Weight Gain Mystery Solved (maybe)
Despite working out a minimum of 3 hours per day (most of it near my lactate threshold) and watching what I eat, I've been steadily gaining about 1.5 pounds per week since Christmas.
While shopping with Amy tonight, I caught a glimpse of the nutrition label on the non-fat milk I drink and was shocked to see that each serving contains 90 calories and there are 16 servings per gallon. Not so bad until I realized that I'm drinking about a gallon per day. That's 1,440 calories in milk ALONE. Going to have to cut that by 75% if I'm going to start losing weight.
I thought I was doing good but cutting out all soda, coffee and eating a lot of fiber but I never thought about the milk until now. Milk is probably the only true addiction I really have so cutting back is going to be really hard.
Blown Away
The last Sunday of every month, the club/team I ride with holds a little race, usually around 40 miles. Today was the February race and there was a nice turnout of about 45 people since the temperature was in the low 60's at race time (1 pm).
Despite some nasty saddle sores (it comes with the territory when you're riding 25 hours per week) and a very hilly course (we rotate among 5 courses), I felt like I had a decent shot today.
Due to the size of the field, we took off from the very start and the final selection was made within the first six miles. We had a slight headwind coming from the north and the speed was such that if you permitted a gap of more than 5 feet from your front wheel to the rider in front of you, you were dropped. I stayed at the front and kept the pace high in preparation for being dropped myself and soon as we hit the steeper pitches of Dublin Rd.
We had a nice but slight tailwind assisting us up Dublin and as I expected, I was dropped from the leaders and was the last one from our group to summit. Midway through the climb, some dude in a VERY old bike, no cleats and a huge backpack passed me like he was a motorcycle. I was alarmed but thought he had just come from a side street and hadn't already been climbing for a mile. He looked young and was incredibly strong. I found out later that he's only 14 and has only been riding since January. His bike later broke down (snapped chain) but if that hadn't happened, he would have killed us all.
Immediately upon cresting Dublin Rd, the wind began to really blow from the West. I'm talking 25 mph sustained with 50 mph gusts. One guy who was pretty tiny, was blown down and landed in the middle of the sidewalk. As we headed east and straight into the wind, we all decided to sit up as the wind was just too dangerous. There were tree branches coming off trees and aluminum cans flying all over the street. We also decided to cut about 15 miles off the course. Though we chose to "sit up", we all had to work incredibly hard just to maintain 10 mph in the wind, even with drafting (60 seconds each pull).
When we got to downtown, it was like a dust storm had swallowed the city and there was very little visibility. We could hardly hear each other talk and didn't want to ride to close in case we were blown suddenly to one side.
Course profile:
RIde data:
Course on Google Maps: 
Time: 1 hour 38 minutes, 16 seconds
Distance: 26.32
Average speed: 16.1 mph (whoa!)
Elevation gain: 2,187 feet
Average heart rate: 154, max 179
Motionbased GPS data link: http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/5039619
Cycling Training Log Spreadsheet
Since 1995, I've been tracking every mile I rode on the bike in an Excel spreadsheet. This has proven to be an excellent training tool and helped me notice trends and (sometimes) avoid over training. Five years ago I set out to find an automated way to compute my average speed and embarrassingly, I couldn't figure out how to do this in Excel so I wrote my first JavaScript application and published it over at : http://www.raincitystory.com/mph.htm. Since that time, I've averaged almost 10,000 hits per month on that page (the other pages on my entire site get less than 1,000 hits per month COMBINED) and I often get e-mails from people asking for more help to automate the aggregation of their training data.
Since I started 12 years ago, the log has gone through some serious evolution and I now think it's ready from prime time. Here are some major features:
1) All days including leap years for 2008 through 2012 are accounted for
2) Average speed automatically calculated and summed on a daily, monthly and annual basis
3) Space to record and average body weight, average heart rate, maximum heart rate, calories burned, temperature, elevation gain, cadence and time of day
4) Automatic monthly summary of number of rides, time spent on the bike, distance, and average speed
5) GRAPHS!
6) Much, much more
License: GPL v2 (improvements appreciated!)
Available Formats:
Microsoft Excel 2000/2003/2007
Open Office Calc
Google Docs (recommended so you don't have to worry about backing up! * Be sure to copy to your own Google account)
I've put a sample entry in the first row so please be sure to delete that when using. Any columns and rows can be deleted so enjoy!
A Glitch In The Matrix?
On Thursday, May 31st, I bought a new scale and weighed myself. The reading: 269.5. I relcalibrated it and weighed myself two more times with the same result. That same night, I began an intensive exercise program and cut back on all soft drinks and most fast food. Over the next six months, I watch my weight fall an average of 8.5 pounds per month. On Friday October 19th, I weighed myself again. The result: 218.0. WOW! I'd lost 51.5 pounds!!
Or so I thought....
Back on May 2nd, I went in to see the doctor about another flare up of my acute insomnia. As a normal part of the check-in process, I was weighed but I knew I was the heaviest in my life so didn't even look at the scale. I went back in today (for the insomnia again) and was weighed. Though I knew I'd gained about 1 1/2 pounds in the past couple of weeks, I was anxious to see how much I'd blew the old reading out of the water. The numbers showed 228.9. Hmm, about 5 pounds more than I expected but I still must have crushed it. I asked the nurse what I weighed the first time I came in. She said 218.2. Surely she was mistaken. I asked to see the chart. I told her their must be some error, the first reading was wrong. She checked and said no, that the scale they use is extremely accurate and is re-calibrated every single morning. She casually said that I'd gained 11.7 pounds in the past 6 months. I sank in my chair.
In the past 6 months, I'd averaged 1,038 miles on the bike per month (approximately 280,000 calories alone), walked several hundred miles with Amy and the dogs, cut out all soda, watched what I ate and GAINED 11.7 pounds. IN THE SUMMER. Before starting to exercise, I was working on the road, completely sedentary and eating fast food for every meal.
Amy thought that there must have been some mistake. Either their scale was wrong the first time or it was today. I called their office back and was assured by a different person that the scale is in fact calibrated every day and that it was a $8,000 scale and extremely accurate. How is that possible? How could I have gained all that weight with all that activity? Was the (rather expensive) $130 scale I purchased in May lying to me the whole time? I don't know what it is but it has certainly destroyed my motivation.
I guess I'll have to double everything. A 2 hour ride on the trainer will now have to be a 4 hour ride and 4 days off a month becomes 2. I'll also have to pick up running. Crap.
N. Cheyenne Canyon with Charts and Graphs
A few weeks ago, I wrote about my first attempt up North Cheyenne Canyon Rd. in Colorado Springs but most of the data I talked about was hearsay and educated guesses. Last Saturday, I picked up a Garmin Edge 305 GPS/HRM/computer 
from Colorado Cyclist and now I can provide a lot more detail and proof of the mountain's difficulty.
This was really my third time up and the conditions weren't great. I'm still suffering the after affects from a weeklong flu and their was a fierce wind pouring down the canyon last night. I was also carrying a lot more gear than last time (cell phone, spare tubes, pump, tire levers and food) because I had no one to call to come pick me up should something go awry. Anyway, on to the numbers.
Here is the elevation profile for my 27.7 mile ride:
What's so astonishing to me is that NCC dwarfs all of the other climbs, most notably the street I live on, Farthing Dr. Farthing is a 1.91 mile hill with an average 8.5% grade but in comparison to NCC, it looks about as difficult as a neighborhood speed bump.
The climb itself, according to my Garmin, is 3.17 miles, average grade of 8.9% with a maximum grade of 23%. The climb gains a total of 1,004 feet of elevation and tops out at 7,464 feet. One thing that isn't captured is how tough the descent is. After 5 minutes, my neck, shoulders and back was screaming for mercy and begging to start fighting gravity again.
If you live in the Colorado Springs area and haven't done this climb yet, I highly recommend it. Not only does it provide a great test of fitness but it's a classic mountain climb, with fabulous switchbacks, views and wildlife. The fall foliage is a nice bonus as well.
