New Year and More Bad Press for Lance

Wow! I can't believe I let this blog slide for so long. I'm happy to report that my weight loss goal for 2011 was achieved and I was able to maintain it. Now I'm just ramping up the time on the bike for another summer of weekend riding on the rural roads north of Toronto.

The later part of 2011 also brought more former L.A. teammates coming forward with some pretty damning testimony regarding doping within the U.S. Postal Team. The Feds started their investigation back in 2010, when Floyd Landis finally gave up on defending his innocence and came out with some pretty "wild" allegations of systematic doping within the ranks of the U.S. Postal team, including their team leader, Lance Armstrong. I put the word wild within quotation marks, because the allegations might seem wild to the public at large, but quite believable within the little world of elite cycling. However, it seems that the same Code of Silence enforced in the mafia also applies to the world of cycling, so if an elite cyclist was caught doping then he or she should follow the same standard procedure: 1. Deny the whole thing and ask to have a B sample tested, while at the same time proclaiming to have never touched PEDs (performance enhancing drugs) 2. If the B sample comes back positive, continue to deny the whole thing and throw some theories of your own as to why you tested positive again, such as cross contamination, test tampering, etc., etc. 3. When all else fails, take your suspension (two years if it's your first offense) and come back to the sport, but don't even contemplate for a second to expose the corruption going on behind the scenes, which prompted you to take PEDs in the first place.

Well, the Code of Silence works great until some of those cyclists are subpoenaed by none other than the U.S. Federal government and now facing possible jail time if they commit perjury during their testimony, even the closest of allies have decided to come clean: Tyler Hamilton, Frankie Andreu, George Hincapie and many more according to some sources. My guess is the Feds are building a bomb proof case against L.A. and they'll only call him to testify when they have all the evidence they need.

Am I bothered by the fact that Lance doped during his 7-year reign? Not really, the fact that almost all of the guys that he shared the podium with during those years eventually tested positive or were involved in intricate doping rings only confirms that they were all competing on a level playing field. However, what bothers me is the fact that he wants to keep the myth of the clean rider in a sea of dopers alive. It's perfectly understandable though, there's too much at stake for Lance: endorsements, radio show, Livestrong and scores of fans who still believe. Unfortunately, for Lance, Judgement Day is coming in the most literal sense and only history will tell how he will be remembered.

While the use of PEDs in the 90s was rampant, natural talent and ability still played a crucial role in elevating a cyclist to the top of the sport. This clip is from the 1999 Spanish Grand Tour (Vuelta a España) and even though the audio is in Spanish, you really don't need to understand anything to see the carnage that is unraveling, as the peloton goes up the mountain and Belgian cyclist Fran Vandenbroucke is going soooo fast that only a few riders are able to hang on to his wheel.

Don't Take Yourself Too Seriously

I should definitely get me one of these adapters to mix some drinks after a hard workout :-) Well, it's been awhile since the last time I posted. My weight was at 160.5 Lbs for my last post and now I'm even further down at 152 Lbs. The only uncool part about losing all that weight is that now I'm swimming in most of my work wardrobe. I look like I borrowed most of my work clothes from my bigger brother, which is fine by me. I much prefer to have that problem than not being able to fit into my clothes.

I'm almost riding at the same intensity that I used to ride back when I raced. The only difference is that now I'm listening to my body a whole lot more, instead of trying to squeeze one more workout when your legs are screaming for a break. Looking back, I think I tended to over train quite a bit back then. By making that simple attitude adjustment, my fitness level has climbed progressively during the last three months. After all, the greatest improvements in fitness are made during your recovery time.

Weekly Update: Weight Loss Right On Track

It hasn't been easy, everyone's metabolism slows down with age and mine is no exception, but the increased physical activity (as in loads of pedaling) along with keeping the same healthy eating habits has paid off. The weight has been coming off on an almost weekly basis and when it stalled right at 165 Lbs. I decided to mix it up with some weight training in the afternoons after work. Well, that seemed to do the trick as my body weight as of this morning is now 160.5 Lbs.

Here's the progression my body weight has followed since early February. I used Garmin Connect to get a nice graph out of the data I had to input manually. The weight on the left is in kilograms, so if you want to convert it to pounds just multiply by 2.2.



Again, it hasn't been as easy as it looks. I've been going to bed hungry almost every other night and not because I haven't eaten dinner, but just because my metabolism has kicked into high gear and the calories that I put in don't match up with what I'm spending. It is that simple, if you want to lose weight you simply need to use more calories than what you are putting into your body. I wish I could tell you there are shortcuts, but the simple truth is that you have to put in the work, dieting alone only works for so long. You have to make a commitment to a healthy lifestyle, which incorporates exercise into your daily routine. You don't have enough time in the day? Make time for it! Anyway, enough ranting for now.

Weight Loss Progress Stalled, Extraterrestrials and other weird stuff

Well, this weekend was chock full of social and family events and they all involved a certain degree of eating. The training during the week was not particularly hard, but at least I managed to stay at 165 lbs, as of Friday morning, so I won't check my weight again until next weekend :-) In addition, there was no Saturday ride, as one of the events was a weeding on Saturday morning. While the weight loss has been stalling a little bit, my fitness keeps improving. However, when you track and analyze your training rides and rejoice in your progress, all you have to do to bring you down is check out YouTube and watch videos like this one:



You'd only know who Fabian Cancellara is if you followed cycling. The guy probably won't ever make it to a Tour de France overall podium, but when it comes to one day races, he's more or less like The Terminator, feels no pain and he won't stop until he crosses the finish line first. The numbers displayed on his bike computer are on the Superhuman level. Now, if those numbers don't mean much to you, here's the guy in action dropping other pros (watch closely the attack at 0:52), as if they were weekend warriors hanging on for dear life:

Power to Weight Ratio: Or How a Slimmer Juan Goes Faster Uphill

Before I get all technical on my not so hard-core readers, power to weight ratio is a very simple concept. If you manage to lose weight but still maintain the same strength on the bike, you are bound to go faster uphill and even on the flats. I witnessed this very same concept in action this past Saturday, as my overall average speed increased over an even longer route than the previous two outings. Now, due to the crappy weather we had the past two weekends, I opted for workouts on the trainer and during that time, I lost four pounds. That's right, losing 4 Lbs. can make that much of a difference.

No weight lost this week to report though, all the celebration from Miriam's birthday kept me at 165 Lbs. No regrets,the food was great and I didn't gain any weight back :-)

I leave you with a video of a funny guy pretending to climb one of the most legendary climbs of the Tour de France like a boss. He claims to be a tennis pro, but I can't say it's true because I don't follow tennis at all.

Easter Weekend: The Training Doesn't Stop

A very welcomed long weekend took us to the Millcroft Inn & Spa for an early celebration of Miriam's birthday. Still can't believe such a nice place is only about 45 minutes away (in good traffic) from the city. The Friday before we left for the spa, we were still doing our exercise routines. Miriam had gone down to the condo gym and I went down to our parking spot for another session on the trainer. As of Thursday morning, I had managed to lose another two pounds (now down to 165 Lbs.) but that loss might have been put in jeopardy, as the spa package included a three-course dinner and breakfast :-) I must say though, the dinner was well worth whatever setback I may have incurred in my weight loss plan. We got back home early Saturday afternoon, so both of us opted for a little more exercise. Miriam hit the gym again and I spent the next two and a half hours on the trainer for a total caloric expenditure of 1,300 calories. That should've helped offset the dinner from the previous night a little :-)

Anyway, for those of you who are into cycling, did you know that you can actually complete a full stage of the Tour de France and the event is put on by the same organizers of the actual Tour? Yes, you actually get to ride on roads lined with spectators and closed to regular traffic. It's as close as it gets to ride in the Tour for wannabes like myself :-) As many as 8,000 people take part every year and you have to be in excellent shape for it, as there are time cutoffs that you have to make in order to finish the stage. The stage last year finished at the mythical Mount Ventoux, where even the pros suffer on race day, so you can imagine what a course like that does to mere mortals. Here's a video of a recon ride done by a guy that actually puts on training camps to get in shape for that ride. The music and the scenery are fit for the epic proportions of the ride.

Be Like Lance, Be Like Lance, I wanna be like Lance!

Remember that old Gatorade commercial where they featured Michael Jordan, and the jingle throughout the ad went something like:"Be Like Mike, Be Like Mike, I wanna be like Mike"? Now Lebron is all the rage; well kids, just keep in mind MC won 6 NBA championship titles and all of them with the same team :-) Anyway, I digress, Miriam found spare batteries for the weight scale and I'm happy to report that I've lost another 2 lbs. so now I'm down to 167.5 Lbs., so I'm still on track.

Well, I'm going to make this a short post since I just wanted to put on record my weekly weight loss. However, in case some of you were wondering what my road bike (Lance) looks like, here's a YouTube video I just found by coincidence and it shows the exact same bike (colors and everything). It was posted by someone else: