goldfinch

Spouse and I have been in Marquette, Michigan for a few days. We've extended our stay because it is so lovely. The little UP college town has paved MUPs following Lake Superior and circling the town. Beautiful for riding and for walking. Plus, the off lake breezes keep things cool.

Today my spouse broke the ten mile barrier with a 12 mile ride on his seven speed Navigator. I did 23 miles.

Me on the MUP, starting to look less chunky:









Not only is the weather beautiful and the biking and hiking nice, there are some great restaurants too!

Mr. Beanz

Nice! Purty pics and congrats to the spouse on the PR. But darnit, where are the food pictures?

Really pays in the long run to get the spouse riding. I get to visit all the bike shops, buy new parts hassle free, and spend lots of time with the honey!

chefisaac

mr b: never thought about it that way. interesting.....

goldfinch

I am really happy he has started riding. It is much nicer having company on a ride, plus lunch breaks are fun. Today we drove to where we were going to ride. Did a one way ride, ate gumbo at a Cajun style restaurant, and then I rode back for the car so I could get more miles at a faster pace. Worked out great! His 12 miles were at 8.8mph which is faster than my first 10 mile day. And he is on seven speed rather heavy bike with big tires.

chefisaac

gold: ever thought about a tandem? My wife wants to get one.

goldfinch

I am too controlling for a tandem.

My spouse had a motorcycle years and years ago. I hated riding on the back of that thing. Problem solved by me getting my own motorbike.

Mr. Beanz

Of course, lots of fun! It's really funny, I have lots of riders wanting to ride with us because it's "fun". What's fun? I ride with my wife, we ride together and talk at the stops. Many friends can't figure it out but haven't thought about riding"with " their spouse or S/O. Yes, it takes time and patience at first but well worth it in the end.

...and if she can't finish her meal, I get the left overs!

goldfinch

I usually eat half my meal and my spouse eats his meal plus my half. It is interfering with his weight loss goals. We are trying at least some of the time to split a meal where I get a third and he gets two thirds.

r32nj

See if you can get your husband in the habit of getting two meals out of one. When I eat out I typically will do this - always get a lunch out of leftovers from a dinner meal dining out for example.

I used to be the type to always "clean my plate" and this way I don't throw away tasty food by saving some for tomorrow.

chefisaac

you first need to figure out how many calories he needs to maintain his weight and how many calories he burns in a day. You do not want to have too much of a deficit with the calories!

Rona

Lovely pictures!

Mr. Beanz

The way I see it, FIRST......... just ride the bike! Turn that 12 miles into 50, then the rest will come.Seriously, work on increasing the distance. If you cut back his intake, he will feel weak and may never increase the ride. Once he reaches longer distances, he will achieve a higher fitness level and will require less food to fuel his rides. Then one day he gets it in his head he can do 100 if he watches his diet a little more then drops weight because he wants to!

Everyone has their own approach but this works for me when it comes to Gina. She tells me that she feels fat, I take her for a ride then increase the distance and NEVER do I tell her to cut back her food. When she's feeling good, that comes naturally and I never have to be the bad guy saying, "baby, your butt is getting too big".

Sometime she will ask if she should eat a little somthing less for breakfast. I tell her, "no, you are going to need it!".

If it weren't for my hobbies, she'd stay home eating Cheetos watching I love Lucy reruns aaaaalllll day. That's the way it was before I wise up and decided to involve her in my fun! Now she won't stay home!

goldfinch

He is not interested in counting calories. It looks like he has dropped some weight though. Not having me say "let's get a hot fudge sundae" has to help. He is type 1 diabetic so that has its challenges in losing weight and exercising.

goldfinch

Today's lunch out was a middle eastern place. He got a bowl of lentil soup and we split a lunch platter of flat breat, lamb, tabbouleh, humuus, and that nummy stuff made out of eggplant that I can't spell. It worked out about perfect, neither overate. Because we are biking to lunch destinations in this town we can't easily pack up any leftovers.

chefisaac

mr B: Do you ride during the weekdays? And do you work? i am trying to get more miles in on the weekdays but I must admit and sometimes its tough. Going for a 20 mile ride on Thursday as a b-day present to myself but normally its only 10 mile rides. What do you think?

Gold: I love icecream!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

Mr. Beanz

Right now I am on an Obama appointed vacation but have gone on a few interviews recently. Lots of applicants and not so many positions.

But don't let that fool you. I have done far less miles now that I am off work. I have done 6,000 -7300 when I was working. Being off, only 4000. I don't operate well without a schedule to help me chose my ride time wisely. Being off, its too easy to say, I'll ride tomorrow".

Ride partners will verify that I ride more before vacation started.

Working nights, I sleep 6 hours, get up ride 20-30 miles, eat lunch, then go to work. I ride 2 or 3 days mid week. On the weekends, I ride 2 long rides, couple of 40-60 milers. I'd get off work at 1:45, got to sleep at 3 am, get up at 7am (4 hours) then ride on Sat morning.

If I work day shift, I ride 2 or 3 days after work, mostly MTB on dirt trails to practice climbing and avoid traffic. Then 40 -60 milers on weekends. When I did the century a month challenge, I did 23 centuries on the weekends, one every other week.

Gina works just about 10 hours every day and also does weekend rides of 40-60 for a total of 3500 per year. Maybe one during the week if her hours allow it.

I've been doing this for 15 years. Other sports before. We have 4 kids, so when they were young, I'd stay up late and workout when kids were in bed after 10 pm. So I've always been active in one sport or another. Now that they are all grown up and out on their own, we ride at will. Kids are now 31, 29, 28 and 25 years old.

Some people also think that I now only take pics and vids because I am off work. FTR, I have been posting pics and running a journal thread for 5 years now.

volosong

Dang! You and Gina started having kids when you were twelve years old? You guys don't look a day older than about 30. Just goes to show how cycling keeps one not only fit, but youthful.

Mr. Beanz

I don't know but when I look at our pics, we look old.

Here I was 29 or 30 (215 lbs) . Some people thought I was about 19 or 20. Age is catching up. Probably does help that we don't have a lot of white hair.