Dear Forum,
You guys have always been very supportive and we've had ourselves some good fun....the forum means a lot to me.
As many of you may know, I try pretty darn hard with dieting & exercise and I'm generally disappointed because I see marginal weight-loss on the scale, BUT always have solid BF% reduction with the calipers......and everyone tells me to just ignore the scale and focus on how I look. Well, it's hard to see changes in the mirror, it's like trying to watch hair grow and being all of 44 years old I'm starting to see some recession in my hair line too!
Anyways, let me get right to it. I do a lot of riding, spinning, swimming, racquetball, weight-training and other stuff. Today I went riding with a spin-instructor at my gym. I feel compelled not to tell people at the gym about our results because it's just wrong on some level....but I can share the story and results with my forum!
The guy I went riding with is from Sweden....he's a former European Cycling Champion and was rated for three years as Sweden's 3rd best rider. Of course, he's not in his prime riding condition...but you don't get that far without having some genetically powerful performance and you never entirely lose it. He's my age, so I didn't go out and beat an old-timer either. He teaches regularly and is widely regarded as a powerful rider...but that's on the road, this is mountain biking on fire-roads: big fat tires that drag, steep inclines, etc.
His bike was a hard-tail (mine is full suspension which adds weight and zaps some energy on the climb)...and his bike wasn't all that fancy, but as he said...it's not the bike, it's the rider.
Honestly, I fully expected him to destroy me. We started-out and I noticed I was working harder to maintain pace...but when we got to the hills they took their toll on him. We got about 12 miles out to the scenic lookout and then headed back...the long 3 mile grind up a hill. I passed him along the way and never looked back! He put-up a good fight but at some point must have just backed-off...when I got to the top of the hill he was nowhere in sight. When he caught up, the rest of the ride home he was just weak, slow and out of juice. I can not believe I "got him".
It's been a while since I posted some pics...and I still don't know how to get the full-size stuff to display...so you'll have to click on the thumbnails to enlarge them. Got a few shots of my calves and some mirror-shots. Yes, I'm flexing a bit and each pic shows a little bit different stuff. No, I don't spin the peddles fast like the spin-bunnies in spin-class...but I am the torque-master....how many mountain lions could feed on these calves? This is what 234 pounds of 5' 8" looks like
Gimme some love!
You guys have always been very supportive and we've had ourselves some good fun....the forum means a lot to me.
As many of you may know, I try pretty darn hard with dieting & exercise and I'm generally disappointed because I see marginal weight-loss on the scale, BUT always have solid BF% reduction with the calipers......and everyone tells me to just ignore the scale and focus on how I look. Well, it's hard to see changes in the mirror, it's like trying to watch hair grow and being all of 44 years old I'm starting to see some recession in my hair line too!
Anyways, let me get right to it. I do a lot of riding, spinning, swimming, racquetball, weight-training and other stuff. Today I went riding with a spin-instructor at my gym. I feel compelled not to tell people at the gym about our results because it's just wrong on some level....but I can share the story and results with my forum!
The guy I went riding with is from Sweden....he's a former European Cycling Champion and was rated for three years as Sweden's 3rd best rider. Of course, he's not in his prime riding condition...but you don't get that far without having some genetically powerful performance and you never entirely lose it. He's my age, so I didn't go out and beat an old-timer either. He teaches regularly and is widely regarded as a powerful rider...but that's on the road, this is mountain biking on fire-roads: big fat tires that drag, steep inclines, etc.
His bike was a hard-tail (mine is full suspension which adds weight and zaps some energy on the climb)...and his bike wasn't all that fancy, but as he said...it's not the bike, it's the rider.
Honestly, I fully expected him to destroy me. We started-out and I noticed I was working harder to maintain pace...but when we got to the hills they took their toll on him. We got about 12 miles out to the scenic lookout and then headed back...the long 3 mile grind up a hill. I passed him along the way and never looked back! He put-up a good fight but at some point must have just backed-off...when I got to the top of the hill he was nowhere in sight. When he caught up, the rest of the ride home he was just weak, slow and out of juice. I can not believe I "got him".
It's been a while since I posted some pics...and I still don't know how to get the full-size stuff to display...so you'll have to click on the thumbnails to enlarge them. Got a few shots of my calves and some mirror-shots. Yes, I'm flexing a bit and each pic shows a little bit different stuff. No, I don't spin the peddles fast like the spin-bunnies in spin-class...but I am the torque-master....how many mountain lions could feed on these calves? This is what 234 pounds of 5' 8" looks like
Gimme some love!
