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Week 4 of "52 weeks"
by jumble
Posted: Aug 22, 2009
I'm attempting to compete in the Mega Avalanche in 2010 - It's a journey of 52 weeks till I actually get there and it's gonna be tough! Read on to hear more about my week of going to ride my hometown trails in Wales, new diet and camping madness!
..Inside are the Pics, video diary and loads of letters from the alphabet, which form words..
..Inside are the Pics, video diary and loads of letters from the alphabet, which form words..
Monday
Woke up this morning to an essay from my Nutritional adviser Julia from Aquila Health.
I'm not gonna tell you much and give away all of their professional advice, but let's say I'm having to change my diet immediately, with an aim to loose around 6/7 pounds of weight per month.
Bye bye McDonald Chocolate milkshakes
Bye bye Chicken Kebabs
Bye bye Fizzy Drinks
Hello Pumpkin seeds, Rice cakes, bark style substances and Carrot sticks!
This is gonna be a mega challenge for me, as I love food - but I am willing to give it 100% effort and try it out. So what better way to get started on this new advice than to throw out some junk food and go shopping on the way to Wales for the new additions to my diet!
After the car was packed with all our camping gear and so much stuff for Elijah - we headed off on our 140 mile journey to Llanfylin to visit my mum and family. The journey went smooth and on entry to Wales we hit an old haunt/training ground of mine - Llynclys Common near Oswestry - Spent a fantastic couple hours here hitting some classic trails that I used to ride as a kid and loving every single minute of it! After tearing down these forgotten, overgrown paths we headed to my mums for a much needed brew and snack.
Hit a Julian Graves at this crazy farm/garden center in Welshpool which sorted out a lot of my new snacks - quite impressed on the quantity for the price to be honest! They had some awesome all terrain vehicles here but Elijah was more interested in the yellow and green plastic he had found!
Tuesday
After riding with Keiron and Daniel the other day it became apparent my weakness in riding was loose turns/mellow berms and very loose straights. I decided to hit a hillside near my mums house which has been raped by a private forestry company for all its worth. The hill was a perfect training ground with sheep paths hidden in the land and some fantastic hairy fire roads to be drifted. Had a great session here ending with some perfect drifts over looking the Shropshire valleys!
Wednesday
Woke up at the crack of dawn due to one awake baby and the sun exposing our tent to the brightest alarm clock ever! Eyes peeled back and brew in belly, I left the family at my mum's house and headed up to a really old haunt of mine The Race course near Oswestry.
I was introduced to riding here over 12 years ago by a local group of cyclists called Oz town racing, we used to head up to this huge hill weekly after our street ride in town and session the wealth of tracks it had to offer. After many dig days we had created numerous downhill routes to ride on and session to our hearts content - these tracks were tricky to find - but I found most of them and had a great time on the routes and I even came across one I had never ridden with a few drops and doubles in which was absolutely great to ride! Now new routes are great apart from when you get that hidden surprise like a jump into a rock garden - My bike was really put to its limits here - The Fox Vanilla 125`s bottomed out and I felt the tyre compress into the rim - I managed to get my napsack onto the frame and throw both my feet down to stop my steed and the imminent crash! Their was no pressure missing from my tire, but my heart and head were just relieved to be honest.
My Mum, Julia and Elijah eventually surfaced on the top car park and came for a view of some of the riding I had been doing. This was the type of riding I love and the brilliant weather topped off the day with some great food and family times for the rest of the day!
I just want to say a massive hi and thanks to all the Oz town racing (Phil, Ian, Jelly, Anton, Wong) and all the boys who drove, rode, cared and endured me over the years you knew me - you're an awesome bunch of guys that I am gutted to have lost contact with!
Thursday
Left my mum's this morning knowing we will be back in one week's time for my Grandma`s funeral, so it's not a big goodbye but a fairly sad one! Headed back to Derby and drove through some horrendous rain to be greeted by sunshine and gale force winds at home. After a mad session of unpacking all our camping junk, I did some editing of the footage from Wales, uploaded it onto Pinkbike and then headed out for a quick 10 mile spin with Elijah on the Kona.
Friday
Had an early start today due to the BBC weather informing us of high winds and rain hitting Derby at around Midday. Texted Oli and decided a BMX track session was in order. Spent a couple of hours sessioning the Mickleover BMX track. Good times were had and we were joined by some very young locals on their scrappy Halford's bikes - which to be fair was all they needed for their type of riding as all it involved was rolling over the track as slow as possible and riding up it the wrong way, just as you're about to drop in. The session was brought to a close by the first rain drops of the day, so the weather signaled in the Big Shop trip to Tesco!
Have spent the afternoon researching upgrading my forks on my Patriot to something with a bit more travel after my bottoming out experience in Wales. Have found a few different options as my wife has offered me some cash towards some forks for our anniversary in 2 weeks time. I am thinking of tripling up and 20mm bolt through wheel. Have my eye on around six / seven inches, so I'm looking for some 1999/2000/2001 Boxxers and also scoping out some other forks like 888s, Drop Offs (don't like these though!) Jr. T`s etc and maybe have discovered some Bad Betty forks - which I love - even though most hate them! I should have something a bit bigger really soon and I just hope the Patriot is ready for the extra stain and weight from the triples. (please don't message me or comment that Patriots and triples don't go together - it's my ride, my choice and if it's my funeral - then so be it!)
So continuing with the Patriot - Did a quick swap around in the evening with some parts. So I whipped them Maxxis Ardents off as they were just too low profile for me and chucked a 2.1 Kenda blue groove on the rear and a 2.35 High roller on the front. After much thought and a few chain hanging off moments I threw the bottom roller back on the chain device with plenty of lube too lose the squeek and then just adjusted the cock pit angles slightly.
Saturday
Breakfast with friends and a great healthy feast of boiled eggs, wholegrain bread and fruit followed by a 20 mile ride out with Oli, Gael, Julia and Elijah on an untypical, beautiful, hot English Summer's day. Stopped off at this awesome Canal harbor chill out spot for a picnic and rode home with full bellies and smiles ear to ear. Evening spent on the couch eating food (it was healthy Julia!) watching Between the tape and Roam!
Sunday
Ok I'm gonna weigh myself today and just look at my new diet and eating habits etc. and give you an idea of where I'm going on this side of things. Here are the stats:
4 weeks ago I weighed 17stone! Now I weigh 16.5! A loss of over 7lbs - Im so happy!
New diet is...Interesting and I'm struggling with it - but determined to succeed on it. I am actually enjoying the new additions to my pallet - just not enjoying the quantity - I seem to be quite hungry through out the day and especially around 9/10pm at night! Sticking to my plan as much as possible and pushing hard to lose this weight - I keep reminding myself - John. John - just think ... as you loose weight - you'll gain more travel back on your rear shock!
This morning we were knackered as Elijah had 2 new teeth come through during the early hours of the morning, so after a snappy and very quiet lazy breakfast we hit the local skatepark and sessioned a quarter pipe to dirt bank hip and then chilled out with a paddle in the water fountains.
Carpet guy rocked up and did the living room - however he left all the off cuts in a pile outside and a huge cyclinder of cardboard which it came on. Spent the afternoon ordering a small chunk of second hand parts for my upgrade on the Patriot! Can't wait for this steed to be given some more travel on the front!
This week's been a lot of fun and hard work - I'm off to hang out with the family!
Thanks to our sponsors and supporters of Project "52 weeks"
http://www.bikefood.com
www.aquilahealth.co.uk
-jumble.pinkbike.com
Woke up this morning to an essay from my Nutritional adviser Julia from Aquila Health.
Aquila
I'm not gonna tell you much and give away all of their professional advice, but let's say I'm having to change my diet immediately, with an aim to loose around 6/7 pounds of weight per month.
Bye bye McDonald Chocolate milkshakes
Bye bye Chicken Kebabs
Bye bye Fizzy Drinks
Hello Pumpkin seeds, Rice cakes, bark style substances and Carrot sticks!
This is gonna be a mega challenge for me, as I love food - but I am willing to give it 100% effort and try it out. So what better way to get started on this new advice than to throw out some junk food and go shopping on the way to Wales for the new additions to my diet!
After the car was packed with all our camping gear and so much stuff for Elijah - we headed off on our 140 mile journey to Llanfylin to visit my mum and family. The journey went smooth and on entry to Wales we hit an old haunt/training ground of mine - Llynclys Common near Oswestry - Spent a fantastic couple hours here hitting some classic trails that I used to ride as a kid and loving every single minute of it! After tearing down these forgotten, overgrown paths we headed to my mums for a much needed brew and snack.
The Common
Hit a Julian Graves at this crazy farm/garden center in Welshpool which sorted out a lot of my new snacks - quite impressed on the quantity for the price to be honest! They had some awesome all terrain vehicles here but Elijah was more interested in the yellow and green plastic he had found!
Elijah John Deere
Tuesday
After riding with Keiron and Daniel the other day it became apparent my weakness in riding was loose turns/mellow berms and very loose straights. I decided to hit a hillside near my mums house which has been raped by a private forestry company for all its worth. The hill was a perfect training ground with sheep paths hidden in the land and some fantastic hairy fire roads to be drifted. Had a great session here ending with some perfect drifts over looking the Shropshire valleys!
The drifting corners
Wednesday
Woke up at the crack of dawn due to one awake baby and the sun exposing our tent to the brightest alarm clock ever! Eyes peeled back and brew in belly, I left the family at my mum's house and headed up to a really old haunt of mine The Race course near Oswestry.
I was introduced to riding here over 12 years ago by a local group of cyclists called Oz town racing, we used to head up to this huge hill weekly after our street ride in town and session the wealth of tracks it had to offer. After many dig days we had created numerous downhill routes to ride on and session to our hearts content - these tracks were tricky to find - but I found most of them and had a great time on the routes and I even came across one I had never ridden with a few drops and doubles in which was absolutely great to ride! Now new routes are great apart from when you get that hidden surprise like a jump into a rock garden - My bike was really put to its limits here - The Fox Vanilla 125`s bottomed out and I felt the tyre compress into the rim - I managed to get my napsack onto the frame and throw both my feet down to stop my steed and the imminent crash! Their was no pressure missing from my tire, but my heart and head were just relieved to be honest.
The Race course
My Mum, Julia and Elijah eventually surfaced on the top car park and came for a view of some of the riding I had been doing. This was the type of riding I love and the brilliant weather topped off the day with some great food and family times for the rest of the day!
I just want to say a massive hi and thanks to all the Oz town racing (Phil, Ian, Jelly, Anton, Wong) and all the boys who drove, rode, cared and endured me over the years you knew me - you're an awesome bunch of guys that I am gutted to have lost contact with!
Thursday
Left my mum's this morning knowing we will be back in one week's time for my Grandma`s funeral, so it's not a big goodbye but a fairly sad one! Headed back to Derby and drove through some horrendous rain to be greeted by sunshine and gale force winds at home. After a mad session of unpacking all our camping junk, I did some editing of the footage from Wales, uploaded it onto Pinkbike and then headed out for a quick 10 mile spin with Elijah on the Kona.
Friday
Had an early start today due to the BBC weather informing us of high winds and rain hitting Derby at around Midday. Texted Oli and decided a BMX track session was in order. Spent a couple of hours sessioning the Mickleover BMX track. Good times were had and we were joined by some very young locals on their scrappy Halford's bikes - which to be fair was all they needed for their type of riding as all it involved was rolling over the track as slow as possible and riding up it the wrong way, just as you're about to drop in. The session was brought to a close by the first rain drops of the day, so the weather signaled in the Big Shop trip to Tesco!
Table over the table
Have spent the afternoon researching upgrading my forks on my Patriot to something with a bit more travel after my bottoming out experience in Wales. Have found a few different options as my wife has offered me some cash towards some forks for our anniversary in 2 weeks time. I am thinking of tripling up and 20mm bolt through wheel. Have my eye on around six / seven inches, so I'm looking for some 1999/2000/2001 Boxxers and also scoping out some other forks like 888s, Drop Offs (don't like these though!) Jr. T`s etc and maybe have discovered some Bad Betty forks - which I love - even though most hate them! I should have something a bit bigger really soon and I just hope the Patriot is ready for the extra stain and weight from the triples. (please don't message me or comment that Patriots and triples don't go together - it's my ride, my choice and if it's my funeral - then so be it!)
So continuing with the Patriot - Did a quick swap around in the evening with some parts. So I whipped them Maxxis Ardents off as they were just too low profile for me and chucked a 2.1 Kenda blue groove on the rear and a 2.35 High roller on the front. After much thought and a few chain hanging off moments I threw the bottom roller back on the chain device with plenty of lube too lose the squeek and then just adjusted the cock pit angles slightly.
Saturday
Breakfast with friends and a great healthy feast of boiled eggs, wholegrain bread and fruit followed by a 20 mile ride out with Oli, Gael, Julia and Elijah on an untypical, beautiful, hot English Summer's day. Stopped off at this awesome Canal harbor chill out spot for a picnic and rode home with full bellies and smiles ear to ear. Evening spent on the couch eating food (it was healthy Julia!) watching Between the tape and Roam!
Sunday
Ok I'm gonna weigh myself today and just look at my new diet and eating habits etc. and give you an idea of where I'm going on this side of things. Here are the stats:
4 weeks ago I weighed 17stone! Now I weigh 16.5! A loss of over 7lbs - Im so happy!
New diet is...Interesting and I'm struggling with it - but determined to succeed on it. I am actually enjoying the new additions to my pallet - just not enjoying the quantity - I seem to be quite hungry through out the day and especially around 9/10pm at night! Sticking to my plan as much as possible and pushing hard to lose this weight - I keep reminding myself - John. John - just think ... as you loose weight - you'll gain more travel back on your rear shock!
This morning we were knackered as Elijah had 2 new teeth come through during the early hours of the morning, so after a snappy and very quiet lazy breakfast we hit the local skatepark and sessioned a quarter pipe to dirt bank hip and then chilled out with a paddle in the water fountains.
Carpet guy rocked up and did the living room - however he left all the off cuts in a pile outside and a huge cyclinder of cardboard which it came on. Spent the afternoon ordering a small chunk of second hand parts for my upgrade on the Patriot! Can't wait for this steed to be given some more travel on the front!
This week's been a lot of fun and hard work - I'm off to hang out with the family!
Thanks to our sponsors and supporters of Project "52 weeks"
Bikefood
http://www.bikefood.com
Aquila
www.aquilahealth.co.uk
-jumble.pinkbike.com
13 Comments
- + 8
matty-dh
(Aug 25, 2009 at 2:44)
sounds to me like your pretty comitted mate.... good on ya keep up the good work 
I really like the idea that Pinkbike are following this and putting you on the "Front Page". A lot of us "old" bikers are having to cope with the same situations ... bike, kids , wife. Cheers !
[Reply]
Dieting for me is tough too. But it's entirely possible to eat healthy, TASTY food. Grill lots of lean meat and veggies! Eat small size healthy snacks every 2-3 hours instead of large meals, drink a ton of water, and you'll watch the pounds fly off.
[Reply]
This project is so nice and really sets an example for all of us older riders. Keep up the good work, will follow you closely and if you come in Italy to do some training don't forget to let us know.
dude i think its great what your doing, its soo hard to loose weight, and who knows you make inspire ppl like me who lack will power to get it done. keep up the good work and i look forward to seeing your progress 
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