Bicycling Magazine

A few months back I saw a tweet from Bicycling Magazine asking for readers/riders who have lost substantial weight from cycling.  I responded to the tweet and then received an email from them asking my story.  Another few weeks passed and I received another email asking me to sign a release and send in a head shot because some of my quotes may be used in a future issue.

That issue finally arrived this week and I flipped to the article and found that they used three of my quotes for the issue.  I finally have my 15 minutes of fame.  HAHA!  The article is really impressive, the 5 or 6 featured cyclists lost a profound amount of weight.  It really is motivating to see so many others having so much success.  I applaud everyone who was in the issue, great work!!!

Here are the few features where I sprung up in the magazine.

In case you were wondering, that's not me that is Patrick Dempsey, he made a much better cover model than I would have.

This is the first page of the article

"Create a system that helps you face facts about your progress.  Keep a journal to document sucess and failure. Be honest with yourself if you want the best results."

 "Try different types of riding.  Mountain biking is a better full body workout.  Road cycling is more about endurance, pace, and mental toughness, and nothing can replace the thrill of speed."

I am really excited about this magazine this really made my week!  Hopefully if you are reading and thinking about losing weight you can go pick up this issue and get some motivation of your own.

Get out there and get healthy and fit, it's the best gift you could ever give yourself.

Velocitoddler

I am sure many people my age have seen the movie Jurassic Park.  While I can usually pull funny movie quotes from thin air, movies like Jurassic Park usually are not immediately quotable.  Christine and I set up the Christmas decorations the other day and we wanted to try to prevent Noah the Destroyer from pulling all the ornaments off the tree...or worse pulling the tree down on himself.

To prevent that we set up our tree and then put up a portable play-yard around the outside of the tree.  While not the most beautiful setup, it has been moderately effective at keeping the tree upright and the ornaments in one piece.

This brings me back to my Jurassic Park reference.  In the movie when they first learn about them breeding Velociraptors the conversation turns to the reptiles intelligence and their ability to problem solve.

Dr. Alan Grant: [about the velociraptors] What kind of metabolism do they have? What's their growth rate?
Muldoon:  They're lethal at eight months, and I do mean lethal.  I've hunted most things that can hunt you, but the way these things move
Dr. Alan Grant: Fast for a biped?
Muldoon: Cheetah speed. Fifty, sixty miles an hour if they ever got out in the open, and they're astonishing jumpers...
John Hammond: yes, yes, yes. That's why we're taking extreme precautions.
Dr. Alan Grant: Do they show intelligence? With their brain cavity...
Muldoon they show extreme intelligence, even problem solving intelligence.  Especially the big one.  We bred eight originally, but when she came in she took over the pride and killed all but two of the others.  That one...when she looks at you, you can see she's working things out.  That's why we have to feed them like this.  She had them all attacking the fences when the feeders came.
Dr. Ellie Sattler: But the fences they are electrified though, right?
Muldoon: That's right, but they never attack the same place twice.  They were testing the fences for weaknesses, systematically.  They remember.

Watching Noah "attack" the gate daily trying to find the weak spots makes me think my son is part velociraptor.  He systematically pushes, presses, and pulls at different spots of the gate each day trying to get to the ornaments.  He has found weak points in the setup and regularly exploits them to sneak behind the tree  or get in close enough to the hallmark ornaments that he can activate with a push button.

I really can't help but laugh when he does it because it's probably our fault that he wants to get to the tree.  He obviously probably realizes that he can't have what is behind the gate so therefore he will do everything he can to get behind the gate.

We are really getting excited to share our first real Christmas with Noah, sure last year was the first but this year will be the first year he will probably get excited about some of the presents.

Christmas at the Zoo:

Just keep on (g)rowing

Don't know where I'm going, I just keep on rowing.

I just keep on pulling, gotta row.

Don't know where I'm going, i just keep on rowing. 

I just keep on pulling gotta row.

Moving is breathing and breathing is life, 

Stopping is dying, you'll be alright

Life is a hammer, waiting to drop.

Adrift in the shallows and the rowing won't stop.

Don't know where I'm going, I just keep on rowing.

I just keep on pulling, gotta row.

Don't know where I'm going, i just keep on rowing. 

I just keep on pulling gotta row.

Can't see the sky, nothing on the horizon

Can't feel my hands and the water keeps rising.

Can't fall asleep cause I'll wake up dead.

I just keep pulling, I just keep rolling.

Don't know where I'm going, I just keep on rowing.

I just keep on pulling, gotta row.

Don't know where I'm going, i just keep on rowing. 

I just keep on pulling gotta row.

Rowing is living and living is hard

But living beats losing all that we are.

And all that we know of and all that we feel

and all we remember imagined or real

All we remember imagined or real.

I heard and echo but the answer had changed

from the word I remember I started out saying.

Living is cheating if you're not pulling oars

But the current is leaving, I'll get mine, you'll get yours.

Don't know where I'm going, I just keep on rowing.

I just keep on pulling, gotta row.

Don't know where I'm going, i just keep on rowing. 

I just keep on pulling gotta row.

Rowing is bleeding and bleeding is breathing

Breathing is feeling burning and freezing

Keep getting dirty but I started out clean

I keep on rowing, I keep on rowing (x4)

Don't know where I'm going, I just keep on rowing.

I just keep on pulling, gotta row.

Don't know where I'm going, i just keep on rowing. 

I just keep on pulling gotta row.

Soundgarden "Rowing"  

I recently picked up the new Soundgarden Album "King Animal,"  I really enjoy the music but one song keeps resonating over and over in my head and that is Rowing.  Basically for the last month or two I feel like you could replace the word rowing with growing and you would have the story of my last eight weeks.

Having a toddler can really create some bad eating habits.  Noah gets a diet rich is yummy fats, because they are essential for his brain development and growth.  Things like whole milk, whole milk cheeses, butter, as well as healthier options like fruits and veggies.  He eats 3 squares a day as well as snacks which could be anything from cheez-its (a boy by my own heart), cheerios, kix, or yogurt.  While this doesn't sound terrible for me it does if you add that Noah loves to share his food.  He offers up handfuls of cheese and macaroni to me...how is a dad to say no?  Well, I don't usually and because of that I have been slowly creeping back up the fat dad path.  I by no means have fallen off the wagon, and thanksgiving didn't help much either.  I have put on about 5 or 6 pounds in the past 8 weeks.  My clothes don't fit worse, I don't feel less fit but I am heading in the wrong direction for meeting my goal weight.

Until Christmas I am back on the calorie counting and more intense workouts.  Ramping up running and cycling distances (albeit many miles will be on the treadmill or kurt kinetic trainer) should help improve those numbers.


Aside from working out and not losing weight I have been doing a vast amount of playing.  Something that is much more rewarding than anything a workout can provide.  So in the coming weeks, I will playing as much as I can with this guy:

Avoiding this as much as possible...empty calories really aren't what I need right now even if they are scotchy and delicious.

 And throwing in more of this:

Adding in a dash of this:

And by Christmas hopefully at my lowest weight yet.

#justgorun #fitdad