Johnny Utahs Bike Change Operation

Johnny Utah

Well-Known Member
I always love to read everyone's training thread, never thought I would have a reason to make one, but maybe I do.

Preface:
Over the past twenty years the majority of my riding has been downhill/trail oriented. I do not ride road (well, that may have actually changed). Since last year and my first fatbike purchase, distance has been creeping into my rides as has been the ride time. Originally I trained for a trip to Whistler last year to ride for five days of lift access riding with 8hrs days split into 4hr sessions. This went well, but by day five my biceps were fried.

Goal
Recently I entered the Marty's fat race occurring this Saturday, this should be pretty brutal, as I am nervous as all hell (previous ride and purchase of new gear has established additional confidence after my initial ride on the course).

So the goal, well, I am pretty sure the first ride of the course I did with Jim was the longest ride I have done to date, but I am used to pulling full days at the Ski Hills with minimum breaks to maximize runs, so I have the muscle memory for long days (I think).

Recently I established a team for the MS Coast to Coast at work, for this I entered the 85 mile ride, which will be effectively my longest ride completed. For this I will be using my fatbike, in fact, most of all my distance will be on my fatbike, as the others are not as well suited.

If this goes well, I may try to do the 125 mile D&L ride. This has been a mind sore as I wanted to do the 65 mile option, but was moving that weekend (at least I registered for Marty's race during my home closing).


How:

Not sure yet....I guess this will be interactive. I have been riding four to five days a week, one of these rides has been a 5 hr or more ride. I plan to continue this practice, with the majority of such being done on my fatty.

My DH bike and trail rig will make some guest appearance.

I am considering going back to the gym, but juggling the house construction, time with the Mrs., work, and riding is already hard enough.

Diet:
This is the killer. Three years ago I was 185lbs and in solid shape. Fast forward to two weeks ago - 208lbs.

So over the past fifteen days I dropped all alcohol but ate whatever I wanted - 201lbs on Sunday. Booze is a B***h. And by eat anything, I mean whatever I want.

I will take this moment to state that if you owed me beer, your debt is forgiven, please make a donation to my MS fundraiser or Jim's Itidarod ride found in his thread in stead.

I will take the next few weeks to get my diet on track.....well, a bit more on track.

My other half has been vegan for over five years, so I will probably head that way, as that is how I eat unless we go out (which we do a lot of now).

Issues:
- Food, food, food. I love to eat and live in a food rich environment
- Bad knees
- I will miss beer. Big tasty beers. Imperials.....PUMKING!

Sum up:
Over the next few months, if I can keep on track, I will post up my rides and progress. Just an average guy trying to push a few boundaries and eat/live a bit more healthy, as the burgers and beer have been taking a toll on my belly.
 

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Patrick

Overthinking the draft from the basement already
Staff member
crap - i was typing and missed first.

Bump! to bring it to the top.
 

Magic

Formerly 1sh0t1b33r
Team MTBNJ Halter's
Maybe we can get together for some group rides this year and burn off some pounds together. :) I have bad knees at 26 and kept dropping my 1x ring until my 30T. High gears hurt, as do long downhills. I just power through and keep spinning for now, but JimN posted a good rehab video I may start following one of these days.

Good luck with your adventure!
 

extremedave

Well-Known Member
Team MTBNJ Halter's
You two suck. Thirdish or something. It's depressing how much impact booze has on weight gain. That means the wife is right. That makes it even worse.
In, btw. :D

Fudge. Fourther.
 

Norm

Mayor McCheese
Team MTBNJ Halter's
Good luck. I used to look at Fred, who used to drink all the time and was racing the elite class in the MAC series. But then he was like 25 years old. So now I look at Kirt, who drinks more than me and weighs like 50 pounds less. But not drinking is good, I agree. Well, I mean for weight loss.
 

Pearl

THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING
Wouldn't you say working on the house is like a free gym? I remember I would be spent after slaving away on the house :p
 

Johnny Utah

Well-Known Member
Morning ladies & gents, thanks for the good vibes!

- Group rides are in the cards, 100%. I have some fun fat adventures planned for the year, so stay tuned.

- Weight/booze. - It is a beast, I hear ya on weight yo-yo, I have been as light as 163lbs (when racing downhill years ago) and as heavy as 240 (case race!) in the past 15 years. Beer and me leads to munchies and poor food decisions (as well as portion size). Best I take some time off.

- I will look into the Base Race today.

2/4/15 -Planning
Started off with the usual breakfast, 2 eggs, five white mushrooms, an ounce of green squash, 1 oz oats, two tablespoons guacamole, and some hotsauce. This was accompanied by black coffee, which I love and drink a lot of :)

My other half made some awesome curry last night w/tofu, so I brought that for lunch as well as an apple, banana, and some peanuts (unsalted and in the shell). I will try to stick to that.

My office has a crazy snack area, people bring things every day, and there is always temptation in the form of chocolate, pretzels, or cookies twenty feet away from my office.

For beverage, I am a big black coffee and water drinker, I usually go over a gallon a day without issue. Soda and juice, whether it be diet or sugar free is not in the cards, I tossed that stuff ten years ago.

Dinner will probably be some sort of veggie goodness.

I plan to do an hour ride tonight around the hood, so the lights are charging.

My right knee was pretty beat after 7 hours riding this weekend and three days last week, so I am letting it rest before the Marty's race on Saturday. I figure an hour ride tonight will keep it loose. Food-wise, I am trying to keep good intake so I am ready to go for Saturday.

My knee brace is on.


Song of the Day - Pearl Jam - Brain of JFK
 

Johnny Utah

Well-Known Member
Wouldn't you say working on the house is like a free gym? I remember I would be spent after slaving away on the house :p

Without question, I tore up the carpet in my living room and am sanding the hardwood floors with a 6" orbital sander. Spent about 1.5 hrs doing that yesterday.....it put a small dent in the project!

Norm, I hear ya, I have buddies that drink IPA's/eat burgers nightly and have six pack abs. I just do not have the metabolism for it, it totally shuts my system down and bloats me up. What a shame, I have a pretty solid collection, although I am sure I will be back (good amout of it are Barlywines, which age well).
 

Frank

Sasquatch
Good luck Johnny! When I come back from my vacation next week, we will have to do much more riding!
 

Norm

Mayor McCheese
Team MTBNJ Halter's
Norm, I hear ya, I have buddies that drink IPA's/eat burgers nightly and have six pack abs. I just do not have the metabolism for it, it totally shuts my system down and bloats me up. What a shame, I have a pretty solid collection, although I am sure I will be back (good amout of it are Barlywines, which age well).

It's a sad reality. Woody (on the site) is an old college roommate and he used to eat any damn thing he wanted. I was nicknamed after the biggest, fattest drunk in TV history. I got your top weight ever beat, but I was never down to 163, though I did come close. I find as I age, the whole drinking think has longer repercussions.

Eggs & a banana for breakfast is what I recently read. I often eat eggs but added the banana after I read that. They claim it keeps you full longer, and from my 2 week casual experiment, I would tend to agree. I'd also say don't be afraid of eggs, they get such a bad rap but are awesome.

Random, but do you sweat a ton? If so, don't be afraid of salt. Like eggs, it gets a bad rap.

I also like PJ.
 

mattybfat

The Opinion Police
Team MTBNJ Halter's
Good stuff Johnnie, I am at my largest pinnacle ever and not making the turn I have in the past. Beer definitely leads to more guilty pleasures. Maybe your hard work will play a big role in myself. Unfortunately I will not be doing Marty's race but will hopefully catching up with you on future rides.
 

1speed

Incredibly profound yet fantastically flawed
Good luck with all of it! One suggestion that may help with the weight thing -- weigh yourself often. It may feel frustrating at first simply due to the inertia of early weight loss (or lack thereof.) But if you stick with it, it becomes accountability and motivation. Like if you're about to go somewhere where you know you could easily forget your goals and throw back a few beers or eat bad food, weigh yourself right before you go. Because it works both ways -- seeing yourself moving in the right direction gives you motivation not to go off track. And if you don't see the number in the right place, it's accountability and will keep you from making it worse by indulging too much. In general, it kind of uses two things we often think of as negative character traits - guilt and general stubbornness -- and makes them work for you.
 

bonefishjake

Strong like bull, smart like tractor
Team MTBNJ Halter's
good thread man, looking forward to watching this develop.

beer is good, but many beers consecutively not so much. just cutting that out you'll drop (as you've seen); manage your calories and you'll drop quicker. i use the Lose It app which is pretty solid.
 

Johnny Utah

Well-Known Member
Thanks for the kind words and useful tips guys & gals!

Alright, so I got out of work early and got a little over an hour in at Allaire, score. It felt good to get out on the bike as I skipped Monday and Tuesday to get my knee a bit better (all was well with it tonight). At this point, I am excited for Saturday just to get a bigger ride in.

Food wise I did alright today, with the exception of some cookies my other half made. I substituted these for a pre-ride meal.

I stopped by Beachwood Bikes for some gummies to gnaw on Saturday, looks like they received a shipment of Fatboys for anyone looking.

Not sure if I am riding tomorrow, but I know I am taking the day off the bike Friday and taking Kathleen out for dinner......I am thinking a big veggie burrito to stock up for the long day.

The Bearscat 50 is looking pretty tempting, if I sign up, I will be riding fat.

Looking into weigh in on Sunday, it should be pretty skewed due to the Saturday ride, but then again, I am sure I will be eating all day anyhow.

Lets see what tomorrow brings!
 

Steve Vai

Endurance Guy: Tolerates most of us.
Do Bearscat, sign up right now and don't even think about it. Having a nice hard race like that on the horizon will really motivate you to keep to the plan!! If you want to do some good, long fat rides, hit me up, I'm always down.

-Jim.
 
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