Red Rider 1 Week In

So today, 9/28/2022 late eveening something scary happened. My leg went numb for no reason. I was sitting up in bed, relaxed, and watching Merlin! My right lower leg was feeling like it was asleep! I raised the foot of the bed for a while to try to get the feeling to go away. Waited, and it still felt like it was asleep! So, then I changed my whole position to a more lying down position with my head still slightly raised and that did the trick! Sensation came back, but without the feeling of ants in my leg when the leg or other limb falls asleep. 

One of the things I forgot to mention to Gayle in the middle of the night was that I had the feeling of pins and needles in the soles of my feet. This has been going on for a while, but I thought it had to do with my heart issues.

So there it is, it is now Thursday, and on Saturday, the 24 th, I went to see a doctor Vance with what I thought was an infection in my unrinary track and came out with a diabetes type 2 diagnosis that literally rocked my world. I had already given up sodas the weeks before because of the article about fake sugars affecting heart patients. I was already off breads because I was trying to get rid of my panza! Then it was a matter of changing the rest of my diet. I am eating chicken and eggs amd a lot of lettuce. Yesterday at the store I did buy some cheese and cold cut turkey for wraps. My cereal is protein based and we're playing with that. I am eating nuts as a snack. Still drinkin' a ton of water because I'm trying to stay hydrated for the UTI thing. Evidently UTIs in men, not common, that's why immediately we were talking about diabetes! Here I am the Red Rider!

Dreamin'

So, I woke up with a startle this morning! I'm 60+ and I've always known that you shouldn't pee in your dreans because you'll pee for real while sleeping! This morning, in my dream, I was peeing on a piece of carpet in an area where there was also dirt and grass nearby! In real life I got up startled and checked the bed to see if it was wet and nothing there! Now, I'm reconsidering all the things I know to be true!

Obligatory Bike Note or OBN (OBN): So, I rode my bike on Saturday and on Sunday I was sore! GAS was not happy I rode and pushed me to do more on the move. 

Where I Find Myself

Today: I find myself, as I try to regain past speed and fitness, in a group unlike any other I have been in since 83 here in SA. The Street Ratz of SA are welcoming slow and fast and do short rides and long rides welcome svelte people and welcome big people. It feels really good to know "Once a Rat always a Rat!" One can come and go without issues. 

 I can only manage 13 mph on average speed these days at my very best effort and the Street Ratz do anything from 10 mph to 14 mph. Cyclones has a C group that goes as low as 14 mph. I was going to stop riding with groups until I found Las Ratas as I call them, but they were so friendly and welcoming I had to persist. I know I'm a social rider, I can do long solo rides, but I have to be able to look forward to a group ride on Saturdays. The Pandemic and its variants have made this difficult as well, but we pretty well know through Science that droplets lose their umph when outside and we only need to mask up when we're in closer contact than what we do in cycling. Belonging is also critical; it goes to identity and the larger context of life.  

Action Bikes Sunday 7 am ride from Bike World AH is also accepting and attainable if you're riding at slow speeds! The group and Howard the manager/owner at Action Bikes makes sure slow riders stay in contact on a set course. This group does a 100 miler most Sundays by starting at the buttcrack of dawn and going until they knockout 100 to 130 miles at a time with various stops to regroup. The 7 am portion of the ride is a slow piece the other times from Four to Six are faster paced and the portion from 9 to the end are faster paced as well covering a good portion of San Antonio in the process!

I can see myself graduating to the cyclones slow group someday. I can also see myself leading a slow group as part of one of the other groups. I have lots of experience and people say I don't show that I'm struggling to maintain speed or stay connected to the group. 

I have had lots of invitations of late to join their groups TEAM TACO ('22), MTCCSA ('21), CYCLONES ('20), CYCLE LOGIC ('19), but I know I can't keep up and I like to hold my own! 

It hurts my independent streak when someone pushes me from behind (actually pushes me hand on my back and such)! Plus, groups with sags, they would prefer you to take the sag than to have you try to finish on your own! Cycle Logic was my team for whom I raced, but nowadays the slow guys are fast and us used to be fast guys can't keep up and that makes the rides difficult because we lose contact and regrouping is a challenge. When I ride with them, I know I'm keeping the fast guys back and that hurts too! 

I have a long way to go to get back to where I was, my weight-loss journey is on hold (see below in the postscript), but I know a lot and can help with no drop rides for groups that are looking for a 'D' group.  

PS (Currently our family is in the midst of a slow move, meaning we need to vacate soon, but not until we're in a place where we can move in to knowing we're in a place that will keep us comfortable for the long run! While packing is still going on and have yet to pack the bike room and biggest factor is my weight-loss achieved by the fall of 2021 has all but disappeared. Finding a balance between carbs and no carbs to fuel my rides has proved to be more difficult than I can fathom. I know I can't do it in a ketogenic state. Those of you who are achieving great success with Keto and going sugar-less power to you! I will have to revisit this at a later date! Perhaps doing more through walking, running, and swimming is the solution for me. Currently, the move has given me enough to handle and think about without worrying about every little thing I eat!)

Early November Update: Success Lasted Less than One Year

 

Eight months long plateau that turned in to a backslide!

During the early part of the pandemic I was able to drop 36 pounds as seen in the pictures posted on the previous articles! Unfortunately what began as a short plateau turned in to a yo-yo, became a backslide, and now I am at 23 pounds lost. Still feeling physically healthy, but the photos do not lie! 7 month plateau turned in to a yo-yo where I went from 258 to 264 pretty regularly therefore the doubt expressed in the previous post! In the eighth month my weight firmly remained at 270. The picture above is 274.

During the process I had to increase carb intake to fuel big efforts and long distance while tweaking my intake of electrolyte with a sugarless source. I was not successful in using the sugarless source in fact ended up in a hyponatremic state for over an hour on a recent long bout. As a result I have stopped speed and endurance training and relegated weight-loss to my efforts in walking.

Maintaining the balance between ketogenic and glycogenic states proved to be my downfall for the backslide. As our efforts in our walking regime increase hopefully the scale numbers will head back down. It has proved to be slower because of tissue tares from the hyponatremic melt-down ride where Gayle had to come rescue me at 281 and  410 South.

“I would not be a backslider, No!, I’ll tell you the reason why, Yes!, ‘cuz if my Lord done call on me, I wouldn’t be ready to die!” Sung with the Lackland African American Community Church! Oh what a Joy!

If you arrived here from my Facebook Page: Healthy Food, Steady Cardio, Thinner Athlete; thank you for your help and support of my efforts! If you are following the donations of ten bikes in ten months; thanks again, but most of that work is outlined in the sub-page: Bike Donations R Us please request approval for entry in to that private group. Ride On!

The Picture is Lying!

The picture I took two weeks ago (the most recent one with the same outfit) that makes me feel really skinny and seems to impress others as well based on the response it's getting on Facebook. The pic is lying because it's not showing weight that I have gained. I know, not official until I weigh in on Saturday and Tuesday! I also know this is an early reaction like most of these where I am claiming gained weight. Again, I wish I had done all the measuring you're supposed to do! I am using the picture as a gauge, but the picture doesn't show the reality of higher numbers!

So who do I believe? Do I believe the pictures and continue feeling good or do I slow down on feeding the engine to get some pound savings! The mileage is not going to be out of this world, so feeding the engine is less critical! Still gotta do what I gotta do! Consistency in everything!!!       

Nagging Back Pain was Back!

I wrote this in February 2018

Over Christmas vacation, I found myself with lots of pain in my back, so I stopped riding and did my old stand-by when faced with pain in my back, namely Yoga! After three days of reduced activity and lots of yoga, I was no better! WTHeck! 

I took to spinning a huge gear to get my back to feel better because the above fact became apparent. So now I regularly/daily spin a huge gear dirt slow 30 RPM (Gospel music like Kirk Franklin and others works great).

To take this even further, I have recently as in the last three days added HIIT sessions to what I was doing and slowly even out of the saddle efforts are becoming doable without pain and without pain afterwards!

Yes, spin like a twelve year old, but also mash a big ole gear for the yin-yang, balance of what we love to do! 

Back to this week and last week:

My mantra right now is, “Pulling out all the stops!” 

Reading above I am reminded that two years ago yoga didn’t help! But if I'm pulling out all the stops then yoga and core work has to be part of the build-up!

Last week I did a couple of yoga sessions to try to knock out the pain I’m having in my lower back. And the pain in places where I didn’t know about continued.

I talked about using the MTB as well. It has helped keep my body warm and diminishing the pain, but did not knock it out! 

The core work continues as well as the stretching! The yoga is still there tightening places I’m not even aware they exist!

The thing that is making the biggest difference is spinning the big gear on the Position Fixe rides in the basement on the trainer! Even on days that I’m not exercising outside I am doing fifteen to thirty minutes in a big gear downstairs!

For those that don’t know these big gear workouts, they are very hard on the joints! My knees have been a problem these past five years as well! Today, I have good news! All the bike work, coming up on 1300 miles so far for the year has strengthened my knees to such an extent that today on a tough and taxing ride on the trainer my knees had no complaints even after thirty minutes in the big gear with standing accelerations (activity that used to cause pain in my knees)! That is very encouraging!

 

April fools, but not April Fool's 2021 update on my back! So I'm taking lots of days off before I retire at the end of May! It has been fun, but being unleashed to ride all kinds of mileage is not conducive to my sketchy back! I've done some big gear workouts and some time trials. Not a whole lot of difference there! I hae a new set of Ultegra Wheels because I busted up my Mavic Open Pro that we got a few years ago! As a big guy the best solution is to get down to 200 lbs. so the 32 spoke wheels can handle the weight and no buckle under my weight! I replaced the bad spokes that were stressed by the derailleur derailing into my back wheel! I trued that wheel very carefully so now both set of wheels on the Litespeed and the Caloi Time Trial are nice solid wheels! New curve ball has been puctures of the front wheel. I rode a little today with a 15K trying not to tempt fate with more mileage. So if I can keep the mileage reasonable I might be ok!

Wow, what a short memory I have!

Both of the following articles are from 2018 and it’s the exact same thing that is currently happening!

SUNDAY, JULY 29, 2018

My New Miracle Drug - A Minha Droga Nova

Full-blown Atkins! Yup, I said it! No more sugar, no more carbs other than the ones we get naturally in legumes and such!

It was a desperate move, but a necessary one! Last week, I worked my butt off on the bike and the results? There were no results! Zilch, nada, niente! My rides were strong and as fast as I could do them, yet no results! My weight, ta da dam! Ballooned to 293!!! That's almost 300 lbs! Holy tish! Batman! So the only course was to quit sugar, including my beloved cereal and my drinks and to quit my love 'em/hate 'em carbs!

The result? Ta da dam! 13 pounds gone (actually: 13.25 and I broke 280 lbs! Poof! WTH?

I had always opted to do South Beach because I would still get some carbs! But my body cannot function with carbs and it can't function without carbs (I said that last thing because yesterday's attempt to go long was sabotaged by not having enough glycogen in my system to complete the task!) Sucked so bad! My only solution for this is either to go ride with the Cool Cats or with the Hill Country Touring and Adventure Club. Once I get fast enough, perhaps the Cyclones! Right now I can't even muster their lowest speed range for their slowest group.

I never did full-blown Atkins, because it was too much! I assumed as an athlete I had to maintain a higher level of glycogen in my system.

So, I am going to continue to work on my swimming, and my cycling without carbs until I reach a weight management level. That would be 200 lbs! Honestly, I do not know if I have what it takes to go that far, but I have to do something! Or a Heart Attack! No thanks, I don't want to be part of the zipper club!

I’m Back with my Back Again! I’m Back!

THURSDAY, JULY 19, 2018

Why? Por qué?

Not that I've been researching this, but it is the best idea I've heard in a year!

So, for a year, what I normally did to lose weight stopped working such as: walking a lot at school, doing intermittent fasting, and keeping up with my cycling! It's almost like the three months I took off from activity last Summer changed something! I have been active all my life, but last Summer when I couldn't be active because of my knees caused me to spin into the abyss of being a couch-potato! Blame it on eating worse than normal, but that's not the case. Blame it on not being active enough, but no that's not it either I'll explain in a sec. Or perhaps my metabolism took another dip. I wasn't expecting another dip until my sixties, but maybe because I have been so hard on this old body, it came early. In the fall last year, I noticed things were not progressing like they should have been. What to do? It was now Christmas, my knees were coming along fine, but my back on the other hand was hurting almost constantly! Now what? Over Christmas, I took a few days off the bike to see if it would go away, nope!

https://greatist.com/move/beginners-power-yoga

I also picked up my power yoga that would normally knock out the pain in two or three days and that didn't work either! Now it's New Years and time to change some things so I decided to streak! A streak is something you do everyday no matter what! So, for the new year I decided I was going to spend twenty to thirty minutes on the bike everyday in order to push away the back pain through activity and it worked!

I had noticed that with all the spinning (easy work, light efforts on the bike to get my knees active again and increase synovial fluid in my soft tissue and musculature around my knees) was causing me to be weak off the trainer out on the streets. My solution to the back pain and transition away from all the lite spinning I was doing for my knees was to do some weight-lifting on the bike. So twice a week I would spin on the hardest, most exhausting gear I could manage on the trainer and the other days of the week I did a speed session, a tempo session and a long ride. This worked, like I said, to knock out the pain in my back! But what about the weight-loss? No dice, I yo-yoed through-out the year without any definitive results! What to do? I had relegated myself that I would in my later years be a bigger big guy than I really wanted to be. I was very close to getting rid all of my clothing that was not extra-large! Actually, that's still on the table, we shall see!

I read lots of athletic stuff, training stuff, studies, research etc. all the time to stay with it for my own training and for my e-blast and my blogs! I came across a phrase that stuck with me recently that I wasn't even looking for for any reason. I think it was an add for an e-book on RoadBikeRider.com

https://www.roadbikerider.com/earticles-training/

I'm not 60 for a couple of years yet, but there it is in black and white! As you get older, you don't want to slow down, you want to ramp things up! So, on the New Year, I started streaking on the trainer to keep the pain in my back away. I have never been one to ride my bike every freaking day or even when I was a runner, I took two days off per week at least! And now that the Summer is here and the Fall Semester is just around the corner I have picked up swimming for a total body workout and am encouraged that the swimming will take me into my twilight years feel fit and strong!

I pray that it will also allow me to get back to faster riding and lose some of this extra weight I have been carrying around. Remember, as you get older, don't slow down, ramp things up!

Alas...

So one of my riding buddies took this picture on the way back from Castroville when my back was hurting!

So have you ever found a picture of yourself from a time when you knew you were fat, but now that you’re fatter you wish, “Man, I wish I was that skinny!”

Well the last five years have been one battle after another to get well, uninjured, and then lose the weight gained while convalescing! The last bout of inactivity that pretty much ended two posts ago! January, yes January! From October to January nothing, heck I wasn’t even supposed to be walking on my dislocated metatarsal! That last battle to lose the weight continues till today! Before five years ago, I gained weight, but would drop it like a hot potato! No problem! But then, bam! No more, most recently, during two months of COVID-19 I did everything right like I used to, ate sensibly, exercised religiously to build up mileage and not get injured, but only lost two pounds of weight! Yeah, water weight came and went but the number that stayed off two! Ahrrgh!

This picture taken by Patty Clark, thanks Patty! On the Medina  River  Linear Park

On Sunday, I hit the 1,000 mile mark! So, base miles at 1K not 65 hours, but 133 slow hours! My weight has budged past the two pounds lost, but not because of the miles, but because of the Pre-Diabetic scare. Reminds me I still need to see Dr. Horn about that! But I made life changes before even going! Those life changes have now translated to eight, count them 12345678 pounds down in two weeks! Today,Tuesday, my best day to check my weight! Do you know your best day to check your weight?!? A post for another time! But today, 282.8 pounds still 20 freaking stone!An improvement! COVID-19 283 lbs. no less, but definitely more!

After two months of hardly no weight loss, after I started the RideYourArseOff page, I gave up! Thinking, “why am I stressing myself and getting almost nothing to show?!?” Ballooned to my scariest weight ever 290! I’ve hit that once before, don’t remind me! Then came the blood work! I was hoping the bloodwork would explain something! It did visceral fat, subcutaneous fat! Bad!

Future, was not bright, type 2 Diabetes! I had friends in HS with type 1, sux! Now as an adult, I have friends with type 2! Still sux! They changed their health lives and so can I!

If you’re reading this you are part of the solution! Thank you to Gayle for your patience with me! If only I would have swallowed my pride and done this ten years ago! Thank you to all of you for your friendship and encouragement and allowing me to write with you! God bless you and hold you in the hallow of His/Her hand!

Meanwhile...

Can you tell Steven Colbert’s show has become a don’t miss for us! Last I wrote it was January and I had just started getting back to training! BTW I did the right thing because my foot has not gone back to pain or a twinge or anything! That has been wonderful!

Then, all hell broke loose in the world and there is an incurable virus running rampant through the world! Experts say it was a cross-species virus from bats to us who-mans! (I’m Batman!) It is a novel coronavirus that the world has never seen, but we have seen others like it. Everything shut-down for quite a while, then reopened, and now we’re in the process of shutting back down again because people are stupid and so is our leadership. But here in the US solo exercise bouts were not against the rules. Other countries were able to manage the PANDEMIC much better than we have so far. They shut everything down including outside workouts.

School closed, actually it never reopened after Spring Break, everything has been postponed! It is crazy to write what I’m writing! Life will forever be changed! Due to the Corona Virus Disease of 2019 or COVID-19 for short 120,000 Americans have died, another 380K have died around the world! It’s-a freaking disaster!

Lots of stress eating all around till we realized, “oh, heck!” (more like WTF)! I’ve gained massive amounts! No problem silver lining to COVID-19 we can exercise a lot. On call, was a blessing! Not to minimize anything millions of lives have been shattered, families destroyed, health care workers and others on the front lines will have issues for the foreseeable future! I have not cried so much in my life! My new tell when I’m tired, I weep at seemingly insignificant things! Our lives are not the same.

 So middle of April we’re getting the hang of things and putting in the miles, changing our eating habits, and expecting great results! Alas, it wasn’t to be, nearly 400 miles last month and nearly 300 miles the month before that and I lost a whopping two, duas, deux, due, zwei count ‘em 1, 2! Heck that could be water weight or a huge BM! Something is wrong!

So Now...

It has been three weeks without the boot with Christmas Break, I only wore it once. Probably should have worn it twice.

I didn't want to go back to the boot at school when school started, so I toughed it out last week! The first day was the hardest or most painful, but then Tuesday there were hardly any issues at all! I have had the boot in the car every day I've been at school. There is some comfort in that were there to be an occasion where the boot would be needed!

So, it all feels almost normal! All this normality makes me want to get back on the bike last week, this week, today! But I told myself I was going to slow down so that means I going to be abundantly cautious and go from there. I will do my best to give it two more weeks. With two more weeks it will have been fourteen weeks with the boot or recovering with and without the boot.

I almost went this morning on my normal Sunday Morning ride, but chose yet to stay cautious! These things are always an experiment of one. We all have to work out the way we can find success in recovery! The cautiousness has worked for me! Hopefully soon...

No, this is not me, but I do own a blue jacket, a black helmet, and a red mountain bike!

Two Stories to Tell: Story Juan

So first the story of the boot! I spent seven weeks in it and was excited to get out of it, perhaps too excited! The last week was the week of Fall Break at Thanksgiving Time. The seventh week! So Monday when we went back to school I was eager to have it off! Monday, and Tuesday I was fine, but then I forgot something at home so I rushed home and when I came down the stairs in a hurry I managed to dislocate it again. I could barely walk back to the car, so I went back inside the house and put the boot back on! I didn't even make it three days! Quelle lastime!

So I'm prepared to go 14 weeks with the dad gum boot, but I am being brazen in my approach because any chance I get I'm not wearing the boot and doing my toe exercises and even going for walks.

By the time Winter Break came I had been in the boot a total of nine weeks. Not a happy camper! I know with the knee trouble I had recently I had to get off the compression stuff and start strengthening the actual knee. I am using that approach now with my dislocated metatarsal. Doctor Hughes did not cover this. I tried to get in to see my doctors, but due to the holidaze my appointments are getting cancelled. ¡Muy interesante! Happy

Something Happened Sooner

I was looking forward to walking around the block! No, I had to go get a glitch in my back! Doing what exactly?! Cleaning out the cat box!

We had awakened early to get a nice breakfast at La Madeleine across from Central Market!
 An aside, breakfast at La Madeleine was not as much fun since I gave up coffee. Stupid heart! Coffee causes a cumulative effect on my heart rate, so by ten or eleven PM my freaking heart is racing and all I'm doing is sitting there watchin' TV! "No caffeine for you!" BTW their French country breakfast is really good! Would have been better with coffee!

So we come home after getting the last of the food for the Thanksgiving meal,
 and of course I have chores to do so I do them and then I'm all sweaty so I go and crank up the AC in the den to cool off and watch some TV. So after sitting there for a while, I can barely get up! I'm still wearing the boot 24/7 so it's not like I can handle something else right now. BTW my wife's Turkey turned out really good! I wasn't much help fixing it up, but I still did a couple of things! Then I washed the dishes while my bride napped! Somebody wanted to see the Cowboys get beat so we ate early as opposed to after the game! Still great fun though!

So what am I doing about it? Well all the over the counter stuff is doing zilch, nada, niente!

I was supposed to go for a leisurely walk around the block, no biggie! But this happened so I'm having to modify my rehab of my foot to accommodate my back! This week is the sixth week of having the boot, or boots! I trashed one and then got another! After this week according to Dr. Hughes in order to salvage the nerve damage I'm supposed to go 7/24 for another week. Well when medication isn't doing anything for my back (BTW long story short, I have an extra vertebrae in my back from a tail bone that did not fuse. An L6. Every once in a while it gives me grief when I have not kept my athletics exercise routine up). For the last two years when I do my periodization for cycling I end up having to pick up my riding early because my back will not allow me to stay stagnant for long.

Today, in an attempt to stave off the pain in my back that is keeping me from getting up easily and preventing me from walking a whole lot, I embarked on a thirty minute bike ride in the absolute fastest gear on my stationary bike downstairs. This is equivalent to having to lift weights with my legs. This motion and exercise seems to reduce the inflammation from the episode two or three days ago. It normally does the trick in about two or three days. Since it is Friday, Black Friday for that matter, the second one this year! I hope that is not an omen of things to come! Wish me luck!

One step forward, two steps back

Often these past two weeks with the boot my foot will feel normal and I'll go 20 or 30 minutes without the boot and meanwhile something happens to my foot that it hurts all over again!

Yesterday, my bride and I went down to Día de Los Muertos downtown at La Villita to see the altares, alebriges, and Katrina/Carolina and the esqueletos. I wore my boot the whole time, was very careful, and today I feel like I ran a marathon! There is a dull pain! Like it is healing, but just taking its sweet time!

I know I am not patient! In college when I broke my ankle, I played tennis with my cast on and managed to break my cast and so then I had to wear the cast for an extra six weeks. I hope that is not the case with this tarso metatarsal dislocation.

Mine doesn't have the blue air bubble or the white dot up towards the top.

Now that I'm wearing the boot, I notice all the people that are also wearing a boot. They are everywhere! My wife, Doctor Gayle, says the boots are used for everything from Diabetes to relieve the pressure to broken ankles! Figures!

Remember how I said I break everything? Well I managed to wear through the sole to where it is falling off so then every-time I take a step it's not a dull thud but a loud whack. So new boot ordered and will take some time to arrive. Meanwhile, I have a piece of mountain bike tire covering the part that is exposed! Ha!

Identity Crisis!

What am I? Am I this ultra endurance dude? A guy that does seven one hundred milers in a single summer, comes home does his chores around the house and still has enough for a night out on the town? Or am I something else entirely? 

 This picture is ingrained in my memory! It is what I don't want to be. It is not me, I don't wear glasses like that! But then I always told myself, I didn't want to be like X and now in my later years I have become that which I didn't want to be. So yeah, there's an identity crisis!

What is an ultra-exerciser that cannot exercise? Are they a couch potato?! Are they a cheeto flinger?! Are they a cheese-ball whacker?! I wrote this after the Summer after the two elbow break (I must have been too devastated to even write about it before then!):

So, this Spring Break (March, 2016), I'm working out how to be inactive! I came to the realization that's it's been thirty plus years that I have been working out: running, climbing, cycling, swimming, and lately walking.
Unbelievably, now that I'm older the walking is ever more productive than all the cycling I do so regularly. Recently, with two catastrophic injuries in two years the mileage on the bike is less than half of what it has been in the past. The breaking of my two elbows this past Summer, caused me to question whether cycling is for ever or just another one of many activities I have done throughout the years.
My wife and I have adopted the slower method of losing poundage with small changes that make a big difference on weight-loss. Both of us have lost about thirty-five pounds and have kept it off.
At school I use the fasting method. A bunch of people at school are getting good results with it. I don't like to eat at school anyway so it works for me. (Please do not see this as an endorsement of the intermittent fasting method. I no longer believe it to be healthy or productive in weight-loss!)
I can feel the consequences of not staying active in my hips and in my knees. My back has never been real happy so that is still there also. My elbows, the one that did not give as much trouble is the one that troubles me more now and it even clicks! Boo! Well, got to go!

I remember the orthopod telling me to get back on the bike immediately and start putting weight back on my arms. I did, at about a minute something at a time on the bike in the basement! Putting weight on two broken arms was no fun!

A lot of times I talk about an experiment of one, meaning we all have to find our own way out of the hole, if a hole is the right metaphor for a cease and desist on the exercise front! As one grows older, is that all that is left with exercise? Use it or lose it! Put up or shut up! One injury after another! Fighting my battle! Take that pill! Subsistence exercise, forget intensity, forget endurance, and just ride to smell the flowers or ride to be an activist! Am I paying the price now for all the intense exercise I have done in my past? The injuries are here because I was too gung-ho (over-enthusiastic) in High-School, College, and Early Adulthood. Add to that all the heart issues that come with it as well: enlarged heart, heart murmur, irregular heart-beat and high-cholesterol, high blood-pressure, and anxiety. What do I say to all you young people on our campus?! "Take it easy, take it slow, but go, go, Go!"; "Use it or lose it!!"; "Carpe Diem!"; "Carpe Viam!"(Loosely translated as Hit the road!); "Noli Consequi!"(No drafting the big guy!) Would I be where I am today, without exercise and fitness? Would I be a lesser version of myself? Would the kids still say, "you look forty, mister!?"

So, after a two-week hiatus from exercising, after a debilitating Lis Franc Injury, I just want to say a huge thank you to everyone that has supported me and honored me with Student Jerseys at Krueger MS. Nearly Twenty years at Krueger and two shirts in two weeks! The support is really humbling and something I would never have expected.

This is obviously a tough time, but I have gained a lot of strength from the support over the last two weeks! I'd also like to extend my gratitude to my comrades in arms, the ultra-exercisers I look up to, especially Ms. Rubio and Lupe Rodriguez. Doctor Gayle, my wife, for keeping me on the straight and narrow and everyone at Well-Med and Doctor Horn's Office for assisting me. Thank you for going above and beyond the call of duty, for which I am ever so grateful. I know how lucky I am to be here today and how much I owe to all of you. One of the practitioners said, "there is no medical reason" why I could not come back "stronger than before."

In my dreams I wish I could be like Froome and say, "Whilst this is a setback and a major one at that, I am focusing on looking forward. There is a long road to recovery ahead, but that recovery starts now and I am fully focused on returning back to my best."

Read more at https://www.cyclingweekly.com

Six Months Without Injury was Wishful Thinking

The glow after a good ride!

This is how satisfied I was this Saturday after a seventeen miler in which my foot gave me a bit of grief every time I started or stopped and in traffic that was pretty often. As the day progressed it was more and more evident that I was not in Kansas anymore and I hadn't survived six months without injury.

In early May, last year I fought to maintain fitness with Plantar Fasciitis. Those of you who know about PF you know what a pain it is to do anything with it! During that time, I suffered something that now I presume was a Lisfranc Injury while putting my pants on in the morning of all things. When it happened I immediately knew that I needed to take time off! Dr. Gayle, my wife, insisted I stay off the bike. She was right, after six weeks I was back to riding at first cautiously, but then full bore! Until this past Wednesday, again Dr. Gayle suggested I must have pushed off of the stool I was sitting on while we were writing our schedules in Spanish, ten sentence paragraphs. Me counting sentences, never! We were just doing our list-making in a fancy way.  So then this was 8th period,

What an honor to be chosen to represent at the 7th Grade B Game!

Nevermind that earlier before lunch I could barely walk down the hall to the rest-room! After the game I still ended up directing two choirs at my church! Long day!

So that night and the next day, no discoloration! Good sign because I'm trying to avoid an MRI because they cost an arm and a leg. Last time I did a couple was with my broken elbows. The cost of the MRI hurt more than the breaks themselves!

This morning I was a little puffy. But then I'm always puffy. Gabriel the comedian says fluffy, I say puffy! But it hurt, so today I went to church with my stick! According to some friends in the congregation, it didn't affect my singing! BTW if you want to hear the old man sing, come to the Falcon Choir Concert this Tuesday Night. Je vais chanter en Français de La Mer!

So here I am at the end of the season, will need to take at least six weeks off of the bike and from walking for exercise. Hoping for a boot without surgery and then we'll go on from there. Stats this year are: 1,626 miles, the Caloi TT Rig has 3,641 total miles on it, the KHS tandem has 182 total miles on it, the Litespeed Classic Crit Bike has 6,265 total miles on it, and the Gary Fisher Marlin Mountain Bike has 568 total miles on it. Gotta enjoy the ride! Live to ride again tomorrow!

No Elasticity

Elasticity: The ability to bounce back in less than 24 hours from a seemingly hard bout of exercise to continue on your journey of attaining training effect! A lot of times it seems like it's an experiment of one. (But at the same time figuring something out for yourself is what counts so it is warranted). Yes, Dr. Mirkin (a cyclist, blogger, e-zine writer doctor {retired} in his 80s) has been saying for years that the older you get the longer it takes to recover from a bout of exercise. This hit me hard this weekend!

On Saturday, I awoke fine, no issues! Went for my ride on my Caloi Time Trial Rig. (TT) The seat that is in the picture is not the seat I used. I actually was testing out a new to me Bianchi RoyaleGel seat that had some suspension. Everything worked fine, no issues with the seat. Once I adjusted the height a little bit once again, I was fine.

I had planned to get out at six AM, but no the dog had other ideas! Her new thing is she won't get up at all for me. She finally came to get me around nine AM. So that means I got out at a little bit passed 10. Which, with the heat, it is cutting it pretty close. 90 degrees in the day normally hits right around one or two PM. I had all my sun protection garb on that gives me an SPF of 50. Not bad! So I was trying for about three hours, but ended up going for about four hours. No problem, I thought I had been doing four hour rides for over two months now.

The ride itself felt really easy! Even the last bit that is normally a struggle was just as easy as the beginning! So, I thought I had dodged a bullet until later that afternoon.

Gayle and I went to WD Deli, our favorite sandwich shop, the first indication that all was not fine was when sitting down I almost topped the little table over. Getting up to get refills was a real struggle. Later we went to Hot Wells on the South Side to see what the hoopla was all about and when getting out of the car hurt. I knew I had overdone it!

Sunday's 6 AM ride was delayed because of issues with my lights. I don't normally run lights on the TT rig, I put some on, but they wouldn't stay on. So I was much later than normal to catch up with the guys and gals from @ction Bikes I would have to burn some rubber (impossible to do on a bike unless you're stopping, but you catch my drift!) Early on I got to a couple of good numbers 18 mph, 19 mph! But it was short lived, I could feel the anvils that my legs had become.

I gave up the chase, but still completed the route so it became a recovery ride instead of a short bout of speed work.

Siclovía is Always Fun Even If You Go Alone!

Who is alone with 200k of your closest friends on bikes, running, walking, and skateboarding! I knew I was going to do Siclovía today no matter what! 

Yesterday, in preparation for today I did minimal mileage. Saturday is normally my long ride day because I have all the time I need!

This li'l one could be Peanut!

I awoke Saturday tired and lazy! So I went back to bed and let the dog wake me up when she was ready to go out. We have an understanding about this, I don't wake her up to go out on weekends at six. So she lets me sleep in a little when I want! She woke me up at nine, (Good Girl! Peanut!) After taking her out I had a leisurely breakfast and then got ready to go for a ride. I knew I would be riding the road bike on Sunday because it has all the lights and stuff so I hopped on the Gary Fisher, Marlin Mountain Bike and went and did the trails under HWY 281 in Olmos Park.

Our KSAT Parent Howard!

Sundays, I have a group that I normally ride with that has helped me get healthy on the bike, but still put in some miles. Their ride is a stay together ride with a half-way stop at the Alamodome rain or shine that starts at the bike world shop in Alamo Heights! Action Bikes is the name of the group and is hosted by one of our KSAT parents, Howard! I also know me and if I ride with them I'll go too fast and too hard and then wouldn't be worth spit at Siclovía. So today I followed them! Normally when I'm late I chase them till I catch them and like normal today I was late. But all I did was follow until the end! I rode up a big hill to catch them going by a neighborhood adjacent mine.

Then I go do the church thing, pray for my kids and sing in the choir! Today, wanting to get away really quick, I went straight to La Madeleine and bought some goodies and salads. Everything in moderation, right!

So then Siclovía, yess!

In fact, this time there were a bunch of people with huge plants as in previous years. I have never gone and got one because, where would I put it? And these are baby trees so it's not a little bud!

At Siclovía you see all kinds of bikes:

From Mountain Unicycles

To Low Rider Bikes with all kinds of bling on them!

 To Bucket Cargo Bikes and Recumbents

Ciclovía Started in Bogota, Colombia. One year the government noticed the streets downtown not being used on Sunday so the Ciclovía was born! Now it has spread all over the world!

Almost 50 miles this weekend! Still a bunch of pounds shy! If it works don't change it!