Cycling Distance Monitor 11 June 2010, and a Different Way of Grabbing the Bottle
Pleased last night, the weight loss is now really paying off and the bike is moving swifter up the hills. My target of course is to lose 2 stone, which is about the weight of a lower end racing bike, but right now a couple of wheels is enough to help!
Distance last night was 27.5 miles in a couple of hours, still on the mountain bike. There was a pretty heavy tail wind at times, but of course that also translated into a headwind, and that was quite often on the hills. I took with me an apple a couple of glucose tablets. The apple I ate after an hour an the tablets another half hour later about 10 minutes before I hit the tough final couple of hills which are a couple of miles long. Worked well, I didn’t run out of energy halfway so will do that again next time.
I have been experiementing with a different way of grabbing the water bottle. It’s mounted on the front down tube and because it is a small frame it doesn’t make it all that easy to get out. A few weeks ago I dropped it, which was annoying. Then Bike Noob suggested a different way of taking it out the cage, a kind of reverse grip (option 2 from the link!)
Having tried it out on a shorter 13 mile trip on Wednesday I decided that it was an option that was well worth persevering with. It seems to be more secure, even though it is more awkward. I think it’s because when you normally grab the bottle you pull it out with finger and thumb effectively until it swings into your palm. The reverse grip means it is immediately in the palm as you pull it out the cage.
Eating on the bike is quite easy, though I suggest making sure that you are going ‘easy’ and not breathing deeply at the time otherwise you are going to choke! I discovered a nice red apple too which isn’t as juicy as previous encounters so I didn’t end up with a sticky grip on the bars at the end.
The triky one was the glucose tablets. Again, no break in the peddling, so I had to pop the lid which had no hinge, hold it, tip back the tabs, then replace the lid one handed. And I did it.
The most fun is getting on scales after a big distance and discovering that I had lost another pound in the last couple of days. Starting to get worried what will happen when I hit the 12 stone target…will I keep losing it?
One thing that might have helped is on Wednesday I had a night off from the cycling and squated some free weights, as well as doing some dead lifts. I messed around with some 60Kg, which isn’t alot, but it made a difference on Friday because I could really feel the power and endurance on the hills. Remember, the reason why this probably worked for me is I have been lifting weights for years, so one hit a week reminds my body that it doesn’t want to lose certain ways of dealing with power. If you are starting new then build up slowly and incorporate it into your regular training.
I read just recently that 11 minutes lifting of 85% of your maximum has positive benefits, including a 7% rise in resting metabolic rate for the next 24 hrs! A great compliment to my losing weight objective.
Free: The British heart foundation: lose weight…for good book
