Boom - Century

It stung, but I got it done:

 

 

Getting up super early was key. It's getting hot by 9am

The fortnighly summary that's actually fortnighly

 Last 2 weeks summary:

 Distance: 379 Km (longest ride 78 Km)

 # of Rides: 10 rides

Weight: 94.2 Kg

Solid fortnight this. Not so much for the number of rides, rather the Km. Best fortnight on the bike this whole journey.

And the weight continues to shift. The CSIRO diet might suck, but it works. Long while since I've gotten below 96 kilos. 90 looks within reach rather than a pipedream.

Must go try a Castle Hill. Dropping 9 kilos should knock off 60 seconds plus off my climb time.

A Call of the Card

4 months out from the Alpine Classic now. Good a time as any as to see how this whole journey is tracking.

So in July 2021, when I kicked off the blog, I weighed in at 103 kilos and had ridden a total of 36100 km. At last weight in I was 96 kegs and had ridden and my career total is 42200 km. For those doing the maths, that's 6100 km ridden (435 km a month) and a stone of weight lost.

I'm also riding hard and am neck deep in the CSIRO diet at the moment. I'd like to think I'll lose at least another 6 kilos and rack up another 2500 km by the Alpine.

I am though going to have to shift to Zwifting in the not too distant future. It's not crazy hot at this stage, but it's gotten a bunch hotter in a short space if time up here. Riding after 9am has become rather unpleasant. 

I'm also yet to punch out a longer day on the bike than 80 km. I need to get a 100 out very soon, and continue to build on that. I am though really struggling with saddle soreness at the moment. Hopefully I'll work though that. 

So by lots of measures things are going well: down a stone in weight, and this is already my biggest year on the bike since 2018 (I've done 3900 km this year), and I'm on track to do perhaps my biggest year on the bike ever (5800 km in 2018). I am though still concerned. It worries me that I'm struggling to do 100 km rides, and I'm still not that far under the century in weight. I don't like forward booking things like kilometers or kilos. They are easy to say & write about, harder to deliver.

Fortnighly update: Altitude Training

Last 2 weeks summary:

Distance: 167 Km (longest ride 62.5 Km)  

# of Rides: 5 rides

 Weight: 96.0 Kg

 

Ok, so it wasn't a big fortnight on the bike. Hardcore altitude training. Which is another way of saying I sodded off to the snow for a few days.

So as you can see, I actually got a bit of snowshoeing in. T'was good fun and a decent bit of exercise. But as a non-skier/boarder, I think the key for me was keeping clear of the après set, and the booze & food that comes with it. Mission accomplished.

Snow trips aside, the big news of this fortnight was my weight. Down to 96 kegs. The CSIRO diet is working. Excellent outcome given I basically had to park the diet while I was away (it's too damn hard to do on the road).

The CSIRO diet is a bit shit really. Brekky is OK, lunches are decent, dinners are sad. But for 12 weeks, I can hang with it, especially if I start peeling the weight off.

Hopefully with a full fortnight on CSIRO and a solid fortnight on the bike, I'll be even happier with the scales come next post.

Another tri-weekly "fortnighly" update

Last 3 weeks summary:

 Distance: 453 Km (longest ride 70 Km)

 # of Rides: 16 rides

 Weight: 98.7 Kg

Not quite the 7 rides a week. Life has gotten in the way at times, as it can do. Hey I’m riding a Gran Fondo here, not riding pro-conti.

 I have though just yesterday decided to take my standard weekday rides from a 20-22 Km ride to more a 28-30 Km ride. Not a big jump, but it’ll add up to another 30-40 odd km a week. I’m also finding on my longer Saturday rides that everything is starting to hurt a bit from about 25 Ks in (and that’s made the push for 100 hard). Hopefully ratcheting up my standard week day distance might help address that.

I’ve just sacked the no sugar diet. I started it mid July, and come end of August I’m still around the 99 kilo mark. Y YOU NO MOVE SCALES???  Granted I had a week in Sydney which I was back on a ”normal” diet, but outside of that I stuck to the no sugar thing pretty damn tight for the 6 weeks (not to mention I punched out some solid miles on the bike) and had bugger all to show for it (I've bounced around 98/99 - there's no sense it's trending anywhere good). I’m thinking the fact that I rarely drink and we eat a lot at home cooking from scratch meant it wasn’t that big a shift at a physiological level. F#&%$@$k. I thought/hoped no sugar was my ticket to success.

 

So as of yesterday I’m on the CSIRO Total Wellbeing Diet. There’s some decent science behind it – it’s a low carb, high GI, low energy affair, but they also crank up the protein to try keep you full (and the high GI helps on that regard as well). It’s clearly been designed by scientists rather than chefs though. The meals look nice, but are pretty damn bland (at least so far). A mere 83 days of the diet left to get through……..

 I was starting to panic a little – still haven’t done a century ride (keeping in mind I'm doing the 200 at AC), still racking up close to a century on the scales. I do though need to remember the Alpine Classic is still 5 months away. Getting closer, but it’s not tomorrow either. 

The Triweekly Fortnighly update

Last 3 weeks summary:

Distance: 526 Km (longest ride 79 Km)

# of Rides: 17 rides 

Weight: 98.3 Kg

Pretty good 3 weeks that. 13 Km improvement on my longest ride, and this most recent week I punched out 193 Km. Would like to try a century ride (100 Km) in the next two weekends.

Other good news is the scales have started to shift. Runners often say "you can't outrun your spoon" and I guess that's true of cycling. Adjusting to sugar free sucked hard for a week (it's in fucking everything), but I now feel reasonably adjusted.

Fortnighly Update: Take it to Defcon4

Last fortnight Summary:

Distance: 109 Km (longest ride 33 Km)

# of Rides: 5 rides 

Weight: 99.5 Kg

Pretty sickly fortnight on the bike, because I was pretty sickly. That cold/flu thing gripped on hard. Only now am I feeling back to full health (and I'm still doing the odd cough). Should be back to daily rides and longer weekend hitouts.

I have though decided to bite the bullet on the dietary front, and go to a no sugar diet. That basically means no processed foods & no alcohol. It catches a lot of foods I regularly eat - fruit flavoured yoghurts, cereals, hot chocolates, pre made pasta & curry sauces, etc. It's quite amazing how many foods contain sugar.  It also takes out Pepsi Max/Coke No Sugar. It's thought the artificial sweeteners they contain trigger a lot of the same (bad) pathways that sugar does.  

Let's see if that shifts the scales. Hope it does, because I'm a massive 25 hours into no sugar diet, and it's hard.