UltraRob's Adventures

Colorado has the lowest percentage of obese people according to the Center for Disease Control. Even so nearly 1 in 5 are obese. The CDC has an unbelievable animation of how obesity has increased in the last 22 years.

Obesity is defined as a BMI higher than 30. I currently weigh 201 pounds and am 5'8". That gives me a BMI of 30.5. Yes, that makes me one of the obese people in Colorado. I gained 30 pounds in the 6 months after RAAM in 2006. It was tough to cut back enough on food when I went from training 20-30 hours a week to riding 2-3 hours.

I'm much heavier than I should be now and I feel it. I'll really feel it in 3 weeks at the Leadville 100 mountain bike race.

Even when I'm fit, lean and racing well, I'm still close to 170 pounds. According to the BMI, I shouldn't be over 164.5 pounds. BMI works well as a general gauge but it only measures height and weight. Newer measurements that also include waist size are more accurate.

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Labels: weight loss

I'm currently 35 pounds over my competitive weight. I've been worried about being able to lose that much weight in time for races this summer. Now I found a video that explains how I can easily lose weight just by drinking enough beer! I'm a bit concerned about how well my speed and endurance will be though.

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Labels: humor, weight loss

It's the time of the year for cyclists to admit that they aren't always very good examples for healthy eating. During the summer when we're riding hundreds of miles, it's easy to justify some extra junk calories. When the days get short and it's cold, it often catches up to us.

Before I make my own confessions, I'm going to point out I'm really not alone in this. Jill, who's training for the 350 mile Iditarod Invitational in Alaska in the winter, admits she's a recovering junkaholic. The Fat Cyclist got really lean this summer but is now back in fat. Local cyclist, Fonk, says it's time for a change.

My problem used to be Mountain Dew. I'm not talking a little problem. It was pretty common for me to have a 6 pack in a day. In 2003 I had quit drinking it and had my best ever season of racing. Somehow though I started drinking it again. Last year I quit again while I was training for the Race Across America. After RAAM it had been long enough since I'd had Mountain Dew, I had a few sips but couldn't stand the taste.

The problem is I started drinking Coke instead. The more stressed I am the more of it I drink. Part of the problem has been that at my old job, the company paid Coke and Pepsi to bring it in by the case. We just had to make sure what we wanted was put into the coolers. It was just too easy to go grab another can out of the cooler.

From what I've read, I'm not sure that drinking diet drinks are that much better for health in the long term. I've also heard that the carbonation can cause problems with calcium. Although not all the effects of diet drinks are clear that for best health and performance, it's best to stay away from them.

I think that being addicted to sugary drinks combined with caffeine has physical, psychological and habit components. My experience when I've tried quiting in the past is that once I drink some I'll crave it the rest of the day. I found that I can't just cut back on it. The only thing that works for me is to totally stop. In the last few months, I've had too much stress to have the energy to fight my addiction.

I've found that the first week after I quit is the hardest for me. One time I quit after backpacking for 5 days in the Superstition Mountains. Before RAAM I quit after my Eiseman Hut ski trip.

Although I'm not forced to stop drinking Coke for a few days like I would be if I was in the backcountry, now seems like a good time to stop. I no longer have access to all the free Coke I can drink. My stress should be less and I'm out of my normal work routine. The Simple Dollar had a post last week about the cost of a pop addiction. It also had a few suggestions on how to defeat the addiction and several people left more suggestions.

I've made it through my first day without drinking any pop. Tonight I'm really tired and dragging. The kids didn't sleep well last night and I worked pretty hard on my garage over the long weekend so I'm not sure if it's from sugar and caffeine withdrawals. I may just be tired.

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Labels: cycling, diet, weight loss

Tom Stormcrowe otherwise known as The Amazing Shrinking Man is doing the Tour de Cure Indianapolis Motor Speedway on July 14. He has lost over 350 pounds! He is very close to his goal of raising a $1,000 for the American Diabetes Association. You can help him reach his goal or even exceed it by donating from his page for the ride.

He has diabetes although it's currently in remission from diet and exercise. He took up cycling to get his weight down. He crewed for me for Race Across America last year. From the crazy hours and gas station food, his blood sugar got out of whack and he ended up needing to leave my crew while we were in Kansas.

Labels: cycling, RAAM, Race Across America, Tour de Cure, weight loss

As a male cyclist, I've been shaving my legs for nearly 20 years. In the winter, I don't take the time to shave. Nearly every winter, I decide leg shaving is too much bother and that I'm not going to shave when spring rolls around. Every year though it hasn't taken many warm days of riding before I can't wait to shave the thick hair off my legs.

This year I haven't shaved yet. I haven't had a chance to ride much and we haven't had many days warm enough for riding in shorts. The few warm days I've ridden have made me ready to shave my legs.

Over the years, I've been asked many times why male cyclist shave their legs. A lot of people think it's because of aerodynamics. Although shaving helps swimmers, I've read it makes very little difference if any in speed for cyclists.

Here are what I think are the top 5 reasons to shave.

• Crashes. If you crash, it's easier to clean up the road rash and doesn't hurt as much taking off bandages. I say at least for mountain biking, if you never crash you aren't riding fast enough or riding technical enough trails. Even if you just ride on the road, if you ride enough you're bound to go down.


• Tradition. Road cyclists have been shaving their legs for decades. If you you show up for a serious group ride with unshaven legs, other riders will shun you. Nobody will want to be riding close to you. They will think you aren't experienced riding in a pack. This means you'll likely cause a crash. Even mountain bikers should be using group road rides for training. Pro mountain bikers spend about 70% of their time training on the road.


• Psychological Advantage. I generally end up shaving my legs about the time I start getting fast on the bike. Having my legs shaved makes me feel even faster. Other riders I know have said the same thing. Thinking you're faster can make the difference between being dropped or dropping someone else.


• It Feels Better. I've found that when it's warm and I haven't shaved my legs, I get more bugs hanging out and biting me. I also don't like the feel of the wind on my hairy legs when descending at 50 mph. After a mountain bike race with mud bogs and and stream crossings, it's no fun standing in the parking lot with only a little water and trying to clean mud off hairy legs.


• Massages. I don't get massages very often but they certainly help with recovery. I've been told massage therapists can give smooth legs a better massage. I do know getting a massage with shaved legs feels better.

Are there any other reasons for cyclists to shave their legs that should have made the top 5? Or are there reasons for cyclists not to shave? Ready to show you're a cyclist but have questions about shaving, go here.

I've thought about writing about leg shaving a couple times over the last year but I finally took the time to do it because of a group writing project at ProBlogger. I'm don't expect to make my living blogging any time soon. I know what my writing abilities are or rather my lack of writing abilities. There's a reason I develop software instead. I like ProBlogger for technical information such as how search engines work and how web traffic is driven by some of the new social websites.

Here are some other posts from the group writing project that are fitness and health related. Actually most of them have to do with weight loss. I've totally fallen off the wagon with losing weight for the B7 Challenge with all the stress at work. I haven't even done my 3 mile time trial that should have been done last week.

• The Top 5 Things That Make Me Run


• Top 5 Things I Am Doing to Lose 100+ Lbs


• 5 Reasons Why You Are Fat


• Top 5 Diet Food Obsessions


• Top 5 gym free exercises


• Five Keys To Optimal Health


• The Top 5 Reasons to Start Your Weight Loss Plan Today


• Top 5 Ways To Use Your Senses To Achieve Your Fitness Goals


• Top 5 Ways to Improve Your Rock Climbing Skills


• Top 5 Ways to Get (and Stay) Fit!!


• Top Five Methods to Check How Physically Fit You Are


• The 5 things that Helped me Finish the Ironman

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Labels: cycling, mountain biking, weight loss

Another month has rolled around and that means time to weigh in for the B7 Challenge and also to do the 3 mile time trial again. Actually we were supposed to do the time trial last week but with my crazy week, I didn't get it done.

Now a good question would be "So what about your March update?" I was busy and had other more interesting things to write when I had a chance. Of course my update would have been more interesting if I hadn't been slower than in February. That's right. My time trial time in February was 16 minutes and 47 seconds. In March I was 4 seconds slower. My excuse was that I was still recovering from my Eiseman Hut ski trip. My weight had dropped to 198 pounds. I was at 200 the beginning of January but peaked out at 204 pounds.

On April 1st I weighed in at 194 pounds so my weight was headed in the right direction. Unfortunately I've gained a little back in the last week. I haven't been tracking my food with Diet Power and I haven't gotten much exercise. I don't even really think about it but when I'm keeping track of my food I tend to make better food choices.

After the cold, snowy weekend, we had great weather on Monday. The temperature made it all the way into the lower 60s. It was a perfect day to go see if my speed had improved any. I hadn't been on my bike in almost a week so I was well rested. I felt good and got in a good warm up before starting the time trial. I felt much better during the time trial than I did during the first two. My time was 14 minutes 39 seconds which was encouraging.

I was able to keep my heart rate higher this time. In March my average heart rate was only 171. This time it was 180 with a maximum of 190 at the end. When I'm fit I can actually hold a slightly higher average heart rate. I still just barely feel like I have some base fitness and am still a long ways from having race fitness.

Labels: B7 Challenge, cycling, weight loss

Since the Race Across America last summer, I've gained over 25 pounds. I've always had trouble with my weight and this winter it's been worse than normal. For one thing I got used to eating a lot when I was training 20-30 hours a week. After RAAM I realized just how much I had put off while training and so I was hardly riding. At the same time, my doctor decided my medication was too high for my thyroid so he reduced it. It turned out that I really need to be in between the dosage I was on and the next lower strength pill. Being on too little thyroid medication makes me gain weight faster. Then to top it off I got injured just after Christmas. I wasn't getting much exercise before that but at least I was get a longer more than none.

I need something to get me to be careful what I eat and get my weight back down. That's where the Banjo Brothers’ Big Bad Bulky Biker Bodyfat Challenge (B7 Challenge) comes in. It's a challenge that The Fat Cyclist is putting on that ends on August 1st. The final score consists of two things. The first one is the percentage of your weight loss goal that you achieve. The second one is how much faster you get for a 3 mile cycling time trial. If I end up with a better score than The Fat Cyclist, I get a free jersey from him. If I lose I have to give him what I wagered.

Last year I did basically the same challenge except that it only went until June 1st and was called the B5 Challenge because it didn't have a sponsor. I tracked my food intake and my weight very closely with Diet Power and made my weight goal. It was while I was training for RAAM so I was burning plenty of calories. I wrote a post last April about what was working for me that has a screen shot of my weight loss.

Hopefully I will be able to get back on track and lose my goal of 25 pounds. The problem is I've actually gained a little weight since the start of the B7 Challenge. although I've actually gained a little bit. Since I was injured, I didn't do my time trial the beginning of January so I did my initial one this last Tuesday. It was the first time in a long time that I've actually gone all out. There's good pain and there's bad pain and for the time trial I was deep into the bad pain zone. My guts so big it felt like it was keeping my lungs from expanding as far as they should. My HR wasn't quite as high as I can hold when I'm fit. I still felt like I was going to blow a couple times and I didn't have anything left at the end. I did it in the Air Force Academy. This is a different course than what I used last year during the B5 Challenge so I can't compare my time to last year. I certainly felt like I was slow. The Air Force Academy was closed after 9/11 and was only reopened last fall.

Labels: B7 Challenge, weight loss

Last night I went to the gym for the first time since last February or March. I went because it was cold out and more importantly I had a stiff neck and could barely turn my head to the left. I don't feel safe riding my bike when I can't keep track of what's going on around me.

I spent 50 minutes on the stair machine. I'm not talking about the stair steppers that you can easily pretend to be working out but not really doing much. I use the machine that is basically a few steps of a down escalator. If you can't keep up, you get farther from the controls and you could dropped on the floor. I would much rather do the old Manitou Incline. At least then I can see that I've gone somewhere and the surroundings are pretty.

The stair machines are along the wall so you can see most of the gym. I made some observations about the people there broken down by gender.

I'll start with the 3 types of women I noticed.

1. Very Fit and Generally Good Looking. It appeared staying fit was very important to them. Maybe they were also doing it for looks.


2. Skinny but Didn't Look Fit. I couldn't decide if they were at the gym to do a minimal workout to keep from wasting away or if they were trying to burn calories so they would waste away.


3. Overweight and Not Fit. I figured they were there in an attempt to lose weight but they'll probably lose motivation soon.

I also came up with a list of 3 types for men. For this list I spent a tiny fraction of the time I spent making observations for the types of women.

1. Generally Fit. They looked like they were fit from other activities or sports and were just trying to get some exercise on a cold day.


2. Serious Iron Pumpers. These guys don't seem to care about anything but adding more muscle. They don't mind a little fat either as long as it makes them bigger.


3. Fat and Out of Shape. I'm not sure why they were there other than to lose some weight or maybe not get injured with the start of ski season.

Unfortunately if someone else was making these observations, they'd probably put me in the 3rd group of men. I've gained back all the weight I lost training for RAAM and I really need to quit drinking so much sugar. My BMI is exactly 30 which is the boundary between being merely overweight and obese. Of course I don't think it accounts for having much muscle.

Genetically I'd be good for the 2nd group. Even in high school when I was skinny compared to now, the guys at the local bike shop would always tell me I should be a body builder instead of a cyclist. I hate lifting weights and want to be outside so I never considered making the switch.

Right now my focus is to build my base fitness and reverse the slope of my weight. Normally December is when I get motivated for the following season and I've found myself thinking a lot more about cycling and working out the last couple weeks. I have a list of races in my head of races I'm interested in doing next year. I won't be able to do them all but I have plenty of time to figure out which ones to do. Most of them are mountain bike races. Right now I just need to focus on getting in some consistent training.

Labels: fitness, gym, weight loss