Keep on training...

 RIDE RIDE RIDE.....  TRAIN TRAIN TRAIN....  well what is there more to say about this morning.  I am in training mode.  Have been for the last year.  Going out there every chance we get.... taking advantage of the good weather,  getting better every day.  These guys are the guys I ride with everyday.  You need people like these to keep you motivated on achieving your ultimate goals.. You have to have your support system, when one slows down the other will push harder.

We went out for an hour ride that turned out to be 3 hours. Enough said.  Get out there and ride!

Sunday club ride or race?...

Came out ready to ride today. Felt like a beast. My heart rate was steady, my legs had power, I was in the zone. Last Sunday I got dropped three times and I was ready to prove myself today. So off the elites went and me and Billy went out for the beating along with them. Today from the beginning looked as if it was gonna be a torture fest that I was willing to endure. Well was having a great ride felt good, was not even breathing hard, and all of a sudden I hear my bike making clunking noises. My freewheel hub locked up. I was in fixie mode and if I slowed my pedaling the chain would snag and fly off crank. Scary. Well took it in easy and was glad that that's all that was broken.


Billy did great today. Getting stronger and stronger everyday. Getting out there and riding makes a big difference and he has the advantage of being young. He can get faster in a shorter amount of time. He too was a little larger before and is another example that hard work and eating right will make you a healthier and fitter person.

Tacos to fuel an army....

We did a great ride this morning, putting in some interval training to get ready for racing season. Burned a good 1500 calories riding for around an hour and a half.  We also ruined it with great tacos. Here is an example of the choices we make. There is one choice of keeping your diet and getting the taco that has less filling, less potatoes, less tortilla and the other choice of getting the beast taco!  The MEGA taco!  That taco that other tacos look up to with respect and fear!  A taco that all other tacos are compared too, but can not match its glory! The taco that will also keep you on the toilet for days. Make your insides rumble as its fighting its way though your system, clogging every artery and expanding every inch of intestine.  These are the choices that you have to make when you are a big dude.... Every big guy wants the MEGA taco, but in order to lose the weight, with sufficient amount of working out, you must pick the small one.  Always think about how many calories your gonna put in no matter how many calories you say you burned. Just because you worked out for hours does not give you a free pass to choose the MEGA taco, it gives you the edge on your diet to pick the small one and fill yourself to a level that you are not hungry anymore and still going to continue losing weight.  Yea if you eat the MEGA taco your gonna probably maintain the weight your at, but its always better to keep a daily caloric deficit, in the end you will get better results and feel so much better for yourself.

Which one would you choose?  I chose the little taco and Sergio got the big one...  Serge has been missing since then....

Getting my legs back...

In cycling, once you get a good level of performance, you have to keep on riding to maintain that endurance. Anything that takes you away from riding totally destroys all that you have worked for. I have missed a couple of rides due to hurting my ankle, and just plain nasty weather. Just a couple days off the saddle and I totally feel like I'm the slowest guy out there. On sundays ride I attempted to go out with the elite riders only to get dropped three times!!! I knew right from the start of the ride that I would struggle because my legs felt like if I was pedaling through sand. Not a good feeling to have when your trying to stay up with a group that doesn't go under 24 mph!!

Today I went out for my first ride since monday because of bad weather. I felt as if my legs were coming back. The clay feel was gone. We set out for a good 50 mile ride. Right away my front derailler did not want to switch to the large chain ring so I was stuck pedaling at 100+ rpm the whole ride. We rode out to military road and headed towards McAllen. Sergio and Billy came along for the ride. Thinking we were going to do a regular endurance ride I let Billy and Sergio pull for a little while then Sergio picked up the pace a bit. A whole 17 mph he was going before he said he was winded!!! Yea he has been off the saddle for a bit too. Seeing that Sergio was falling back Billy told me we should try and do an attack to drop Sergio. I said ok and started to gun it. Billy took his place on my wheel and off we went hitting a good steady 24 mph pace leaving Sergio eating Billy's dust. After Billy put in a couple of his pulls we switched to neutral so Sergio could catch up. Sergio mentioned to Billy that he had seen such an improvement in his riding that he himself better step it up or he would be getting dropped every ride.
Sergio put so much effort to catch up to us that he almost passed out. Billy felt accomplished. He felt what it was like to drop someone. I am always glad to provide these moments for other riders. Lol.

We took it easy the rest of the way as to not put so much punishment on Sergio. Off days are a pain when you get back on so don't out do yourself. If you attempt to hang with the big boys on a bad day you will get dropped like a bad habit as I was on Sunday and Sergio was today. All in all it was a good 2 and a half hour ride and I burned lots of calories.

Q & A: My Opinion...

When I started, I would just ride. 
No special gear, no crazy carbon bike... I did it just to get out there.

Question: Hey man wassup? I've been following your blog for a month or so and think its cool. I stumbled on it looking for a way to try and lose weight and i think your sight is motivating. I myself weigh 370 and running and walking are not an option. I was thinking of buying a bike from walmart but my wife called around to a couple of bike shops and they said it would be a bad idea. They said at my weight the bike would last long and that those bikes are in the toy section for a reason. I'm not sure if that's right or not if you could give me your opinion i would appreciate it. I don't have alot of money to put up front for bike right now and want to make a good decision. Could you recommend anything? The bike shop recommended customizing a mountain bike for me w/ road tires. Any info would be greatly appreciated. Thanks 


Answer: Thanks! That's great that you are doing something about it. The main thing you need to do right now is lose some of those pounds by changing your diet. When I started out I went hardcore by strictly eating those smart ones microwave dinners. Counted all calories and made sure I was under 1000 calories a day. That's just what I did and the first month the pounds just shed off. About the bike. They are right that the Walmart bike will not last but what do you expect from an $89 bike. That was my first bike I had. It was just to get me doing something. A little exercise goes a long way. I set a weight loss goal and said it would be awesome to get a better bike when I got there. That's when I got my Trek fx. But that bike is 600$. My first mountain bike did take the punishment but it was worth dishing out the 89 just for the sake of getting me started. Once you have enough cash. Get yourself a hybrid bike. They are more comfortable. You can go lots faster and you will enjoy the ride more. The mountain bike makes exercising...well exercise. When you get the faster bike it becomes fun. When u have fun you stay on bike longer meaning you burn more calories. Everyone has to start somewhere and if all you can get right now is a bike from a pawn shop go for it. Just start doing it and you will lose the pounds.

My first Century Jalapeno 100 bicycle tour...

With the Jalapeno 100 just around the corner I wanted to post a video of me doing it one year ago.  I have come a long way. At this point I had just started cycling for about 5 months on and off.  I had set the goal of doing the 100 miles when I started dieting.  I was determined to lose the pounds!

Got skillzzz on the the court...

Every Monday and Wednesday we have been getting together to shoot some hoops.  It's been fun but I have come to realize that I was not blessed in every sport. I play basketball like a donkey plays basketball.....they don't!!!  I'm not meant to play bball, for some reason every time I have gone out there I have been getting hurt some way.  Am I a cluts, am I just uncoordinated or is it just a consistent bad day.  Well on Monday I was going for the ball which was going out of bounds and the guy in front of me caught it and tried to inbound it straight in my face! Wow! That hurt.

On Wednesday I was going up for a rebound and landed on someones foot causing my ankle to roll and hit the concrete!!!  Pain!  Twisted ankles... something a cyclist never gets.... Come to think of it, cyclist don't get that much ankle workouts so I'm guessing that is why it is weak....hmmmm  Well anyways it looks like I got to stay off this foot for a couple of days, that is not good for my training schedule.  

Performance is what it is about!!!!...

Yessss! lol

It's like a sauna in here...

 This is a picture I took while on the freeway yesterday.  That is how it has been the past week.  Horrible! Gloomy! Just plain nasty... Unsafe riding weather.  Good thing I got my man cave!

It's cold outside but we still get a good workout inside. Too may people in here that it feels like a sauna.  You sweat like crazy, dropping pounds on a trainer is easy!  It's gonna feel weird next week when we start on the road again. My legs are gonna be all muscle! lol

Actually rode today! Sweet...

We were finally able to get away from this torture fest.

Today was the first day of the week that we could actually get outside and ride so we took full advantage of it!  Still feeling a little bit under the weather, we decided to do a nice spinning ride to loosen up.  Riding the trainer has some benefits and today I noticed some of its flaws.  My legs feel like Jello!  They hurt... like if I am riding through sand.  They have lots of power but they feel as if they are sore on the inside.  I think it is all the "sanding climbing" on the trainer that has buffed them up, or they are just beat up by all the resistance.  Either way we did a couple of miles and felt how it was to be on the road again.... at least for a day because seems like tomorrow will be another cruddy day.

Take advantage of every opportunity you get!