A Clydesdale tired of pulling the beer wagon
 

My basic reasoning for picking up bicycling was to lose weight. I have been trying to get my weight down to get my BP down (and get off my 3 BP meds). I did a weight loss contest at work last year that we called Belly Busters. I racked up about 1600 miles in my giant Cypress hybrid bike and lost 47 pounds and won the contest.

Unfortunately I put about 27 pounds back on over the winter so now I am back to losing weight I had lost last year.

I started a blog to track my progress and try to put some public pressure on myself. I can't say that it has helped much but I will try anything.

I would love it if some of you would check it out and comment. I put the link in my signature but messed it up.

The title is "Watch Dave Lose it" and the address is http://wrightideas.typepad.com/watch_dave_lose_it/


This year I upgraded to a Trek Portland commuter bike. I ride 27 miles round trip to work 3-4 days a week. And with my new Garmin Edge 305 I now know that I have about a 750 elevation gain and up to 18% grades on my commute. So it is a pretty tough ride and should whip me into shape.

Hello Dave, you obviously know about the Clydesdales forum and I don't need to say anything more about how great the folks are over at that forum :D .

Welcome to BF!

East Hill

Thanks. I should mention that I am in the Seattle area.

Welcome to BF, jwright!

You'll fine me in the Clyde forum often! Definitely drop by!

So you are! There's a few other Clydes up in the Seattle north end, and there's a sticky for looking for ride partners in the Clydesdale forum in case you were looking for someone to help keep you motivated :) .

East Hill

Best of luck!

Congrads on your road back...

Have you signed up for a motionbased account? They are free and if you have a 305 I would highly recomend it....

motionbased.com

I did sign up at Motion Based. I haven't done much with it yet. I am still really enjoying the graphs that the software makes on my computer. I like the heart rate charts.

I set a new record today!! 1:02:35 so 1 hour is coming right up!!

I rode the triathlon bike route this morning. This was the first time this year and with my Garmin. So now I have a good base point for training. The loop is 12.3 miles, 850 feet elevation gain with the steepest grade of 11%. Good ride!!

We did it in just over an hour. I think I will be able to improve on that and next time I will be able to race against yeaterdave.

Yes! It's always fun to have a riding partner, and that's one reason why--you can feel yourself improving.

East Hill

I dont trust grade read-outs from GPS systems, since at any single point there can be a significant altitude error. If the grades are calculated from height gain over a significant distance i will believe them..

You are correct that GPS is not very accurate in elevation. But that is the difference between the Edge 205 and Edge 305. The 305 has a barometric altimeter along with GPS. Neither by itself is very accurate but it uses both to cross calibrate.

It has a readout that gives the accuracy and I have seen it down to +/- 19ft.

I notice that the grade reading has a time lag or 2-3 seconds. So it takes a few seconds to update the elevation and calculate the grade by dividing by the distance traveled.

It also give you a cummulative elevation gain on your ride. So now i know my ride to work has a 750 foot gain and the triathlon route is 850. So they are both reasonably tough.

Nice Blog
 

Dave: I checked out your blog. Impressive, thanks especially for the review on the Garmin Edge 305. Its a gadget I've been thinking of buying but have held off due to the cost. My wife has a Gamin Navi in her car and loves it. I think I might take the plunge

I'm in the Portland area and am working towards STP next year. Have you thought of doing that 202 mile ride?

Steve

Just remember that STP gets filled VERY quickly! Getting a spot after it's been sold out can be done, but it can cost you. Also, finding a place to stay if you do the two day version can be...interesting.

East Hill

Thanks for looking at my blog. I agree the Garmin is a little spendy. My wife bought mine as an early birthday gift. She wanter to get it for my BD but that is in mid-september, about the time I stop riding my bike to work. So she got it early. As a gift I think it is great, a little extravagent and somehting I would have a hard time justifying for myself. So maybe you should just give your wife some hints!

I ws thinking about STP this year but I was afraid that if I got a group together that they would drop out at the last minute. SO maybe nbext year.

Hey djwright - I'm just west of you in Mukilteo. I started riding last year for health reasons (and because it's fun.) I've only lost 25 lbs, and have seemingly plateau'd at around 220. One of my weeknight rides is an out and back to Snohomish and so I ride part of the hill you ride to work. Only I cheat and take a right at the top of the first hill (heh heh,) I've ridden it all the way up once or twice and it's a killer for a Clyde, but do-able. I'm impressed if you do that every day to work.

You may see me sometime on the river road, I'll be the tall one on the Red Specialized.

By the way, seriously consider doing the STP. I signed up this year and trained pretty religiously for it. I intended to do it in two days. Call me crazy, but I might just try doing it my first time in one day. It's pretty amazing what you can make your body do. I started this year riding only 15 miles each time and slowly built up to 100 solo miles per ride on two consecutive weekends.

So keep on truckin.

I know well the right turn of which you speak. I have taken that many mornings when I just don't feel up to the full climb. It really isn't that much harder to go straight up the hill but some days it seems too much.

I'll look for you on the river road.

I'm trying to lose weight as well by biking. I don't think its working very well. I have cut the rubbish out of my diet and bike for an hour daily. I hope it helps. Any suggestions?

Dave, I am pretty close to you, and often ride down to Snohomish via Cathcart way and Highway 9. I do a fair amount of road biking around Snohomish and on the Centennial Trail. Send me a PM or email to millcreek.cycling@gmail.com if you want to get a ride together.

Check into the Clydesdales forum. It's not necessary to be a Clyde--but they are very supportive over there, and offer a lot of encouragement.

East Hill

Just track your progress, keep setting mini-goals and keep surpassing them.

thanks, I'll do that.

Dave:

Just what I needed to get me even more motivated. Went over to your blog - love what you have to say. I even put a link to your blog on my mountain biking site:

http://mountainbikingtips4u.com/usef...ling-websites/

This is what it is all about - keep pedaling!