Pico de Gallo 100 mile ride...

100 miles.  100 miles. 100 miles...  Thats a large number that many cyclist prepare the whole year to tackle.  Its a feat that not many cyclist dare to attempt.  Today I went on a 100 mile ride with Cindy Billy and some friends that I have met though my cycling.  It's is such a great feeling completing 100 miles and today I went out there to encourage and make sure my buddies would get it done.  The day was long,  the wind was brutal, the miles never ending but they pushed on and on and on.  Cindy had not ridden a bike in a couple months now so that goes to show how much hurt she was feeling. NEVER GIVE UP... She, Rosalva and the others proved that today.  Excellent job to the new centurions!  Now keep it up so next time we wont have to see the sun go up and come down on one ride. lol...

I ended up with 117.5 miles for the day... All my riding is paying off because that was 7 hrs on the saddle and I still feel I could do 50 more.  AWESOMENESS!

A little bit about base miles...

Danica and I spent a good three hours together this morning out in the back roads of the Rio Grande Valley.  It's off season for racing and we got to put in some good base miles before the real training begins next month.  Long slow rides are just something that you have to do if you want to get good in this sport.  This is the time to put lots of miles and build your endurance so you can go the whole way during a race without running out of energy.  The bad part is that the only way to build the endurance is get out there and do the long hours.  This is a great thing for me also because my heart rate stays in the high calorie burning zone the whole way. I have been doing more than 250 miles a week so it is helping a lot.  Tomorrow I will do my third century of the year, I have done many 70-80 mile rides but I just seem to never get the 100 done as often.  One reason being that it takes forever, and I hate doing those super long rides on my own.  I was checking my Garmin and it looks like with tomorrows ride I should be at 315 miles for this week.  That is awesome.

Today...

This picture was taken the summer of 09.  We had gone on a weekend trip to San Antonio with our family and went to Fiesta Texas to get on the rides. Great times.  Or was it.  Looking back there is a big problem with this picture....I'm not in it... The weird thing is that when you are a bigger person you don't see yourself big, I guess you figure ways to make excuses or manipulate your thought into thinking its cool..  Actually the reason why I was not on the ride and in most of the fun that day was because my back was hurting.. The rides  ups and downs would hurt my back.   The main excuse that I would alway use was that it was because of an old football injury and every now and then my back would start hurting, but noooo it was that extra 100 lbs! I look back at that day and realized that I missed out.  Good thing I decided I did not want to miss out anymore.  

What I'm trying to say is that you just have to start TODAY! Don't make excuses for not doing it, because you will miss the best things in life for one reason or another.  You don't even have to be that big to start, get it done, make the commitment to change next year! The only thing that you will get out of it is a better you.

Today as I rode my bike on one of the hardest training rides we have done in a while I was thinking to myself why do we do this?  Why are we enduring this pain? Why do I make myself wake up at 4:30?  Why am I pushing myself when no one is making me do it?     It's just something you have to do. I made the decision to change.  You just have to motivate yourself, set goals and never quit.  Sometimes when you feel like quitting just keep on pushing, at times you will be left behind, at times you will feel like you can't no more, but it is that wall that you need to jump that will make you a better person.

So people from the bike and weight loss forums that subscribe to my blog, and there are a bunch of you.  You have chosen a great way to shed those pounds, keep on doing what you are doing.  We all can set goals but how many people get up and do something about it. 

Here is an embarrassing video of me. laugh lol..

Prepare to get blown away by the cheesy 80's music...

Here is a pretty cool history/training video of cycling in the awesome 80's style. This is back in the day when my riding partner Mike was in his 30's, his prime, blasting some REO speedwagon from his Trans Am, rocking a sweet mullet and some sweet faded jeans! Haha just kidding. But this video is from the 80's and has just the right amount of cheese. Check it out and learn, also see how different cycling has become!

Wonder who is the "squirrel" in our group lol

Motivation...

It's December... It's going to be cold in the mornings, nothing we can do about that. We just got to get out there and train because the race season will be here quicker than we think.  Good to have riding partners that will get out there and suffer the cold with you... it's just sometimes you need to push them a little to get going!

Did a good 30 miler this cold morning with a quick stop for tacos at the halfway mark. Rides are great with tacos!

Got to keep getting those miles...

I've always loved the cold weather, the best time of the year!  Here in the valley we do not get more than two months of cool weather and I have always been the person that could not wait for these times to come.  These are the times when I would love the smell of hot chocolate, pan dulce and tamales in the mornings, those made for unforgettable years.                
                                                       

Times are different now...  This morning the first thing I did was check my Iphone weather app to see that the temperature read "TOO COLD!"  Being that we had planned a good 30 miler today I went outside to check if my phone was lying..... too bad it wasn't.  As soon as closed the door I received a text from Sergio "Dude it's 39!!"  I texted him back "So you wanna ride?" (I never want to be the one that backs out of a ride lol!) Sergio texted back immediately "NO PLEASE :("  Too funny, he even included a sad face. lol  Either way I was still gonna say lets get some extra sleep and ride tomorrow. 

I had to get some miles in today so I set off to do the 30 miler that we had planned anyway in the afternoon.  Just me, my bike, and Pandora.  It was a good long endurance ride doing my old mid valley loop that I used to always do when I started out riding countless mile by myself.  I go down 493, turn on Military Road, go north on 1015 and back home through the back roads. I got home as the sun went down. Felt good. Burnt calories.

Only set back of the ride was that my Millon Cygolite broke off its base.  This is the second one that this has happened to. This is a factory defect for this model and its mounting system.  I would not recommend this light to anyone.  It is awesome and bright but the company needs to solve this problem. I have broken two and I believe Micheal has lost two also.

Super Fast Cadence...

Well they say you should train to have a fast cadence so you can go more miles and go faster but this is kinda crazy! They are on rollers which makes it even more difficult to keep your balance and go that fast. Well I call this video FAKE but sure looks cool.

Fiesta Marathon Spectator...

Running a marathon is a goal in which many runners strive to attain.  Spending months and months of doing training runs in order to build a good base to finish the 26.2 mile punishment.  Not many people can say that they have finished a whole marathon, only a dedicated few.   Well today I went to my first marathon and well.... I did not run it lol....I am not crazy!!! lol

I have always said that I hated running, I have never been good at it.  I take horribly short steps, my ankles hurt, my back becomes tense and for some reason I can not control my breathing.  I'm just like a fat kid grasping for air when I run...plus when ever I do run it is usually at a track and it is not always the most fun filled experience. Well I know that all I need is training and miles on my legs to get on the ball, and it is something that I can do.  I have alway had that fear of not wanting to.  Well I'm gonna make a commitment to my buddies that next year I will be running out there with them.  I will at least take a leg of the relay and make it worth the run.  Not gonna say I will run a marathon anytime soon but who knows...

Today I went to support Cindy, Billy, and Sergio as they attempted the Mixed Relay Marathon, where each one would take a leg of the marathon and hand the baton off to the next runner.

Billy started it off finishing close to the front of the pack

Cindy ran the longest 4.8 miles in her life.

The second exchange

Serge always means serious business!

Serge taking the last turn before the finish line