I’ve been skiing a bit on old racing skis (180s) and Lange boots. It has been . . urm . . interesting.

Tammy has been hating the fit of her boots, so we got her some custom boots, with some adjustments, and me some boots too.

Tammy tried on a few, but finally found some comfortable Dalbello 2011 Raya 10′s

My boots are a bit more agressive than hers, because I like powder, and hitting little jumps For boots, I got Tecnica Demon 110i’s.

For skis, we decided to have Tammy continue to use her rental shaped skis, until she is ready for an all mountain set of skis. For me, however, I needed something, and, why get shaped, when I can get something more all mountain. Dennis recommended S7′s, or, for my skill level, maybe S3′s. Eric, at the Lifthouse, agreed with the S3′s. But, Tammy and I liked the graphics better on the Scott Dozers, and, there wasn’t a lot of difference. They’re both rockered all mountain skis. So, I ended up with Scott Dozer A Version 12′s.

I can’t wait to try them out!

The Rules

I just got finished doing a six week paleo challenge with my gym. The rules were very strict. We used the Whole 30 Plan, but did 42 instead of 30 days.

The rules I was most concerned with were:

• No alcohol
• No sweeteners of any kind, including stevia!

I was especially concerned because I had to deal with Halloween, a wine party, and, most importantly, Halloween parties!

Turns out, the parties weren’t that bad . . . but . . . I digress.

Hiding from sweeteners and artificial sweeteners completely was way harder than I thought. I eat 90% Primal, as my normal diet. So, eating paleo only meant:

1. not cheating
2. Getting rid of dairy
3. Really not cheating (i.e. no legumes at all, including soybean oils)

I found out a bit later that sweet potatoes and coconut milk were allowed.

Also, allowed, were pre/post workout nutrition. So, my normal breakfast of a protein shake, and Surge Recovery, or Aftershock after my workouts was ok.

The Scoring

Finally, the scoring and penalties. We got one point for every paleo meal (maxed at 3 per day), one point for every workout (maxed at one per day), and, -2 points for every cheat item. (So, one night of binge drinking could undo a week of points!)

So, at most, four points per day. And, one final kicker: we had to do 10 burpees per cheat item. (On about the 4th week, Andrew raised this to 50 per item)

Contest Results

The first couple of weeks, I had no cheats. But, I then started having a beer when I hiked up runs, and went snowboarding, so I started averaging one cheat a week, towards the end.

I found that I didn’t really lose any weight. I really missed sweets. Giving up Diet Coke was easy, but, giving up the sweet treat of it, was not. So, I started eating 3-4 pieces of fruit a day, which killed my weight loss. Toward the end, I tried to limit myself to one fruit a day, which helped.

Here were the point results:

Date	Points	Notes
10/12 – 10/23	46	No Cheats
10/24 – 10/30	25	One Cheat
10/31 – 11/06	28
11/07 – 11/13	23	Two Cheats
11/14 – 11/22	29	Three Cheats
Totals	151	Six Cheats

I think I did pretty well. I’m pretty sure I won. But, I could be wrong. There could have been some quiet winner . . .

Real Results

Outside of the contest, what did I get out of the challenge?

First, I learned that I was still drinking way too many diet sodas. I’m very glad to be done with that. I’ve learned to drink unsweetened teas . . . many different varieties. I may start using a little stevia in some of them, but, for the most part, I drink them w/o sweeteners of any kind.

Second, I did learn that my sweet tooth can not be ignored. I’m not sure how I’m going to get past that one. Maybe a stevia sweetened tea every now and then will help.

Finally, I learned how much I normally cheat. And, how many foods they hide sugar in. Including breakfast sausage — you can NOT buy breakfast sausage w/o sugar. At least, I couldn’t find any.

Body Changes

As usual, I was a bit anal about measuring my body changes. Just before I started the diet, I carbed up a bit. So, I gained the obligatory 7 lbs of water weight. (Went from 215 -> 222.7 for the initial weigh in.) So, that came off almost immediately. But, then, it just sat there. The scale did not move again, until I cut out the fruit. I did, however, get my body fat measured, used my body fat measuring scale, and, whipped out the measuring tape. Here’s my changes over the challenge:

Measurement	October 12, 2011	November 22, 2011
Weight	222.7	209.5
BMI (Computed)	32.88	30.93
Bodyfat (Crossfit Measured)	30.3
Bodyfat (Scale)	32.4	30.6
Neck	15.5	15.5
Shoulders	48	46.5
Chest	39	37
Waist	35	34
Hips	41.5	40
Arms	13.5	14.5
Legs	25.3	25
Calves	17	17
Total Inches	234.8	229.5

So, out of losing 5.3 inches overall, I still gained 1 inch in my arms (measured at biceps). That is pretty cool (I’m getting stronger at the same time that I’m losing weight & inches). I’m finally slightly under 36″ pants. Most 34′s fit now. Some 33′s. I’m looking forward to getting back into my 32s.

Fitness

We did Murph before and after the competition. AFTER the competition, I did my pullups w/o a band, so, I got Rx. That is a huge difference, but, it’s not very measurable. But, I also timed the first mile of each Murph, and I think those stats are even more telling than the overall time.

The first mile of my Murph in October took me 9:27. And, I was VERY proud of that time. After Murph, I paid attention again, and, my first mile was 8:36. That is a good testament of what I got out of Paleo. I did not train running, yet, almost lost a whole minute!

Conclusion

Now that I’ve done my Thanksgiving gorge, I’m looking forward to getting back into my Primal diet (I miss cheese), and finishing my loss, while keeping my strength. Also, I’ve been boarding 4 times this season, and I have yet to get tired.

I’m creating this post to remind me why I need to get up early, move heavy stuff, and eat healthy.

Oh, and it’s also for tracking measurements

Motivation

I love this video of me and my kids . . . reminds me how fat I used to be.

Photos

Here’s a pic of my progress, over a few months:

Measurements

Here are my current measurements . . and a link to the spreadsheet

This page is going to be used to keep track of my ski journal, so I know how many days I have skied / boarded this season!

Snow Report

Resort	Open Status	Base Depth (in.)	48hr Snowfall	Surface Condition	Lift Tickets
Alta	Open	71"	2"	Packed Powder	Buy lift tickets
Beaver Mountain	Open	52"	0"	Packed Powder	Buy lift tickets
Brian Head	Open	30"	16"	Packed Powder	Buy lift tickets
Brighton	Open	68"	6"	Packed Powder	Buy lift tickets
Deer Valley	Open	56"	4"	Powder	Buy lift tickets
Eagle Point	Open	14"	2"	Variable
Park City Mt Resort	Open	53"	5"	Packed Powder	Buy lift tickets
Powder Mountain	Open	51"	1"	Powder	Buy lift tickets
Snowbasin	Open	68"	0"	Packed Powder	Buy lift tickets
Snowbird	Open	86"	4"	Packed Powder	Buy lift tickets
Solitude	Open	64"	5"	Packed Powder	Buy lift tickets
Sundance	Open	40"	3"	Packed Powder	Buy lift tickets
The Canyons	Open	51"	3"	Packed Powder	Buy lift tickets
Wolf Creek	Open	39"	1"	Variable	Buy lift tickets

Total Days Skied / Ridden

• Pre Season: 2
• Post Season: 12

Lifts Running!

The below entries start after the season opened. Using lifts instead of hiking runs. Look further down below for some pre-season foolishness.

01/22/2012

Solitude – First Powder Day!

It finally snowed! 2-3 feet worth! So, we planned on heading up to Solitude with the kids. Angela got sick, and Tammy didn’t want to drive up alone, so it ended up being me, Dennis, and the kids.

We left the kids in line to get in a run, while they were getting their tickets. We were amazed at the quality of the powder. We met back up with the kids, and showed them how to have fun in pow pow. We eased them into it, first finding runs off of Moonbeam, then finally hitting some of the steeper runs off of Apex.

We split up for a bit, and Dennis and I hit Powderhorn. It was pretty eaten up, but, with the steepness, and the powder, it was still fun.

We finally hooked back up with the kids, and decided to try out Eagle Express. I love the blues under Eagle, and I was looking forward to hitting some of the blacks on the top there. I was sure that the kids could handle it, covered with powder and all. But, they got freaked out, and decided to do the main face instead. Took them a long time to get down it, but they did really well. Bailey and Amy did turns all the way down it. Quinn got in a couple of turns, but, basically stuck to heel edge most of it.

After Eagle, the kids were tired, and wanted to do Moonbeam some more. Quinn wanted to do Tude Dude, so we went and found that run. It was one of the better runs of the evening, and was full of pow and bumps. Quinn followed me into the trees, and ended up falling into the powder. Only his head was showing. We took a picture, but it didn’t do justice to the corporeal head floating in the snow. We did Tude Dude twice more, then finally decided to call it a day.

01/17/2012

Brighton – Another icy night

Tonight was probably the iciest night yet at Brighton. And, I learned a while ago, that on ice, it is easier to just go fast, than to try to stop. Brad wasn’t feeling well tonight, so he stayed home.

I followed Derek down a couple of steeps, and tried to stay off of my heel edge.

Like the last icy night at Brighton, I didn’t try anything too hard, because it would hurt if I fell.

We had some Ba Ba Black Lager at dinner. (2 pitchers split between three guys) So, after lubrication, we got a few more runs in. I was having trouble keeping my speed up. And, the wind wasn’t helping either. But, the lubrication helped to keep the speed up. And, I was finally able to scrape off some wax, so I could ptex some of the hits I got at Solitude with Nick & Dennis [#20120108].

01/15/2012

Solitude – Learning to Ski

I wanted to try skiing with my new skis, so I decided to take the kids up to Solitude. I was hoping that the snow would be soft, since there was a small dump a week ago. (It wasn’t)

Tammy was going to come, but, when I checked the temperature online, I had to advise her to wear her hot chilis. That was just enough to convince her not to go.

I got a couple of good runs in. I had to rest about every 2-3 full mountain runs. I’m just not used to skis. The kids came with me, and were happy to rest every couple of runs.

At lunch, I discovered that they had my favorite beer in a can (Johnny’s American IPA)

I was doing so well, I decided to try Apex. I had skied on Apex early in the season, and did fine. But, today was icy. Big difference. The steeps were steep, and solid ice. I ended up having to side slip 200 yards. Every time I tried to do a turn, I’d get an edge hung up (because I was scared), and went back to side slipping.

After I had slid down about 50 yards, I heard a blood curdling scream. Amy was flying down the slopes, head first, on her belly. I quickly assessed the situation, and saw that she wasn’t in any real danger. If she got near the trees, there was powder, which would slow her down. And, it was just a blue slope, so, it would eventually end. However, Amy didn’t know any of those things, and she was scared. It took me 10 minutes to finally get down to her, due to my lack of skill on skis. I was really sad that she had to wait so long for me.

01/08/2012

Solitude – day after a little snow

Saturday it snowed about 6 inches, so we decided to hit Solitude with our new neighbor, Nick. Nick told us that he was a blue skier. We told him that we’d have no problems sticking to the blues.

After a couple of runs, with Nick killing it on the blues, we decided to try to see what Honeycomb Canyon was all about, and headed out. The center line is rated blue when groomed, and black if bumpy. Due to the lack of coverage, though, today was a bit different.

We headed over to the _______ lift, then took the annoying cat track / hooptie runs to get to the summit lift. When I got there, I noticed that there was a sign at the base of the lift. It said, “Thin Coverage / Experts Only”. Dennis had his new S7′s, and I knew he didn’t want to hit any rocks. But, Dennis and Nick were already on the lift. Oh well — I hope they saw the sign.

When we got to the top of the Summit, there was a gate on the way over to Honeycomb Canyon. I have never been there before, but, I was pretty sure you normally did not have to pass through a double black diamond gate. We didn’t want to damage Dennis skis, and, the coverage on the front side, that we could see from the lift, was pretty thin. We finally found someone to ask, and they said that the canyon coverage was better than the front side, so, we decided to go through the gate.

Honeycomb Canyon rocked. Even with thin coverage, there were plenty of powder runs! We had to carefully pick our lines, to avoid rocks and trees, but it was a blast. Dennis started a VERY SMALL sluff avalanche, so we became extra careful, and started going down the steep stuff single file. I found a great run through some trees. I was so excited about the powder run, that, when I found some more powder to jump, I forgot to lean back, and ended up endo-ing face first into a powder bank. I was cracking up

The slim cat track back was uphill many times. I had to constantly unstrap and walk. If Honeycomb Return was running, it would have been worth it.

All in all, this was the best ski day yet of the season.

01/02/2012

Night Skiing at Brighton

Tonight was our first official team building night. Many people attended, but Hunter couldn’t make it, due to some last minute Jazz tickets.

The super slick ice wasn’t in front of the lift any more like on [#20111220]. But, the mountain was still very hard, and not very forgiving.

On the last run, I attempted a 2′ high rail. I got onto it, but, my center of gravity was off, so I biffed it backward — hard. I’m not sure if I hit the rail, then bounced into the ground, or just bounced into the ground. I didn’t get injured or anything, it was a solid all-body thud

When returning to my car, I went to just board across the parking lot, like I’ve done the last few weeks. Problem was, the ice had melted. I ended up going across about 4′ of dry asphalt. Mega damage. Ouch!

12/26/2011

Post Christmas Fun with the Kids at Brighton

I have long been told to never go to the slopes the day after Christmas. The reason: Too many kids, with new equipment, who refuse to get lessons. I was bored this year on the 26^th, so, I decided to give it a try . . .

We headed up majestic, then trekked a bit over to a run that would take us to the Snake lift. Finally, we got down to snake, and took that lift up to the peak. From there it was a short cat track to get to Sunshine. I thought the kids would love sunshine. But, they didn’t really seem to like it. Amy was doing great, working on her turns. But, for some reason, Quinn had regressed, and was going heel-edge down the whole mountain.

When we FINALLY got to the base of Snake, Amy needed to go to the bathroom, so we went the rest of the way down, grabbed a snack, and hit the bathrooms.

On the next run, since no one really liked Sunshine (except me), we went straight over to Crest. And, we took the steeper cat track over to the far run. I figured if the kids weren’t riding right, I might as well hit the baby terrain park. At the terrain park, we did have some fun. We hit it 2-3 times, and walked back up each time. The baby park has ski-on / ski-off rails, so you can get the feel of things, without having to jump. I got my mojo back, and the kids got to get a little taste. They soon learned, that, at their level, getting the speed and approach right is harder than the rail itself I bet they nail it next time.

12/20/2011

Night Skiing at Brighton

Today was our first official Team Building evening at Brighton. In attendance were: Me, Brad, Derek, David S., Ryan, Hunter, Chris P, and Chris S.

Our first problem was actually meeting up. Seems half of us were in the parking lot, and half of us were behind the building. I’ll send out clear instructions next time.

The evening went about like it did last year. Chris S was learning to board, so he was a bit slow. Chris Price Sr hung back with him a bit. Hunter met a friend at the bar (He always finds people he knows at bars . . . ), who hung with us the rest of the evening, after dinner.

In general, the rate was VERY fast, which was a bit scary, since it was really icy, so falling was going to HURT. It was so icy near the lift, you would lose your edge, every time, no matter how much you tried to avoid it. I’ve never seen ice that slick. Luckily, I did a few spastic maneuvers, but never fell.

We ended up leaving just a few minutes before closing. And, we were all VERY tired. I’m looking forward to our next run on the 3^rd. There’s GOTTA be snow by then!

12/17/2011

Avalanche Training Day 2 (Brighton)

For our second day of avalanche training, we brought snow shoes, just in case. But, we didn’t need them (Not everyone in our group had them). We learned a lot: How to use our probes & Beacon, how to properly dig, and, how to assess snow conditions.

When the class was over, we got to board back down the mountain (one run). But, for that one run, we took Sunshine, Pete’s favorite run. I have to say: I’m a fan. It’s a nice green cruiser. You can really get moving on it if you want, and it’s nice and wide, so, even when there are people on it, there is plenty of room to just carve.

12/16/2011

Solitude Half Day with Dennis

While I was at my Day 1 avalanche training, Dennis invited me to go out on Friday. While I couldn’t take the day off, it was already in my calendar to leave early and ghost the kids. So, Dennis and I ghosted the kids. Dennis snowboarded. I thought about skiing, but, figured he was a better snowboarder than I was a skier, so we just went for it.

The day was great. The snow was even soft. There was some powder near the trees, but going into the trees was a bit sketchy. There wasn’t enough coverage to adequately cover the rocks & branches. After an hour or so, we grabbed some beers, and decided to head to the top of Eagle Lift. That’s where some steeper blues are. And, that’s where Dennis met his match.

There was some foreshadowing. On the way to the base of the eagle lift, on a slightly steep blue, Dennis had to keep to one edge. (So, he got to eat up his thighs). When we got to the top, it was great, until we hit Sundancer (Well — really just the main trail down the Sunshine bowl). Right now, without snow, it is more of a face than a bowl. I know when I stopped to wait for him, every 50 yards or so, whenever I dropped to my knees, I’d start to slide . . . so . . pretty steep, and pretty icy. Dennis did not like it, but he made it down safely. That’s the difference between skis and a board. Of course, now, for payback, he wants me to try that run on skis. I’m going to die.

12/15/2011

Avalanche Training Day 1 (Brighton)

Brad and I showed up for the first day of Avalanche training. All we knew was that we were supposed to bring gear (Probe, Beacon, and Shovel), and that we had to buy a lift ticket. So, we bought two $24 lift tickets (Thank you Pearson’s Nut Roll Discount!), and drug our gear over to the building.

That was when we discovered that the first day was 100% classroom oriented. Crap. But, the class let out at 7:30, and we made it back to the lifts by 8:00 — which gave us an hour to hit the slopes. We hauled ass. We managed to get in 6 runs in an hour. I know I was going close to 30MPH a few times. And, Brad managed to find his speed too — I could barely keep up with him!

11/20/2011

Solitude with Quinn, Amy, Tammy, Dennis, Angela, Bailey, and Tyler

My family does NOT like to get up in the morning. Not even to go skiing. Amy was ready bright and early, at 7:30, but the rest were comotose. Dennis called me around 8:30, and let me know that the roads were clear. Cool — we’ll have company. We finally started heading up around 9:00.

Once we got there, Tammy’s boots immediately started hurting. I was going to try skiing, and, I can’t say mine felt good. But, since they’re so worn (read: old), they weren’t too bad. We got all geared up, started to walk toward the lift when I looked at my skis. I had forgotten to scrape off my summer wax. Yet another 15 min delay while I ask (very nicely) the rental guys to please give my skis a quick buff. I think they both thought I was an idiot.

Finally, out on the slopes. I was VERY happy that skiing came back to me. My new free skis (Thanks, Karen!) are VERY long. So, I couldn’t even start to do wedge turns. Hello parallel ones! I managed to do nice turns even on the steep greens. From the lift, I caught a glimpse of Quinn and Amy, both doing nice turns! They are finally starting to get it! They might be able to stay in the blue ski school class now!

We took a lunch break, where I had another meal of a Murphy’s Stout, washed down with a Murphy’s Stout. And back out to the slopes. The kids wanted to try a different, slightly harder lift, Apex Express. I made it, but, by the time we got back to the top of Moonbeam, I was feeling the fatigue. I decided it was time to get my board on, and hit the hard stuff.

After a nice run down, trip by the car, and a shoe change, it was time to try Eagle. Dennis and I went up it 3-4 times. There was some great powder, much steeper runs, and just all around goodness. On the last run, we explored through the trees, and Dennis found a nice rock to sign his new skis. I felt a few scrapes, but it was always while I was trying to slow down, so I met all the rocks with nice metal edges. All in all the runs were very good, with lots of nice powder. I guess my only complaint would be that the snow was a little shallow. But, what do you expect on November 20th?

I was VERY happy that my ski skills are starting to get better. I hope to explore Alta this season, so I at least need to be really confident on steep blues before I head over. (I’ll have fun with Alta’s free lift until then!)

11/13/2011

Solitude with Quinn, Amy, Brad, Dennis, and Bailey

Three days after the season started, we decided to get a taste. We all piled into Tammy’s Ford Flex (We need a roof rack — badly) and headed for Solitude. Tickets were half off for adults and children, so I got our kids both passes for a bit over $50. (And, I used my prepaid card).

We parked in the wrong section, which meant we had a very slow ride over to the MoonBeam lift area. Dennis needed boots, but, managed to strap in his snow shoes into his board, and made it down the bunny. After getting set up, we started hitting the bunnies. The kids were doing ok. But, they wanted to stay on the bunnies a bit longer. We let the three of them stay together, and we hit the Moonbeam lift a bit. Baily hurt her knee, so she and Dennis headed to the lodge. Brad, Quinn, Amy, and I decided to do one more run before taking a break. About half way down, we decided to try a blue fork. The kids bailed at the last minute, so we told them we’d meet them at the lift. When Brad and I got to the lift, we realized that we were at the WRONG lift, and had to hike about 1/2 a mile back uphill to the kids. Just before we got there, I missed a call from Solitude. Amy had tried to use their phone, but then found Dennis and Baily. Lunch time!

My meal consisted of a Murphy’s Stout, with a Murphy’s Stout to wash it down with. Perfect meal.

After lunch, all of us played a bit more on Moonbeam. We all got a lot better, before taking a second break, and, finally, calling it quits. Very successful first day. Tammy is going to LOVE Solitude.

Pre Season

11/06/2011

Hiked up Alta for a run with Brad and Dennis

This time, we decided to poach Alta. Well, I was the only one with a board, so, I guess I decided to poach Alta . The climb was much easier than the time at Brighton. The snow was packed, and we climbed up a nicely groomed cat track. When we got about 45 mins in, we had had enough climbing, and decided to try a run. The snow was MUCH better than at brighton. There was some powder, and a lot of nice soft pack. There were some little ice boulders near the bottom, and, then, finally, right at the end, freshly groomed powder. This run was VERY worth the hike up. We were contemplating a second run, but, we ran out of PBRs, and decided to go down the hill and get some dinner instead

10/07/2011

Hiked up Brighton for a run with Brad

Brad and I decided to try our hand at hiking a run this season. I mean, how hard could it be? hard!

It took us about an hour and fifteen minutes to get just below the big climb up to majestic. (About 3/4 of the way up to Majestic). There was about a foot of fresh powder everywhere. Maybe eighteen inches. When we finally had to start our descent (Tammy was not amused that I was coming home late for this!), the run down was pretty difficult too. It was powder, so it behaved like powder. And, there wasn’t much of a slope, so it was hard to keep my weight back. I busted a few times. Since it was so shallow, it was completely unforgiving when I dipped my front end — even just a little bit.

After the run, we decided that the run was not worth the hike. But, we like to hike. And, hiking up but riding down was much more fun than hiking up, and hiking back down.

I created this page to keep track of my PRs and maxes . . I’m keeping them separate because my current max at some things, is not the same as my personal record.

Current Maxes / Workouts

• Pullups
  • Strict: 6
  • Kipped: 10
• Pushups
  • Crossfit Standard: 41 in 60 secs
• One Mile: 9:27
• Double Unders: 18 (with singles between), 9 (in a row)

Personal Records

• Pullups
  • Strict: 8
  • Kipped: 10
• Pushups
  • Normal: 70
  • Crossfit Standard: 41 in 60 secs
• One Mile: 9:27
• Double Unders: 18 (with singles between), 9 (in a row)

I have been riding to work a few times a week now, using my old Trek 820 Mountain bike, with road tires. Last week, I logged 38 miles ridden. While my “hybrid” blows away my mountain bike, it does have some issues. So, I decided I wanted something different.

First, I was tired of wearing a backpack. It would get really sweaty, and, I thought panniers would be better.

Second, my hands get tingly / fall asleep after about 5-6 miles of riding, so, I didn’t want mountain bike handlebars anymore.

Lastly, while I love the granny gear of my mountain bike for climbing hills, I hate how my speed tops out at 24-26 Mph. So, I wanted something faster, while still maintaining the granny gears.

I googled quite a bit, and decided that a touring bike was what I needed. The only downside to the touring bike was the handle bars, which are normally mountain-bike styled.

So, I went to Salt Cycles, and told them what I wanted, and explained the above criterion. But, they came up with a different conclusion than Google did. They found a road bike, with pannier mounts, that had three gears up front. So, I ordered a Schwinn Le Tour Sport. It would take about a week for delivery.

Getting Supplies

Now that I had the bike on order, I needed some supplies. I googled road cycles a bit, and learned that my compressor wouldn’t quite get the tires up to 120psi. (Well, it might . . but . . ) So, I grabbed a pump, some lights, and a mirror from Cottonwood Cyclery

I took my laptop into an REI trying to find panniers that would fit it, and happened to find two on sale for $86 for the pair. While that might seem expensive, panniers usually run around $100-$140 each!

Taking Possession

I tried not to call Salt Cycles too much. Finally I found out it would be ready on Friday. I dropped by Friday afternoon to get a sneak peak. I figured that I could bring by some clipless pedals, and buy the rack for my panniers. But, when I got there, I found out that it was already ready. But, instead of the Schwinn Le Tour Sport, it was the Schwinn Le Tour Elite. Turns out, they couldn’t get the sport, and had to upgrade me to the Elite, for free! I liked the color a lot better, and, it came with clipless pedals!

So, I had them install the rack, made sure my panniers fit, and headed home.

First Ride

I took a quick first ride on the bike, after googling how to shift gears on a road bike. The first thing I noticed was the ride. Without shocks or suspension, and with hard timres, I could feel every rock or pebble in the road. To date, this has been the only down side to the bike. The rest of the feel was really good.

First Long Ride

Labor Day morning, I decided to take a long ride. I wanted to make sure that I’d be able to handle the 11 mile ride to work (or longer, depending on my route).

I finally started getting used to my brakes, the gears, and the two different hand positions. Though, I still feel like I brake weaker when I’m in the high position.

While I don’t go that much faster than my mountain/road bike, it is definitely faster. The thing I noticed the most, was the power I had. I can now really take off quickly. When I get out of the saddle and push, the bike really moves. Also, I found that I don’t get gassed nearly as easily on climbs. I just push a little, and I fly up hills. I managed to accelerate to 26Mph a climb, just to see what I could do. Very nice.

Finally near the end of the ride, I passed a cycler. While this wasn’t the first time I’ve passed someone, it was the second This one was in full cycle gear, on a very nice bike. So, it’s the first real notch on my belt.

Now I can’t wait to try to ride to work tomorrow. My only decision now is how to wear bike shorts, and go to the gym. Maybe I’ll just drive home, before I ride to work

And, finally, here is the Garmin Connect map of my ride. My highest heart rate was from passing the other cycler.

Ride To Crossfit

This was my first full attempt at the full route. I was pretty happy with the results. Got to CrossFit in just under 13 minutes.

CrossFit

Warmup

• 3x
  • 10 Shoulder PT’s
  • 10 BW Squats
  • 10 Pushups
• 400m Run

Strength

• Shuttle Runs

WoD “JT”

• 21 – 15 – 9
  • HSPU (I did 2 real ones, then used a box)
  • Ring Dips (I had to use the assist very early)
  • Pushups

While I thought the Shuttle Runs would be the thing to kill me (and they did), the WoD was really bad too. My arms quickly became jelly, so that I could only do 3-4 pushups at a time. (And you don’t want to know how few HSPU’s and ring dips I was doing in a “set”)

Ride To Work

Ride to work was pretty easy. Made one wrong turn at the end, and had to double back. Did great on the slight climbs. Even managed to pass a pair of people on bikes. And one was on a road bike! Yes, my mountain bike turned road bike, with my fat-ass on it, passed a road bike. (Oh, I’m stoked — no question)

Adendum — Ride Home

I knocked a minute off of my time riding home, and taking the big hill!

So, I wanted to try to ride my bike to CrossFit, do my workout, then ride to work. I figured out the route, planned for it, and was ready to go.

Then, a wrench got thrown into it. The next WoD was moved to Flat Iron Mesa park. So, the ride would be a lot easier. Oh well, I guess an easier ride is better on a first attempt. I rode over to flat iron mesa. I had to double back half way through, because I forgot my helmet. I still made it on time.

I put on my workout shoes, and stopped my GPS, ready for the workout. When I heard what it was, I decided to restart my monitor, and see what happened. The workout was lateral jumps (20), carry a sandbag up the hill, do 10 squat presses with it (basically 20 squat maneuvers), then walk back down. Six times. My heart rate averaged 178 bpm . . which is pretty good, since at about 180, I’m hating life.

Finally, the ride to work. I accidentally turned on South Fort Union, instead of Fort Union. Which made me take Union Park / 1300E, both of which are not very bike friendly. But, was still a pretty easy ride.

Workout Totals

• 10.54 miles ridden (1452 kCals burned)
• 234 kCals on CrossFit workout (computed by mapmyfitness.com)

I’ve been playing with my Garmin Forerunner 305 for quite a while, and I love it. I especially love the hear trate monitor, allowing me to more accurately estimate the calories I burn when hiking, running, biking, and snowboarding. I also love its bike mount. But, in the interest of device consolidation, I decided to match it up against my phone.

I’ve done this in the past by pitting my iPhone + Polar up against the Garmin, but the crappy GPS in the iPhone really sucked when doing trail running. And, why carry two devices when you can carry one? (Ignore the fact that I was using the iPhone for tunes)

So, this time, I thought I’d update it. I’m still using my old faithful garmin, but, I’m now using a better GPS on my Droid X, and a killer ap (iMapMyFitness) that, if I was listening to tunes, would occasionally report my position, calories burned, etc. If only I had a HR monitor to link to it . . . .

And, on to the show!

Garmin Forerunner 305 + Garmin Connect

The best part about the Garmin products is Garmin Connect. It lets me replay the whole activity, monitoring altitude, heart rate, and speed. Now, on this test I did NOT wear my HR monitor, so, we’re basically comparing GPS to GPS here.

Here is the embedded view of my hike to the top of Ferguson trail.

Looks like we got a little off course on the way up. Too funny.

And, the stats:

Time: 02:42:35 Moving Time: 1:30:00 Distance: 2.47 mi Elevation Gain: 3,873 ft Calories Burned: 731

iMapMyFitness

I really like the spoken feedback of iMapMyFitness. In fact, the only things I don’t like about it are the low resolution GPS (which is a fault of the phone, not of the software), and the lack of a HR monitor.

However, there is no embed, so, to see this trail, click here: http://www.mapmyfitness.com/routes/view/40912604

The stats:

Time: 2:42:42 Distance: 2.92mi Elevation Gain: 1207 ft

Conclusion

So, the wrap up.

I love the social / sharing aspects of iMapMyFitness. And, I love the separation of routes from workouts.

The reason for the discrepancy in the Elevation Gain is with style of measurement. iMapMyFitness likes to separate climbs and rate them. This trail was rated as an extreme climb. So, it took bottom to top and did the math. The Garmin was more detailed, and separated every elevation gain from every elevation loss. So, doing small climbs, with small drops during the climb gives you double the climb. I’m not sure which I like better — though, I do like the rated climbs in iMapMyFitness.

And, I just found out that iMapMyFitness will import from my Garmin. So, I may have a new favorite toy!

Yes, the title is right. I not only did CrossFit this AM, but I rode into work too — AND, it was a Rx workout — AND, I shaved another 30 secs off of my ride time. *flex*

From Crossfit

Warmup

• 2x
  • 20 Lunges
  • 15 Pushups
  • 200m run

Pushups were a little slow today, because of the death of my triceps yesterday.

Strength

• Deadlift (#225)
  • At 75% of your one rep max complete 2 reps in the min for 10 min

I did 225# this time. My grip felt good. Form felt good. Time to start increasing weight. I’m thinking 240 or 250 next time we do x2′s.

WoD

• Tabata (8x 20sec on, 10sec rest)
  • Deadlift 155/105
  • Sit-up
  • Row – Try to hit 1k meters (125m every 20 seconds)

The deads were brutal here. But, I powered through. I barely had time to write down reps. A secretary would be nice for tabatas.

Results: 48 deadlifts, 64 situps, and 649 meters rowed.

Ride to Work

I’m not sure if I’m improving on my climbs, but, I’m kicking more and more ass on my flats. I was in my highest gear several times during the ride, and I was flying