The Scales of Truth

As Week 1 draws to a close it was time for the Scales of Truth this morning. And the result was (cue trumpet call - da da da da da da daaaaaaaaaaah!) - 12 st 2 lbs. Target is one pound per week so this week is a "Hit". Thanks for your confidence Sags! Indeed, although my last recorded weight on this forum was 12 st 2 lbs that was, as commented at the time, somewhat skewed by being dehydrated. I didn't actually record my start weight on here but it was 12 st 3 lbs, so one week down, one pound down - RESULT.

I took Bandit out for a run this morning and I have an easy bike ride with Sags planned for tomorrow morning. The plan is to spend an hour or so riding easy around the Cambridgeshire countryside before Sags goes and beasts himself with the St Ives Cycling Club fast group and I go home for a hot shower and a bacon butty! I will try and take some photos tomorrow on the new phone gadget type thing.

I don't believe this is me...

For the second day running I was up bright and early to go running. After feeling pretty rubbish yesterday due to a poor night's sleep I was in much better shape today and extended the run to some 36 minutes. I also managed just over an hour of cycling as well, nothing too hard, just easing the body gently back into a regular training regime. A reasonable day diet wise, nothing excessive (except maybe the cream cake at dinner!). The first real test will be when I get home this weekend to see what the Scales of Truth tell me about my first week of training. Will it be a "Hit" or a "Miss"?

Rome Wasn't Built In A Day

It's started.

Some exercise.

Some sensible eating - definitely in credit on the calories in/calories out equation today.

Training should be sensible base stuff with a few intervals thrown in for good measure and to keep it interesting. I share an office with the Chairman of RAF Cycling so I'm looking forward to regular evening rides during the week. He's only done a couple of TTs, but knocked out a 21-something 10 last year!!! I may have to re-evaluate my "base plan" after the first couple of rides. There's also a lunchtime running group that do between 5 and 8 miles at lunchtime - might have to extend lunch if I go 8 miles! And I would certainly need an afternoon kip! The motivation is there and the mojo is rising.

Train smart folks.

Lazy Sundays...

Breakfast in bed.

Coffee and Hob Nobs!

Yum yum!

Sags was out doing a hard 60+ miles with the St Ives Cycling Club; I could have gone with them but the draw of a warm bed and the aformentioned coffee and hob nobs was too much to resist. Mary prepared a Banoffee Pie for the boys last lunch and then I took them back to school this afternoon.

Tomorrow I head off down to Gosport to start my new job. But, more importantly, my preparation for the 2009 season starts tomorrow, with the plan to be at racing weight (or at least very close to it) and at least bike fit for a fast 20km TT at the IS duathlon towards the end of April. Not sur ehow my running will be but if I can get my weight down I don't think it will be too shabby (by my own low standards that is).

The mojo is rising; beware.

New Phone & Stuff

Mrs Turbo Man finally got fed up with my old phone not being able to hold a charge for more than 10 minutes and bought me a new one yesterday - it has a camera, bluetooth, MP3 player and all sorts of other technowizardry I will probably never use, but it does mean that I will actually be able to see those pictures I occasionally get sent now. I can set my own ring tone as well, so it's currently "Classico" by Tenacious D (check out the film "Pick of Destiny"). Unfortunately it's not very PC and, as Mrs Turbo Man said, not an appropriate ring tone for one of my new status. Makes me laugh, though, every time I hear it, so if I don't answer the phone when you call me it's because I'm listening to the ring tone!

Which means, of course, I can now take loads of pictures of my bikes etc. Yes, the Prince of Darkness is now all cabled up and just needs a test ride to check out everything is adjusted properly. Might need to make some small adjustments to the position as I think I'm a bit too stretched out at the front at the moment; we shall see. Anyway, here are my first attempts at photography with the new phone (sorry for the poor quality!):

The Prince of Darkness, 2009 version.

Cut down base bar (might need to get used to this!) and Planet X 82mm front wheel.

Ceramic bearing jockey wheels (yes, cable needs trimming but I will do that after the gears have been set up)..

Ceramic bearing bottom bracket (shocking photo I know).

Come Dine With Me - The Finale

Last night was the final instalment with our 8 year old daughter as Head Chef. As you would expect she had some help, although this was mainly limited to advice about timings and all things heat related. She did most of the knife work herself and it was almost a surprise NOT to find a finger in our dinner! She prepared prawn cocktail starter, gammon and pineapple for main course with seasonal veg, proper chips, with a fried egg. Dessert was a cheesecake style dish with a layer of toffee and fresh fruit on top. All in all, a very good effort.

At the end of the last meal the results were announced. It was no real surprise to find myself in last place, with our daughter 3rd, 13 year old son in 2nd and 15 year old son in 1st place. All in all the standard was very good and I was certainly surprised how capable the kids were in the kitchen, vastly superior to me I must say.

I managed another gentle run this morning - a little over 30 minutes. Slowly, slowly catchee monkey.

Putting Things in Place

My re-ordered Wiggle parcel arrived today with all I needed to get my MTB ready for its commuting duties next week. It's now got brakes (always useful) and full mudguards including mudflaps. I've fitted lights as well, just in case, and took it for a spin round the block. The brakes are, quite frankly, awful (perhaps new brake blocks might help) and the handling is horrible - I'm not sure why as it is exactly as it left the factory, unless the headset is sticking. But it will do for the daily 2.5 mile ride each way, and once I get my Scott back on the road I will use that for longer routes a few times each week to bump up the mileage.

The Wiggle parcel also included Park cable cutters so I will hopefully have the Dolan ready for 2009 tomorrow - pictures to follow.

And finally, I put my turbo and turbo bike together ready for training to start in earnest next week. I reckon a picture of my bike stable may be on the cards.

Some Good News At Last

2 bits of good news in fact. Firstly, the scales showed 12 st 2lbs this morning although I was a little dehydrated so that may account for some of the weight loss, but more importantly I actually managed to get out for an easy 25 minute run. I was also surprised that after 10 minutes I realised I was over dressed for the pleasantly mild conditions. Things are beginning to look up.

Gonna Have to Start Training Soon!

Come Dine With Me Part 3

It was the turn of our 13 year old son tonight to cook for us all. The menu was: chicken caesar salad; stuffed roast pork; carrot cake. He struggled a bit, particularly with timings (there was an even larger gap between starter and main course than when I cooked the other day!) but on the whole the food was really good. OK, he cheated with the carrot cake in that he bought one from Sainsburys but so what? A fine red wine helped wash it down.

Anyway, time for Buzz and Singstar now.

Bike Stuff Part 2

Having found my bottom bracket tool this morning I fitted the FSA Mega Exo ceramic bearing bottom bracket this evening. What a quality piece of kit this is - the bearings really are silky smooth. Now matched with the ceramic bearings in the rear jockey wheels and the new Planet X front wheel the bike should ride smoother this year.

And now my first submission for stupid eejit of the year - I ordered some stuff from Wiggle this morning, nothing particularly interesting, some mudguards and brake cables for my mountain bike commuter that I will be using next week for my new job, and a Park cable cutter. No problems. E-mail arrived later that day saying order had been received. Delivery address? Al Udeid! Aaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrgggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!! I tried e-mailing them to change the address but they had been super efficient and already despatched my parcel. Guess I won't see that for a couple of weeks then.

Come Dine With Me Part 2

I have been humiliated by my 15 year old son who tonight produced an excellent meal for 5, including homemade lasagne (he didn't like the jar of white sauce we bought so made his own!) and a chocolate cheesecake.

Tomorrow it is our 13 year old son's turn - chicken caesar salad, pork stuffed with cranberries and carrot cake. Sounds delicious.

Still not training.

"Come Dine With Me" and "Bike Stuff"

Have you seen the "Come Dine With Me" programme? Well this week we (as in me and the 3 kids, Mrs Turbo Man said she didn't need to join in as she cooks every day!) have decided that we would all take a turn at preparing a 3-course meal and we would judge it accordingly. Today was my turn and after a bit of a panic over the menu (including a desperate appeal on TriTalk for simple to prepare menus) I decided on the following:

Starter - Big mushrooms with prosciutto and parmesan cheese with a green leaf salad and shredded carrot.

Main course - Lemon and tarragon chicken with new potatoes, brocoli, peas and carrots with a garlic butter, tarragon and white wine sauce.

Dessert - Strawberries and bananas with Cornish fresh cream ice cream.

So how did it go? Well, apart from timings (there was about an hour gap between starter and main course!) the preparations went OK. However, it all started to go horribly wrong when I served the main course. I put the potatoes and sauce on the dining table and asked Mrs Turbo Man to take the chicken through. Somehow, in placing the chicken on the table, my lovingly prepared sauce was spilled all over the table. And I mean all over. Cue massive sense of humour failure! :-)

Anyway, we recovered from that and the food itself was really good; I'm sure the sauce would have been the piece do resistance but you can't have everything. The dessert was lovely; fresh fruit with a bit of naughty ice cream. This was washed down with a nice glass of wine and followed with some Toblerone and coffee. Yum yum. Our eldest son takes his turn tomorrow - home made lasagne followed by chocolate cheesecake, I'm looking forward to that.

After dinner I started work on my TT bike. I put the new tub on my new deep rim wheel, stripped the handlebars of the bar tape and took the brake levers off and chopped the handlebars down to size. I was going to cut the tribars down as well but the shape of the tribars is not constant along its length so the bar end shifters would no longer fit, so they have had to stay the same. I then changed the rear mech and was going to change the bottom bracket but couldn't find the bottom bracket removal tool. I know I have it somewhere and it's somewhat frustrating not being able to find it. I also need some cable cutters to finish it all off - that will have to wait for tomorrow.

Anyway, after a week of total rest training starts tomorrow for the 2009 season. I will take a couple of weeks to ease into it and then it will be time for some serious bike training and a little bit of swimming and running. Take care folks and train smart!

Bletchley Park

That's right, the wartime code breaking facility. We had a family day out there today and it was absolutely fascinating, the Churchill memorabilia was particularly special and we did, of course, get to see one of the real Enigma machines. But it was the stories (or should that be truths) behind it that were particularly amazing, and the intelligence of the individuals who were cracking the codes and creating machines that could help is almost beyond belief.

Time to get training

I put my turbo bike back together this morning, just need to bolt the turbo together and put the bike on it and I can start training again - I sure as hell won't be riding on the road in this weather! I've also sorted out my winter running gear so will take the dog running every other day or so. Swimming? Forget it.

I've enjoyed these few days off, but lots of domestic stuff to do, although without an address to move to at the moment we are in limbo and can't really make any plans. I guess that's the life we choose.

It's Time To Get Serious.

I'm afraid I completely failed to make any progress towards the ambitious weight loss goal I set myself when home on R&R. On the plus side I didn't put any more weight on! So, 12 st 5lbs is the starting weight and 11 st 6lbs is the target. More good news arrived today in the shape of my turbo trainer and bike returning safely from Qatar, so they should be back up and running in a day or so, although the garage is a chuffin' cold place to be at the moment.

And here is where I will publicly announce my weekly weigh-ins and you can encourage, applaud or berate me as appropriate.

Other news, I've ordered my RAF Cycling skinsuit for this year's time trials, sportives and The Big One, Quelle Challenge Barcelona. And no, I've not ordered Extra Large!

2009 Events

First task was to look at my 2009 events (see list on the right). Not sure they are all achievable yet (the Vitruvian is certainly vulnerable) but we shall see. Cycling is the number one priority this year so swimming and running are definitely taking a back seat so not sure a middle distance race is a good idea. Am looking forward to getting involved with more TTs and also the training required to improve - I aim to love my bike this year.

I'm Back!!!

At last, after a delay of some 32 and a half hours, I arrived back in Dear Old Blighty in the early hours of this morning (Sunday). Feeling a little jaded at the moment but it's really good to be back.

Will I miss Qatar, probably not, but as Frank said in his response to my last post, the smoothies at the Green Bean Cafe were to die for, and their coffee was quite good as well. Unfortunately, the current exchange rate made everything really expensive. Great training opportunities, though, if your job allows you the time to take advantage of them.

2 weeks of leave now and then off to a new challenge in a new job in a new rank. Look forward to catching up with you all soon.

Delayed again...

I blame Debs!

I was delayed 19 hours coming here and the delay going home is now approaching 30 (yes, THIRTY!) hours. I suppose they will blame the weather but I don't see what the problem is; a lovely 28 degrees or so today and I spent my delay by the pool (reading, not swimming!) , spin class at the gym, and drinking coffees at the Green Bean cafe. Beats the Hell out of BZN!

Another Reason to Lose the Fat...

Over the last few months I have been doing regular stretch and flex sessions. It has now got to the stage where my aero tuck on the bike is not constrained by back or neck flexibility or discomfort, but the fact that my thighs are hitting my "larger than when I got here" stomach. If ever there was a good reason to get slimmer, surely that must be it!