Is this still the off season for the people of the North? I hope so. I know it’s -34 fahrenheit where Marko lives so he is only riding three times a week to prepare for the Keepers Tour. It seems @souleur has a little holiday guilt and now that those damn holidays are behind us it’s time to think about the cycling season ahead.
Yours in Cycling, Gianni
The season has passed that all cyclists are cautious about. That time of year where food is abundant, and for most of us, we are in a respite as well. This calculates into a caloric excess. And we must admit, we cannot avoid it. Tis the season as we say. At work, our partners and colleagues bring in food and drink to enjoy. Our families make coveted goodies and neighbors even send treats over to express gratitude and friendship. To fully reject these things would indeed be the highest order of an asshole, yet to fully accept it is to throw away our many months of riding and training; at least that is for us north-of-the-equator types. Nonetheless, this time of year we do our best to be friendly and gracious to our friends and family even if that means eating that extra piece of pumpkin pie.
Brothers and Sisters, we must be careful. As cyclists, we know the price we pay for such friendly behavior. Because lurking in the shadows of our get togethers and parties is the man with the hammer. I know, you may not have realized this, but it is an observation I have recently made. We have indeed become familiar with him in seasons past when he visits us as the uninvited guest of our friendly bike rides. But now in the off season, the man with the hammer’s love of being the peeping Tom is in full swing. See, for now, the man with the hammer is taking notes on all of our indiscretions, each and every single one. He has a flawless memory bank and each and every thing we indulge at this time of year is officially on the record. Sure, it’s just a piece of pie, but each goodie we take in, it will be required of us one day. See, for the man with the hammer, it’s a special day he looks forward to and it’s called payback day. He’s a bored lunatic who has nothing more to do than inflict loads of hatred upon us. In fact there is nothing that he relishes in more than to take advantage of us at that perfect moment, when you are bleeding out your eyeballs, you are gasping for a short breath of air and this fifty pound monkey jumps on your back. For some, he rarely pays a visit because they are very, very disciplined. For those like myself, he visits often and repeatedly and in heavy doses. Because of his regularly scheduled appointments, I have become more familiar with him and I take note of his characteristics, his virtue, his habits. And the more I learn of him, the more he reminds me of Jack Torrance in the Shining, BAMM, there he is and boy is he ever-present and somebody is gonna pay because he is all about the bat-shit-craziness.
Yes, it’s that special day when you resume your training. That day becomes the day we recognize our sins of the past. It may be the hill repeats, it may be that perfect stretch of road that we find ourselves doing max intervals in V-locus fashion, it may be that long steady climb; but whatever it is we all will come to that pivotal point that we crawl before the alter of the man with the hammer and pay penance for the luxuries of the holiday season. The man with the hammer recalls each and every one of our sins as he checks them off one by one. He calls us to atone and inflicts loads of V commensurate our just deserts. Sadly, some will be discouraged, but for us Keepers of the highest order, we understand this is required. We understand and accept the pain, the suffering, and that atonement is called for. What the man with the hammer doesn’t get, is when we actually sit down at the table like gentlepeople, sit, talk and take account of all that we have done, we then ask for more pain, another pounding, a repeated mashing to make us hard as nails. Because that is exactly what we realize we need in order to become better. The problem is the man with the hammer isn’t interested a conversation and he isn’t a gentleman.
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@xyxax
How much to lose to get to 90kg? And what kind of frame? Having a vegetarian wife has made me get thinner but I would hate do a low carb diet. No toast? No beer? All things in moderation is my credo.
Good luck on the new frame dream.
@Mikel Pearce
I've been thinking that alot. It might be that it is becoming his legacy. I can't remember the last time he won a stage of anything, but I have vivid memories of him bitching about some crash on the tube.
On the no booze front I'm sorry to say it is the most scarily effective weight loss regime I've ever had.
I'm currently losing close to a pound / half kilo each week.
I was 85-86kg when I did the tour of Sharjah in November, but I tipped the scales at 80kg yesterday. In context, I'm 6'3" / 190cm and I haven't been under 82kg since I was rowing at university 25 years ago. I've noticed it disappearing from around my middle too - my tummy is much flatter.
I wasn't a heavy drinker. Never more than two beers or glasses of wine in a night, but it was fairly regular. Maybe 12-15 units per week. It seems to have been that 300-400 calories per day which was the tipping point between equilibirum and negative calorific consumption.
As for the cycling, two weeks ago i did a new PB up Jebel Hafeet, a 9km / 700m climb with a dozen hairpins. 37 mins at a VAM of 1068.
At the end of the day it doesn't matter where you reduce your calories I suppose, but given that the rest of my diet is pretty well regulated, not high-fat or high-carb, mainly home-made and not processed, that seemed to be the easiest.
@ChrisO
Tis sad but true, an easy 2kg a month if I don't drink two beers a night, was told that two beers a night is the equivalent of an entire days food consumption over one week.
Damn I love beer, good beer.
Also stopped eating on most training rides, usually under two hours, and only drink water, no additives, I seem to need a lot less of both as I have become fitter.
I still want to lose 5 kg...
@ChrisO
Yep, agree to that. I was hovering around the 87kg +/-1kg (180cm) when in October 2011 I didn't touch a drop beer, wine or spirits till Christmas lunch and got down to 79 kg. A year later hovering around 81kg and I enjoy my bottle of red or 6 pack of stubbies within a week. Also cut out sugary food like biscuits, chocolate, coffee. It was hard, but well worth the effort.
@eightzero
I did that too. I've chosen to see it as a good thing, my metabolism is highly tuned and when the time comes it shall help me by summoning reserves of energy when I am about to bonk.
In the short term it does mean a fight with hunger as I get as used to calorific deficit. I applaud those that can give up the beer. I've just purchased a small case of Duvel's at 1-2 per week over my intended weight loss period, if I train well I have my reward, if not then I have to look at it for an entire new week.
Think I'll refer back to this one in May when the Velomibaby (F+1) arrives & I'm looking for inspiration to avoid Breeding & Blimping.
@motor city
You must live in GB. I know those symptoms well. I caned a bottle of mulled wine last night to make me feel better.
Awesome, Souleur! Timely, indeed. I've decided to screw it and just started (first time ever, maybe) rule #5 ing it: calorie counter, core training, with negative temps doing trainer work and when it peaks a bit higher getting outside.......hopefully all pays off. It was needed though, as I've been feeling my knees hit my gut whilst in the drops....
@Gianni
Ah, so you've lived kale chips and mushroom pâté?
As of today, 3.3 kg to go, down from a recent high of about 95-96.
I fall in and out of love with frames like a spotty teenager. The 2013 Ritte Vlaanderen
or if you prefer (which I might, with white bar tape):
But what self-mortification will be required to justify shelling out for a worthy groupset and wheels?I draw the line at no longer beating the kids.
In moderation of course.