. I pulled a spoke through the rim of my rear wheel and had to get a replacement. And now I just found out that I managed to separate the steerer tube from the fork crown on my suspension fork. So it is off to Rock Shox to see if it is a defect or if I get to replace that as well. Not a good year to be a part attached to my mountain bike. It's a good thing that I picked up a Karate Monkey last month, otherwise the next few weeks while the suspension fork is being looked at I would be without a mountain bike. I suppose these things happen.

On a brighter note the Karate Monkey is a great bike and a blast to ride. It is much more comfortable and compliant than the Monocog it replaced. Although the build out is so different it's not really a fair comparison. I will say that the surly fork is much more forgiving than the redline. The redline might be the stiffest fork ever. Add to that the voluminous Weirwolf 2.55 LT tire up front and the rigid bike has some decent cush to it. The steel frame also has a little more give to it compared to my aluminum hardtail. Overall it's a really nice ride and I'm very pleased with it. Now let's just hope that nothing on it brakes.

All about the trail

noreply@blogger.com (Nick) — Mon, 04 May 2009 19:31:00 +0000

This weekend as all about the trails for me. It started off on Saturday morning at the Center Trail Love workday. We recovered some rogue trail sections, built a new bridge and moved an existing bridge. I could have done without the bridge march, but all in all a productive day. Check out the crew carrying the bridge down the Bill Riley trail. We still have one bridge to set and bed in, hopefully we can bang that out one of these days after work.

Sunday was all about riding the trail. It started off earlier (what time again?) than I was expecting. We were supposed to meet at 9:00 at the trail head, but my garmin says we didn't start riding until almost 10:00. Oh well, still plenty early for a Sunday. We rode all of the rideable sections at the Center which was pretty much everything but squirrels nest and rhythm. There were a few areas where a dismount and careful walk were necessary to avoid mud and ruining the trail, but very ridable otherwise. We parted ways at 12:30 with plans to meet at 4:00 for a loop around Easter Lake. After a short night and early morning I was mid-nap at 4:00 and I bailed. About an hour later when I was awake again I was feeling like a slacker(and bailer) so I headed into town again to hit a few more miles of trail. All in all I think I had about 30 miles for trail riding for my Sunday. Not too shabby.

With the weather holding, an after work ride will be in order. Things had firmed up a lot with just the few hours between my early and late ride yesterday. Things should be very good today.

Cyclocrossing

noreply@blogger.com (Nick) — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 17:57:00 +0000

With the break in the weather we had yesterday, there was no doubt that a bike ride was going to be in order. It has been crappy and raining and I haven't been as motivated as some to get out and ride in it. So it had been a few days since I had last ridden. I was contemplating where to ride when one of the Brians text messaged me. He was also looking to get out and ride as well. We hatched a plan to meet at The Shop and ride from there. After a brief turn around to grab the forgotten gloves and some heckling by the other Brian, we were off.

We rolled out to Raccoon River Park and looped around the lake. I had never ridden on the gravel path around the lake. I really liked the crushed rock that the path is covered in. It was very comfortable and pretty fast. Next we headed north on Grand and ran into road construction. We decided to "adventure" through the housing development and see if it would lead us to the west side of town. But the road just turned us around and led us back to Grand. We ended up looping around the lake again trying to decide where to go. We decided to head over and check out Denmans.

We cruised over there and rolled dirty express to squirrels nest. Denmans was wet in spots but not as bad as I thought it would be. Some standing water where you would expect it, but water wasn't everywhere. We crossed the railroad tracks to have a look at squirrels nest and rhythm. We didn't get much past the turn off for squirrels nest the trail turned to mud. It didn't look like a long section of mud so I went for it. It wasn't long before I realized what a bad idea that was. I turned around and about that time my bike was completely covered in mud. We had to stop at the tracks for a safety break and so I could clean my bike enough to make it ridable.

With my bike full of mud and the sun setting we decided to head for the cars. It was really an nice night for a ride. The temperature was comfortable and it wasn't too windy. And it was dry. We even made it over to Gif's for post ride tacos. Hopefully the rain will hold off(or at least we won't get another 5 inches) and the trails will dry out some. It will be an awfully muddy work day otherwise.

Night Rider

noreply@blogger.com (Nick) — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 19:37:00 +0000

It's officially time for another update. I haven't been blogging much lately and I'm not sure why. I'll blame it on being too busy, but it might just be that I'm too lazy. At least I'm not loquacious(means wordy). It was a busy and rainy Saturday this past weekend. I was running errands and working around the house and getting things accomplished. One thing I didn't get done was a bike ride. When things finally settled down around 9:45pm I decided that it was time. I had charged my headlight during the day in anticipation of not being able to get out until after dark. I geared up and hit the road a little after ten. I rode over to the Great Western Trail and followed it into town. I grabbed the camera on my way out to see if I could get any decent night shots. First picture stop was at the Grays Lake bridge. It turns out I'm not very good at working the camera at night. I took some pictures anyways and continued on. It happened to be opening night for the Iowa Cubs. I rolled up to the stadium about eleven. It was empty but the lights were on and the grounds crew was busy. I snapped a few pics and thought it was about time to head for home. As I was rolling around the stadium I decided to head over and try to get a good shot of the converted railroad bridge. I got a few pics there too then it was off toward home. As I was heading home I noticed lightening off to the west. I was really hoping to not get soaked. The rain stayed away and I ended the ride with just over 25 miles. I had forgotten how nice riding at night can be. Some of the pictures turned out ok. The little 3 inch screen on the camera doesn't really do a picture justice like my 19" monitor. Here are a few of my favorites.

Here is a link the complete Gallery

Time really flies....

noreply@blogger.com (Nick) — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 17:45:00 +0000

Has it really been 3 weeks since I updated my blog? Really? Wow. Time can really fly sometimes. I suppose I have lots to talk about, but I don't know if I really feel like typing that much. We'll see how far I get.

It is Wednesday and should be time for a gauntlet update. But the thing is, I'm pretty sure the gauntlet challenge is over. Brian and I never discussed an official end date. But I think it was only slated to go through the Womble trip. My ending (and still current) weight was 219, for a total loss of 12.5 pounds. I think thats pretty good for a spring warm up. I'd still like to get down to 210, so I will have to come up with a challenge to keep myself going. It will be much harder now though for reasons I can't yet explain.

The Womble Trip was a huge success. It was the hardest and most fun trail I've ever been on. We rode Saturday, Sunday and Monday an average of 24 miles each day and somewhere between 3,000-4,000 feet of climbing each day. That's a ton of climbing coming from the flat terrain of central Iowa. I can't say enough about the group of riders I went with. I was the new guy to the group and not quite sure what to expect. But everyone got along great and no one complained when the trailed started going up. We also got along quite well after the days riding when we popped a beer or two and told lies around the camp fire. I'll definitely be trying to hook up with these guys again for another mtb trip. For a more detailed account of what went on down in Arkansas see Brians Blog. See pictures of the trip here.

That's all for now.

Wednesday update

noreply@blogger.com (Nick) — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 19:12:00 +0000

This week hasn't been as forgiving as previous weeks. I started off good, eating right and following my running plan. Then the weekend hit. I will admit it I guess, I didn't exercise once over the weekend. I was busy and I got lazy. To add insult to injury(or in this case laziness) I ate very poorly over the weekend. Between large dinner portions and snacking it's no wonder the scale wasn't my friend this morning. Another problem which I hope to have cured now was the visit of easter candy to my house. I am an absolute sucker for those little malted milk eggs that are everywhere now. We bought some at the grocery store which was a big mistake. We will not be buying anymore. Good thing I was thinking ahead and limiting the damage they could do when I ate all of them quickly. So with that I will report that I did not lose any weight this week. But with the poor diet I had, I am feeling lucky to not have gained any weight either. Hopefully this week and weekend will be better. But it's my birthday this weekend, so we'll see how that goes.

On a brighter note, we had two days of 70+ degree days already this week. I layed a solid base down on Monday running 4 miles and then walking the dogs for 4 miles. I continued Tuesday with a quick bike ride at lunch, followed by riding home from work. So for the day I ended up close to 40 miles. Pretty good to me. I plan on building on that by running today and Friday and maybe getting some bike miles in on Thursday. The warm and sunny days make it easy to get outside for some workout time. It's such a novelty this time of year to be able to be outside in short sleeves.

Saturday is the first trail work day of the year for CITA. We will be out at Summerset State Park. Stop by and help us build and maintain some trail. Then hopefully take a lap on your hard work before chowing down on a Chipotle burrito. Check out the CITA link on the right and make some time for tail work.

New challenges

noreply@blogger.com (Nick) — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 14:41:00 +0000

If you've been following my blog for long, you'll realize that it has been telling my tale of a weight loss challenge lately. What I am really trying to do is create change in my life. Change from old bad habits of laziness and overeating, to exercise and a healthy lifestyle. This is not an easy change. Old habits are hard to break. For me the most difficult thing is to get motivated. This is why in my latest bout with lifestyle change I had to challenge a friend to kick start my motivation. It seems to be working as I am losing weight and working out more. To add to the motivation I have added some events on my calendar this summer and fall that will require I maintain my fitness and healthy living throughout the year. With any luck(and continued motivation) 2009 will be a banner year for me in the fitness and weight loss department.

I started out the year thinking my first big fitness challenge was going to be the Dam to Dam run in May. I started a running training plan that I created at runnersworld.com. It has been going well, I am up to running 12-15 miles a week with more miles to come in the coming weeks. Recently though I have joined up with my band of mountain biking friends for a mountain biking trip to the Womble trail in the Ouchita Mountains in Arkansas. We will be leaving for this trip on the 27th of March. Which makes me a last minute addition to the group and needing some last minute changes to my workout routine. I'm hoping all the running I've done over the winter will help me with my base fitness. I'll be adding an bike interval training day to my regular routine and trying to get out for longer rides as often as possible in the coming weeks to build some on-the-bike endurance as well. Hopefully I won't be left behind when the trail starts to point up. Looks like I'll have my first big fitness test sooner than I thought. I would also like to add that this trip looks like it's going to be a fantastic time. It's going to be great to get some much needed trail time this early in the season.

Bring it on:

As for my gauntlet update I am down 1.5 pounds again this week to 218. Only 8 more pounds to go to hit my target weight of 210. I'm not sure exactly what I'm doing to lose this weight. I don't think I've been working hard enough at watching what I eat to be losing 1.5 pounds a week. Perhaps the training plan I'm following(really following) has something to do with it. Whatever it is, I'm going to try to keep it up.

Welcome to Wednesday

noreply@blogger.com (Nick) — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 19:18:00 +0000

My weekly Gauntlet update goes like this. Last Wednesday was Ash Wednesday. That means no meat for us religious folks. It is the start of Lent, so no more meat on Fridays. It's not hard to eat healthy when you can't eat meat. With that I had a pretty good week, and am down 1.5lbs to 219.5. Here's to things continuing to go as planned. (Drink)

That's it for today, short and sweet.

The Gauntlet, one month later

noreply@blogger.com (Nick) — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 15:01:00 +0000

Tomorrow marks the one month anniversary of the Gauntlet Challenge. It looks like both Brian and I have been taking things seriously and have lost a pretty serious amount of weight in one month. My official weigh in for the week brings me down another 2.5 pounds. That puts me right at 221 pounds. So in four weeks I've managed to lose just over 10 pounds. Brian is having similar success. While I don't expect the 2+ pound weeks to become the norm, it sure is nice when you have them. Hopefully when things flatten out or plateau(and they will) we will continue with the fortitude with which we are working right now. So good job us, keep up the good work...

On a side note. It really is amazing how much motivation posting your weight and weight loss numbers on the web can offer. No more is it just a contest between you and the scale. It is now a contest between you and the world(or at least the one guy that reads your blog). It has really helped me stay on track. Thanks public humiliation.

Moving right along

noreply@blogger.com (Nick) — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 17:52:00 +0000

My training plan is moving right along for early February. Yesterday was my long run day, currently up to 6 miles. I met my sister-in-law Megan at Grays Lake for the run. She has decided to do the Dam to Dam with me. A little extra motivation there, which is a good thing. Running with a partner is much different than running by yourself. The 6 miles flew by as there was conversation with a real person going on, instead of the usual talking to myself in my head. We finished in a little over an hour, almost right on pace with my training plan. I was sore for the rest of the evening last night, but am doing pretty good now. Hopefully you aren't too sore Megan. She just started running again last week and decided that day 1 would be a 5 miler. She was pretty sore the next day(s).

Here is a link to the run we did yesterday. I kept track of it with my Forerunner 305. LINK

Today is supposed to be warmer and I have a family dinner to attend tonight. Hopefully it's still warm when I get home. It would be great to get some miles on the bike tonight.

Another Wednesday, Another Update

noreply@blogger.com (Nick) — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 20:29:00 +0000

Hello once again. It's time for an update. I didn't think I had that great of a week this past week. I had a 30th birthday party for a friend on Saturday and ate a few more snacks than I had planned on. And I had a fancy dinner out at The Greenbrier last night, and although I ate healthy(tuna) I'm sure I was still over my calories for the day. So it was to my surprise today when I stepped on the scale and was down 2.5 pounds. I'm not convinced that I'm not just a little dehydrated from the wine with dinner last night, but that's what the scale said and I'll take it. That puts me at 223.5, for a total loss in 3 weeks of 8 pounds. I'm pretty happy with that number, it seems pretty good to me for 3 weeks work. Hopefully I can keep up the 2 pounds a week trend for a few more weeks, it really helps with the motivation. As does telling the world how much you weigh every week.

In other news I just took delivery of a new ~~toy~~ training tool. I've been officially training for the Dam to Dam run for 4 weeks now, following a runnersworld.com training plan. That combined with a determination to start training(not just riding) on the bike too, I ordered a Garmin Forerunner 305. It does all of the heart rate zones that I want, along with running and cycling stats. All this should help me train smarter and not necessarily harder. It should also prove to be a fun tool to map my runs and rides and create maps that I can show people and blabber on about, even though the person I'm talking to doesn't really care and just wants me to go away. It should be a fun summer.

The Gauntlet week 2

noreply@blogger.com (Nick) — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 21:32:00 +0000

Well, now that the website is working again, I can make my Wednesday post. I had a challenging weekend, it was a challenge for me to eat healthy. I didn't do too badly in my quest, but I certainly could have done better. Overall though I had a pretty good week. I'm down 2 lbs this week to 226. Pretty much what I expected as I'm generally a 1-2 pound a week kind of guy. I'm hoping next week that I could be down 3 lbs, but that's asking a lot.

I started a running routine based off of runnersworld.com on Monday. They have a free workout plan creator that takes where you're at and where you want to be and creates a plan to get there. This week I had a 4mile run on Monday(my long run day) and two 3 mile run days. Next week I have a 5 and a 3 and a 4. The plan is to be in good shape for the Dam to Dam run this year. It is a 12 mile run and is a big step for me since I've never run further than 7 miles. It will also help me in my first race of the year on May 3th in Davenport, the Cinco Du Mayo. Which is a run, bike, run road duathlon.

Other than that I'm focusing on some base miles on the bike. I'm hoping to get 10 hours of base miles in the coming week. Combined with the running that should keep things moving along nicely.

A Good Start

noreply@blogger.com (Nick) — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 22:00:00 +0000

Look it's already Wednesday. Another week half gone, another weekend halfway here. It also just happens to be weigh in day. I feel a I had a good start to my diet change. I tried to make healthier meals and snack less. Things went well with the exception of a birthday party at Hickory Park, there are not a lot of healthy options on the Hickory Park menu. But otherwise I had a good week. My weight for the week: 228. Which nets a loss of 3.5 pounds. Not a bad start. Things usually settle down after the first week so I look forward to next week being 226-227.

Great weekend

noreply@blogger.com (Nick) — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 17:05:00 +0000

The weather we had this weekend was exceptional. I think we saw the 50 degree mark on Saturday and it felt like it. I couldn't resist and jumped on the bike and went for a ride. The sun was warm and so wasthe wind. It made for a great day to ride. You don't get many of these days in winter. I was out for about 2 hours, just enjoying myself. I can't wait for spring.

Sunday was not nearly as nice. I ran to the store on the bike and ended up taking a hot lap around town just for fun. I forgot how hilly Norwalk is. The legs already tired from the previous days ride did not want to push me up those hills. It was a bit of a slog. But any riding time is good riding time. Only a few odd looks at the grocery store at the guy in biking tights and helmet picking up beer and chips. Bikers like the Superbowl too ya know.

Speaking of the Superbowl, what a great game. I was glad to see that Arizona played a great game. It started off slow and it looked like Pitt might steamroll the Cards. But Arizona didn't give up and played them tough right down to the end. Congratulations to the Pittsburgh Steelers on a job well done.