First Steps....

Well I am finally on my bike. I did a ride of 15.57 miles a couple of days ago. It was a flat ride, no hills but it felt really nice. Here is a link to my MotionBased site which has all my ride info. I will post the links to all my ride info after every ride. All my rides are public and can be analyzed and if someone wants to be my Chris Carmichael type coach and give me pointers, I would greatly appreciated.

Anyway, back to the ride. Flat. A country road ride past fields of Grapevine fields which will produce raisins leading to a small town called Sanger, east of Fresno California. I ride this road every winter when I visit my mother. It was uneventful except I was chased by two dogs who got my speed going to 24 miles an hour and they gave me a good chase. I havent been chased by dogs in years. I dont know why but in my own personal experience dogs don't chase you in Europe. They may piss on your bike while parked, but not try to eat a leg. They chase in Latin America too. I have always thought Europeans where a little more civilized and I guess that extends to the dogs as well....

Christmas Eve and today were spent on the trainer, 30 minute sessions. My brother in law Fernando, a cyclist and now Marathon Runner lent me his trainer the few days I am in town. I have a new one waiting for me, an Elite with a computer. I only used it once since my lovely wife bought it for me for my birthday way back in October when I was contemplating entering the Etape. My ass really hurt after the one hour session. Cant wait to use it again....

On Saturday I head for the hills of Berkeley. Tomorrow, another sesion on the Trainer.

Ouch This is Gonna Hurt !!!

7 months.

7 Months from today I am going to do the biggest physical challenge of my life. I am so excited and filled with dread. Excited because I love cycling so much and the training to do this ride is going to get me on my bike for the maximum amount of time. Dreading it because I am not in shape to do it at the moment. And this is what the blog is all about. Recording my training to get to a fitness level which will allow me to complete this ride without killing myself.

My goals are simple but challenging.

I need to lose weight. I currently weigh 200 Pounds (90.6 Kilos) This is too much. My minimum goal is to weigh 180 Pounds or 81 Kilos. But I really am going to aim for 170 pounds or 77 Kilos. My power to weight ratio is bad.

I am going to ride at 400 miles a month. That will be my target But hopefully I will do more as I start doing centuries around March.

This I hope will lead to wisdom, strong legs and a smaller waist. And an excellent Power to Weight ratio

I will expand on all this as I blog.

One more thing. I have climbed Ventoux twice. Once from Sault and once from Bedoin having started at Gordes 24 miles away. I also did the London to Canterbury Cyclosportive in 2007. But the Etape 2009 will be unlike anything I have ever done. Wish me luck.