This is not a BLOG! I don't do blogs. I won't be writing anything witty about current events, global warming, celebrity square dancing, or Lance Armstrong's "thereapy". If that's what your looking for, go to NYCbikesnob, he does all that stuff. This is a journal. A journal about my year trying to become any athlete (or something resembling an athlete) again. Once upon a time, my best friend Brian Sjoberg and I (with a cast of other characters) used to race our bikes from Florida to Canada and everywhere in between. And you know what? We were good. In our day, we were really good. Winning races, traveling the country, and getting into as much mischief as a van full of teenagers could. It was a fantastic trip. But all good things do come to an end, and eventually, it just wasn't fun anymore...
So it was time for a change. Not really digging college, I switched teams. From a cycling team to a kitchen team...and loved every minute of it. Now I was moving around the country every few years with a beautiful wife and two crazy kids, trying to increase my knowledge and my paycheck. And I did pretty well at that too. I finally made the big time as an Executive Chef of a large resort in Jackson Hole, WY, had another beautiful daughter, and bought a house.
Unfortunately, all the growth in my life came with a cost to my body. In fifteen years, I went from 178lbs to 259lbs! I ate poorly, drank too much, got no exercise...pretty much drove my body into the ground at the expense of my career. My wife tried, she really did. She was the only voice of reason and I didn't listen. I was too caught up in being a chef, which is very easy to do.
So what happened? Why the change now?
In the fall of 2008, a cyclocross race (Moosecross) was put on in my sleepy village. Having bought a cyclocross bike the year before in order to attempt to start riding again on the dirt roads around my house, I thought why not. If you have never done cyclocross...it is hard...really hard. It is basically one 45min Zone 5 interval, if you can imagine such a thing. However, it also has it's advantages; only 45 mins long, always in the fall (my restaurants are closed), no hills, and you get to get insanely dirty doing it. It was an absolute blast, probably the most fun I'd had on a bike in 20 years. So I hatched a plan to return to racing via cyclocross. The only problem is...I suck. I suck bad. I have zero fitness, little strength, and no cardiovascular health. At the beginning of this year, my BP was 149/98. I have since raced Moosecross a few times as well as CubeCross, and not done very well to say the least (lapped by a 16yr old kid on a Mtn bike). I did score a 4th at Cube Cross a few years back, but really have done no real training and little skills work that are required in 'cross.
So where are we now?
Well, I'm glad to say things are looking better. My weight is slowly dropping, and my BP is 118/82. I have mapped out my entire year in three cycles with a bit of rest in between. I had tried a real training program last year but overreached something fierce. In a place where you really can't plan on riding on the road until at least mid April, I chose the Moab Gran Fondo as my first goal. With little more that 12-13 days of riding in my legs, the 66 mile, 5600' elevation gain, ride destroyed me. I was the dead last finisher at 5:59:36. Twenty four seconds from not making the time cut. So needless to say, I have decided to have a more reasonable approach.
I am currently in week 5 of a 6 week "base" cycle. No, this is not your average base cycle obviously. I ride between 90-150min, four days per week, with between 20-60min of Tempo depending on the week. All I'm trying to do at this point is get comfortable, build a little strength, and lose some weight. I have been moderately successful on all fronts thus far, but still have a long way to go. So we will just have to see if this old fat man still has a little spark... I'm not make any promises.
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