Fatguy Roller Pic of the Week - 3/13/2009

Howdy Ho Everybody!

Believe it or not, I didn't disappear into a vast pile of work, never to return. Although in spite of the way things are going with the economy, I'm happy to say so far I've been keeping very busy. I have managed some good rides in the past few weeks and I have been managing to keep a hold of some of my base fitness even though I'm not where i should be with my weight. The sad (and embarrassing)fact of the matter is that I am only about 8 lbs lighter than I was on November 1st when I started this feature. Whoever said that being in business for yourself will give you all the free time in the world to ride was wrong. I work more now than I ever did before. I'm not complaining, but It's a little disheartening to see the best laid plans got to waste for the greater good. These days racing and training ain't everything. Work has to come first no matter what. That's just the way it is. Like Jim Koch of Sam Adams fame says, "Do something you love and you'll never work a day in your life." Well, that is very true. I love what I'm doing. I'm the best there is in the field and as long as I keep my head on straight I will be very sucessful with this venture.

There is a silver lining on the cycling side. Things have been easing up a bit lately and I hope to put in more time on the bike and less time with a fork in one hand and a beer in the other.

In other news, my team CADD9 came in 2 weeks ago. The parts I needed arrived 2 days ago and next week I should have the time to get it cobble together and get it tuned up in time for Walkersville. I can't wait. It's one of my favorite races. I had targeted it as my "A" race of the spring, but with me scrambling to drop 10 more pounds before the event, I don't hold out hope of a good result. Well see...

In unrelated news, my Ducati is running like a scalded dog. I guess those expensive spark plugs did the trick. Now I need to get belts and shims done before Jefferson Cup. Christ, this stuff never ends.

Cheers,

FGR.

About the face - Ben Spies passed Noriyugi Haga in race 2. That's all I'm gonna say.

Fatguy Roller Pic of the Week - 02/13/2009

Howdy Ho Everybody!

I'm back.

Well, I'm late with the post and truthfully I shot this on Monday the 16th and not Friday the 13th.

I may not look it, but I am in fact in the best shape I have ever been in for a February since 1999. Maybe better, I don't know. In 1999 there was no C race at Tradezone, but the B race then was a 4/5 race like the C race is now and I think the riders were tad slower then too.

I can see that I'm gaining lot of tone everywhere but in the middle. My legs are really shrinking! The middle is getting more obvious as I shrink overall. First on, last off is the cruel rule of weight loss. I think I'll still have a gut even when I reach my goal weight of 175 pounds.

I rode the C race at Tradezone on Sunday the 15th and I had a great time. I didn't do squat but ride the bike and sit in the wheels and stay out of the wind. So basically it was a 17 dollar group ride with 45 strangers and other teammates. Going into it I wasn't sure what to expect as far as pace and how I would handle it. I havn't raced there since the 2006 Turkey Day Cat 4 race and I got dropped 1/2 way thru it. I was in bad shape mentally that summer, so I didnt expect much. The last full race finish I had there was 2005 Turkey Day Cat 4 race. That was the year I lost 60 lbs. The first time.

Back to yesterday. After about 5 laps, I had no doubt I would finish all 16 with the group. I never felt like I was gonna be dropped. There was a time or two where I felt like stopping, my legs were like two bags of cement, but I never thought I was gonna be spit out. On the last lap I was just so glad to not have gotten dropped that I felt like my work was done and sat up. Thanks to wooden legs, I had nothing to contest the sprint with and well, it's a training race. I seem to have bad luck sprinting for inconsequential shit, like training races and group rides. I'll save it for when my season really starts in April. If I'm gonna go out in a blaze in a sprint crash, by gum, it'll be someplace cool like Wilmington or Reston. Not fracking Tradezone. Well not Reston either. I just remembered I'm gonna be a moto ref at that race again.

Fatguy Roller Pic of the Week - 1/9/09

Howdy Sports Fans!

Welcome to another weekly installment of my adventures in weight loss. I've lost the holiday weight and I'm back down to where I was before the holidays. About 202-203 lbs. I was really hoping for 195 by Jan 1st. Thanks to that nasty bug I got for the last week of the year, I had no chance. My new goal is 190 by the Latitude/ABRT 2009 season kick off party in early February. At that weight, I'll be in decent shape for the training races at Tradezone.

Oh yeah, the kit? It's what I had left that wasn't in a dirty pile on the floor. I need to get on that this weekend.

Cheers,

FGR

Fatguy Racer Roller Pic of the Week - 1/2/09

Happy New Year!

Here's the first pic of the 2009.

Right about now I am 8 weeks into my 2009 training season. Unfortunately I only have ridden for 7 of those. From Dec. 25 to Dec. 31 I had been off the bike completely battling some kind of cold/flu bug that seems to be the talk of the town. I am feeling much better now and have resumed training. However, I have had to put off my first all out TT test until my next rest and reco week.

The bad new is that I have not lost any weight in the last 2 weeks. I gained a pound of two instead, thanks to the holiday cooking and parties.

Now that the new year is upon us I look forward to making it a better one than last year. I didnt think anything would top 2006 for suckitude, but 2008 was right up there. I hope every one else had a good 2009.

Cheers,

FGR

Fatguy Roller Pic of the Week - 12/12/08

Howdy Ho!

Well here it is 6 weeks into my 2009 training season and I've only managed about 10 lbs off. I feel like maybe I'm 4 lbs behind. I know what the problem is. Too much idle time. I do hate this time of year. The shorter days mean more time lounging on the couch in front of the big screen, which means unnecessary snacking. I wish I could fall asleep really early like my wife does. She's out like a light by 9pm on most days. If I could do that I'd cut out 500 more calories every day.

It's hard to tell if I'm looking fitter than I did 6 weeks ago. I think it shows mostly in my face. My gut is still there. I cant complain too much, my feelings on the road are improving with each ride. I'm getting plenty of rest and I'm not stressed. Each new day I feel like a tightly wound spring. Especially so on this rest and reco week. It's very hard to hold back. But I've got very good discipline and am managing very well so far. Now if only I could get that kinda handle on my extra curricular eating.

I've also managed to keep a hold on my gains with the free weights. This in spite of not lifting a anything more than a beer glass for the last 2 weeks.

In case anyone is really wondering what my routine is here is Wednesdays workout:

Leg Ext: 33x12 50x12
Leg Curl: 33x12 50x12
Squat: 135x12 155x12
Calf Raise: 155x12 155x12
Dead Lift: 135x12 155x12
Bench Press: 95x12 115x12
Bent Row: 70x12 70x12
Seated Mill Press: 70x12 65x6
Triceps Ext: 50x12 50x12
Bicep Curl: 55x12 55x12

Back in 2000, my last real full season where I did anything worth talking about, my squat and dead lift numbers were in the 300+ lbs range. I could probably one rep close to that, but it's too soon to be in the hospital with a wrecked back. I should be up there come April/May.


Cheers,

FGR

Fatguy Roller Pic of the Week - 12/05/08

This weeks photo is totally bogus (but was taken today). So is the fact that I have not ridden my Ducati for 2 months. Believe it or not, my training is getting in the way of a good moto ride.

I've been riding outside all week, so the rollers and my motorcycle have not been getting any love. Nor has my weights. For some reason I just don't feel like lifting. So 12 hrs cycling will have to do. Next week is rest and reco, So I'll do some lifting and motorcycle riding then.

As of this morning I'm down to 206.

For what it's worth, i didn't last 4 days until I had to have a beer. Those Spaten Oktoberfest were screaming out to be drank. So I did. And I bought more yesterday. I went to my local to get a 12 of Yuengling (my favorite budget brew) and saw they still have Oktoberfest. So I grabbed a six of that too. Unfortunately in my zeal I didn't realize I picked up Yuengling Light Lager. It's not bad for light beer, but I'll never make that mistake again.

Gimme a shout James! I ready for some drinking. We could do Max's Taproom during the afternoon next week!

Cheers,

FGR

Fatguy Roller Pic of the Week - 11/28/08

Well, better late than never. It was a busy week and I never got much free time since my wife had the whole week off from the ice cream factory(Dreyers, where they and she specifically make Haagen Daas). It was a great week. I had off too so we spent a lot of quality time together in spite of me reffing at 3 cross races and doing 12 hours of training during those 10 days.

The payoff?

I'm down 2 more pounds to 207. Woo Hoo! That's 8 pounds from 11/1 to 12/1. I feel great and my clothes make me look like I'm malnourished. I'm shooting for an even 10 from 12/1 to 1/1/08. That will keep me on schedule for 170-175 before my A race, Walkersville Mas 35+ 4/5. While I don't expect to duplicate my old high school buddy, Marc Lefkowitz's win in this years event, where I got dropped on the hill by the barn, I will not be dropped in 2009.

To do this I am swearing off beer and ice cream for a while. I told Dana to not bother ordering ice cream for a while. It'll be tough giving up those pints of Dulce Le Leche, Vanilla Bean and the Dark Chocolate/Chocolate bars on a stick, but a mans got to do what a mans got to do. It'll be Skinny Cow ice cream bars (80 calories per) indefinitely.

Cheers,

FGR

Fatguy Roller Pic of the Week - 11/14/09

Well another week goes by and maybe I've lost another pound or so. I feel better, so that's got to count for something. Last week I managed to put in 8 of the scheduled 9 hours of training. I only missed out on a 1 hour ride on Sunday. It was my wife Dana's birthday so we spent all of Sunday together. This coming Sunday is my Dad's birthday. He's in Texas staying with my sister Nancy, husband Kurt and the grand kids, Hank and Bill (Henry and William). I like to call them Hank and Bill 'cause it annoys the heck outta my sister and probably my brother in law too. Kinda funny the sophomoric crap you engage in with your sibling even when your both in your 40's.

Anyway, this ones for you guys. Happy Birthday Dad!



Extra lift pic. This week, the Bench Press.




Cheers,

FGR

Fatguy Roller Pic of the Week - 11-07-2008

Another week has gone by and I've managed to do seven hours of training since last weeks picture was taken. Seven hours in one week in November is pretty good considering my track record with off season training. Although I don't look any better, I do feel better and with 2 lifting sessions done for the week I am not nearly as sore as last week.




How about that shot? I took it doing a warm up set of squats. No one ever looks pretty doing squats do they?

My weight on 11/1/08 was 215. Great. This is gonna be much harder than I figured. One of the things I may be doing is skipping club rides until 2009. I've been doing a little reading about base training and I have come to the conclusion that for myself they might be counter productive right now. In the mean time I will more than likely ride with one of the slower groups that meet at Davidsonville or ride by myself. I will definitely be giving Big Jim a call for some winter LSD once he's done racing cross.

Cheers,

FGR

Fatguy Roller Pic of the Week - 10-31-2008

"Has it been an hour yet?"


I'm going to intro a new feature on my blog today. The Fatguy Roller Pic of the Week. The idea here is to post up a new pic of me riding my rollers to chronicle my weigh loss over the next 16-20 weeks. My first planned peak is Walkersville at the beginning of April. A race I didn't do so well at last year. In 2009, I'd like to be able to finish in the front group of the Mas 35+ 4/5 race instead of riding tempo off the back like I did this year. Prior to this years race I had only been training for 7 weeks and weighed 216 pounds.

In this photo taken last night (10/30/08)I am hovering around 210 lbs. The lightest I got to this year was 198 lbs. My goal for 2009 is 175. I don't think my frame will carry much less than that without looking awful. If I only make it to 185 in the next 20 weeks I'll be happy, but 175 is the goal. Looking at the picture you can see that I am carrying too much upper body mass. Mainly in the gut, the shoulders and upper arms. I'll be working hard this winter to get rid of that.

Once the 20 weeks are up and I didn't fail in my task, I'll throw up a montage animation that shows how I shrank.

Note: I am still sore as hell from lifting weights for the first time this season on Tuesday. I skipped them last night, but still rode the rollers for an hour with some tempo efforts mixed in. After the Saturday group ride I hope to feel well enough to get a session in.

Tonight I'm going to a Halloween party with Dana at her girlfriends house. She's designated driver and I'll be throwing back some Paulaner Salavator. I know some kind of pumpkin ale is the proper Halloween brew, but I'm not a big fan. One another note, I hope everyone else on the team gets hammered tonight too so tomorrow's 3 hr group ride will be sedate.

Cheers,

FGR

(Photo: Me-Nikon D70 w/wireless remote)

Down in the Dungeon

One of the things every man needs is a place in the house where he can get away from everyone and everything. Since my house doesn't have a garage yet, that place is in the bowels of the basement where my wife, Dana, and I keep all our years of accumulated flotsam and jetsam. I keep telling her that one day soon I'm gonna get a rollback plopped down on the driveway and we are going to really clean house! The beauty of this setup is that I have everything I need for an extended stay if need be. I also have everything I need to do my winter training too. I have no excuses for why I cant get it done. Here are a couple of pics of where it will all happen. So when I'm kicking ass next season, remember it all began here. If I'm not kicking ass next season, then remember it didn't happen here but it should have.

Here is the view from the general direction of my rollers. I have a a couple old TV's (the 25 incher is hooked to basic cable), some old stereo gear, some newish stereo gear, a VCR and a DVD player. Everything I need to keep me occupied while I grind away on the rollers and *sigh* the trackstand too. I am a pack rat when It comes to bike stuff. I could get rid of half of what you see and I would still have too much.



This is the view looking back toward where I set up my rollers. On the left is the beer fridge and on the right is my free weight workout setup and about 350 lbs of Olympic plates, bars and lots of solid dumbbells. I have a routine that I've been using forever and like it very much. There is nothing exotic about my routines and in a later post, I'll share. The beer fridge doubles as my bulletin board where I put up workouts to follow for the rollers or trainer. The rollers are a set of Performance Travel Trac Technique's. They work quite well and if I put it in a huge gear and spin at 110+ rpm I get enough resistance to do VO2 max intervals. But since it's early, I'll be skipping those for a few months.



Since Tuesday night was cold and windy, I wimped out and worked out down in my little indoor cycling paradise. I started with 35 min on the rollers, then changed shoes and did weights for about 75 min and finished with 15 min cooldown on the rollers. The workout was long enough for me to watch a short movie that I've got from Netflix and had laying around forever, Good Night and Good Luck. The movie was meh at best, but the workout was great. I'm still very sore since it was my first attack of the weights this season. Tonight I'll just doing it all over again. The last Thursday ABRT ride is tonight, but i'm skipping it. Thinking about how to work recoveries in I may change my weight lifting nights to Monday and Thursday. My hard on the bike days will be Tues/Thur. Wednesday will be an endurance type night and Friday will be recovery spins on the rollers. That leaves Saturday for the group ride and Sunday for a 1 1/2 to 2 hour long LSD rides to enjoy the outdoors or an hour on the rollers at night if I have to work a race. I guess we will see how all that works out. My only goal right now is knocking off 25-30 lbs by Feb 1. Totally doable.

Here's one more picture. My squat rack is a real multi-tasking piece of equipment. When not working out it's a perfect hanging rack for all my wet kit. Speaking of, does anyone really need that much kit?



I told you I was a pack rat for cycling gear.

Cheers,

FGR

(Photos: Me and my Nikon D70)