A Little Help From Your Friends

I have posted about the power of sharing your goals before, here's the link.

Here are a couple of more examples.

2000 miles this year

I'm getting close to doing 2000 miles this year, last year I managed 1260, so it will be a massive achievement.
However with work and family commitments it is looking difficult to get out enough.
But I decided to give it a go and mentioned it to friends and family, who have all been veey supportive.
The extra support and the fact that it's not a secret any more meant I managed to do nearly 30 miles in the last couple of days.
At the time of posting I still have 135 miles go but I'm confident I will do it.

My Fitness Pal

This the app I use to track my calories.
I've used it for over a year and it has helped. However I had slacked off a bit, and because I wasn't watching what I was eating, it was a bit out of control.

A couple of weeks ago I got a notification that Toby, who writes the www.fatcyclerider.co.uk blog about how he has lost an impressive amount of weight, was now following me.
Therefore I had to start using it again, and it has helped to me to improve my diet again.

If you are using the app feel free to follow me, user name DBuckney, and we'll get there together.

Rubbish week eating rubbish food

I don't claim to have the best diet in the world, I like a treat every now and then, but this week there have been too many treats.

According to the MyFitnessPal app that I use, I'm 2900 calories over my weekly target, which is shocking seeing as I was 1959 calories under the week before.

I haven't been able to cycle into work once this week, and only went to the gym once so really I should eat less. I don't know why but if I don't exercise I seem to just want to eat rubbish food all the time.

I did have fairly genuine excuses for not cycling into work, but I could have found more time to go to the gym at work more often. A lot of people go at lunch time, which would be perfect, apart from the fact that I do sweat a lot for a fat bloke, and it is uncomfortable for the next hour. So I prefer to go straight after work, but energy levels can be quite low at that time of day.

The main reason I didn't cycle into work a couple of times was that my batteries had run out on my torch, which meant that I couldn't even go out cycling in the evening.
I've got some nice new rechargeable ones now, so that's another excuse out the window.

This lack of cycling has also effected my chances of hitting 2000 miles for the year.
I'm currently on 1838, having done 68 miles this month. It should have been more as that is only 2 rides.
There are 3 more weekends this month, so it is still possible.

200 miles in a month!

This is the second month that I've managed to do over 200 miles, which I'm really pleased with seeing as my target was only 132 miles a month.
I'm still gutted about only doing 81 miles in May, but I have made up for it by pushing my average up to 161 miles a month.

I did go out for my second ride with Fareham Wheelers at the start of the month. I was extra keen and cycled the 8 miles out to Wickham rather than drive. This, with the ride home took the total distance to 49.8 miles. My bike computer showed over 50, but when I checked Strava later it showed only 49.8. If I had known I would gone round the block to hit the 50 miles mark.

It was a nice ride out, I went with the "Social" group, but some of the hills weren't that social. But is was great to find some new routes and get the experience of cycling in a group. Drafting or sitting close behind someone makes a massive difference, you just get pulled along without much effort.

I've also managed to get Haribo Joe back out on his bike a couple of times this month, which was great. One of the rides was with two other friends, Chris and Paul who are also just getting back into cycling. The plan was to make it a regular ride, but it has only happened the once so far, wrong time of the year to be starting things like that.

I keep looking at my total figure of 1770 and wondering if hitting the 2000 mark will be possible this year. It would mean doing my second highest total for a month, in probably the worst month of the year, bad weather, going away for Christmas and any other excuse I can think of. 

It might be the wrong attitude but I often prefer not to set massive targets, because I prefer to hit my targets. This limiting belief, as they call it, is probably holding me back in a lot of areas, so it is something I need to think about.

As always please feel free to leave any comments or suggestions that you think might help me or other readers.

Still on track!

 

Its been a while since my last update, but I'm glad to report that I'm smashing last year figures.

There has only been one month, May, where I didn't hit my monthly goal of 132 miles but that was down to my dodgy knee keeping me off the bike for a few weeks.

But my monthly average is at 157 miles, which I'm pleased about.

 

A lot of the extra miles have been cycling to my new job, it's about 4 to 6 miles depending upon which route I take. During the summer I can't think of a better way to end a day at work than a nice bike ride with part of it along the coast.

It wasn't so nice last week when it was dark and I had a basic light. There are two types of lights, see and be seen.

I had a "be seen" light and I was confident other cars could see me, but it was a bit of guess work along some of the country lanes I go down.

Since then I have borrowed Haribo Joe's Hope Vision One light and it makes a massive difference, I could see where I was going.

 

I have been for a couple of rides with the local cycling club www.fareham-wheelers.org.uk/ which was really good. Nice to find some new routes and get the experience of riding in a group, which is quite daunting. There are usually only about 12 people in a group, so you have to be careful about what other riders are doing but you do get dragged along at a good speed.

 

I used to go to the doctors to get weighed, but I haven't been for a few months, but I'm confident that I'm still losing weight, or maybe my clothes have just got that little bit bigger.

I've almost reached the worst part of losing weight where I need to go shopping for new clothes, can't think of anything worse.

 

It is getting harder to get out due to the weather but I just need to man up and deal with the rain, you can only get so wet.

A Few Of My Favourite Things

Last Monday I had a lovely day off work going for a bike ride with my daughter and then a pub lunch with my wife.
Just missing a few rain drops on roses and whiskers on kittens.

The bike ride was along the Hayling Billy which is an old railway line down the side of Hayling Island.
It's pretty flat but not suitable for road tyres so I had to go on my brother in law's bike.

Most of the way you get lovely views of Langstone Harbour. It is possible to cycle all the way around the harbour, you need to get the ferry across to Eastney, and back up a cycle path along the Eastern Road. I think it is about 15 miles.

We've done it before where we've cycled all the way to the bottom of the Island, had lunch at a pub on the beach and cycled back, about 10 miles in total.

Unfortunately Mrs B's knee was playing up so she waited on the beach for us with our dog. So Lilly and I only went as far as the bmx track, where I had to have a go over a few of the jumps.
Heavy bloke on a heavy bike doesn't equal much air.

We then cycled back, found the wife and drove to The Royal Oak for fish and chips in the garden.

On the bike ride I said to Lilly "I love spending time with you and I love cycling, so I'm having a great day".

She replied "I love spending time with you and I don't mind cycling".

We're getting there!

Blissford Hill Smashed!

I completed the The New Forest Rattler last weekend, which includes the 25% Blissford Hill aka The Wall!



Apparently registration starts at 7:00 with the first groups of riders setting off at 8:30. So when Haribo Joe and myself arrived just just after 8 we were surprised to be "stuck" behind a load of cyclist. So we're not sure when they set riders off.

Anyway we went through the simple registration process, deciding to miss out on the free porridge, instead opting for the festival experience of the dreaded portaloo. It wasn't to bad, but I should have just waited and used a bush.

So we lined up, hoping the slight drizzle was going to pass, planning on beating our time of 3:38 for the 47 miles.

I suddenly realised that my Strava wasn't working and stupidly crossed the start line, therefore starting my official time. I should have held back and gone with the next bunch, rather than setting off and wasting valuable minutes at the side of the road getting it sorted.

Eventually we got going.

The course is described as being fairly flat, which it is, once you get up to the flat bit. To start with there are a few little hills to wake up your legs.

It is a nice route, mostly on pretty quiet roads. But you need to watch out for the wildlife, horses, donkeys, cows and this year pigs.

Once again there was a well stocked feed station, where I tried to get my monies worth of jelly beans and flapjack.

We were setting a good pace, taking it in turns to lead, even passing other cyclists, which is always nice. You can see on my strava that it was PR's all the way for the first half.

Then things turned sour for Joe.

The major surgery earlier in the year and resulting lack of time in the saddle caught up with him and he started to struggle.
The course didn't help. It had been fairly sheltered, but then goes across the top of the New Forest, which is open, and there was an eternal head wind.
No cyclist likes a head wind, especially larger framed gentleman like Joe and myself. We're not the most aerodynamic shape on a bike.
A road, with a slight downwards gradient, that we should have cruised along, suddenly became soul destroying. And it just kept on going.

To make matters even worse, Joe's chain came off.

Eventually we made it out of the New Forest and got some shelter from the wind and started going down hill.

But what goes down must go up.

Blissford Hell!

It's only a very short hill, but at 25% and after 42 miles it is nasty.

But I made it up in one go this year.

After that it is quite an easy couple of miles to the finish, just dodging more wildlife.
We snuck in just under 4 hours.

At the end you get a certificate and a food voucher for the bbq, but there was a massive queue so we just grabbed a couple of bananas and drove home.

It is a great sportive, really well organised, just as good as the Wiggle events, but on a smaller more relaxed scale.

Hills and Head Winds.....

This basically how it felt all the way around the Mega Meon Sportive

Haribo Joe, my brother Pete and I arrived at South Downs College just before 8. It was very well organised, quick check in etc. We even got a High5 energy pack worth £12, not bad when the entry fee was £18.

We then set off in a group of about 20 riders for 55 miles up and over the South Downs.

Almost straight away we were onto nice quiet roads which was pretty much how it stayed for most of the route.

It started off fairly flat to start with, but once past Hambledon you've got the long, steady climb up to the Bat and Ball pub. This is the start of the South Downs, so no more flat roads.

The feed stop was at East Meon at a church hall. Well stocked as you would expect, I was asked to move away from the jelly beans.

The feed station is well placed, just before one of the hardest climbs up to the top of Old Winchester Hill.
But the views made it worthwhile.

We were all working well as a team, every now and then letting Pete have a rest at the back.
We were also calling out if junctions were clear or not, apart from one junction where I was sure I heard Joe call out "Clear........sort of"
Luckily I checked for myself and saw the massive Land Rover bearing down on me. It was the first time I've had to unclip in an emergency.

Just after we saw the 10km to go marker I heard a strange noise but everything felt ok. A few minutes later I heard a tapping noise so stopped to check and realised I had broken a spoke.

This can be game over.

Luckily Pete managed to do enough for me to get me going. So I shot off more concerned about getting to the finish line than my team mates.

As I was steaming up to the top of Portsdown Hill my brother just glided along side me, had a quick chat and then reminded me that he is my older brother by powering away from me up the hill.

About a mile from the finish we turned left and for the first time got a tail wind.

We finished in 5 hours 18, a bit slow but we finished and enjoyed it.

Mega Meon Sportive

It's been a busy month, cycling to my new job and then getting over gout in both feet and one hand. But it's all good now.

The Mega Meon Sportive is my next challenge, this Sunday.

I'm doing the "short" course, which at 55 miles will be my longest ride to date. But it is lumpy with 3000 feet of climbing.

I'm doing it with Haribo Joe and my brother Pete, so will be fun.

With my many excuses, dodgy knee and gout I haven't done as much training as I would have liked, but I'm going to take my time and enjoy it.

Complete rather than compete!

I'll do a full write up after the event.

Back on Track!

 

Yes, I'm back on track, I did 137 miles in June, my target is 130. It should have been more as I was due to go out for a ride with Haribo Joe today but my gout as flared up again, so I've had to sit and watch the Tour de France.

 

This time last year I had only done 420 miles, so nearly double that so far this year.

 

A lot of the miles this month are due to the new job which I can cycle to. It's only 4.5 miles, but they all count.

I take the shortest route in the morning, but I will do different routes home taking in a hill or two, or do some sprintervals training.

 

Sprintervals or HIIT training involves cycling hard out for a short set time period and then easing off for a rest period. I keep it simple by doing a minute on and a minute off, but you can vary it.

The main reasons I do them is to get me used to cycling faster, and also it burns more calories than steady cycling.

 

This month I need to get in some more hills, because at the end of the month I'm doing The Wiggle Mega Meon Sportive with Haribo Joe and my brother Pete. We're doing the "short" course which is only 55 miles, which will be my longest ride, but there will be 3000 feet of climbing, such fun.

 

 



May X!

May is the first month that I haven't hit my monthly of 130 miles. (hence not updating this blog earlier in the month)

The main reason was my swollen knee which meant I couldn't really cycle for three weekends.

On a plus note my average monthly distance is still over the 130 mile mark.

June has started off slowly, camping trips and other excuses, but I have started a new job which I can cycle to.
It is 6 miles each way, so far I have cycled in twice this week, a great way to start and finish the day.

DIY
I've had a strange knocking noise from somewhere on the bike, so I decided to do a bit of maintenance.
I started with the obvious and cleaned and greased my bottom bracket and pedals, which didn't sort it out.
So after a bit of research I tightened every bolt I could find, which worked. I think the noise was from either the seat post or the headset.

Whatever it was I'm glad I did the basic maintenance, it saved me a few quid and made a difference to the feel of the bike.

I do feel sorry for bike shops because I have little or no experience, but after a few hours on YouTube I managed to do a pretty good job.

Bloody Typical!

Amazing weather for a Bank Holiday weekend and I was laid up with a sore knee.
Read about my sore knee here.

To make matters worse, I wake up Tuesday morning to the sound of rain, but hardly any pain in my knee.
The stretches and foam roller have worked.

Gutted that I missed out on a few rides, and also I couldn't do much with my family because of the pain.
But pleased that the pain is over.

What have I learnt?

I want to do more and more cycling, and to do this I need to look after my body, especially as I've got previous rugby injuries to deal with.
Therefore I will be starting a stretching and strengthening program to try to prevent the injuries, rather than fixing them when they happen.
The main focus will be building up my core strength and my stabilizing muscles in my ankles, knees and hips, I've got a wobble board somewhere in my shed.

Any tips, advice or good websites to check out will always be welcome.

My New Best Friend!

This is a picture of my new foam roller I got from Absolute Running in Gosport.

Unleash Hell

You lie on it in all different positions and roll backwards and forwards on it, and when you find a particularly painful spot, you rock back and forwards on that spot.
Those lumps are designed to inflict even more pain.
I'm reliably informed that it is meant to hurt a lot.

It has worked though, my hip/knee feels a lot better.

Unfortunately, I've been hobbling around so much that my ankle is a mess now.

I'm going to try going for an easy bike ride soon as I'm bored of being injured.

Spot The Difference?

This is meant to show how swollen my left knee is, which has hampered my cycling this week.

It is an old condition relating to my iliotibial band which pulls my knee cap off to one-side.
I also twisted my pelvis many years ago playing rugby, so there are lots of issues.
Being a driving instructor doesn't help either as I'm stuck in one position for too long.

It happens quite often, but usually I hobble upstairs, do a couple of stretches and its right by the morning.
Other times cycling seems to help loosen everything up.

But not this time!
Nothing seems to be working.
At the weekend it was so difficult to get comfortable at all, day or night, that when I was lying on the floor doing some stretches, I must have got comfortable because I fell asleep under a table.

The main problem is that I'm reactive when it comes to my stretching, only starting when I feel the pain.
As I'm trying to do more and more cycling it needs to become part of my training regime to try to prevent the problems, rather than just cure them.
I know it will save me a lot of time and pain.

I've heard about rollers that you lie on, but I've never used one. Do they work, which one is best?

April - tick!

4th month in a row hitting my monthly target of 130 miles. I've just gone over 600 miles for the year. This time last year I had only done 263 miles.

Highlights of the month were completing the Meon Valley Riser in under 4 hours 10 which was the bronze standard. You can read the write up here.

The second highlight was making it up Harvesting Lane, which goes up Butser Hill. I had to walk up it during The Riser, so it was great to be able to tackle it again and beat it. Check it out here.

The third highlight was getting Haribo Joe back out on his bike, first time since his operation, it's good to have him back.

I'm doing well with my cycling goals, but my weight loss has slowed down a bit. But I'm refocused on that part as I know losing the weight will help with those hills. I like to think that I eat a pretty healthy diet, fresh veg etc, but portion size is still my problem.

No Walking This Time!

Just made it up Harvesting Lane, which goes up Butser Hill.

It is the hill I had to walk up on The Riser at the start of the month.

According to Strava it is over 20% at parts.

It was a lovely ride, took my time and enjoyed the scenery, instead of worrying about times.
Ended up doing a reasonable time..

Here are a couple of before and after shots.



Made it!

Evil!

And here's the Strava bit.

The Next Challenge

The Wiggle Mega Meon Sportive

This is the next sportive I've signed up for at the end of July.

I'm doing the "short" course, which is 55 miles up and over the South Downs.
It is a similar course to The Riser so it will be lumpy.

My target is to do it in under 4 and 1/2 hours, which is an average of 12mph, excluding stops.
My average for the Riser was 12.2mph, so if I can lose a good chunk of weight it should be achievable.
Best I get training!

All Rise

So the big day had finally arrived! I was going to tackle the 47 mile route of the Meon Valley Riser.

Here's a link to the route.
Registration starts at 7 o'clock with riders setting off at 8:30 in groups of about 20 every couple of minutes.
My plan was to cycle the 5 miles to the start as a warm up, as the first of many hills is within the first mile.
I wanted to get there about 8:30, so I wouldn't be hanging around too long.

Not sure what happened but I didn't get there till after 9. At least no hanging around as there was only a handful of riders left.

The ride over had been tough, very heavy legs. I hadn't slept well for the last couple of nights, so had taken a sleep aid, which worked, but maybe stayed in my system too long.

Yes, the excuses are coming thick and fast.

So I set off on my own, aiming to complete the route in under 4 hours, which I had worked out to be about 12mph which I knew I could do.

It was a lovely day, and a great route through stunning scenery. Unfortunately there are also a lot of hills, but it is called The Riser.
I'm sorry to admit it, but I had to walk up one hill, first time in ages.

Still not sure what was wrong but I did find it hard going. I tried to get out the saddle at about 30 miles, but felt my legs cramping up. Not good when you know, you've got 17 miles to go, and Crooked Walk Lane to get up.

So it suddenly went from going for a time, to just finishing. I had to stop every few miles to stretch.

I had planned to cycle home, but I had to phoned Kate to come and collect me from the finish.

Somehow I managed to make it up the last climb, Crooked Walk Lane, but nearly a minute slower than my previous time. It is downhill from there to the finish.

It was great as I got to end to see Kate cheering me on.
I then checked my time, 4:07.
Missed the 4 hour mark, but just inside the bronze standard of 4 hours 10, which I'm pleased with.

I then had a nice massage, all part of event, which helped sort out my legs.

It is a great sportive, really well organised. You can get porridge at the start and a baked potato at the end. There was a well stocked feed station half way round, with drinks, bananas and flapjacks.

The organisers run another sportive, the New Forest Rattler in August. I did it last year, and once again it was a great day. I'm planning to do it again this year, hope to see you there.

Overall I'm a bit disappointed with my performance. I wanted to do better, I wanted to enjoy it more.
But I am still over 18 stone, and my time was faster than a lot of people, so I should be pleased.
"Could do better" as my school report used to say.

I've started making plans to tackle the hill I had to walk up, I will do it next time!

Why Do I Go Cycling?

This is what I was asking myself as I set off on a ride yesterday.

I set off with heavy legs, unsure where to go, but feeling I needed a good ride with The Riser looming.

I think I've been focusing too much on The Riser, making sure I got PR's on Strava every time I went out.

But yesterday I changed all that and just went out for a ride, with no real route in mind, just wondering where that road led to, and then finding out.

Not sure how it happened but I went out for my second longest ride of the year, in an impressive time.

Two long rides, and a couple of cheeky mid-week rides meant that I smashed my monthly target of 130 miles. I finished on 188 miles.

I will keep on using Strava to monitor my progress, but also remember to enjoy my rides.

3 Tips To Help You Hit More Of Your Goals!

Have you ever set yourself a goal and hit it?

Have you ever set yourself a goal and missed it?

If like me you answered yes to both questions you're probably wondering why you hit some goals but not all of them.

Here are 3 tips that helped me to hit my goal to lose 2 stone last year.

Own the goal!

I've always known that I should lose weight, but never really wanted to. It was society's goal, not mine.
Thanks to cycling now I want to lose weight so I can enjoy my cycling more, especially those hills.
It has become my goal!

Therefore make sure it is your goal, not someone else's, or you will always be struggling to hit it.

Don't just think it. Ink it

"Write it down. Written goals have a way of transforming wishes into wants; cant's into cans; dreams into plans and plans into reality.
Don't just think it. Ink it!"


It is important to write down your goals and keep referring to them, ideally read them out aloud before you go to sleep and then when you wake up.

Writing out your goals is a massive subject, so do some research.
I got a free CD from this site a couple if years ago which helped. Not sure if its still the same one on there.

Share your goals and your progress!

This is part of the reason I am writing this blog, to keep me motivated.

It has helped!
I've set myself a monthly target of 130 miles. Towards the end of January I was on 119 miles, this is more than I averaged last year, so pretty good.
However I didn't want to update my blog saying I has missed the mark by 11 miles.
So I moved a few lessons around so I could go out for another ride on Monday morning, and hit 132 miles!
It felt great updating the blog, saying I had hit my first goal.

I hope this helps you hit more of your goals, whatever they might be.
Let me know how you get on.

February - Tick!

Hit my monthly goal again!

Did some nice rides this month.

Fecking Hills
This is a new route I dreamt up, up and over Portsdown Hill 5 times.
Hills are a real problem for me at the moment due to my weight, so I need to work at them.
The weight helps coming down though.

Sibling Rivalry
Went out for a nice ride with Pete, my older brother, who does a lot more cycling than me.
It was good because I pushed myself that little bit more than if I had been on my own to try to beat him.
I now know that I can, and need to, push myself harder to keep improving!
I do think he was being polite though, telling me he was just as tired as I was.

Round the Harbours
Doing this ride in under 3 hours was one of my goals for the year. I did it in 2 hours 48.
Here's the full write up.


So, overall pleased with the month.
Got my next weigh-in in a couple of weeks.
Not sure what to expect.
I think I've been good with my eating, but haven't been using MyFitnessPal as much as I should, starting again today.
I think I need to get some scales to get more regular feedback, so I can look at changing things if need be.

Thanks for reading.
If you're on a similar journey, let me know how you're getting on.

First Goal Hit!

The Round the Harbours Ride is a BHF charity ride that I've done for the last three years, and raised a bit of money for a good cause.

It is a nice 32 mile route covering Fareham, Gosport, Southsea, Havant and a trip over Portsdown Hill.

You have to get the Gosport ferry, which is quite special, but can effect your time if you just miss one.

You can get the Hayling ferry over to Hayling Island and go up the Hayling Billy, which is an old railway track, but not suitable for road tyres. The alternative route is up the Eastern Road

I'm not able to do it again this year as it clashes with a camping trip.

In 2010 I did a bit of training and got round in 3 hours 30.
In 2011, with less training I struggled round in 3 hours 48.
Last year I did it with Joe in 3 hours 13. My target had been 3:12 but I had to get my bike fixed half way round.

This year one of my goals was to get round in under 3 hours.

Today I went round in 2 hours 48!

Well chuffed!

A Moment Of Madness?

Is it possible to cycle from London to Brussels?

I'll let you know in July.

I've signed up for a charity bike ride "Waterloo to Waterloo" at the end of June.

Waterloo to Waterloo bike ride

It's about 70 miles a day over 3 days.

It's to raise money for British Heart Foundation which is a great cause. I will be setting up a page so you can sponsor me, watch this space.

If you are a captain of industry, and looking to raise your company's profile, we will be looking for sponsors, let me know and I'll get someone to give you a call.

Fort Nelson PR!

Just set a new PR on my Fort Nelson route, 56:24!

The Fort Nelson route is the first ride I did with Joe, 25th February 2012, at the start of my journey from fat to fit. It is where the photo of me sitting down was taken. It would have been great to do the ride again with Joe this month, and get him to take another photo to see how much I've changed shape, but Joe is in hospital at the moment and will be off the bike for a day or two!

My time for the first ride was 1 hour 22, and that is just cycling time, the total time was over 1 hour 45. I didn't realise I spent so long recovering at the top of the hill.

I am still amazed about how far I've come. A year ago I had to spend 20 minutes at the top of a hill recovering, now 12 miles is a short ride. I still struggle up the hill, but now I can keep going when I get to the top.

Last year I chose this route as our first ride as I knew Joe was cycling to and from work a couple of times a week so I wanted a route that he might find a bit of a challenge, so that he would be happy to be my cycling buddy.
He didn't find it as much of a challenge as I did, and I wasn't happy about this, which has motivated me to work harder at getting fitter and losing weight so I could keep up with him.
I need to thank Joe for sticking with me, I couldn't have done what I've done with out his support.
Hope he gets well soon.

One of my targets this year is to get the time under 55 minutes.
Before today my best time was 58 minutes, so I'm pleased with today's time, but still got a lot of work to do!

January - tick!

A good start to the year, monthly target hit, despite not be able to go out on longer rides for two weekends due to weather and work.

Top Tip - share your goals and targets with someone!

Writing this blog forced me to do an extra ride to hit the target, I didn't want to let you know that I had missed the target by 11 miles.

I did a 25 and a 30 mile ride but to be ready for the Meon Riser I need to up the mileage.
I need to do a couple of 35-40 mile rides this month, and then push it to over 40 miles next month, plus a lot of hills.

Come and join me......

I've just signed up for the Meon Valley Riser bike ride.  www.meonvalleyriser.co.uk/

I was planning to do it with Haribo Joe. but unfortunately Joe won't be able to make it this year.

So I was wondering if anyone else is interested in joining me for a "pleaseant" Sunday morning ride around the beautiful Meon Valey on April 7th.

Come on, don't be shy.

Goals For 2013

Weight

"At the end of 2013 I weigh less than 99kg.
This will help me get more out of my cycling.
I have got to this weight by cycling more than last year and by eating healthy amounts of healthy food".

This is my "mission statement" for 2013.
It is important to write down your goals in the present tense as though you've already achieved them.
Also write down why you want to hit these goals and what you're going to do to hit them.
Then share them with someone.
Keep looking at the mission statement, ideally every day.
This process will help you achieve you goals, Google "goal setting" for more information.

99kg is a great target to aim for.
It's about 44lbs weight loss so less than the "1lb a week" that the experts recommend, so it will be achievable.

I've always known that should lose weight but it was never important enough for me to do anything about it.

Enjoying my cycling is important to me and I know the less I weigh the more I will enjoy it, so losing weight is now important to me.


Cycling

My average miles per month last year was 117. This year I'm going to aim for 130 miles a month.

Complete Meon Riser in bronze time.

Complete New Forest Rattler. Either go for silver time on shorter route or bronze on longer route.

Do the Fort Nelson route in less than 55 minutes. Current best 58:34. This is the first ride I did with Joe in 1 hour 22.

Cycle the Wight. Ride round the Isle of Wight. A nice 70 mile journey back in time.

Do the Sultan Bus Route in under an hour. It is a 15 mile route which I often do, my best time is 1:04.

I was planning to do the BHF Round the Harbours bike ride for the 4th year, and go under 3 hours, last years time was 3:12. However I've got other plans that weekend, but I will still do the route sometime this year.

There's No Failure Just Feedback

Just had my weigh-in to see how "good" a Christmas I had.
I put on 1kg since November, now weighing 120kg. I was 134kg.

I had a target of 118kg at the end of the year, as I wanted to lose 12% of my body weight in 2012.

But as mentioned in previous posts I wasn't having a great December and relaxed over Christmas.
So I decided not to beat myself up that I hadn't hit this made up target, and look at the positives.

In twelve months I've lost 14kg which is 10% of my body weight and have got a lot fitter.
My cholesterol levels have come down from 5.9 to 5.2.
So I haven't failed.

Losing weight is like any journey, you can't be exactly sure the route your going to take.
For example if the road you were planning to take is flooded you don't go home, you take a diversion, and the journey takes a bit longer than expected.
December is my diversion, but it was a nice scenic route, so it wasn't all bad.

So what feedback can I take?

I can and will continue to lose weight, but the rate I lose it will vary.

I can't rely on exercise to lose weight, I've been eating more than my daily target on MyFitnessPal app knowing that a good bike ride will keep me in the green. The problem is when I don't exercise I still eat the same amount.

I've set the app for a 1lb a week loss, which is 2130 calories a day, which I'll stick to and the calories burnt on the bike are a bonus.

Thanks for your support, have a great year.

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