My Training With S.W.A.G.

For those of you that did not read my last post, the definition of S.W.A.G. is Scientific Wild A_ _ Guess. That is my training bible that allows me to listen, read and glean from this and that to make my body work better. The key to this plan is, My Body. Again, if you have been reading my mixed bag of thought wondering you have noticed that I am big on listening to your own body. Thought wondering, I like that much better than what is known around our house as senior moments. Wow, I’m having one now. Bottom line, can S.W.A.G. work?

April (ish) 2008 I was finishing physical therapy for my right wrist being fused together. My Therapist and workman comp. Dr. talked me into bicycling again. I was over weight turned into a couch potato, since I had been in a cast or brace for the better part of a year. I got back on my Trek mountain bike remembering the joy I had had about 13 years earlier. I got in 5 miles and was sucking some serious air wondering what the hell happened. 30 years of being a cop with crappy eating habits couldn’t have anything to do with it. The fact that I was getting ready to, per my son, enter my 6th decade absolutely did not have anything to do with it, I feel like when I was 30, 3 decades ago?

As for today and SWAG, it’s slow but it has worked. I have lost, as of this morning, right at 65 lbs. When I started my training log last August I was averaging 12.1 mph on 12 mile rides. Not very impressive! At the end of this July, I was averaging 13.1 mph averaging 25.6 mile rides. The biggest accomplishment, I believe, is that I have been open to ideas and learned from many different Medias. There are other things in my log that show this. My cadence, last August I averaged 52 rpm, a year later 70. Still not impressive but for someone that was that out of shape I’m still going and having fun, I’ll take it, I’m not planning to qualify for Le Tour De France.

Have I hit plateaus? Yes just like the professional plans but I experimented and broke through in a way that was far from being conventional. I had dropped right at 55 lbs up to May of this year, a pound a week very slow and almost discouraging but an excellent way to lose. From May through the end of July I rode 881.75 miles, remember 17 months ago I was breathing hard at 5 miles. Have I improved? My weight loss, +2, talk about frustration. Yes I have heard all of the stories and pep talks about muscle
weighs more than fat. I hate to break the news but as an x-body builder that only goes so far. Especially with a smart-alecky son that lets me know that a tattoo once was in the middle of my bicep and never wrapped around my arm. So what did I do that was unconventional? Timing is everything, we took a family road trip. A week long road trip then a week in Vegas, with the guys, to recuperate from the family road trip. Bad food way too much alcohol and no riding. I lost 5 lbs and broke the plateau, go figure. Since getting back from Vegas I have ridden 125.8 miles in 6 days, lost another 5, every body is different.

Do I have bad days, Oh Yea I do! Some days I wonder if I will get home or over that next incline but I always make it, kind of like life and that song. “Sometimes you’re the bug and sometimes you’re the windshield”. Do I have bad habits? Yes we all do but I’m trying to work on them. I really need to find someone to ride with that is a speck faster. I need to try to keep up with people rather than just let them go by and watch them get smaller. But most of all I need to start riding some 8 to 10,000 foot climbs. I can not climb for anything, but that fear of what your body will really do for you is always lingering in the back of my mind, sound familiar?

Ok enough of my senior moments, if you have stuck to the end of this, my condolences, but thank you. Now go outside and breathe real air!




Next Post; Changes I See on the Road

Ride Safe Out There, and Don’t Run Me Over (please)

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The Equipment Part One

Again please let me say I am not an expert bicyclist or feel that I know more than anyone else. I am a recreational rider that has no thoughts of competing and I’m riding for health and longevity. I ride when it is over fifty degrees and no wind or harsh weather. I say hi to all other riders which really annoys the “super stars” (more on them in a latter post) dressed in their team out fits and fly around slower riders with a presumed attitude of your in my way. Sorry I regress more on them latter back to the subject. After the miles I have put on over the last year I have become addicted and if I don’t ride for more than two days I am miserable. I decided to write this blog due the lack of concern for the true beginner that may not be in the shape they should be. My purpose is to hopefully help a few new riders from going through the hit and miss learning curve I have gone through. I also hope to make this a journal of improving my abilities over the next year. My previous mention of averaging 12.8 mph. and a cadence of 65 is an enormous improvement over last April. I now have the physical prows of the average out of shape old guy. If you are reading this, you must have a semi serious thought of starting to bike for recreation and/or health. Congratulations for doing research. When we all walk into a bike shop we are hypnotized with all of the bobbles and sparkly things to confuse us. Then we talk to a salesman and the old brain is spinning to the point of not hearing the words anymore. We are now officially in overload to the point of wondering what store we are in and why. Bike shops have an edge up on the department store bikes. Fittings, yearly tune ups, free adjustments and the employee’s get to know you and assist in your personal needs. You need to know where you will be riding, your fitness level and your goals. A good salesman is there to help you and get you on a bike you will use. Research before you are ready to buy and get in a general area of what you want. Try a couple of different shops find the personality and the people you feel comfortable with. The bike shop I have come to do the majority of business with is Bike Source and they are about twenty miles and five other shops away. There is a lot of information so I have decided to break it down into two posts.

The Bike; Mountain, Road, cross, hybrid, flat bar road, cruiser, electric so many choices and the wrong choice can be an expensive mistake that will sit in the garage. Try them all, there is an enormous difference between them all. Get a specific style down and ride many brands and configurations. A good bike shop will fit you to the bike to test it. NO! Two inch clearance over the top tube (Bar) on a mountain bike and one inch on a road bike is not a fit. If your salesman wants to fit you that way, run. If you don’t have a good fit or the configuration is uncomfortable you will not ride. Mountain bikes look more cushy and comfortable than a road bike. Unless you will be riding on seventy five percent of non cement/blacktop surface think twice. A mountain bike appears more comfortable and easier to ride. The trade off is they are heavy less efficient and geared very low. If you have a bad back take a serious look at “flat bar road bikes”. The brakes on a regular road bike scare my son so he went that way and is happy. Skinny tires shifters, low handle bars that you need to reach for the breaks, just a few of the scary things about bicycles for the new rider. The skinny tires will hold you up if you are a bit overweight, and the low swept handle bars have multiple places to put your hands so you actually never need to bend over if you are not comfortable with that. A good dealer will set you up on a trainer and let you get the feel of the bike, show you how to shift and brake before they let you go down the street on a test ride. If they don't, ask to be allowed to start that way. I have rode mountain bikes for the last twenty five years and till I bought my Specialize Tricross last August, I thought mountain bikes were the way to go. Now I know why I kept modifying them to get and easier more efficient ride. Bottom line, a well fitted bike that you feel comfortable on will be used rather than collecting dust.

Next post, The Equipment Part Two.

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