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Went out riding early this morning (well it was for me on a Sunday) and did my normal loop down by the river and out past the airport and returning back along the river. But this time as I went through into Hurn Forest I did my normal run through the tree and then instead of continuing up the gravel track I headed back towards the car park and then up in to the tree on the other side of the path and out along the fence and then returning to the main gravel path near the top of the first section gravel track. This little extra loop added 1.8 miles to the ride which gave me a 22.8 mile ride this morning and I felt quite good when I got back. I was a little concerned that heading back into the wind but I did not struggle any more than I normally do.

My only trouble on the ride was the gps, it refused to track the route I was doing, on a ride like today’s where I know the route I use it to record the distance just encase, like today I added a little extra loop into the ride. I am not sure what the problem is but I will have to investigate.

I think I have had a fairly good week this week diet wise, don’t think it is as good as last weeks but with two good rides and the possibility of going out riding again tomorrow morning before work thing are looking good. In fact they are already looking very good as I managed to fit in to two pairs of shorts today, one pair I have not worn for 2 maybe 3 years because they were to small (or should that be I was to large??) and the other pair were brand new never worn I bought them some 3 years ago and they have never fitted me. I have a wardrobe full of clothes I have bought and have never fitted, so I might end up with a whole new wardrobe this year albeit about three years behind current fashion……….

One reason for my early morning trip was so I could get back in time to watch the Formula One. I used to watch it religiously but over the years my interest has waned, it just became boring. I thought maybe this year with more teams and no re fuelling during the race it would be more interesting. But to be honest I feel the jury is still out on that one, will have to see how it goes over the next couple of races.

So there I was with my new IT toy trying to work how to get it to work, to configure it I had to logon to the device using the IP address that it had been given when it was configured, but it not been configured yet because I had not logged on to it as it did not have an IP address………… and so my brain ran round in circles for several minute. In the end the answer was fairly simple, plug the device in to the network which would give it an IP address automaticly, get that IP address and then use it to logon to the device, simple when you stop trying to make everything complicated. How many time do you hear people and even business say they are going back to basics because they have made a simple task more complicated than it needed to be.

That is exactly like my diet, eat sensibly and I won’t have a problem, start eating all the wrong thing and that is where the problems start. Last week I did a food diary to keep a record of what I ate, doing a food diary helps keep me on the straight and narrow with my eating. The result was a 3.5lb loss tonight, I am happy with that even more so when you consider that included having a Indian meal, cheese on toast and several large cookies (big ones, not the small Maryland type) during the week. So it is not like I am starving myself or on a rabbit food diet. I am going to do another diary this week to keep the good work going and then move on from there.

My weight is playing yo-yo’s again, Monday nights weigh-in was a gain, 1.5lbs. At the moment I am losing weight one week, gaining weight the next, losing weight the following week and so on………. It has now got to the point where I am doing a weekly food diary, for those that don’t know a food diary is where you write down exactly what you eat for each meal for a week. I only do these when there is a problem with my weight and eating. Writing the diary normally result in a good weight loss because you are forced to write down what you eat you tend to think twice about that bar of chocolate! I know at the weekends sometimes I am no saint, I suffer from a total lack of will power, but I try to eat properly during the week so that I have a bit in hand to eat a bit of naughty but nice at the weekends!!

But I am beginning to wonder if I have reached a point where muscle is developing and as muscle is heavier than fat I am putting weight on. I have two very un-scientific reason for thinking this, one, I am getting lots of complements about how much weight I have lost because people are noticing my loss. Secondly, I put a pair of trousers on this morning and I was surprised by how much I had to pull the belt in to buckle it up. It was not that long ago that I was wearing the belt at the maximum limit.

A part from weight issues I am struggling this week, life is just beating me up at the moment. I was not happy with only being able to do the one ride over the weekend due to the weather, I was even less impressed Monday morning to wake up to blue sunny skies and then it continues on Tuesday and Wednesday as well, I think the weather gods don’t like my earlier post (will they ever get forecast the weather correctly). The weather forecast for the weekend is looking OK (but can we trust it?), sunny but cold with some stiff winds.

Today was my weekly trip to work HQ so I fall out of bed at 5:10am and leave the house by 6:00am. It was nice to see that it was light from around 6:30am and still light up until about 6:00pm, it can only get better over the coming weeks. I have the idea of a route for an early morning ride if I am working from home so I will looking closely at that over the next week or two.

Talking of routes, I travel along the A44 from the A34 to near Broadway. Today I noticed how the local (or county) council had sign posted the bridle ways and foot paths (I have only been travelling along this road for the past 8 years). Some of these little green sign looked to be pointing down some very inviting little trails.