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The Saturday weather forecast was for rain till midday and then clearing through the afternoon. So I decided that I would do some things around the house and go riding after midday. I made one trip to the tip in light drizzle and then made my way to my LBS to see about booking my bike in for a major transplant (see below) and then back home to get ready for my ride. So why was I sat at home looking out the window watching the rain pour down at 1:00 pm?

Once it had eased off I saddled up and was off to the local heath, decided if the weather was this inclement then I would do the short route (although of the two routes I regularly ride around here it is the tougher of the two). Everything was ok until I started riding on the first bit of dirt, or should I say mud, my bike almost came to a stand still. The first bit of the ride is always quite difficult as they have just dug up the path to lay a water pipe, but with the thaw of the last few days and 24 hours of rain it was like a swamp and to make matter worse the heavens opened again. Was it really muddy I hear you ask, well I had to cycle down a hill as it was that muddy!!

It would be fair to say I struggled but I only walked one bit (if you don’t include the bits where I paddled through the mud when I ground to a halt). By the time I got home I was soaked, not sure if it was due to rain or my not so breathing waterproof jacket, at least I clocked 10 miles toward my 25 to 28 mile target for the weekend.

I mentioned earlier my visit to the LBS to book the bike in for a major repair, well that repair is a frame swap. Where I have had the problem with the front gears and the chain jumping off and jamming between the chain ring and frame it has gouged the chainstay arm very badly. Took it to the LBS where I bought it and with Cannondale they have agreed to swap the frame and will be looking at the front gearset as well with the possibility of replacing that as well.

Not only that while they have my bike in bits they are going to fit my new forks I bought just after Xmas, so by next weekend I will have virtually a new bike

I must admit I did lose faith with the LBS at one stage as the bike went back to the shop a couple of time for repair but the problem persisted. I send them a couple of e-mails about the problems and got no replies. After that I tried an independent cycle repair shop, who sorted out the rears gears by changing the cable (something was dragging on the cable in the casing) which I paid for. Unfortunately changing the front chain rings was going to cost me as well. I tried to speak to Cannondale who said I had to go back to the dealer (which I had expected). This was at the same time as I broke the spoke over Christmas period so I bit the bullet and went to the LBS and spoke to the manager. He agreed certain aspect of collecting the bike (when new) and work done to the bike since had not been up to (their) standard, as for the e-mails it turns out that he never received them (we don’t know why). So all in all it looking all rosy again. I can’t wait till next weekend when I can get out on my new (rebuilt) bike.

The title does not mean I have got all clever (if anything I have got dafter), it is just the main points of this weekend. We went cycling on Saturday in -6 degree temperatures, Saturday was my 50th birthday and 28 is the total mileage I have cycled this weekend.

As I have set myself a target for weight loss I wanted to make sure I got out for a ride this weekend. Now I must admit the cold was not my first concern, my first concern was the ice on the roads and trails etc. Having had a fall on Christmas eve on black ice and already suffering with dodgy knees a fall on ice was the last thing I wanted so I decided on a fairly flat ride to Hurn forest. The downside to this there a large element of road cycling (3.3 miles in one direction) and the road fairly busy single carriageway for some of the route. On the up side to this at least it clear from ice and snow.

Well thankfully the ride went fairly well, we (the wife came on the ride with me) used the pavements where possible, decided I rather risk an icy pavement than an argument with a car! The first section of bridleway is tarmac and that was a sheet ice, over the common the main paths were snow (as in a couple of inches nothing like the foot or so found around the rest of the country) and ice. On one footpath we found our path blocked in the narrowest section by a generator and its fuel tank. Seem the local electric company had to use some generators to provide power so decided the best place to put it was on the narrow footpath. After a quick trample through the undergrowth we were able to continue.

The path through the forest was a simple affair, I knew where most of the major puddles (now ice) were so was able to avoid most of them. In the end we had an uneventful ride to the gate at the end of the forest. Now we had a choice, ride back the roadway, or go back the way we came, we had a little debate about it, wife wanted the road route I wanted to go back the way we came. In the end I used “its my birthday” card (its my birthday so you have to do what I want) and we went back the way we came. I was surprised to find when we got home that the ride had totalled 18 miles (going back the road way is a 16 mile route) no wonder the wife was complaining her knees hurt.

During the ride at no time was I cold, in fact the coldest I was was when I got home and put the bikes away in the shed, it only took 10 minutes but I was bloody frozen.

With the forecast of more snow I was not expecting to ride on Sunday, but the forecasted wind and snow were not to be seen, it certainly was not as cold as the previous day so I opted for a short ride over the local heath. While it is a shorter ride than the previous days ride, it is certainly not flat ride though. There one particular hill which I can normally complete in the saddle, but not today, not when the entire path is covered in 3″ thick ice, so that was a careful walk along its edges. One of the hills I enjoy riding down was also covered in ice from top to bottom with the exception of about 20ft section half way down so again that was another little walk. The rest of the ride was made up of riding through rutted frozen paths and carefully riding over large creaking frozen puddles. I made it safely home without damage to me or the bike, so hopefully the 28 miles of riding will help with tomorrow weigh in.

As I mentioned earlier it was my birthday yesterday, the ripe old age of 50 and I had this thought as I was riding across Parley Common, how many 50 year old’s come out on there birthday in minus 6 degree temperature and rides and bike across there local heathland, answer on a postcard please.

Decided that I will carry an old camera with me when I go out riding, while the mobile phone has a camera it is not the best, I have an old point and shoot digital which I will take with me in future. Would like to carry my SLR but can’t risk damaging it if I fall off.

Fire Trail through the trees

Path across Canford Heath

My bike having a scenic rest

Well it was weigh in night tonight and for once it went my favour, half pound off, not a great amount but then again it has been Xmas holiday period and it is not like I did not have my (small) share of the goodies, looks like all that cycling may have helped.

So I have started the new year going in the right direction, I have set my first target 17st 7lb by the May 3rd weigh-in. I make that 17 weeks (or weigh-ins) so I need to average over a pound a week weight loss between now and the 3rd to hit my target, keep your fingers crossed.

I had intended to ride my first organised meeting this coming Saturday (my birthday) but with the impending weather I am not so sure, it is only a short route so the distance is not a problem but I have never ridden the area so I am not sure what the terrain will be like. I think this may be a last minute call on Friday night.

Not the most inspirational of titles but it was the best I could do

So there I was Jan 1st 2010 having my breakfast when I came across a news story on Bike Radar web site about a guy called Clive Chapman, I won’t cover the story here but suffice to say he is the same size as me. Having read his story and visited his blog I found that there are quite a few of us large guys around returning to cycling. A few days earlier I had come across Frank Kinlans web site, he has lost over 7 stone which he achieved with the help of cycling (and diet as well).

These two site got me thinking, my weight loss is not moving a long as well as I wanted (and yes I know that is down to me), and with the thought that I wanted to do something with this blog I decided that I would use this blog to catalogue my weight loss and my bike riding and hopefully this would spur me along. To be perfectly honest I had kept by diet not secret but quiet, although those around me at work had noticed the slightly slimmer me. Not sure why I had kept my diet quiet but sticking it on this blog is making it public and if it helps me lose weight I am not going to argue.

So lets back up a couple of days, I had intended to do as much cycling over the Christmas and New Year holidays as I could, it was my intention to use the cycling to help balance out the extra intake of food over Christmas. Not a perfect system by any means but I wanted to ensure that I did not have a weight gain over Christmas like I had last year. Well I have up to and including today, I ridden on 6 of the 10 days and totalled 84.3 miles and I still intend to ride again tomorrow although this is likely to be a short ride as I normally have wife and son with me. On two of the days I did not ride I went for a walk and totalled 13 miles so I think the exercise side of things is working. I tired to keep my intake of food down, in part this failed as at my last weigh in night I had gained weight.

While Clive is fortunately enough to be able to ride to work I can’t, 240 mile round trip does not make for a good cycle ride, well not at the speed I cycle anyway. So my riding is done over the weekends. In the summer months I intend to get out and do so evening rides which I can’t do at the moments as I have not got any decent lights.

Well I am going to end on a funny, you see I am not the only large arse on my local cycling trail, but at least I don’t block the entire path

Apparently they are Long Horn Shetland Cattle, they are used to control the heathland. They can seem a little imposing stood in the middle of the track and there is you and your mountain bike trying to get past!

First a happy new year to you all, I hope the coming year offers you everything you want and treats you well.

Over the past few week I have been thinking that something was needed on this web site\blog. It has been wandering across topics for nearly 7 months just jumping on and off any thoughts I had at the time. But certainly over the last 3 months my interest in cycling and my weight loss has been gaining a bigger share of my writing. So I have decided that I am going to move the focus of this blog (I am now calling it a blog rather than a web site) to my diet and things connected to my diet like my mountain bike riding.

The reason I have decide to head in this direction is because I came across two web site\blogs in the last couple of days, both are about guys who were\are larger than me that have returned to cycling as part of their battle to regain a healthy life style. One the guys has lost over 7st in weight and the other the guy has lost 3 stone. The blogs in question are:

The Massive MTBer

Frank Kinlan

Both these guys are doing or have done exactly what I need to do and from their blogs I have found other who are in exactly the same situation as me. So I am hoping that by focusing this blog on me and my diet it will help me along my route to a healthy life and in doing so, if it helps you then all the better.

I am not intending any major changes to the site, it will for the time being maintain the same layout. I will just tweak a few bit to reflect the change of emphasis the blog will now have.

So before I go to far lets just recap, July 2008 I was at the doctors as I had gout in the knuckle joint of my big toe. The doctor had sent me to have a blood test and I was back to get the results. I had been sat in the doctors chair several time before and told that I should lose weight and if I did not I could become a diabetic, it did not really seem to affect me, it might happen to others but not me. Well the prognosis of the blood test was yes it was gout, but it was the next bit that struck me. While I did not have diabetes the blood test showed signs that I had started to move toward having diabetes, this was my last warning. It was enough to wake me up, I signed up to Slimming World. On my first weigh in I tipped the scales at 21st 9lb, seriously overweight. At my last weigh in I was 19st, I have been down to 18st 9lbs but have slipped over the Christmas period.

Well that is enough from me at the moment, I shall hopefully follow up with more tomorrow and then see where we go from there.