Electric Bike Fitness

Optibike + 4 months of riding = normal cholesterol + more muscle + weight loss

Thursday I had an official weight measurement at my doctor’s office and I was at an official 274 lbs. That weight is 32 lbs lower than my standard operating weight of 306 lbs for the previous 2 years. I’m now able to wear XL shirts instead of XXXL, and I was able to “test drive” size 42 pants instead of “rising” 48 inchers. Now I can wear my 44 and 46 inchers that have been relegated to the left side of my closet for quite many years. That is a tremendous improvement. A few years back – during the despair years – I went to a bariatric surgery seminar at Emory University and the presenter made a clear point that most people can’t lose 10% of their body weight without the help of surgery. Bull!

So what did I do for the past couple of weeks after my Atlanta – Athens 10 hr bike ride?  Due to an issue with my internal battery – I took a forced vacation from biking and decided to do a little nutrition. No sugar, breads nor carbs.  Only tuna fish, salmon, steak, vegetables and shakes – until my trip to Boston last weekend.  I would have been crazy if I didn’t sample New England’s finest cuisine such as clam chowder, lobster rissotto, swordfish, oreo chesecakes and those Dunkin Donuts following me all the way to the airport. I’ve never noticed so many DD’s in my life – at least one every two blocks and one per concourse at the airport – all calling me by name… (Nancy, I promise I only had two donuts – the ones that were yelling for me to take them to Atlanta). Even with splurging with all day “gourmet” airport food courtesy of Delta (due to weather delays and Delta’s ancient airplanes having mechanical troubles) – such as lobster and shrimp rolls, Mr. Chang’s famous spicy chicken, and my 2 donuts -  I was still able to lose 1 lb last weekend. The “nutritional dieting” coupled by the high metabolism due to biking created the perfect storm for extreme weight loss – to the point that even I was worried my blood chemistry would be out of kilter. That is why I did a second blood test this past Monday and got my results Thursday.  My cholesterol came down to 131 and I now have a perfectly normal blood chemistry (my liver is now done building muscle).

My next upcoming ride is for the American Diabetes Association on May 16th. I signed for a 62 mile ride that I might decide to extend to my first century ride (100 miles) since having a lot less weight to carry – my bike range should extend accordingly. My battery issue should be resolved by next weekend so that I can re-start doing what I love and follow my one of a kind nutritional program (all you desire to eat – but with my new twist of “healthy”).

1,668 miles still to go in 2010 …. and given the weight loss rate of 5 lbs per 100 miles – does this mean I could be 85 lbs lighter and full of muscle when I’m done with my personal distance goal?  Scary thought – keep watching out Jared!!!

PS. I did check out an interesting non-electric bike while in Boston. Patrick from Dynamic Bikes let me test ride a couple of their chainless bikes. I  loved the crisp Alfine rapid fire gear changes and very silent ride going around the shopping center by his store.

I just got back my blood test results from my doctor and for the 1st time since 1995 my total cholesterol is 187. Totally normal without ANY drugs and without changing my diet. The only factor that was added to my life was my Optibike received on September 21, 2009. About 600+ miles was all I needed and that was 300 miles from September – November  and 332 miles from March to April of 2010. All my rides are documented on this blog.  Only rode on weekends other than my 1.5 commutes to work (which I plan to resume on a more frequent basis since they are refreshing in a perverse way – think frogger). All miles were done for the pure pleasure and joy of riding a bike. Note – that when the weather turned arctic around Atlanta I was unable to bike December – February.

Only bad number I got from my blood test is that my serum glutamic-oxaloacetic transaminase or SGOT result was 50% higher than normal (that’s a 60 when the upper range limit is 40). The SGPT number was totally normal. Thus after researching around the internet – my conclusion is that the only possible reason that number was elevated was due to the process of BUILDING MUSCLE. I take that with gusto!

My current weight will have to wait until I visit my doctor next week (I’m traveling out of town this week).

I’m now creating the initial version of  Eric R.’s  joyful fitness equation:

Optibike + 4 months of riding = normal cholesterol + more muscle +  (to be revealed after doc visit)

And for those who enjoy algebra

• muscle = ++ fitness
• normal cholesterol = longer life
• longer life = happy
• 4 months of riding = joy

Do your own substitutions… watch out Jared!

P.S.  Reflecting on how much I had spent on Lipitor, Zocor, Crestor, Vitoryn, Zetia, cod oil pills and all other kind of crap since 1995 I think I spent enough to probably have paid for 2 new Optibikes and those pills never gave me anything more than anxiety and dreading to see the numbers from my liver tests every time I went to the doctor.

A lot of people asked me this weekend how could I lose weight on a electric bike. I think they have the concept that I just went for the ride until they saw me passing them going uphill while huffing and puffing.  Yes I did pass 149 cyclists on the way to arriving 1st to Athens on my 130+ mile ride this weekend. You can follow my getting there route here.  Before I give you the results of my 2 day adventure let me tell you 1st that I will never attempt this ever again.

Google bicycle maps showed a -3 to a +3 % average grade from Atlanta to Athens. Oh boy, are they wrong. Those hills were brutal. No they were not mountains but were they long going uphill and short on their downhills even both ways…Day one was a total blur. Got lost because I followed the route I downloaded to my Garmin – thinking that the route would be easy to follow- but I learned yesterday that my Garmin Edge 705 would not let me ride the route, unless that was the shortest route to the destination. So when I realized I’ve not seen a cyclist for about an hour and that I no longer found little signs with an arrow around the road and the road was a four lane 55+ mph road that I must somehow got lost. I stopped at a gas station and started to figure out where in the world Eric R. was. With the help of the mission control folks I was not too far from the route and my Garmin finally put me back on track. I had somehow missed the lunch break point (not that I need any help in that category) and cut my route short by about 2 miles (82 instead of 84) – but I did turned off my Garmin and turned it on a mile off here and there – those senior moments do show up in the Garmin as diagonal lines not ever following a road. When I got to the outskirts of Athens, ran out of batteries. I started walking with my bike any time the terrain was uphill. Rode the downhills and after about 30 minutes I could see people with pompoms and the signs that I was close to the finish line. As I said, I was walking uphill and this guy riding a road bike passed me by. Knowing that the finish line was so close, I jumped on my bike and started riding on pure human power uphill to the finish line. I was able to overtake him before the finish line and gained about a 5 second lead.  Being the first two riders at the finish line – very few people even noticed us but arriving first,  I’ve never felt so good in my life! I’m glad I was able to hold on to that feeling for the next couple of days before all the muscles on my body started sending not so good signals to my brain (pain).

Menu so far: Breakfast – 2 Costco croissants with 3 shots of espresso. A few bananas and orange slices with powerade at the break points and a couple of bites of beef jerky. Lunch – nada. Dinner- 4 beers, a small pizza and a killer BBQ pork sandwich out of a trailer.

Went to bed the earliest I remember and prayed all night for the Lord to give me strength to be able to ride back safely without too much pain.

Next day I was up and about around 6 a.m. waiting for the hot breakfast to be served. My language skills helped me to get 2 cheese omelets, 2 sausages, 1 biscuit and 2 waffles before the rest of the world. Began my ride to the start line when a technical glitch eliminated my chances of completing my ride. After about 1-2 blocks from my hotel the internal battery pack tripped and no longer gave me signs of any life. I knew it was a matter of resetting it – but without ever encountering a similar issue with my Opti – I wanted confirmation on where to poke the bike before letting any field mechanic to do surgery on my baby.  I was able to get confirmation on the procedure much too late on the ride so after riding 50 miles I was sagged to the finish line. I only had a roast beef with cheese croissant sandwich for lunch with 2 sodas and again oranges and bananas at the 3 breakpoints I went. A very light dinner ensued when I went home (1 curry chicken empanada).

I rode for about 10 hours in two days. The results – 7 lbs to the ether. The title of this post? It should be completed – what was the body part that didn’t hurt 24 hours after the ride?

1,668 miles to go in 2010.

And BTW – thanks to all of you who supported my fund raising efforts and put me on the top 25 fund raisers of the event.

How about a 168 mile two day ride from Atlanta to Athens, Georgia. This is the inaugural MS 150 ride for Atlanta and am I nervous. I did get the extra battery last night and I’m making sure it is fully charged for the ride on Saturday.  Wish me luck! Or is it?

You can follow all my rides this year on my Garmin public posts.

Here is the route:

MS 150 Atlanta - Athens

Took me 1:08 to get to work this morning (22 miles each way).  About average if I left early on my car. Saved about $12 in gas, added like 1 month to my life span. Think it was a fantastic trade off.

Is this 2,000 miles in 2010 goal addictive?

You bet it is!

1,800 miles to go

ps. Join me at Optibike’s conference call tomorrow evening.

I was going to bike to the starting point of The Bicycle Wheel store which would have added 10 miles rtp to my totals, but waking up at 7:41 a.m. for a 8:00 a.m. bike ride would not have cut it at all. So I drove and barely made it on time. The ride was fantastic and was able to hit a new speed record of 45.9 mph (obviously going down hill with enough gravity assist).  You can see all the details of my ride here. Again I stopped my Garmin Edge 705 at the mid point and forgot to start it – thus explaining the mileage difference (check the splits tab).  I love the new upgrade Garmin did to their site – check it out.

1,844 miles to go.

April started with a bang. Rode almost 40 miles yesterday to have my bike checked for next week’s 168 mile ride and today plan to do about 30 mile group ride and then the plan is to rest all week. The ride was the longest I’ve done so far using regular roads (not the Silver Comet trail with nice 3% max grades). I was able to just take 4 Advils after the ride and didn’t develop any new pains nor aches that my loyal massage chair wasn’t able to handle.  Thank God I had no chills nor fever at the end of the ride. I drank 4 bottles of water during the ride and didn’t feel dehydrated at all.

Took almost 2 months to get over 100 miles in 2010. I bet April will finish with about 400 miles and May should be around the same since I signed up for a 62 (or maybe 100 mile) ride for May 16th and if I finally get to hit a 250 mile bike to work week. Thus June is the target to hit my 1st 1,000 miles out of my 2,000 miles for 2010 goal. I think June should be ripe for a 101 mile trip to Alabama on the Silver Comet Trail. From the time I got the bike end of September until now – total mileage is 431 miles. Thus May will technically could break the initial 1,000 miles.

1,869 miles to go (for 2010).

Atlanta to Athens and back over April 10-11 weekend.  84 miles each way. Am I scared?

Not at all.  Why?

1. Did 42 miles over a 3 hour period. So I can take a recharge break and finish the other 42 miles.

2. Atlanta is at 1,000 feet of altitude. Athens is at 500 ft. No electricity is used going downhill.

3. I called Craig and asked for a battery loaner….. before I signed up for the ride.

Now – a few weeks before the ride, I’ve been getting worried if the extra battery doesn’t make it on time. Craig has reassured me that it will get here on time. He mentioned something sounding like a prototype?  I’m praying for that to work 100% of the time specially on my way back home.

Should I worry?

And yes, – the fundraiser is available here.

This past weekend I joined my friends at Suwanee Creek bikes and went for a 23 mile ride as shown here.

1,909 miles to go.

Happy!

Two full marathons in a day?

So 2010 has started as a slow cycling year mostly due to the cold weather. This week we finally got a breakthrough with a nice warm weekend and the yearn for a big ride was set in motion.

I got the call Friday evening from my cyclist friend to join him and his family at the Silver Comet for a ride. So I got the bike ready and did a double take on my full face helmet with the magic shine headlight on top and thought- I don’t need that since it is only 2 p.m. and I would not be riding too long. My prior two rides on the Silver Comet took about 2 to 2 1/2 hours and that would  put me safely at the trail end before it got dark….. start some ominous music here ….

Got geared, loaded the SUV and started the 42 mile ride to the trail start. Again – I kept thinking, why would I drive to a place to ride a bike? Why not ride around my town? Well  the Silver Comet Trail is one of the best East Coast bike trails. Built on an abandoned railroad line, it is 61 miles to the Alabama line and then extends another 33 miles into Anniston, Alabama and it is one of my 2010 goals to ride from the Alabama line to the start of the trail (or about 7 Alabama miles + 61 Georgia miles for a total of 68 miles).

Arrived around 3 p.m. and started the ride. The first 4.2 miles I pedaled without the motor – since I forgot to move the battery select switch to the internal battery and it is quite hard to find and select it while riding (note to myself – learn how to do this while riding). First stop was the Floyd Rd trail head where I switched the motor to be ready for takeoff.  I continued to the usual turn around point where my friend was waiting for me.  It took me about an hour to get to our meeting place, the Hiram trail head (mile marker 14.7). I shot the breeze for about 30 minutes (mistake!!!!) and since the trail continuing west was reopened (it was closed September 22 due to the worst Atlanta area flooding in history – same day I got my bike) – I decided to continue north to Dallas – GA. This was my bonehead move of the day.

While riding – I decided I wanted to do a 5o mile ride. My Garmin edge 705 gps started to give me conflicting distance when comparing to the marked milestones on the trail. To avoid a conflict of not reaching 50 mile I decided to go beyond the 25 mile marker to make sure Garmin recorded at least 25 miles. That put me to mile marker  26.53 and subsequently explains my 54 mile ride. I will post the Garmin’s take on my ride later and also the pictures to prove my feat!

It was fast getting dark when my Optibike red light started blinking about 12 miles from the trailhead. I only blinked red for about three seconds. Oh Sh!!!  Within the first two miles on pure muscle power, my thighs started hurting. you know like Charlie horses when you started to push down the pedal. It became obvious – when I had to stop at a crossing and had to put my feet down when I got a jolt of pain and almost ate my bike for dinner – that I wouldn’t make it to my SUV before dark.

Spirit over mind over body – I’m glad at my small group bible study group meeting the night before we discussed how important is for your spirit to take over your mind and your body. It was my time to ask the almighty for a miracle to get me back safe to my car and for the next 10 miles I was chanting my religious mantra non stop. Oh Jesus let me get back to the car!  Hosanna! Hosanna! rapidly became my mantra.

It was right after dark when I finally got to the trail head and put the bike on the rack, While driving home I started to get chills and when I finally made it home I bundled myself in 2 jackets and 4 blankets and crawled into a fetal position in bed.

No advil, no aspirin, no massage.  I only got out of bed to get my bike safely into my garage, ate some dinner, weighted myself at 293.5 and went back to bed. This morning, with my thighs still hurting -  I weighted myself and my home scale showed a semi naked weight of  288.5 lbs (I had my socks on). Glad I’m able to lose some weight while sleeping!

Was it worth it?

Yes – I proved that with two battery packs I will be able to safely do 75 miles each day x 2 for my MS 150 mile ride on April 10-11. If you like to assist my fund raising efforts -  click here.

I also found out that at my current weight I can do about 40 miles with battery assist. Thus making it possible to ride from Anniston, AL to Cedartown, GA about 45 miles – take a break – find a place to recharge the battery and continue for the final 54 miles to the start of the trail – all in a day’s worth.

Will I continue to stupidify myself, you bet!

Check out how stupid my Garmin Edge 705 became… (lap 1 & 2 should be the same exact length)

p.s. 1,932 miles to go