Waiting....

I haven't been able to ride for the last week and a half due to a burn on my arm - not big, but deep.  I was cooking for my Mom & Dad's 50th anniversary party, and spilled some hot (200F) grease on my arm.  It's made it so I can't be out in the beautiful warmth we've had.  Hopefully it'll be healed enough soon.  Sitting around in this warm weather is driving me crazy!

Toughing it out - and peace

This last week was a week of no riding.  I had to go to a conference in Winnipeg, and when it was done I headed out with some associates for a fishing trip.  It meant late nights and early mornings.  I was exhausted by the time we headed out to Lake of the Woods to fish.

The cabin we were staying at was not big, and was on an island.  That meant no electricity, and it was far enough way that it also meant I had no cell coverage or internet.  Peace.  Totally unplugged.  I highly recommend doing it!  I went to bed when it got dark (after a chat with my associates in the glow of candlelight) and got up when the sun came up.  The outhouse was an experience all to itself.  No light or windows, so it was pitch dark with door closed - so you left it open and had a view out to the water.  It was truly a beautiful way to start the morning!!  Here's a picture of our cabin.  I wish I had a shot of it from the water.  We ate dinner on the deck, had an amazing fish fry over an open fire (from where I was standing when I took this) and fished, and fished.  Lots of action with Walleye and Jack (northern pike) fish.

Then I came home.  After a busy day at the office today I headed out for a ride.  I had a headwind, and was feeling really sluggish.  I toughed it out, got it done.  It was not a great ride, but it was great to ride.  I'm tired, but I know I got a ride in and that it's working towards getting into shape.

Tomorrow will be a long day of driving as I'll be heading up by Camrose to visit a client.  Sure makes for a long day, but it's one of my favourite clients so that makes it all worth it.

Hills make you Tough, Wind makes you MEAN!

Today was a beautiful day for a ride - temps in the high 20's/low 30's.  Just made me want to ride.  Unfortunately, I missed the morning time when there's not much for wind, so I headed out around noon.  35km/hr winds from the SW.  That meant a headwind all the way out to Leavitt.  My times have been averaging around 37 minutes out there - today it was 49 minutes!  Of course, coming back my times have been averaging 23 minutes, and I made it back in 19 - but just goes to show, the wind never gives back what it takes!

Renewal and Reunions

Wow.  It's been years since I've written here.  Some sad realizations go along with that.

I decided a little over a week ago that I really needed to get back out on the bike.  I've been having some serious knee issues that make it difficult to walk, never mind run.  Cycling is not bothering it - and I've gotten REALLY out of shape.  When I fired up my Garmin 500 and downloaded the data I got a bit of a shock - it's been FIVE YEARS since I rode regularly.  Wow.  So I've decided to get riding again - and I find it fun to write a ride-report about the ride.  However, I suspect that my friends on the Tailwinds page may get annoyed at my long ride-report posts, so I'll just post a link to it here and they can read it if they want.

This weekend was my 30 year High School Reunion.  Friday night I looked around and thought "wow, all these people have gotten old!  But I'm not."  I guess I might not have just thought it - apparently I may have said that out-loud as one of my old friends grabbed the yearbook and pointed out a photo of me 30 years ago... I guess it's time to admit that I may not be as young as I think I am.  Here's the photo that he pulled out.

Yup, that's a long time ago!  That's my friend John Karamanos - we wrestled together all through High School.  Still a great guy!

Anyway, so now I've accepted that I'm getting old.  And I've gotten fat.  So I'm an old fat guy.  I can't do much about getting older, but I can do something about getting fat, so I'm going to work on it.

Here's my last couple of ride reports.

Reunions and suicidal attacks.

Ride Report 6 June/15

As I head out the door, borrowing my wife's ipod, what does she say to me? "You can borrow it, just don't get any snot rockets on it!" - WHAT?! Please... I'm a professional, I'd never miss that badly....

This weekend was my high school 30 year reunion. So a late-night visit in Medicine hat, and drive back home made for a tough bike ride today - but I wanted to make sure I got a ride in. I didn't get out until 10:30am

As I neared the "Dr. Low's" corner I had a little reunion with one of the early members of the Tailwinds cycling club - Joseph Dobson! I haven't seen him for awhile, so I stopped for a quick visit. He's riding a fair bit, even doing the Able Dental 100mile ride coming up. (It's a fun ride from the AB/BC border into Lethbridge. A true Tailwinds ride - mostly downhill and usually a good tailwind at your back the whole way.)

Off I went for a jaunt out to Leavitt. The 80's music pumping me up - Lovin' Every Minute of It, Thunderstruck, Love in an Elevator... it was awesome never knowing what was coming next and it always being something that I wanted to hear!

I'm starting to get the feeling of where my current limits are at, so I decided to go a little harder on the way out. Okay, that may imply a little more thought than was actually involved. There was a north wind blowing, so it means a cross wind all the way out (and that's almost as bad as a head wind!) - so I HAD to work harder. But, I hit the turn-around in Leavitt over a minute faster than a couple of days ago with no wind!

That minute got taken back awfully quick, though - as a Northwind means a headwind going up Monson's hill. Yup, over a minute slower than last time. My stubborness may have contributed to it, as I decided I was big ringing it up regardless and it turned into a bit of a grind by the top.

I'm pounding down the hill after Monson's and suddenly what can only be described as an angry, demented gopher began an attempted Kamikaze run at me. I know I've killed a few of his buddies with my car lately, but trying to get himself caught in my spokes so as to flip me off my bike was really a low-down trick. I managed to bunny hop the guy and miss him, but I was on high alert the rest of the ride back and spotted a number of his compatriots trying to line up similar attacks. Fortunately, when they realized I was on to them they backed off.

My top-end speed is really being hampered by my lack of spin. I'm spinning out before 50km/hr and so am not able to get speeds as high as I'd like, and I'm not holding speed as well on the flats.- Something just occured to me and I just went and checked on what chainrings I was running. I was pretty sure I had my compact crank-set on, but that I'd put 52/36 rings on.... wrong. I'm running 52/34. No wonder I'm spinning out. Will have to do some mechanical adjustments before Monday morning!

It's always kind of bothered me that the town has changed the signs around on 2nd ave so that the Ave has the right of way. So far I've not had to stop as there hasn't been any traffic. Not so today. Even with the 1 minute slower climb up Monson's, I was still within reach of my time set last time out - so I was going pretty hard. As I approached the intersection my spidey senses started tingling and I angled away and caught a blur of white - a nice big Suburban. I locked 'em up, the Suburban went through and turned heading my direction, and I sprinted to try and catch a draft. I couldn't catch on, but it got me back up to speed.

I got home and hit the stop button - I managed to be 3 seconds faster than last time.

As one of the great rules of cycling says - "It never gets easier, you just go faster!"

Oh man, it was BEAUTIFUL!

Ride Report 4 June 2015

I headed out at 7pm. Nice and warm, not a breathe of wind. Went up the high school hill - somehow that never seems to get easy. I had borrowed my wife's ipod for the ride - first time with music in a very long time! Classic 80's stuff - good thing my kids weren't around and that I was working hard enough that I couldn't sing, cause in my head I was rocking out! Yup, I was Too Legit, and getting ready for HAMMER TIME! - then took my usual route to head out to Leavitt.

Felt pretty good, though I knew I wasn't moving as fast as the old days, (5 years ago) I felt good. I decided that today I was going all the way out to Leavitt and tackling Monson's hill.

Passed a few friends on the highway, didn't really recognize them until I was by them. That's a side-effect I run into when I'm pushing myself hard. My brain doesn't function very well.

Cruising tucked in down Monson's hill - my neck is sore in this position, but the only way to get used to it is to do it, so I stay tucked. I hit the turnaround at 37:40.

Hello old friend. Been awhile. I shift up to the big ring, and start pushing hard on the leadup - building my speed up to 40km/hr. I'm going to time this one so that I have a measurement to compare myself to. I start the time at the last white post just after the hill turns up. I slip into a quick, easy rhythm, gradually shifting into easier gears to keep the cadence high, but still good pressure on the pedals. 3/4 the way up and I'm actually not feeling too bad, though my time is dreadfully slow compared to years gone by.

Some background. Monson's Hill is the hill where I use to test my Max Heart Rate. The process is simple, you work hard at the bottom of the hill, starting at about halfway through the gear set - then as you climb you shift into HARDER gears and stand and mash your way up. Breathing gets hard, legs are screaming - and as you get to the top, and you start to see stars in front of your eyes, just before you pass out, look down at your Heart Rate and that's your max. This hill and I have some very painful memories together.

Back to the ride. I'm feeling good - maybe I should shift to a harder gear and "drop the hammer"? Jukebox Hero starts playing - oh yeah... I don't play a guitar, I play my bicycle! I stand, shift two gears down, and begin the hard, painful rocking of tough climb. Staying out of the saddle is tough when you're carrying this much weight, but the rocking rhythm feels comfortable, familiar. My legs are burning, but I don't let up... the end is in sight. I shift one more time and sprint hard for the line. 2:22 - that's way slower than before, but it's an un-wind-assisted climb that will give me a benchmark.

I do an active recovery spin down the hill and shift again into the hard gears climbing the next hill - I stand and sprint over the top, then sit back to active recovery as I head down the other side.

I do the same over the next hill. Heading back down I'm spun out. I know it's bad because I'm only going 50km/hr, and sure, I'm running compact gears, but this is ridiculous. Oh well, I tuck and coast up to 55 before it levels out.

The next two little climbs are where we used to have line sprints. I decide to give it a go. As I hit the bottom of first rise I get down into the drops, shift twice to a harder gear, and jump out of the saddle to sprint hard ... almost there, ready to throw the bike at the line, lift my head, breathing hard.... ACK! cough, cough... DANG! I hate it when those bugs go all the way down your throat and bounce off the back and get stuck there because of how hard you're breathing. I reach for the water bottle and take a few swigs to wash down the protein.

After the last hill sprint, it's a false flat the rest of the way into town. I slip forward to the nose of the saddle - on the rivet - and time trial my way into town. My legs are screaming - I hit the corners at 43km/hr - oooooh gotta have a chat with the town about gravel in those corners, that was close!

Mmmmmmmmm what's paradise? FRESH pavement. I really love riding down 4th Ave, downhill, and buttery roads... no cars to draft this time, so I keep trialing - head down, speed up. At 50 I let off a bit as I go by the school - scream down the hill (hit 60), clear the corner, sprint across the bridge - sprint home, and hit the timer - 59:30, less than an hour round trip. Not bad. Lots of lessons and times set. And such a beautiful, beautiful day. Took me about 15 minutes to get my breathe back, now to stretch out and download the data. Maybe it's time to start wearing a HR monitor again? Nah... I'll leave it for something to look forward to.

ahhhhh

It was short, but for 5 minutes this morning when I first got out of bed I felt NO PAIN in my back or neck!  It didn't last long, but it gives me confidence that I'm moving in the right direction! 

Down, but not Out!

Wow, it's been 7 months since I last posted! Oh well. the 1200 mile club didn't last long for me - did pretty well the first couple of months, and then had to make a long out of town trip that required 2 days of driving - boom, I was done. Three weeks ago I woke up with a kind in my neck. Nothing major, just some discomfort. After babbying it for a week I decided to jump on my bike (hooked up to the computrainer) and go for a ride. After 30 minutes I had to stop from the back pain - and then I ended up spending the next week literally on my back in bed. Now, two weeks after the bike ride I'm still unable to do much. I can sit up for a few minutes to type - but can't hold the same position for long. Driving, even just to Lethbridge, is currently not possible. Walking around too much really gets things inflamed. Feel like I'm on the mend, but it is oh, so slow!

 We've finally got great weather and I would love to be spending some time with my bike, but it sits all alone in the garage (okay, those who know me know that it's not really alone - it has lots of other bike company, but it really needs some human interaction.)

On another bike note, this week I said good bye to a dear friend. Some may remember my bike-trading days of a few years ago where I had a new bike every month for a couple of years, but then I found a beautiful titaniumm bike (okay, I had it custom built for me) out of Idaho - fully Dura Ace Equipped, we had some great rides together (including the Death Valley Double - a little stroll of 200 miles through Death Valley, California (took me 14 hours) That beautiful little bike got moved to the back of the line-up when I acquired my Specialized S-Works Tarmac SL in 2007, so it'll be nice for the bike to have someone who'll take it our for a ride more often - but I'm still going to miss that beauty.

1200 Club

Okay, everybody who knows me knows that I can be talked into some pretty dumb things at times - this is one of them! Last night I went on the "Resolution Run" put on by the Running Room on Dec 31 - it's just a 5km, but given that I pulled a hamstring less than a week ago, I wasn't planning on going very fast. I didn't, but it sure was an enjoyable run! Weather was fantastic, and it was fun to run in a group again. (It's been probably 20+ years since I've done a running race.) I had to catch myself from blowing snot rockets at those behind me - just not use to there being people there! A friend of mine, Patricia Beazer, started a club called the 1200 mile club. The goal is to cover 1200 miles in 2012. (That's almost 4 miles a day, 6 days a week.) So, tonight I talked my wife into a 4 mile walk with me. It was nice to get out and chat for awhile. I'm not exactly sure how to handle tomorrow, as I'm taking the family snowboarding. Not sure if I'll be able to go for a 4 mile run after a day of snowboarding (especially when it's going to be followed up with another day of snowboarding!) We'll see how it goes.

New Beginnings

Saturday turned into a wonderful day for me. All in just an hour. John and I did a quick trip from Cardston to Magrath on our bikes - took just over an hour (I think about 1:08?) I was once again saddened, but not surprised, to see how terrible I was on a bike. But, we talked about some future plans, and I've decided to get there. The plan is in January to do a week down in Phoenix/Tucson just riding. It's been a few years since I've done that, and it sounds really exciting to me. I'll need to have dropped some serious weight by then, but I know I can do it. So I started in ernest yesterday. STRICTNESS is my moto for the next month. Give myself a good fighting chance! Then I'll start to allow myself the OCCASSIONAL treat - meaning something once a week. I've been amazed at how easy it became to justify a slip. "I'm doing something with my son, and so we should have an icecream together" or "I worked hard and need a break"... the excuses go on and on. This morning I jumped out of bed (okay, maybe "jump" isn't the right word - more like crawled) at 5:30am. Should've gone for the run then, as a little later it had started snowing and was just plain miserable. I ended up finding a reason not to go (there were lots) - and so tonight I'll set-up my trainer in the basement so that I always have a fall-back.

Minot, North Dakota

After I returned from Minot, ND I learned that my Great Grandmother was born and raised in Minot - I guess this was a chance for me to say thanx to my ancestors. This is an article I wrote for our local paper, and I've included some pictures here.

Friday, Sept 2, 2011. My son, Brady, and I were leaving on what I hoped was to be a fun experience, but more, a way to really help somebody else – to make a difference, a positive difference, in someone else’s life. Ten hours later we arrived in Minot, North Dakota. Each person that went had their own unique experience. This is mine – I think it’s largely representative of what we all saw and felt.
My brain couldn’t believe what my eyes were seeing. Minot looked like it’d been hit by a bomb. What was more shocking to me, was this was TWO MONTHS after the flood had hit! This was a classic case of “it gets worse before it gets better.” Houses had to be gutted before anything could start to be repaired, and all that stuff was being piled outside on the curb. We immediately found our way up to the church (which was literally up, at the top of one of the hills.) When we arrived the first order of business was to get tents set-up and organized. It was funny to watch a churchground turn into a campground, complete with outdoor showers! A quick trip to Walmart for all the things we forgot and a quick meal and we were off to bed so that we could get an early start.
In the morning we were all assigned to a group leader (complete with our uniform of a yellow “mormon helping hands” t-shirt), and that leader then gave us our assignments. I was in a group of 16, with Bob Quinton as our leader. Our first assignment was on the outskirts of town. On the way there we saw lots of little lakes, later to learn that all of them were in areas that were once dry. The home that we were working on was big, and was situated by what looked like a beautiful lake – it wasn’t. It used to be a horse pasture.
In home after home the story was the same – weeks after the waters had receded homeowners were trying to get things cleaned up, but the sheer volume of work to be done was overwhelming. An individual could work all day and not notice a dent in the project. A crew our size could come into most average-sized homes and clean out the basement and main floor in 5 or 6 hours. It wasn’t just that there were more of us. We had the equipment to be efficient. We had the time to work straight through instead of having to go to work to pay for all of the repairs. And most of all, we hadn’t been fighting this battle for two months, we were fresh.
Our first home had deep mud in the basement – all of us in the basement had to wear gum boots. We found frogs and crawdads crawling around there. Water had been in the basement for about 8 weeks. One of our group got to taste his breakfast twice that morning. It was a slimy, stinky mess. We have a picture of the garbage we took out of the house – it’s almost 8 feet high, with a 10 foot base and stretches for 70 feet down the curb. It would have taken the homeowners 8 or 9 weeks to get it done, by which time the house would’ve been lost. Anytime you get a bunch of teen-age boys working together you know there’s going to be some kind of shenanigans – someone found some old golf clubs and a bucket of balls. Soon we were all making little mud tees and taking a swing to see how far over the “pond” we could hit a ball.
Sunday morning brought a sacrament service at 7am. I don’t think I’ve seen a sight like that before. Honorable men blessing the sacrament in pajamas and yellow t-shirts. As soon as our service was over we headed back out for another day of mucking!
The next home-owner we helped was serving in the airforce. He was on duty out-of-state when the flood hit, and his wife and kids were visiting her parents over-seas. They never had a chance to save any of their personal belongings. His neighbors shed (from three doors down) was in his backyard. His was upside-down. He was a strong man, and had done a lot of the initial work – but we still spent our entire Sunday morning helping him. His gratitude was evident as we left.
Our last home was a doozy. It was right beside the dyke that was breached. Water got 7 feet up the walls of the main floor. Everything had to go. The dark basement, with only small windows, was difficult to get stuff up and out of. The old steele tub, and all the mud and waste. It made for some hard work! Thankfully, the church has put into place some amazing emergency equipment – we had generators, saws, hammers, crowbars, sleds – anything and everything that might be needed! It was a remarkable experience to see how organized and efficient the church is at these temporal kinds of needs.
As we left we got the greatest reward ever – a tearful thank-you from the home owners. We were given this blessing time and time again all weekend long. What a wonderful opportunity to serve and to help some who had previously been bitter towards the church. They now see us in a different light. The “angels in yellow” as some called us made a real difference in Minot. The local members were grateful for the help – they had been working at this for the whole two months! They’d come home from work and put in a couple of hours of service each night. They were exhausted and our numbers were a welcome break. Local businesses didn’t get mad when we trudged mud into their restaurants. Instead they thanked us for coming.
I’m so grateful to the local men who arranged this service opportunity. I’m sure I’d forget a few names if I started naming them, so I’ll just say a big thank-you to all of those who gave us the chance to see and experience this. My son and I had our testimonies grow, and felt the Spirit of the Lord helping us. Hard work with good men, (and a few women!) engaged in a good cause – what a great way to spend the weekend!

Climbing To The Snow

Like most of my grand adventures with John, this one got started late. We orginally had decided to leave around 9am. I called him at 8 and we moved it back to 9:30 - I think we got going by around 10:15.

I hate climbing the south hill right off the bat when I haven't had a chance to warm-up yet. After we got to the top I started to feel some real pain in my right achilles tendon. Oh oh - I've had my achilles blow up on me before, and it's extremely painful, and it sidelined me for about a month back then. I locked my ankle into place rather than letting my foot "ankle" through the pedal stroke and the pain eased up. I was sure hoping that this would be a temporary thing, but with my leg being pretty tight from my hamstring pull, I was a little concerned.

John and I decided that this was not going to be a hammer-fest (okay, I decided) and that we'd stop and enjoy the ride like we rarely do. So, here's a couple of photos from the first few miles.













Arrival at the border




I've never seen the line at the border this long - it stretched all the way past the Canadian customs side and started down the hill. I'd have taken a picture to show you, but John just kept on riding. Yup, he free-wheeled right past everybody. Being about 20 feet behind him I could hear the comments as people saw him go by - we weren't making any friends! We rode up to the front of the line, John's intent was to see if they'd wave him up. As we got to the front, a couple of kids from Cardston were sitting in a little blue truck. I chatted with them for a minute and then got this great idea. "Hey, is it alright with you guys if we jump in the back of your truck to cross the border?"

So we do, as we pull up the border guard looks at us and says "how do you know these guys? Did you just jump in the back of their truck to try and avoid the line? 'Cause that's not happening." I replied with - "we know them" - and she asks the driver how - he explains that we're all from Cardston. She lets it slide.

John mentions to her that it sure is busy today and she says, "yeah, seems like you Canadians have a holiday and everybody evacuates the country!" She waved us through and we jumped out to continue our ride.

I've never stopped here to take a picture (though it seems like everybody else always stops there.) We didn't stop here this time, either - just pulled out the camera and snapped a photo as we went by.






Did I mention that the ride all the way to the border is mostly up-hill? It took us an hour to cover 25km. But, there was NO WIND! (How often does that happen in this country?) Well, that all changed from the border all the way to St Mary's - we got to fight a head-wind all the way. A wind that consistently blew at about 30km/hr and there were places it was upwards of 40km/hr! YUCK! Being the kind, out-of-shape guy I am, I let Johnny pull as much as he wanted.

Here's a favorite photo I took as we got nearer to St. Mary's.



Finally, we arrived in St. Mary's - we'd been riding for awhile, so we decided to stop and get some lunch and refill bottles. The Cafe was pretty busy, so we had a bit of a wait, but the Turkey Sandwhich I had was excellent! We decided we'd be stopping on the way back for a piece of PIE!

The entry fee for cyclists going into Glacier National Park has gone up - it's now $12!! So, John and I both decided to purchase seasons passes for $35. The lady working the booth didn't have much of a sense of humour - so maybe I shouldn't have let John do the talking. He was trying to convince her that he was "an American with disabilities" so that he could get in free. I was bowled over laughing, but she didn't seem to see the humour in it. Oh well. 5 more miles to the beginning of "the climb"

Finally got past the boat docks. This is where we will often start our rides of Logan's Pass. From this point to the top is 12 miles. It's mostly all climbing (there are a couple of breaks in the climbs.) It's not steep - average is 7%, max is 10%. But, I'm overweight and out-of shape.

The hard part was keeping my heart rate in check - especially given where Johnny was today. My HR averaged 172 for the climb - John was around 150. We're usually within 10 of each other, but not today!

We continued our little stops along the way to enjoy the views and take some photos - which also helped to keep me from going too deep intot he red zone. Here's a classic photo of Goose Island.



This one here is a view I grew very acustomed to on today's ride:



This is one of the many waterfalls we pass on the way up.



Our last stop was one of the most entertaining - two young couples from Checkaslovakia. They thought we were crazy and were very impressed with how light and "cool" our bikes were.



Finally we reached the top. The last 500m were especially tough - I was tired and there was a fierce headwind blowing at the top. Finally got there, though - and there was lots, and lots of snow! (And alot of people. Normally we hang around up there for awhile, but there were so many people we just took a couple of pictures and headed back down.)





The ride down was ugly - the road had lots of gravel (which wasn't too big of an issue climbing, but going down...) and so lots of brakes used on the way down.

I learned an interesting lesson on motivation - as tired as I had been, and as bad as shape as I was in, after we got to the bottom and had 5 miles left to town, my stomache was giving me troubles and I needed to get to a bathroom - I pulled ol' Johnny at 40km/hr for 5 miles to get to town fast! I'd rather find a different kind of motivatioin, but...

A nice stop for something to eat and a piece of pie and we were off for the border and home.

All in all, a great ride, was good to get 105 miles in with some good climbing, and it's always a pleasure to ride with John! Next week's adventure will be with Steve (also known as BowWow) and a little road trip down to Flagstaff Arizona to ride with some friends. I can't wait!

Getting cold

Okay, everyone knows that I've absolutely HATED the cold - and have threatened to move to Arizona for the winters if we have another one like this last one. Just to show how much I LOVE the heat - next week I'm heading down to Arizona (yes, in AUGUST!) for a bike event. My buddy, Steve (known on-line as BowWow) and I will be making a classic tailwinds roadtrip - drive all night and ride for the weekend, and then drive back. Should be alot of fun!

However, when it comes to weight-loss, I'm absolutely convinced that cooling the body helps. I wrote an article a few months ago that talked about my beginning efforts in this regard - and I'm now continuing it. I thought about video-taping my experiences, but thought that would scare too many people and leave permanent psychological scars... and then I found this today. This is pretty much what it's like, so enjoy!!

A Cold Shower Experience!

Now I remember...

This morning I awoke early - too early. 4:30am came very quickly when one of the kids had been out until 2am. UGH! Steve had to wait for me as I collected the last of my stuff (I forgot a couple of things, but nothing major.) Then off to Magrath to pick up Johnny. Then the drive into Lethbridge for the start of today's little adventure. I probably should not have done such a tough kettlebell workout 2 days ago, as I was still feeling the effects of it.

Today was a charity century - they had arranged for a couple of semi trucks, with good bike racks inside of them, to transport our bikes, and a couple of school buses to transport us. We were driving 100 miles to the start.

The drive out was extremely entertaining - John and I found three new friends with the same warped sense of humour as us! The jokes came fast and furious for almost 2 hours! (School buses are slow.) Before we got there the inevitable questions came up on expected times - and turns out they were figuring the same kind of pace as us, so maybe we'd be riding together. Hmmmmm MAYBE!

It always amazes me how at every cycling event I go to it doesn't matter how many bathrooms there are, there will always be a significant line as it gets close to take-off time.

We stood and got a group photo before we took off - and then I ran to get my bike. John already had his - and wouldn't you know it, he thought I'd taken off already, so he took off. I spent the next hour and change chasing him down! Aghhh!

I rode the first 15km with my buddy Steve - then he tailed off. Then I caught up to my friend Jody. He was making a pretty good pace, so we worked together to try and close the gap up. He made me laugh, as he had his iphone with him while we were riding, and every now and then he'd pull it out and tweet. He had never drafted before and was amazed at the difference. I was about ready to start teaching him some of the tricks to smooth transitions when another group caught us. We jumped in with these other 2 guys and the pace kicked up. Another few km and Jody had had enough of that pace and waved me on. So the three of us hammered away for a few more km. We picked up another rider and she shared the work-load with us nicely. Then we hit a good hill and me and one of the other guys eased back. The hill tilted up at a 8% grade, and went for a couple of km, so I just stayed within myself and spun up it. At the crest the faster guy was waiting for his buddy (who was way behind me) and the girl had really layed it down. I chased. When I caught her she didn't want to hammer, so I went off solo. I probably should not have done that.

At about the 50km mark Phil rode by. Phil is awesome. He is one of fastest guys in our area. He had chosen his TT bike for this one, and was planning on shattering 4 hours. I was doing 46km/hr up a slight climb (nice little tailwind behind me) and he flew by me at 60km/hr. How do I know? Well, I was stupid enough to think that maybe I could use him to drag me up to John! I sprinted to speed, grabbed his wheel, and was only able to hold on for about 1 minute. I had to let him go. Another match burned, and once again in no-man's land.

John was riding with one of our new friends, and they were knocking out a pretty good pace. At the 80km mark (roughly 50 miles for my American friends) I caught up to them, and our time was 1:50. The problem for me was that I had been riding with my Heart Rate at 172-174 trying to chase! My LTL is 171 - I knew I was going to pay a big price for this down the road - I figured at around the 3 hour mark.

After catching John the 3 of us got into a nice little rotation and managed to hold onto a 44km/hr pace without killing me off too badly. Phil had stopped for a quick break at the 80km mark, so we got to see him fly past us again about 10km later. I was trying desperately to get fuel and fluid into my system HOPING that somehow the crash would pass me by. Over the next 20k we picked up a few more riders and got caught by the two guys and a girl that I'd ridden with earlier. As we came up to Fort Macleod we had a good paceline of 8 rotating through. HEAVEN! A hard pull, and then wheel-sucking paradise. Fort Macleod was where lunch was at, and was basically the 2/3rds done point.

I made a quick bathroom break, and when I came out, everybody in our little group had taken off - oh no! Another chase was in store for me.

I wondered at the time if this was a particularly smart idea - I knew 3 hours was coming up quickly, and I could feel things starting to tire. Oh well, I wanted to ride with these guys!

I hit the highway and started pushing hard. I could see them about 1km ahead of me. Over the next 25km I chased harder than I have ever chased anybody. I got the gap down to about 100m at about the 18km mark, but my HR was at 184, and I needed to ease up a bit. I got it back down to 170, lost about 100m, and began the chase again. I got back up to about 100m behind, and once again was pegged at 184 and had to ease off (my max is 192).

At this point I remembered why riding a century ride at full tilt when you've only put in a couple of hundred miles for the whole year is not a good idea. CRAMPS!

Both legs. Quads and Calves. OOOOUUUUCH! I had stood up to try and sprint that last 100m and get into the draft. I almost fell off my bike. I realized that now I was into survival mode. Just get this last 40k done and call it a day. John had finally seen me and was drifting back (at least, that's what he says, I suspect he was one of the guys pushing the pace BECAUSE he saw me!) He gave me a draft, but even with that, anything over 34km/hr would cramp me up. Hills, little as they were, were a killer.

Finally hit the second last hill. It's not steep - about 6% average grade, and only 2km long. I couldn't manage anything faster than 15km/hr up it, and the mosquitoes had swarmed me! (I later found out it wasn't just me they made a good lunch of, but at that point it sure felt like it was all me!) Pedaling without cramping was hard - and trying to swat my arms, legs, butt, face, etc. while doing it was REALLY hard. Finally topped out and got the speed up high enough to leave the mosquitoes behind.

Entered Lethbridge - and worked my way for the last 12km to the finish - one last hill. Down into the river bottom, then up the other side... The Pain! Both quads were right on the edge of a full-out cramp. I couldn't push faster than 8km/hr. For about 200m of the climb it tilted up to 10%. I couldn't stand, I couldn't push hard, and I couldn't spin (was already in granny) I eeked my way up. I knew if I stopped and had to walk I'd never be able to get back on again, so I forced myself to inch my way up the hill. Finally the top arrived and I spun the last km to the finish line. John finished just ahead of me. My first century of the year was done. What in the past I would've considered a pretty easy ride had turned me upside down.

They had massage waiting for us - which was great - and a little bite to eat, and the day was done. Said good bye to our new friends - and hope that we'll be able to get together for a ride again sometime. Off to home!

I'm tired. No sleep and that effort are really slowing me down. I need to make sure I keep riding now so that I don't lose the form I picked up in pushing myself so hard. I don't want to have to be reminded of how out of shape I am during a tough ride like that again!

Paradise on the Pedals

I decided to spend some time with my bike today. Give it some of the attention it deserves, and that I really need. It started with a good cleaning. It's been awhile since my S-works and I have spent some time with a cleaning rag. I took a bit of a short cut for the really ugly stuff - there was some mud and grunge caked from yesterday's ride - and, come to think of it, from a lot of my rides 'cause it's all been rainy and ugly... - anyway - I went to the car wash. I even brought my bike stand and spent $1 and hosed it down. Packed it all up, and set-up again in the garage for a good cleaning and polishing (yes, I wax my bike, not just my legs!)

Then I went for ride. For old times sake I threw on my Bikejournal.com jersey. Been awhile since I had that one on! It's really a comfortable jersey.

Then I got some bad news - my Garmin died! I've had it for awhile, and we've been through alot together, but it's dead. Won't boot up, won't even recognize it's plugged in. Good thing I was able to get all of my data off of it last night!

So, today I ride NAKED! (Don't panic, that's what I call it when I don't have a bike computer with me!) I could've grabbed my Garmin running computer and worn it on my wrist, but I thought I'd just go out and enjoy a good ride. I haven't ridden without a computer for a long time.

The weather was nice and warm - about 20C - but the wind was up. I headed out towards Leavitt. I knew it was going to be a bit of a battle on the way out, fighting 40+km/hr winds, but the ride back would be sweet!

I don't know what my heart rate was on the way out (no computer) I don't know how fast I was going (no computer) I don't know what my cadence was (no computer) and I don't know how many feet of elevation I climbed (no computer) - except that I knew all of that stuff. I've ridden this course so many times I know how many feet of elevation it is, and based on what gear I'm pushing and my perceived effort and perceived cadence, I know pretty close how fast I'm going. It was really fun to just ride. I was surprised how many times I looked down to check the computer though!

After roughly 35 minutes of pushing hard to get to Leavitt I turned around and headed back. Going up Monson's hill (750m and average grade of 8%) it was interesting to note I was going UP the hill faster than I'd come down it. Okay, maybe not quite, but it was close...

I found myself in the 52 x 11 and spinning high cadence - over 100 and often-times up towards the 120 range - and just LOVING it! The freedom, the speed, and the great ol' 80's tunes pounding away on my ipod! A little Lover Boy and ACDC to keep me company. It took me only about 18 minutes to get back, but what a great 18 minutes!!

My legs are tired. (Went for a nice long walk with my wife this evening) - but it's a good tired. I'm looking forward to another good ride tomorrow. Today's ride didn't have any profound insights generated. I didn't learn any more about myself. I didn't learn any more about my bike. I just rode. I just enjoyed the wind in my face and tunes in my ears.

Speeding & Discipline

This was originally written March 17, 2011 - I've since edited out all of the parts I didn't really want to post out here in the public domain.

Interesting week - I spent most of it sick and miserable. That's meant no working out - which makes me more miserable. I'm sure my family is ready for me to not be sick anymore. Completely off my topic (which I know I haven't gotten to - but remember, this is MY place for ranting, so if you don't want to read it, click...) ever noticed how those we love the most are those we take for granted and treat the worst? I'm working on that...

Anyway, I've been reading a GREAT book the last couple of weeks: The Speed of Trust by Stephen M.R. Covey (Stephen Covey's son). It's not often I read a book that changes the way I see things - this book has totally changed my perspective, and I find myself looking at the world through the eyes of trust. The first level of trust I'm working on is self-trust. How does this relate to weight-loss and fitness? Wait for it.... wait for it....

How many times have I promised myself that I would get up early, go to bed early, work-out at such and such a time - not eat badly... and every time I do NOT do that it creates what Covey calls a "trust tax" - it makes it that much more difficult to trust myself. He suggests making - and keeping - small promises to yourself to build up a "trust dividend" - a growing confidence in myself that I'll do those things. This week I've been unable to put alot of this to work in terms of fitness due to my illness - but the coming week should be fun! I've made up a list of small promises that I'm going to keep this week - let's see what kind of results THAT brings!

Another book I've been reading is called "What the Dog Saw" by Malcolm Gladwell. I like his way of looking at the world a little differently and asking different questions (same reason I like "Freakanomics" so much.) The book is compilation of his essays that have appeared in the New York Times. Anyway, the title of the book comes from a story he was doing on a dog whisperer - a guy who could take the most hostile canine and with a simple touch turn him into a happy puppy. One of the people studying him asked "wow, what's he THINKING when does that?" Gladwell asked, "What does the dog see?"

The story that caught my eye was that of an experiment conducted with kids - I think they were 6 years old. They were put in a room and shown a small cookie and a large cookie. Then they were given a bell. They were told if they rang the bell, a person would come in and give them the small cookie, but if they WAITED until the person came in on their own they would get the large cookie. Amazing how many of the kids WAITED - and what they did to try and distract themselves from the task of waiting. The self-control and discipline they were exhibiting is amazing. They were willing to sacrifice something "good" for something better - they were willing to be patient and "save" for what they wanted rather than the instant gratification we seem to jump at so often.

So where do we go off the rails? Kids can do it - why do we search for that instant "numbing" with food? And is the answer as simple as finding something to distract us?

I'm finding that exercise does just that for me. When I'm working out hard I don't WANT to eat emotionally - in fact, it's easy. The work-out itself is not what causes me to lose weight - put bluntly, you cannot out-exercise the damage your mouth can cause! Figure that running a marathon burns anywhere from 2600-5000 calories, takes an average of 4-5 hours, and is EXHAUSTING. It doesn't take that long to pound back that many calaories! If you eat badly, no amount of excercise can lose the weight (I think I've mentioned before - I've bicycled 8,000km/year and not lost any weight.) BUT, the act of excercising - excercising HARD, really pushing myself - seems to distract me from the bad food, the bad habits. Is this my answer? Will this give me the insight/discipline to do what needs to be done? I don't really know - the answer will be revealed with time, my young padawan.

What Women Want

Okay, I'll admit it - I'm a Mel Gibson fan. From the Patriot to Braveheart to the Lethal Weapon series, they're all great. Last night my son wanted to watch a comedy (it was late - that's when he usually wants to watch something.) and so I grabbed 4 movies and let him choose - he chose WHAT WOMEN WANT.

My favorite part of this movie is actually the Hat Dance to ol' Frankie crooning (I really do want to learn to do that someday!) I mean, that's just soooo SMOOOOOOTH! - but last night there was another part that grabbed me.

It's near the end of the show. Darcy (Helen Hunt) has cut-off contact with Nick (Mel Gibson) and he's wondering around in a daze. He's tried to vist her, then tries to call her - nothing. He goes to the fridge, opens it, and says, "What am I doing? She's not in the fridge!"

What?! You mean I'm not the only one that walks to the fridge and stares in it when there's NOTHING in there that I want? Move things around a little, after-all, there might be something REALLY AMAZING hiding under yesterdays left-overs. The problem is, so often I don't RECOGNIZE that what I want is not in the fridge! Emotional eating does not mean sitting over a bucket of ice-cream and crying. (though it can - but I'd guess that most people who are engaging in that behavior recognize it and choose not to do anything about it.) No, emotional eating can mean anything from trying to fill an emptiness to perking yourself up. Food can be used as a drug (I know, I've done it many times) - it can deaden the bad feelings and heighten the good ones. And I think I've figured out that almost all of it stems from not being able to recognize the feelings and deal with them in the moment. So what do I want? It's not in the fridge.

What I want is on the road somewhere. Yup, that's right - the road. I want to be on my bike grinding up a steep climb and feeling the burn. Or running down the road with nothing but the rhythm of my breathing to listen to. (Okay, and occasionally a little AC/DC!) The weather has finally turned a bit warmer, and now I can run outside. Tomorrow, if the weather holds, I may even try to ride my bike outside!

So, if you see a bundle working it's way down the highway tomorrow, say "HI!" - it'll just be me out for a morning ride - and hopefully I'll be feeling nothing but my legs screaming at me in that special way.

It's over - whew!

No, not directly related to weight loss - though I suspect that the removal of this particular stress from my life will help!

The best place to start is the beginning - so here we go!

June 16, 2009 the local constabulary conducted a raid on a local business, Pic-A-Flick Video. A number of years earlier I had been a partner in this business, but had sold it to my partner, Dale Cahoon. On this particular day the police seized all of the movies. Why? Dale was running a "Clean Flicks" type of business - renting and distributing edited copies of movies.

Background: In the US, a Denver judge ruled that Clean Flicks was in violation of copyright and ordered the liquidation of their stock at all stores within District 7. There was an orderly liquidation and none of the stores incurred a loss, though they were no longer able to access edited movies. FYI - District 7 included Colorado and Utah. Dale found an editing company in Idaho - outside of that district - and that's where he was ordering his movies from.

Back to Canada - Canada's copyright laws are not like the US. A fact that our gov't has tried to correct a number of times, but they keep putting stupid things in. Like the most recent version: You can legally make back-up copies of any movie you own, but only if there's no security measures put on the original. Ever seen a DVD produced that DOESN'T have some form of security on it? That means you can't copy ANY movie, including changing the format to put it on your ipod. It's a poorly written law, is largely unenforceable, and I expect that it'll get tossed like previous versions.

At one point, one of Dale's shipments was seized by Canada Customs on the basis that it violated copyright law. He appealed that, and eventually got all of his movies returned to him, along with a letter apologizing for it and confirming that he was able to do what he was doing. At this point Dale made a deal with the editing company: rather than sending up all the movies, they would send ONE Master copy, and he would be able to make the number of copies he needed off of that and simply pay them a fee for the movies he burned. He asked if my son and I would like to do the work for him, and we said okay. That's how I got involved in this mess.

After the seizure I went down to the police station and gave a statement - I was there for about 2 hours. At numerous times during this interview the officer who was leading the investigation indicated that they had been doing this investigation for 6 months and that they "knew everything" including my ownership of the company. I pointed out to him that they didn't - that I didn't own the company anymore. He said I did, and as evidence pointed to the Alberta Registry documents showing me as an owner of the company, and a director. I pointed out to him the dates of DISSOLUTION - the company was a dead company and no longer functioned. When I had sold my interest to Dale I had not had myself removed as an owner or director because we DISSOLVED the company. Dale had simply bought the assets from the company. The number of other easily checked errors in his investigation piled up.

Two days later the Constable and a couple of other officers executed a search warrant of my house. I had a pretty good idea that they were coming. They had come the day before and ASKED if I'd give it to them - I called my lawyer and he indicated that I should make them do the work of getting a warrant. They seized some computer equipment from me and my label printer. (A couple of months later I was able to get that returned to me.) In a subsequent interview a supervisor from Calgary (I cannot remember her name now.) admitted to me that there was no law here - that they were attempting to set a precedent. I asked her to estimate how much time/money they had spent so far on their investigation and was told somewhere around 6 months, and probably $100,000 or so. I re-iterated that this was a joke - and that even IF what we had done was illegal, we had a "get out of jail free card" in that letter from Customs. Shortly after that I learned something else - this was not a "criminal" case. Even if found guilty, it's like getting a speeding ticket and does not create a criminal record.

For the next YEAR I regularly asked for my equipment to be returned to me, and what the progress of the case was - no charges were pressed - until ONE YEAR later. (I got my label printer back) A week before the one year mark, the officer approached Dale to ask him if the two of us would sign a form allowing the police to hold onto our equipment until their investigation was complete. I told him to "pound sand." - I'd go to court first. NO JUDGE would grant an open-ended seizure like that, and he knew it. The day before their one year deadline (at which point they would have had to return everything and drop it) they filed charges.

At that point I had to go down and get fingerprinted and photographed, and appear at court for first appearance - ideally to enter a plea and set a trial date. I went down and got photographed and printed. (At which point I learned that they still had all the movies and equipment still at the police station - that I had been lied to about it going up to Calgary for processing. They had told me that the reason for the delay in pressing charges was because they had to send ALL those movies to be checked. We told them numerous times we had already attested to the fact that they were NOT originals. That, unlike piracy, we were not wanting EXACT duplicates, that these were edited. In fact, Dale showed the officers conducting the seizure of his store how to tell which ones were originals and which were edited. Fact is, in court the prosecutor said they had sent TWO movies to be checked.)

Our first trial date came along - and the prosecution asked for a month more time, as they hadn't gotten disclosure to us yet. The next date came, and the same thing happened. The next date came, and the same thing happened. This went on and on...

Finally, they got us disclosure - it was a joke! The Crown handed me a copy of a single DVD that consisted of every document they had gathered and every interview they had done. (including the HOURS of transcripts of their interviews with Dale and I.) They had done ZERO further investigation. At any rate, we were finally, so we thought, going to be able to enter a plea and get this going.

Not to be. For the next 4 months the Crown had one reason after another for another delay. Fortunately for me, my lawyer was giving me advice, but was not actually retained by me - if he'd been showing up in court every time I'd have racked up over $10,000 in legal fees just to have him stand beside me while the Crown asked for another extension.

Finally, we got to enter a plea - and then a date needed to be set for trial. My defense was really simple - Color of Right. Simply put, I had done what was reasonable and necessary to make sure I was on-side legally. At the pre-trial conference between a judge, the Crown, Dale's lawyer, and my lawyer, the judge slammed the Crown for this mess. Basically, there is NO VICTIM (Dale's company bought one regular version of every copy of the movie, so "Hollywood" was not out any revenue - and then he destroyed that copy.), we had a "get out of jail free" card, and there was little chance of a conviction, and there was a good argument about whether there was even a violation of the Copyright Act. My lawyer said he wasn't even going to argue about the law, my defense was simply "color of right" - and the judge agreed that it would be pretty difficult to convict me.

Shortly after that the Crown called and made an offer to settle - they'd drop all the charges against me if Dale pleaded guilty and accepted a "substantial" fine. That got rejected by Dale. (Hey, I had no problem with it!)

Finally, today, a deal was worked out. Basically, Dale would plead guilty to one count of being in violation of the Copyright Act and pay a $1,000 fine and forfeit all the movies seized, and all charges against me would be dropped. My lawyer was unable to be there today (was in Phoenix) but I didn't expect anything significant, so wasn't worried. I believe Dale had a good argument to make that he did NOT violate copyright law. BUT, to make that argument in trial would cost him somewhere around $40,000. $40,000 to defend a business which had been shut down for two years, and still run the risk of losing. Or, pay a $1,000 fine and have it go away. He plead guilty and paid the fine. The Crown dropped the other 3 charges against him, and all 4 charges against me - and then asked that all of my goods seized be forfeited as well. WHAT?! NO CHARGES AND YOU WANT TO SEIZE MY PROPERTY??!!

I made an application to the judge that it didn't seem right that all charges could be dropped against me, and yet I could still be "made to pay". We discussed that for a good 10 or 15 minutes, and then the judge made his ruling. He accepted the $1,000 fine recommendation, tossing out all the charges, Dale forfeited his goods - and then gave me back all of my stuff. I wish I could remember the judges exact wording, but I don't. It left the Crown Prosecutor speechless.

In the end I learned this: justice is not done in the legal system. The police officer involved made a determination that a crime had been committed, and from that point on it becomes up to the individual to prove otherwise, and that's expensive. I've seen CCRA (Revenue Canada) do the same thing with taxes. Make a claim for $50,000 - knowing it will cost $20,000 to fight it, and settles it for $10,000. Financially, you've got to settle it, right or wrong. Dale lost his business - but even if he won he wasn't going to get that back, it was dead. So, the government spent how much $$$ to get a $1,000 fine? We were ready to go to court IMMEDIATELY - and had provided to the police all the evidence - we never tried to hide anything, we never tried to distort facts. We told them exactly what we had done, why, and how. Yet, the process took almost a full two years and alot of money - and stress! We weren't doing something evil, we weren't trying to break any laws, and I don't believe we did.

That's it. The whole story in a nutshell. Obviously there's been lots of drama I've not included here - I mean, it was TWO YEARS - but you get the picture. Dale's in a bit of an interesting situation, where he can't even say "I'm innocent" 'cause he plead guilty. But, I have yet to see any evidence that shows that he actually broke copyright law.

In the on-going saga of Hollywood vs moral choice... Hollywood argued in the District 7 court that it wasn't about money, but about the directors artistic ownership. (Which still didn't explain why it was okay for airlines and TV stations to edit, but not for anybody else to.) Offers were made numerous times to purchase the already edited versions of these movies - but they refused to sell them. Well, now you can buy some edited versions! Avatar and The King's Speech are available in edited format. Here's an interesting article in the Deseret News about The King's Speech.

To THE PAIN!

I actually think I used this title once before. (March 2009 when I started hitting the gymn again.) But, the movie is such a good one, and there really isn't anything else that describes my thoughts.

First - I learned a valuable lesson this last week - just because someone isn't a "follower" of my blog doesn't mean it's not being read. Second: I have a nasty habit of opening my mouth a little bigger to stick my foot in a little further.

I've realized that when I write here I tend to "tailor" my comments to my percieved audience. I guess that comes from talking about money all the time. However, this is really supposed to be me talking to me - and letting whoever wants to drop in to this crazy, mixed-up part of my head listen in.

A big THANK-YOU goes out to Duanne for his help in getting my computrainer back up and going. I've been without a computer to run it (it's OLD stuff, and I just didn't have anything old enough to run it!) since my "friends" from the RCMP stopped by and siezed it. - he gave me an old laptop and POOF! I'm off and riding in my basement again. It's so much better than my rollers. I like rollers - great for improving my form and balance - but long rides on the rollers make things go a little numb, and standing for any length of time is difficult.

Of course, the disappointing thing is how far down my performance numbers are from a year ago!

I love my computrainer - it's basically a regular rear-tire mount bicyle trainer - except that for the resistance there's a cable that runs to this cool little box, and that runs to a computer. As the terrain changes (up hill or downhill - or even drafting!) the resistance is adjusted. All the while it monitors and records heart rate, cadence, watt output, leftleg/rightleg balance, time, etc. (and shows it all on the screen while hammering along.)

So this morning I went for a little 30km ride with a little climb in the middle. I was disappointed that my average wattage output has slipped by 60-65 watts. My max is almost half what it used to be. I worked hard this morning - and now that I've got it set-up, I can work hard again and get those numbers up in time to do some racing. Johnny, LOOK OUT! I'm coming for ya man!

On another note: I've gotten my numbers back from my DEXXA scan. Wow. I guess I'm going to have to hit the gymn. I've got some serious muscle imbalances. Pretty hard to correct those through running or cycling. The news wasn't all that great - but at least it tells the whole story and I know where I'm at now. I hope to be able to have another one this summer and that it'll tell a whole different story.

A special thank-you to my wife who is always so encouraging when I get down about where I'm at.

I Really Didn't Know

So the big news I was so excited about on Friday was.... nothing. On Monday it got squashed like a mosquitto on the windshield of a Porshe at 200mph. It wasn't pretty. And at that moment I finally realized just how much stress I've been living with for the past 2 years. Stress that has permeated everything in my life - including my weight loss - and that because it's "always been there" I didn't really see how deep it was.

Two years ago my house got searched by the RCMP. It all had to do with "Clean Flicks" movies. I won't go into the whole legal battle here (someday...) but we've been fighting without being able to fight for almost two years. The first year was a year of complete unknown. Then, finally when deadlines were nearing they finally charged us. Then we fought for a couple of months (and court appearances) to get disclosure from the crown so that we could even enter a plea and then get to go to trial (and spend more legal money). We STILL do not have a trial date. On Friday I was told that the crown was going to drop all the charges against me (put simply, I have a "get of jail free card" and they KNOW they can't win.) - but with the weather on Monday court was cancelled and so nothing was put in front of the court, and, well, the battle goes on.

On Friday, for the first time in two years, I felt that burden completely lift. I felt "normal" - and then on Monday I felt it all come crushing down on me again. The sudden swing was the catalyst to make me see just how bad it was. I've known all along that it was there (kind of hard to forget that) but never really understood just how bad that stress was.

So, now we have another date to go before the court (it's another month away) - but I've heard nothing further from the Crown as to where they're at anymore. Long story, but there's some politics involved, too. I really do look forward to the day when I can finally tell the WHOLE story.

Anyway, weight is moving down, but not near as fast as I'd have expected. I'm glad that I took measurements, 'cause I've been able to see some of those shrinking even if the scale isn't co-operating much right now. I'm looking forward to next week having a meeting with Doc to get all the juicy details on my scan from last week.

That's it for now!

Ummm - WHAT? REALLY?!

That line completely describes my last week. I can't go into much detail right now (hopefully more on Monday) but in virtually every aspect of my life and stress there's been major developments.

Sorry for it being just a teaser, but I AM excited and wanted to let the vast world of my followers (all one of you!) know it, but can't put any details out there just yet.

So, until next week...

Progress??

So this morning at STUPID O'Clock in the morning (that would be approximately 4am) I woke up absolutely COOKING! Threw all the blankets off and curled up with just a sheet. HMMMMMmmmmmm that's better. Slept well for the next couple of hours. Is my metabolism finally starting to shift up? I don't know yet, but this morning's shower was much more bearable. (don't get me wrong, I'm still not enjoying the freezing cold, but I'm able to stay it in much longer.)

As I amp up my bike time and effort I'll start taking some ice baths. I'm putting that off as long as possible. I've done those before, and it's way more than just uncomfortable, it's very painful.

Weight was up this morning (WHAT?!!!) I hate it when that happens.