Weekend at the Lake and Stone Tavern!

My wife, Uncle John and Aunt Debbie attended the Stone Tavern Re-enactors Gathering Sunday! I must say, I had some fun! I'm going to share a few of the sights here over the next two posts!

Here's some of my weekend pics

This is us taking off on the ride to Cromwell! More pics coming as soon as I have time to crop and upload them! See ya later! (By the way, the next pics will be from the Stone Tavern Gathering! I also need to post a correction, Stone Tavern is actually in Ligonier, not Cromwell! OOPS!)

I had a great weekend!

Well, I went up to Lake Wawasee for my Uncles Birthday. Among other things, We went on a ride from Wawasee to Cromwell, IN on Sunday! This was a 9 mile ride and we rode at an average pace of about 10 mph. Aunt Debbie and I did some windsprints though that exceeded 25 mph! On this ride, I burned 1554 calories in the hourlong ride according to the calculator engine from the West Virginia Dietary Assoc. at http://www.wvda.org/calcs/sport.html . This site has been very usefull to me in my quest for a thinner me and I'd definately recommend it to you as an easy to use and understand site! Back to the weekend! We also attended a re-enactors festival at Stones Tavern Museum in Cromwell! This was an absolute blast with early american folk music and period costume. As soon as I have a chance, I'll post some of the 140 or so pics I shot at the festival! This should be in a couple of days! My weighin, by the way........and the drum rolls..........349 pounds! 232 pounds off!

Here is a list of relief agencies helping Katrina Victims

Again, I'm stepping outside of my normal topic........me! I've put together a list of relief organizations I know to be reputable who are assisting the victims of Katrina. The list is not to be considered to be comprehensive, but it does cover a wide range of organizations. As I've said before, even if you can only afford $10.00, that's fine because it's $10.00 more than they had before you donated!

The list isn't in any particular order, or level of preference by me! Choose the one you want to and DONATE!

United Jewish Communities

http://www.ujc.org

Lutheran Disaster Response http://www.ldr.org

Humane Society of the United States http://www.hsus.org

Catholic Charities http://www.catholiccharitiesusa.org

American Baptist Men http://www.abc-usa.org

Episcopal relief and Developement http://www.er-d.org

United Methodist Committee on Relief http://www.gbgm-umc.org/umcor

Red Cross http://www.redcross.org

Salvation Army http://www1.salvationarmy.org (This is an alternate address to the one I posted in an earlier post, but it's them too!)

Convoy of Hope http://www.convoyofhope.org

Adventist Community Services http://www.adventist.communityservices.org

PLEASE, go to one of these sites and help those folks on the Gulf Coast! They are in dire straits and truly need our help and compassion!

These are my new weigh in results!

Well, I hope everyone is having a great labor day weekend. Before I get into my news, I'd like to remind everyone to donate to the Red Cross! Their website is http://www.redcross.org and there is a menu option to donate by credit card on the menu on the left side of the site! Even if it's only $10.00 it'll help! As I've said before, if enough people donate even the ten spot, the amount can be staggering! An alternative if you prefer would be the Salvation Army and their site is http://secure3.salvationarmy.org/donations.nsf/donate?openforum&projectid=USN-hurricane05 ! Please also remember to include the folk on the Gulf Coast in our prayers!
OK, on to my results! I lost another five pounds and this brings the total to 227 pounds I've lost since my surgery! If you're considering Bariatric services by the way, there is a web address at the header of my blog here for Saint Vincent Bariatric Services in Carmel, IN as well as my surgeons contact information. The results of this surgery are literally lifesaving!

I'm trying out a linux OS tonight and I think I like it!

I'm in shock! I'm using the Mozilla Firefox browser and it's F-A-S-T! The UBUNTU linux system is what I'm trying as an OS from a live boot disc. UBUNTU is a version of the Debian linux OS and I believe I'm impressed!

Hurricane Katrina

The people on the Gulf Coast in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama are in dire straights. I'm deviating from my usual topic today to talk about this issue. If you want to help, the best way is to send a CHECK to the American Red Cross. Don't send canned goods or bottles of water as this action; while your heart is in the right place, just adds complexity to the logistics of the situation! The Red Cross is currently involved in the largest disaster deployment in it's history here in the USA. Their resources are being strained and even if you can just donate $10.00; if enough people do this, it will do great things to ease the financial pressure on this organization.
Photo: Patrick Schneider, Charlotte Observer

New Weigh in results!

Well, I didn't have a chance to weigh til yesterday, but I did it! I lost 222 pounds total! Now for the best part! I didn't drive to Home Hospital to weigh in, I rode the bike! Then I rode down to the levee for coffee at Panera's! All in all, a good day! I couldn't even post this til today! I didn't have time after my ride, HOMEWORK! Sorry by the way, I had to institute additional posting security re the SPAM! I activated word verification on posting I hate this, but I really don't have time to clean out the SPAMBOT posts! Well, gotta run, my grindstone awaits my nose!

Well, I checked my grade on the first test in Algebra!

I actually scored 100! Cool beans! Gonna be a short post today as I'm on my way out the door to go to class! Algebra of course! Today is my light day though as I only have algebra today! See ya later!

I made some changes to my comment policy

Due to the tremendous amount of SPAM ranging from Ads for Viagra to links to porno sites and worse yet, links to FOOD SITES that have nothing to do with my topics on this blog; I have eliminated the Anonymous post mode. Sorry, you're gonna have to register now! You can blame the jerks who've been spamming my blog for this action as I am a full time student now and don't have time to go through my comments every day and clean out from 25-30 ads to enlarge your "manhood" or take this miracle pill and...........! To those of you already registered, keep coming back and Peg, I truly appreciate the supportive comments you've made along the way! For those of you who haven't met Peg along the way, She is a children's Author. Her first book is "Maynard the Mannerly Monkey". Peg's blog is "Peg's Pen" and if you look at her posts in the comment sections on myblog, you'll see her name is a link to her profile. Click that and then click her blog at the bottom and you are there! Also her website is http://psmurphy.com so check her out and follow the link there to her website for "Maynard" info! If you aren't registered for my blog, by the way, it's not hard, just register with Blogger, they don't bombard me with emails or spam on my email address so I don't imagine they will yours either. You can also get your own blog that way as well! The best thing is it's hosted for FREE! So you fine readers of mine, keep on coming back and I truly apologise for having to eliminate the anonymous mode! - T. Stormcrowe

I did my FIRST DAY of College today!

I just finished my first day of school today! The first one in 30 years! The biggest irony to today is I am required to take the course "Introduction to Microcomputers![EVIL GRIN]
I think i should have no problem with this class other than avoiding falling asleep! Shoot, I use Linux, Unix, DOS, and know several obsolete languages like KOBOL and FORTRAN as well as programming in Basic, visual Basic, Java and the Borland Language set! I just don't have any certs in them! Oh well, I will probably find weaknesses that I never even thought of since I am more or less self taught on the computer! I imagine it'll do me some good!

My sweatshirt;by the way, is a 2X! I'm down from size 8X in March! Woohoo!

Rode again today!

Blue helmet is April and Grey helmet is today! See the difference?(Besides the oxygen that is!)

Well, it wasn't anywhere near the length of Thursday's ride, but it was still a ride! I rode down to the levee for a cup of coffee at Panera's. Rode around the WL trail system again, logged 28 miles today! Here is today's pic compared to my April ride pic, see if you can tell the difference! By the way, I burned 5640 calories today riding! My weigh in this week by the way: I lost another six pounds! Total loss is 218 pounds!

I did an allday road trip today! On my bike!

I rode a 43 mile trip today! I rode the entire West Lafayette trail system today, then out to Battleground, IN. That totaled 28 miles, then 15 miles back to Lafayette! I took about 8 hours to do it, but I wasn't in a hurry! Weather was a bit mugly, hot and sweaty! At one point I thought I was gonna get stormed on! By the way, I do have my ride computer correctly set now as my odo function only read 5% more than the statute miles listed in streets and trips! I had a head wind all the way back and that wore at me, but I did the ride!

By the way, I'd like to give a shameless plug to one of our Local Bike Shops! Hodson Bay on the Brown Street Levee in West Lafayette, IN! They have a website at

http://www.hodsonsbay.com/

They've been of great help keeping my ol' bike working! They carry among other brands, Trek and Giant!

Going to Orientation today!

Yes, today is my orientation for IV Tech to cross the final stage of going to nursing school! My classes start Monday as well! I'm looking forward to this in a big way! Life is good!

I met a friend for coffee last night

I met a friend of mine; Mike, last night and we grabbed a BOOTH! I haven't been able to FIT in a booth in over 10 years! As a matter of fact, I've avoided going to restaraunts that only had booths for years. The best part of all of this was not only did I fit, I fit COMFORTABLY! I didn't have to wedge myself in and I could even breathe! Well, we had a great natter and a few liters of coffee as neither one of us had seen each other for close to 10 years. I had'nt been able to hook up with Mike for the last couple of years because to put it frankly, I was too sick! Before that, I was living in Tennesee down in Chattanooga! It was a major logistical effort to go anywhere! All in all, the point of this post is a celebration of a new (To me, at least till recently!) freedom you skinny folk tend to take for granted! Mobility and access! By the way, I am not using skinny as a pejorative!

In the Interest of honest recordkeeping

In my last post, an anonymous poster made a point on the speed my ride computer recorded! I'm embarrassed to say I was wrong! I goofed on setting my ride computer. I went back and checked the trail surveyed miles against the distance and got a variance of 1.26 miles counted by comp/ mile traveled. I rechecked the elapsed time vs speed and found I was pushing a max of 23 mph! Sorry about the inaccuracy and thanks for making me think and check it out there Anonymous! I've reset the ride computer too! Above all I need accuracy in my data for recordkeeping on my ride logs! So thanks again!
OOOOPS! I'm willing to admit I was wrong!

I smoked my Nieces boyfriend!

Yup, I sure did! We got into a bike race on the NW Greenbelt today and I am pleased to say I smoked the 17 year old athletic boyfriend of my nieces! I can guarantee he didn't throw the race either as at the end, he was huffing like a locomotive!!!!!!!! I'm pretty sure I shocked him too as he was pushing so hard, he was standing on the pedals and my butt never even came off of the saddle! MY ride computer said I was holding a 29 mph pace in the race too! Woohoo! Not bad for a fat ol' man on a mountain bike! I mean, I'm 28 years older than the kid!!! All in all, I had a Great day! Well, gotta run now, see y'all soon!

This is from a new friend o' the blog's site

Top picture is Seth's bike at the Station sign and the bottom one is "The Antarctic Mountainbike Club"! These are pictures from the site http://www.sethwhite.org and they are from the most isolated mountainbike trail on Earth! Would you believe Antarctica? Seth worked down at McMurdo Station near Scott Base in Antarctica and did some mountainbiking down there and these photos are Seth Whites property used with his permission! Thanks for the permission Seth, and the good words! Next time you decide to visit the old "Alma Mater" of Purdue, we'll have to hook up at XXX!

I incorrectly attributed the "Antarctic Mountain Bike Club" photo to Seth White, but he corrected me! I gues I can't remember where I found it, other than it was associated with Antarctic Mountainbiking! It's still a cool photo though! If I could remember where I found it, I'd properly attribute it!

I have some before, and after pics here!

These are before, a month ago, now and before again. dates are 3/11, the beginning of July, late mid July and 3/11/2005 again! See the difference it has made? I hereby certify that all the images are of me! The befores are at St Vincent Hospital in Carmel, IN! Note the wheelchair in the befores, I could barely stand up much less walk more than 50', now I can ride a 30 mile day on my bicycle on a good day!

New Weighin Results

Well, I weighed today! I unfortunately only lost two pounds again this week! Ah well, I talked to the dietician and physical therapist and they advised me that the level of physical activity I've been keeping is building muscle and bone mass definately! All I can say is CRUD! Oh well, if I only lose 2 pounds a week, I'm still losing, so I won't get discouraged! I have about 100 pounds to go, and apparently those are going to be the hardest! I guess life without challenge would be boring! I'm looking forward to not being bored! On the school front, I will be carying 18 credit hours this semester, and I'm gonna be challenged to find time to ride. I will keep up with it though! I can always ride to school when weather permits! Cheaper on gas that way anyway! Ok, to the final tally on lost poundage: 212 pounds! See y'all later!

I did another ride today!

Yuppers, I did anothe ride today, the NW Greenbelt again! This time I did three rounds in four hours including the "illegal" trail around the lake again! This was a total of 30.6 miles! I wanted to push myself to the absolute limit and I think I did! I haven't exercised til I threw up since Basic Training in the Army, and I just did that today in the last two miles! I kept my heart rate below 130(Barely!) and still no O2! Woohoo! Talk about an accomplishment! I can't believe I pulled it off! My Quads are killing me, and I know I will have to take at least a short ride tomorrow to avoid stiffening up! No pain, no gain! The temp was around 90 degrees and it was HOT! My do-rag I wear under the helmet was so wet, it felt like I had soaked it in a bucket of warm salty water! When I stopped to take a break, it was like that scene in "Bedazzled" where Brendan Frasers character is sweating so hard it looks like there is a faucet running! I must say, I had a ball and while I probably won't push that hard the rest of the week, I'm thinking about making that my Sunday ride goal at least once a week!

I have news!

I rode the NW Greenbelt Trail today out to Hadley Lake in West Lafayette round trip as well as around Hadley on the "Outlaw MTB trail"! That gave me a total of 10.2 miles and here is the kicker! I did it without OXYGEN!(The crowd cheers!) This was a major accomplishment for me! My heart rate didn't exceed 116-120 either! WOOHOO! I guess I've come a long way, Baby! Just think, I just got out of the wheelchair in April this year! I guess I am down to nighttime oxygen only now! At least I'm gonna try it! If I have problems, I can always start again if necessary! I must say, it was a relief getting that 15 pound monkey known as an oxygen tank off my back!

I went shopping at WALMART and found clothes!

My jersey graphic above, me below left

I surprised myself today! I actually was able to buy clothes in a REGULAR STORE! I have been shopping Big and Tall for years(Emphasis on BIG)! I was able to get a couple of T shirts in Walmart today in size 3X that fit me! You have to understand, I started out in 8X shirt and 8X pants! I have dropped 14 inches off my waist as well! This is cool! By the way, any opinions on the Graphic I just set up for my race jersey for mountainbiking?

Holy Copulatory Bovine, I weighed and........!

I weighed and I think I busted the slow loss! I lost 18 pounds this week! That makes 210 pounds off now! I'm feeling great and very satisfied! I think my body had gone into famine mode, where it tries to conserve every bit it can because it thinks food is scarce! I gave it a good shot of carbs(Biscuit and Gravy breakfast at XXX a early this week!) and I think it definately convinced my bod that the famine is OVER!

I think I might be plateauing! AAAAAAAAARGH!

I weighed today and I only lost two pounds! CRAP! I hope I'm not plateauing! I guess it's time for my mean faced picture til I get some loss going again! I'm not eating more or differently and I am keeping up the activity! I've even added swimming to my routine! I wonder if I am picking up muscle weight as I drop the fat, because my butt and gut are smaller! Hopefully this won't last long and I'll get on the rapid loss wagon again!

A big thanks to the Baloonatic Bomber!

Thank you very much, there Baloonatic; for the wonderful Baloon Sculpture you sent me! It was a very pleasant surprise that I enjoyed very much! I've posted a picture so all can enjoy "The Amazing Shrinking Man Ballon Sculpture"! It is quite cool!

Here's a little update on school!

I took my entrance exams today and scored in the top 2 percentile on most subjects! The only problems I had were with Algebra! You understand of course, I haven't needed to use it for 30 years! I schedule classes next week and go through orientation in August! Hoorah! I am on track!

Well, Another Four Pounds!

I los another four, bringing the total up to 190 so far! Not as good as I wanted, but I'll take it. I had a bad week, not as active as I should have been, Mom, you know a good part of the reason! I didn't want to be too far from the phone![GRIN] A lot of stress through the week, but nothing I can't handle! Unfortunately though, it slowed my metabolism down a bit. It couldn't be helped though, I'll just have to do better next 7 days!

I found something horrible out! Changeable though!

I did some work on the weight machine today! I'm embarrassed to say, I didn't do as well as I thought I would! On the bench press, I could only do reps with 80 pounds! This WILL change though! I just need to start a conditioning program! Worse yet, on the sitting bench,(Overhead lift) I could only work out with 50 pounds! This too will change! The only thing I did up to snuff was maxing out the weight on the lateral leg press for 50 reps! It was only 250 pounds though! What sucks is that I used to routinely bench 300+ on reps and overheads as well as 1200 pounds on the Nautilis(TM) Machine leg press doing reps! Of course that was 30 years ago![GRIN] I guess I need to do some work! Of course I do rememberthat I was pretty much debilitated, believe me I couldn't possibly forget! I can tell you though, I'll never go back to that, EVER......PERIOD! I will follow the limits my Doctors set though, as I don't want to undo all the fine work they did on me(at least as close as I can!)! I understand I'm going through a process of recovery here. Well, I gotta run for now, see Y'all Wednesday! For the record, this is an older pic here, I'm about 30 pounds lighter now than when this pic was taken!

I took a nice ride today!

I rode my bike out to Fort Quiatanon from the levee today! It was't a bad ride! It's about four miles of gently rolling terrain out South River Road. The little hills were a killer for me! I did, however; manage to ride up them without getting off to walk the bike up them! If you know the road, you need to remember, I was in a wheelchair in March! This is definate progress for me. An aside here! I put Geax Evolutions on my bike(Tires) and they have certainly reduced the rolling resistance as well as road buzz through the handlebars. They also are a kevlar core tire, so they reduce the risk of road damage to the tires and reduce the risk of flats! I love these tires!
My wife is complaining that she can't keep up with me!

I HAVE AN ANNOUNCEMENT!

I just enrolled in Nursing School pending financial aid! I also got started with Vocational Rehabilitation as well! Both of these happened this morning! I enrolled at IVTECH State College in the 2 year RN program! Might have to take some refresher classes, but that's ok! I'm planning on starting in this Fall! Wish me luck!

My long term goal is to get my RN cert. and go into a specialty of Bariatric care. After I'm established in a job, I'll be continuing on to Nurse Practitioner as my next goal! My first primary goal though is to graduate from the RN program with honors! This will take hard work, but nothing that's worth it is easy!

New Weight results! They're good!

I couldn't wait til tomorrow to weigh in, so I did it today! I lost 11 pounds in 6 days! Total weight loss is 186 pounds! WOOOHOOO!

Recovering from the weekend, part 2!

Here are more pics from Wawasee! Uncle John and Aunt Debbies house, my wife, The dock, and Tipper the Dog!
In March, I would have had the option of sitting around in my wheelchair, and sitting around in my wheelchair! Do I regret going thru Bariatric Surgery? Not a chance in the world of regret! I'm getting my life back!

Recovering from the weekend!

Well, I had a busy weekend! I went home to Lake Wawasee in Northern Indiana! I'll tell ya, I had a blast. My Aunt and Uncle hosted my wife and myself for the weekend and among other things, I got some swimming in! Pictures are from Wawasee that include my Aunt waterskiing, the house I grew up in and the floating church service on Sunday morning. I'm still pooped from the weekend! Some triumphs included in the weekend were making it up and down the stairs to the lake. It's a LONG,STEEP stairway! Also just getting in and out of the boat was a triumph!
As I said, I truly enjoyed myself and I only wish my legs wouldn't hurt so much! AH WELL, I guess I need to go for a ride to work out the kinks! By the way, I figured out my approximate calorie burn for the weekend. It was about 7300 calories burned with about 741 calories intake. Adjusted burnoff was 6559 calories. Anyone care to guess what my weigh in will reflect Wednesday?

And the Answer Is.........? (New Weigh in!)

Well, I weighed in today. I had a slow week re/ weight loss. I only lost 4 pounds! Oh well, it's still going down. I guess it's time to up the physical activity again! See ya in a week, same "Shrinking Man" time, same "Shrinking Man" website! By the way, the cumulative total is 175 pounds!

I had a mixed day today(Wednesday)

I haven't gone to bed yet today, so it's still Wednesday for me! I had a mixed day today. Good news-bad news kind of thing. First the good news! I lost another 10 pounds, I weighed in and have lost a cumulative total of 171 pounds now. Now for the bad part. I had a bit of a disappointment as well, my Doctor refused to even consider letting me compete in a mountainbike race at the end of July. He insists I need a full cardio and pulmonary workup before I can do this and I'm not ready for it yet. Frustrating, but it's probably sensible! I'm only a couple of months out of the wheelchair after all! He did encourage me to continue training for racing though as long as I don't compete yet. I tend to forget, no matter how much better I feel, I'm not out of the woods yet. I'll at least be there and watch though, even if I am not allowed to compete yet! It'll give me a chance to see what goes on at a mountainbike event at least! This is not to mention it's a great excuse to go camping as well! Oh well, next year, and I'll be in a realistic position to compete and WIN then! Well, good night for now, see ya later!

Here are the results!

I have lost 161 pounds now! Wahoo! I had a bit of trouble with dinner last night, stomach cramps and spasms, but this is normal from time to time! I had waited too long to eat is all it was. NOTE TO SELF: Keep meal times as regular as possible so it doesn't happen too often.
If you go too long without eating, your stomach tends to clench down, and when you insert food initially, you experience PAIN! Another reason to stay as regular as possible is that too abnormal of an eating pattern, your body goes into conservation(or famine) mode and slows down the fat burnoff to "keep you alive" til the "famine" is over. This is very counterproductive where weight loss is concerned!

Here's a tidbit!

Well, hello all! I made a good solid ride last week! On 6/18, I rode out to Fairfeild Lakes County Park. It was 7.1 miles against a headwind, uphill all the way coming up out of the Wabash Valley! I'll tell ya, it FELT GOOD! I weigh in tomorrow, so I'll have a post for you then as well! See y]all tomorrow! Y'all come back now!(:-P)

New Weigh in! Still shrinking!

This is gonna be a short post! I'm still shrinking! 157 pounds! Wahoo! Having Bean and Rice Chicken chili tonight! Tastes great, and easy! Cook the beans in Chicken broth with Chicken breast. Black pepper and 2 TBSP of Chili powder are cooked in. LAst add rice to the mix. The amounts are to taste(I never really measure!). Low cal and loaded with protien and complex amino acids! Bon Appetite'

New weigh in and post Dr news

Good day, all! I am late posting this because I've been busy all week! Wednesday, I had an appt with my surgeon for a followup! At my weighin i was at that time 151 pounds down! I am apparently way ahead of the curve as far as rate of loss goes. All is going well, and I'm well on the way to my new life! Well, gotta run as I'm off for a ride! See ya! WAAHOO!

I dropped a "Gross" of gross fat pounds! ;-)

144 pounds off as of yesterday, 12 dozen; or one "Gross! :-D I feel fantastic! I have a ride planned for next weekend, so I might not post a new weight till Monday or Tuesday. I'll tell ya! The Cycling is going great! It's fantastic exercise and it's fun! You can feel yourself getting stronger and the progress is rapid. I am currently averaging 50 miles a week now in a mix of road and trail miles. The trail miles are the ones that give me the best workout by the way! My Mountain Bike is holding up well and I love the "Cyclists High" when the endorphins kick in and push me past the wall. I am getting to love the muscle burn as well as it tells me I'm burning calories at a good rate. My doctor tells me it's doing my legs a world of good too. My right leg isn't swelling anymore and my left leg has lost 99% of its swelling. My left leg is down to one wound and it's healing at a fantastic rate!(An aside here: I've been fighting Venous Stasis Ulcers on my legs for almost 10 years.) When this last wound heals, I will be Leg Ulcer free for the first time in about 8 years.

I thought since I couldn't sleep................

Since I couldn't sleep, I thought I'd tell you about my ride yesterday. It wasn't all that long, but it was noteworthy because I rode without supplementary oxygen! I rode a circuit of a bit over a mile without my oxygen on and I didn't experience any chest pain or severe shortness of breath. My heart rate only hit 128, but that's a good cardio burn range. I could tell that I was dropping in oxygen saturation by the time I got home, but the fact is that in March this year; this wouldn't even have been possible! I couldn't even walk 50 feet WITH SUPPLEMENTARY OXYGEN AT THE RATE OF 10 LITERS and more than 50 feet I had to use that wheelchair I've mentioned a few times! I am currently using oxygen at 4 liters daytime and 6 at night along with a BiPAP because I have sleep apnea, not uncommon if you're overweight. Well, that was the high point of yesterday, so I guess I'll try to get some sleep now. Good night all!

UNBELIEVABLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!(in a good way!)

It just occurred to me! March 11th to today is 2 months and 18 days, or roughly 2.6 months! That means I am losing an average of 52.3 pounds a month ,+or- a little! I hope this continues although I know it will slow down eventually! This is truly a "Red Letter Day"!(Pardon the pun! I/E The font color)

Are there any mountain bikers visiting my Blog?

If any of you reading my blog are from the mountain bike forum, feel free to post in the comments on this post! You don't have to register as you can post in anonomous mode! Let's have a roll call! Other cyclists are also welcome to do this too! I'd like to get a health/recreation forum going here and this seems as good an opportunity as any!

WOW! I surprised myself!

I surprised myself by losing another bunch of weight! I have now lost a cumulative total of 136 pounds! This felt good. I am still cycling, unfortunately; I caught my first case of road rash in years yesterday. Some JACKASS in a huge black Lincoln Navigator ran me off the road yesterday on my bicycle by paying more attention to his cellphone than his driving. I picked up some gravel in my arm and a mild sprain, luckily as I could have been hurt a lot worse! I'll tell ya, I'm sure stiff and sore this morning! It's not going to put me off cycling though, as it's such a good exercise! Well, gotta run! See you all later this week!

Still Shrinking! Hoooah!

I weighed in this morning and to my great pleasure, I can annonuce a 119 pound cumulative loss of weight! That puts me at 462 pounds! WooHoo!

My last weigh in, late posting as I've been busy!

114 pounds down as of last Saturday! I'm late posting as I have been trail riding. I've been riding the "Wabash Heritage Trail" trying to get out to Battleground, Indiana. This is a dirt trail and requires more effort than a paved trail, therefore more challenging! The scenery is also better as it goes along the Wabash River and Burnett's Creek. One of the best points is that there is a colony of Beavers about 3 miles north of town on the west bank of the Wabash. They are fun to watch and it's worth the ride just for that! My oxygen supplementation needs are down as well, getting by on 4-6 liters of oxygen depending on activity level. I'm down from 10 liters! Well, TTFN, my next weigh in is Saturday. I'm also riding the Cattail and the Great Northwestern Greenway this weekend. Look for me out there and if you see me, feel free to say hi!

Just a little update and a THANK YOU!

To start with, a thank you to Joyce, "The Bike Lady"! I am now the proud owner of a wonderful Royce Union "Gibralter" Mountain Bike! If you are reading my Blog in Layette, IN; I highly recommend her used bikes! She rebuilds and reconditions old and newer bikes and sells them for a reasonable price! So if you are in the market, post a comment here and I'll get the email. Leave an email address and I'll let you know what she has available and how to find her! By the way, she has a Trek racer identical to Lance Armstrongs bike that he rode in the Toure de France! This is a $1000.00+ bike and she has it for $125.00 (I'm not kidding!) I haven't been able to finish the ride I was talking about, but I WILL get out to Hadley Lake yet! If you are riding the West Lafayette trail system, keep your eye open! You might see me! I'll be the fat guy riding the Royce Union! My wife will be with me riding an adult three wheeler (She lost her right inner ear due to cancer and consequently can't balance a bike, but she's still out there riding! BRAVO for her! I'm damn proud of her!) Well, TTFN! I'll see ya Saturday after my weigh in!

Another side effect of rapid weight loss!

I've lost nearly a foot of waistline! 10 inches total! I don't know why I'm surprised that 110 lbs = 10 inches but I was, pleasantly! Well, gotta run, going cycling after my breakfast. If you are wondereing, Breakfast is one oz of meat and one egg! And it fills me up! Amazing!

Good Morning, Everyone!

110 Pounds down now! I still am doing well, my wife and myself are prepping for a ride out to Hadley Lake on the Cattail Trail and the Northwest Greenway Trail in West Lafayette around Purdue University this week. This will be about 15 miles on paved trails with varied terrain. Quite a challenge for me! I hope I can finish the ride first time! If not, I'll keep at it until I do! The only major obstacle, other than endurance; is if I can carry enough oxygen for the trip. Yes, I am still on oxygen therapy, without it my O2 saturation drops down into the 80% range still. That doesn't leave a lot of reserve oxygen in the bloodstream and under conditions of physical activity, can have adverse effects on my physical performance! I can carry a single E cylinder which currently lasts me around 2 1/2 hours if I am careful to keep the flow rate to minimum requirements. Wish me good fortune!