Month: January 2009

Monday: Spinning class after work. 550 Calories.
Tuesday: Woke up the rightside of 89 kgMorning spinning class at West Kirby followed by the gym. 15 minutes on the side stepper machine @ 300 watts had the heartrate up to 150 on some of the levels.
PM spinning class turned up and got a bike. 700 Calories in this one. Hard work.
Wednesday: Ride day, probably a wet one. Another comment from annon last night.
Computer crash this morning, lots of bother for Val and still no login for my self assessment means no ride.  Self assessment deadline now extended to 10 Feb. Taking Val out for the afternoon.
Found out Hideaways Cafe is closed October till March , this was after coming down the Shelf in a car for the first time. Stopped to take a picture the view was that good. Going to add this as the rides to do in 2009 even if a solo effort.
Ended up at the Castle Cafe in Ruthin. Nothing much has changed in thirty years. Onto Llandudno while calling in at West End Cyles.  Saw a carbon Raleigh bike for £749 which is a keen price. Campag Veloce groupset with a FSA compact chainset. Left empty handed.
Took a picture of the mist over Llandudno and went to the Dry Ski Slope on the Great Orme for a hot chocolate which also had it’s picture taken.  Haven’t been skiing for about 10 years and not much has changed here too. The road up is just as steep, now with a few potholes.

Home, spinning class as West Kirby. Vocal class tonight especially the woman next to me. 550 calories.
Thursday: Last day off. Spent the morning trying to get Internet Explorer to load a page. Had to upgrade to version 8. Good job Paul put Morzilla on the PC. Removed Tweetdeck and a couple of other things. Probably a trip to the gym later. File tax return online which require about an hour on the phone as I had trouble logging on. Europa pools fully booked. Managed to get a bike at west Kirby by turning up. Forgot the towel. 625 calories.
Friday: Work , first of four. End of month so it’s bound to be chaos, everyone wanting their job done first. Good  to see that anon  has lost his yorkshire rag and reverted to form, poor sad bastard.
Replaced a tyre on the Polo  that was scrubbed.
Saturday: Work. Thats about it. Answered a few comments.
Sunday: Work. Boiler packed in so still in an outdoor coat keeping warm. It’s a three way battle between Glowworm, British Gas, and the central heating engineers as to who’s responsible. Snowing on the way home too boot. Lacklustre week not a lot to show for it, things can only get better.

Monday: Barbara’s new format spinning class at West Kirby. Had to get a bike first from the store. Only to find two bikes with water bottles in from a previous class.
Ran a kilometre@ 10km/hr with no knee problems this week. 300 calories on the crosstrainer was 27 minutes worth. A 2 km row had Margaret on the next machine putting my machine on level 10 for a laugh as she left for her class.
I also did a program on the side stepper. This machine gets missused nearly as much as crosstrainers and exercise cycles. It starts off on a high level of resistance which means slower steps. As the program steps through the resistance lessens but your steprate increases. I’d put the data in, age weight as it works out your max heartrate.
This is one difficult machine, at one stage I’m doing over 210 steps a minute with the wattmeter showing 494 watts. Heartrate was bordering on the red at 150 bpm and sweat is pouring out of me. Weights, shower and Aldi for lunch.
Snow storm when I got outside and I had to remove it from the side windows to reverse out of the parking space. It proved shortlived and was gone within an hour.

Site traffic: Gone up a 1000 hits a month over the last few weeks. Don’t know if this is due to Twitter or the fact that Garmin are on a roll. A Google search reveals a lot of 705 search terms but at number 15 is weight loss diary searches that I started 2 years ago.  Crane sports  are also in there too.  So there you go I can’t keep everybody happy. One side of the site is based on the Garmin side of things the other on the weightloss side of things. I don’t concentrate on either side but get more satisfaction from the weightloss side.

I’ve not posting anything original for a while because there is nothing to announce. The weekending posts are just me going about daily business.

Tuesday:Work, OT and a full day playing with radar levels.  No gym no spin. Trying to catch up on the Tour down under and Lances comeback. Haven’t got Sky Sports and it’s not on Eurosport. No Twittering today, loged on and found the above Lance pic is now linkable.

Twittered  Hincapie about the new kit, hate it, not expecting a reply.
Wednesday:Looks like a ride day. Knocked back at work although there is shedloads to do. Get out there and make the most of it, feels like semi retirement. I can understand the concept of working smarter but this is the opposite end of the scale.
A late start to avoid the ice it was down to the Eureka for breakfast.
43 miles around Wirral. Puddington, Burton, Denhall Lane, Neston Parkgate, Lower Heswall, Caldy, West Kirby, Hoylake front, and the promenade to Seacombe. Picked up two punctures the first from glass. Someone offered me a bowl of water to find the leak which was nice for a change. A spare tube went in as the patch didn’t take in the cold weather.
Setting off I’d just got over the Four Bridges and it was flat again. It’s a fight getting the Conti’s of the rim these days and it’s gone in the same place. This time the tyre comes off for a real close visual inspection.
There is no trace of what cut the tyre but what it has done is cut one of the kevlar belts and this is what caused the second hole. A patch goes on the tyre as well this time.
The tyre is going to get replaced as it’s getting a pain to take off and the carcass is compromised now.
Getting dark near the end with the 705 saying sunset at 4:33.
Spinning class at West Kirby, 650 calories worth. Not a bad day, a bit bleak. The police were out with the numberplate recognition van pulling uninsured and untaxed cars.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/1872685

Thursday:Work. Watched bits of the Tour Down Under, read the comic. Bike of the week is Steve Cummings Bianchi.  If I go out of this world I’ll remember finishing 2nd to an Olympian in a time trial, there was only three off us that finished.
Friday: Day off. Started to sort out all the magazines I’ve been buying. Three years of Cycling Weekly went to be recyled, saving the 2007 Tour ones, the Steve Cummings ride and the Tony Bell one (Wirral ride).
Mens Health got ditched as well as It can be a bit repetitive. Floyd Landis also got saved as his 2 year ban is up in a day or so. It was strange looking at all the race reports and stories on riders that are now banned or coming out of 2 year bans. It looks like they were all at it, anyway it’s gone now and it was a big pile.

Spinning class at West Kirby. 620 Calories worth. Three first timers looked totally lost. Sprint to the Blade  track to end it. Confusion by New Order.
Saturday: Work. Haven’t seen the Tour Down Under for the last two nights because the skating on Eurosport overran. Planet Lance get the chop because it follows it. Not a happy bunny.  Sky Sports have the race and I ain’t shelling out for a football channel I won’t watch.
Sunday: Work. A long day. Returned home to positive comments about the site which is always good.  Jack was around watching train video’s while I was out and the Mallard has been renamed Gordon.

I just had to reply to this one. Twittered this.

Monday: Gym and a spin. Lucky to get a bike as it had been sold as I turned up. Forgot the watch so no data for the class. Onto the gym for a session. Weight machines  then a 2 mile run at 9.5 km/hr. Side stepper for 15 minutes at the 150 watt level then 30 minutes rowing. Did about 150 metres more than last time at 6482 metres. I’d averaged 130 watts for the session as I put a spurt on at the end but it was around 125 watts for most of it. 375 calories worth.  Crosstrainer for 15 minutes and I’d had enough.
Quality Street have a lot to answer for as I’d tucked  into a box of them last night. They’re all gone now so there is no more temptation. Top gear getting cancelled for Darts mucked the evening up a bit.

Sorted the kit out and will probably do another class tonight. With a watch this time.
With all the fuss about 100 watt light bulbs  getting in short supply as people hoard it was a surprise to see 5 of the low energy versions for the grand sum of 40p. As I’d just just paid the electricity bill of £160 I thought it was time to make a few more savings.

Got to the evening class in good time with the HRM this time. Another first timer signed the death warrant.
Had a good class finally burning 675 calories. Shower and home. Catch up on some cycling sites and news.

Tuesday: Morning spinning class, last day off work so got to make the most of it.
Lost a kilo over the last day but should have had this as a recovery day. 650 calories burnt in the spinning class. Walked a mile on a 7% incline on the treadmill as the knees didn’t take to running.
No second class today.
Wednesday: Work. Called in at the Lifestyle and weight management class on the way home. No Ron this time as he has had a knee op. Had planned on going the gym but put it off until tommorow night.
Picked up some info about the changes to the Course. Shorter but with an emphasis on the monthly classes, no longer called followup classes. A tie in with Slimmimg World and another with the Pharmacies.
Not sure how it will all pan out for them as they are now in competition with the dieting industry.

Part of the problem is that the course is tailored for the problem cases like I was. Results are hard to come by in a reluctant group where the overwhelming desire would be to pack in. I haven’t bumped into anyone out of my class two years on.

Had some Aldi dried exotic fruit at work during a break, just as well I didn’t polish the packet off as there were 400 calories in it. Didn’t realise until I read the label.
Thursday: Work. Logged in to Twitter to see Lance heading the list saying he had been drug tested. Off to work.
Comic on the way home, interesting to see a review on a Tifosi Audax bike which gets slagged off for being a triple, Sora shifters get a mention for getting to the down button on the drops which I think I mentioned two years ago. I still think a tripple is the best thing since sliced bread. Gears low enough for a mountain goat but with a big ring for the big hitters. 8 speed Sora NEVER misses a shift.
Friday: Work and a bleak one at that. Glad to get out of the place.
Saturday: Work, last day. Still haven’t got around to reading Thursdays comic. Looking forward to following Lance and the Tour down Under, even following it on Twitter.  Dakar in South America needs it own event, stages cut short but it was still a decent event.
Sunday: Eureka for breakfast.  Gave someone a 21mph wheel  as far as the Hinderton Arms traffic lights then got dropped. Eureka heaving, and only just got a place on the rail. By 10:20 with most of the club rides gone the place was pretty empty. The chap on the table I was on told me that the missing link was getting worked on and there was 6 inches of mud in it. With that it was back home via Puddington, Burton, Denhall lane and Ness Gardens. Carolyn going the opposite way  to the Eureka. Neston via Church lane and then down to Parkgate. A slow ride along the empty front and then it was a Discovery versus CSC battle up to Leighton Road. On the stretch up from the Boathouse I’d managed to stick a fair distance into CSC and I thought that was that. I’d eased up a bit hadn’t looked back and next thing he’s looming large on me only to turn down Leighton road. 17 miles, better than nothing.
More Thomas the tank engine with Jack and a trip to Chester to see the trains.
Pauls launched WWW.Frienddeck.com which is an aggregator for Friendfeed for Twitter.

Monday: Last day off should have been a session in the gym and a spinning class. As it was it was another car trouble day. Cooling fan running on a freezing cold morning was not a good sign, thats with the car being left overnight. A trip to an Auto Electrician and 4 hours wandering around Moreton had the car back with me with no fault found.
Took the heating console out and checked the fan speed switch which was OK so now it looks like the motor has a faulty winding.  That was most of the day taken care of.

Managed to get a cancelled place on the spinning class at West Kirby, 5 free bikes for a fully booked class meant some new years resolutions already getting broken. Two first timers too. Looking at the car park the place must have been heaving with every one hitting the gym for the first time.

Back to the class, gave this one a really good go.  Burnt off 725 Calories in the class and another 50 doing the stretching for a total of 775.  Max heartrate was 190 bpm which is a level I haven’t seen for a while in fact I’ve only bettered it once and that was in the same class. Average was 151bpm for 45 minutes.
Shower and home.
Thursday: Work, stayed late as the sh1t hit the fan. Late for the Northend monthly meeting but paid this years subs.
Tuesday: Work, up at 5:15 to make sure the car starts. Back on the plan, only fruit for snacks and not too much of it. Crucially no more liquid calories in the evening.
I’ve logging my weight and body composition for over 2 years and around Christmas the body/fat percentages tipped the wrong way. I’d just assumed that number went in that column when it tips the other way it’s a shock. Going back a year or so I was 50% water, the last month it has struggled to reach 48%.

It’s probably worth putting the data in a spread sheet. I’ve even got the weight and reps of the weight machines from 07 so it would be worth seeing how I compare.
Depending how work goes it may be a gym session on the way home.
Wednesday: Work. Went to the Oval after work and it was surprisingly quiet.  30 minutes on the treadmill cross country program was 450 cals after the 5 minute cooldown. Chap next to me spent abot 15 minutes on level 1 which is pointless and the machine acts as a pendulum rather than a resistance machine. Treadmill for 1 km @ 10, 11 and the final half Km at 12 km/hr. Shower and home.
Thursday:  Work, stopped an hour as the sh1t hit the fan. Late for the Northend club meeting  but  managed to pay my subs. Home for dinner and the Dakar. Sub 90 kg. A long day.
Friday: Work, last day. Weather looking very cool for the weekend. Looking to get out Saturday. Picked up the comic on the way home.
New version of software for the 705 so just upgrading now. Ver 2.60 thanks to a reader. 
Congratulations to Barry for yet another letter in the comic, his third but no pump for star letter this time.
Saturday: The ride to the Eureka didn’t happen as I had a call from my dad about his compute so rode around there instead. Spent a frustrating few hours with Vista and Macafee while doing updates via a dialup connection. Returned via Hillfield drive and Quarry Road, thought Hillfield might be a good hill to do intervals on. Thermals better than nothing but it’s still chilly.
Went to watch the fireworks on the Mersey to end the Liverpool Capital of Culture year. It was bloody freezing but when the fireworks started it was worth it.
There was a good rendition of the Farm’s All Together Now drifting across the Mersey with it finished off with a blast of foghorns from the ships.
Sunday: No ride out to the Eureka as it was time to box the christmas tree up and fit the new longer stem I picked up yesterday. 130 mm is a big jump from 110 and it feels that this is as far as I want to go as the bar is virtually over the front wheel spindle. A Jack day so it was time to set up the train set for the day.
Aldi oranges at 49p are a quarter of the price of the Tesco ones I bought 2 days ago. They taste just as good too.
Got a place on the spinning class at West Kirby. One first timer signing the death warrant.
599 Calories meant it was about two Mars bars worth. It doesn’t seem a lot given that there are 9,000 calories in a kilo of fat but it’s better than nothing.