Back To Business

I have to admit that I didn't spend the last three weeks of 2006 making any athletic gains. In fact, the only gains I made were around my middle. As of the New Year, I'm back to working out, but the first week hasn't brought me much joy. A diet short on carbohydrates has made my morning runs a real struggle. Enough of that!

I know the key to weight loss is to eat healthy, cut out sweets and alcohol, control portions and increase aerobic (and sometimes anaerobic) exercise. The body changes will come. Eat to train NOT train to eat! Most importantly, regardless of the outcome, have fun! After fueling to train, I had a great 4 mile run this morning and it was a relief to know that I hadn't lost all my running fitness over the past three weeks of glutony.

Oh, and just a quick note here while I'm thinking about it. It's official. Baring any unforseen circumstances, I will be in Madison in September to cheer on the gang from RaceAthlete at Ironman Wisconsin. Thanks to Simply Stu, I've got a reservation in an awesome campground/RV park that is right on the bike course and a short 3 miles from the finish line. I'm looking forward to meeting lots of Tri bloggers that week! It's going to be a blast!

I have had a little project that I've been working on over the past couple of weeks. Her name is Betty and she's an old black, steel Schwinn road bike. I picked her up for $4 at the local bike auction and am working to breath new life into her. She will be a single speed with a flat handle bar. She will be ready to go to the bike shop to have her rear wheel re-dished as soon as I can figure out what gearing I want to use on her.

I was going to use her big chain ring and run a 52/17, but I think that chain ring would be too slow and too hard on the knees. Most people run a 42/17 or 42/15, but come to find out my small chain ring is actually a 40 tooth not a normal 42. I'm not sure how being a bit smaller will effect the feel. When it dries out enough to try a similar gearing on one of my other bikes, I'll figure out what my ideal would be, and then get with the bike shop guys and their gear ratio charts and figure out what will work for me.

The advantage to having a single speed bike is that it requires quite a bit less maintenance. No gears, no derailleurs, no shifting cables, only one front chain ring and one rear cog. It's the ideal bike to ride in crappy weather, no one would want to steal it and gives me no excuse not to ride. Best of all, it adds a new bike to the family! What could be better?