Author: Eric R.

I turned the wheel past 50 a few days back and all I want to ask the Lord for my next 50 is to grant me the blessing to pass on my love for biking to the next generation which is addicted to video games and avatar like experiences in etherial worlds. (yes – I did see Avatar! – “I can see you”).

What are my goal list items for next year?

1. Accomplish my 10% body weight challenge with Opti before the deadline next September

2. Reach the Alabama -Georgia line on my bike riding the Silver Comet.

3. Learn to pedal using clip ons…. (before this year end).

4. Learn to layer warm clothes properly and conquer winter riding.

5. Conquer the fear of night riding.

6. Dabble in Mountain Biking.

7. Ride while at my time sharing adventures this year (Anaheim, San Diego, New Orleans, Destin, FL )

8. Take my grand-kids on bike rides (non powered).

9. Ride to work daily for a week (250 total miles). Want to average at least once a week for the full year (about 2000 total miles).

10. Ride with my wife (need to teach her to use the Opti since she can’t exercise due to her lungs).

* * * * * * * * *

This past year I broke through many self created limitations and I want to thank our Lord for allowing me to go past them.  If this past January 2009 I would have been asked these questions I would have laughed all the way to the floor:

1. Eric will buy a $10K bike

2. Eric will lose 10 lbs in 6 weeks.

3. Eric will ride 300 miles in 8 weeks

4. Eric will ride 30 miles in a day and over 50 miles in a weekend.

5. Eric will bike from work.

6. Eric will enjoy exercising.

7. Eric will bike successive days.

8. Eric will dress in lycra.

9. Eric will ride a bike in the rain.

10. Eric will wake up early to exercise using a stationary bike daily.

Those who know me would have agreed and would have bet real money against me completing any item on that list.

Thanks to Craig @ Opti who assisted me in pursuing a joyful activity that will repay itself in dividends of health and joy.

Thanks also to my loving wife Nancy for supporting me on this re-kindled love affair with biking.

Weather have turned cold and wet in Atlanta. My last ride was on Thanksgiving day.  I drive to work and see random bikers wrapped in many layers… but the thing I dread the most is biking when it is pitch dark.  I need to get myself some cold weather biking clothes and very reflective night riding gear (maybe a night light?). Time to ask Santa to get my mojo back!

p.s. Got a semi – official home cholesterol test and my numbers improved by 25% with no drugs!!!

The Silver Comet trail is over 61 miles long, and starts near Mavell Road in Smyrna, Georgia. It ends at the Georgia/Alabama state line, near Cedartown and Esom.

At the Georgia/Alabama state line, the Silver Comet connects to the 33-mile long Chief Ladiga Trail. Plans are underway to extend the Chief Ladiga an additional 7 miles. Both the Silver Comet Trail and Chief Ladiga are fully paved rail-trails built on abandoned railroad lines. The combined Silver Comet and Chief Ladiga trail length is estimated to be over 100 paved miles from Smyrna, Georgia to Anniston, Alabama.

Today was my second visit to this trail. Since the Atlanta September floods the trail has been closed about 15.33 miles from its start in Smyrna, GA.  After riding it from there and back for a total of 30.66 miles I still had a full red power LED left. For those of you that remember my first posting, that is an improvement – which means either I’m pedaling more or I weight less. I’ll take either one of them. No- I will not weight myself (don’t want to play the dehydration game) – but I can see that my belts are now one notch in the proper direction of travel and my  shorts now require a belt. This is in less than two months and with a couple of down times due to a blown rear hub (the day after my ride from work) and a flat. The silver lining during those two events was that  I used my old bike with 100% green pedal power for about 8 miles each time.

This time around after riding the trail I didn’t visit the Brazilian churrasqueria…

Total miles about 251 (all hilly miles)

This week I rode 15+ miles on Wednesday evening. First night ride from the house to  Suwanee Park 8 mile loop and about 3.5 miles to get there via regular streets.  Started playing with the idea of riding without using the motor for as long as I could stand (specially going thru level areas). Good exercise… did about 1:30 including a stop at the local bike shop. Froze my hands…I guess due to having white knuckles (handling the brake at night)…

Yesterday I rode about 21.5 miles from my house to see my granddaughter Jocelyn. The only way tot their house is going 50% on 4 lanes and the other 50% on 2 lane (used to be) country roads. I’m glad I went early and traffic was not that bad.

Today I started out to another park to meet my wife and our dogs but I had a 3″ nail go thru my rear tire about 1.75 miles from home.  I REALIZED THAT RIDING ON THE SIDE OF THE ROAD IS QUITE DANGEROUS DUE TO THE DEBRIS such as a bunch of 3″ nails – better to ride on the road.  I’m glad I heard the air escaping and stopped before doing any damage to the rim.. Called my wife and got a lift back home and still went out biking on my old junky bike. Day was good for about 8 miles on pedal power – hills be damned too!

So this week I had 45 miles. Legs are getting stronger and I can feel my chest expanding with every breath I take. I have stopped weighting myself since I realized the initial weight loss was probably just losing water weight. Now I’m staying hydrated through my rides and also make sure I’m dressed appropriately.

This is a long term commitment and  I intent to continue it.

This Saturday morning woke up around 6:30 a.m. and went to this organized 25 mile ride around Berkeley Lake with  a group from TheBicycleWheel.net bike shop near my house. Notice the ominous sky above us. Yes it did pour 10 miles into the ride. Since it was my first ride on that route with this group I followed the guys ahead of me (only 2 by that time) and 9 miles later we were back at the shop (a total of 19 miles for the day).  That is when I realized that the guys I followed were not doing the full ride. Oh well…

Anyway – there is a small dam at Berkeley Lake and the road goes below it. That is where I hit my newest speed record on my Optibike – 44.51 mph. Exhilarating!

Today I feel a little invincible… kind of like Rocky on his first movie after going up the stairs in Philadelphia… I attained my goal to ride in normal Atlanta traffic from work to my home in about 1:20. I’m still in one piece and tomorrow morning I will ride back to pick up my car.

I’ve been  unable to ride since last week due to rain and a wave of polar temperatures that made my weekend ride impossible. I finally bought some “ski” clothes (they looked the same as bike jerseys and their price was up there too), a balaclava (isn’t that like the greek pastry?) and a bright yellow fleece vest… where I left them? Of course inside my car at work…. so tomorrow morning I will have to fight 40’s and 50’s to get to work with my regular bike clothes and a wind breaker. I’m pretty sure I’ll be up to the right body temperature within the 1st mile out of my home. Wish me luck!

Our company’s disaster recovery site happens to be 6.5 miles from my house and as always I volunteered to go. This morning the day started with a continous sheet of rain and nevertheless I went ahead and rode to work. 

I was totally unprepared to spend the day with all my clothes totally wet, but what the heck – I just put on a wind breaker and bit the bullet. I was so soaked when I made it about 15 minutes later that I took off my sneakers and socks. I improvised and found that the socks do dry up if you put them next to the exhaust of a laser printer. The sneakers – that was something else…. they are still soaking wet… I also found out how warm and toasty mouse pads are – thus allowing my shirt to dry up quite fast. Got lucky in the afternoon and went home when the rain stopped for a while.

Add 13 more miles to my running total… 133 so far….

Weight is now stable at about 294 (am I building muscle?) … I’m making sure I do about 3 hours+ per week.. next goal is achieve 50 mile in a day (two rides) that means about 3 hours in a single day… is it doable? Yes!

This past week I had 3 rides – counting the Silver Comet, Cycleworks ride on Wednesday and today’s ride from the house to Duluth, Peachtree Corners and Berkeley Lake which was very pleasant and had a couple of yipee! downhills while in the beautiful area of Berkeley Lake. I now have the bike computer working and there is so much information now being provided, but without pulse / altimeter data. Thinking of a Garmin 605 or a Sigma Rox 9.0 – any suggestions?

I have now started pimpin’ the bike with a water bottle, a bell and a little seat bag to carry my ID and my phone. I did purchase the commuter pack – but I will keep that off until I do the real deal of commuting to work on my bike.  Next purchase will be the bike rack and  a bike stand – not in that order though.  The updated computer might be a little later – say when I reach 280… in a month?

One last thing – waked up early Saturday to go on another organized ride – and before leaving the house I checked the bike’s charge level –  and bummer! – I forgot to make sure the charging switch was set to the proper position when I last thought I was charging the bike… thus no charge – no ride…. oh well – time to keep reading The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown…

This is getting interesting. On Saturday after my 29.4 mile ride and feast I reached 294 lbs. Then I took it easy Sunday with another steak & potatoes dinner and by this Wednesday morning I went back to 296. That gave me the desire to find a ride today no matter where. During the day I called a few  bike shops to confirm if they had a ride. I’m glad I did since the Roswell ride I wanted to do was cancelled. But I found a bike shop around my house that was going for a 20+ mile ride at 6 p.m. I escaped from work a little early (5:11 p.m.) and was able to make it by 5:45 p.m. in Duluth. I felt like Clark Kent changing my work clothes to my biking blue super hero suit. My new riding buddies were worried that I wouldn’t be able to catch up – but I was able to keep up and even pass the peloton leader a few times while going up hill….. I still had the solid red light when I decided to call it a day. I’m now home, refreshed and…. surprise…. not even hungry…. and back to 294 lbs…  I will take it easy tonight with dinner and try to keep up with good nutrition to see if I go below 290 by this weekend.

I was asked to provide some weight history and I compiled this graph from doctor’s visits through the years. Note that the first time I lost significant weight in a short period of time was doing a Bootcamp – from 6 a.m. – 7-a.m. 3 times a week. That was pure unalterated torture – waking up at 5 a.m. to drive to the HS stadium to exercise in freezing weather. Then a few years later I started walking with my wife and we did pretty good until she could no longer walk with me and the weight started creeping back.  We’ll keep track of the Optibike weekly numbers as I strive to maintain very enjoyable weekly rides that should average about 3 hours a week.