Weight Loss, Workouts...and the Perfect Ride

Hello all... The weight loss is progressing slowly. I am currently down three pounds from when I started using an endurance athletes diet and lots of exercise. I still have a long way to go.

Todays workout was awesome and left me feeling refreshed, and invigorated though tired. A 30 Minute cardio workout on the treadmill running just shy of three miles was rough but good..I only gave up smoking about three weeks ago but I can already feel the improvement in my lungs and my breathing. It was a Shoulders, Triceps, Trapezius day with Ab work thrown in as every day. I feel myself getting stronger.

Tomorrow is a pool day (I hope). I need to swim at least 200 M. I have not been swimming in a lap swim in over 5 years so this should be interesting.

The Perfect Ride...I read stories about it all the time...this road is the perfect ride, that trail is the perfect ride...for me it's not about the road or the trail or the location...It's about the ride itself. I ride because I love to be out on the road. I ride because if I ride long enough that day, just perhaps, I will find that magic place where everything stands still. Some professional athletes call it the Zone. Some religions call it Harmony. Whatever you want to call it, it is a few moments of sheer perfection. It is what separates that ride from any other. It is the state of being weightless, sightless, deaf...as if you are not even of this world. When I am in that little slice of perfection, everything is glassy smooth, I don't feel the wind, or hear anything immediately around me, or see anywhere but 15 feet out in front of my wheel. It fells as if a seamless synergy has developed between my and my Klein. There is no pain, no discomfort, hell the riding does not even feel like work.

That is the perfect ride for me...something rarely achieved but striven for every time I ride. Call it what you will...when I am there....I want to just ride like that forever.

New Years Resolutions, Getting In Shape, and More

Hello all, My posts are going to change for a while. As furtherance to my New Years Resolution, and perhaps to work as extra motivation, I decided to up the ante this year and make my goal one of running a Triathlon. I have not picked a race yet, and the distances are largely unimportant to me. I gave up smoking for good this year. In addition, I have severely cut back on my consumption of caffeine and carbonated beverages.
I have begun a diet which along with my cardio, swimming and strength training program, should help me get to a target weight of around 145lbs. Now I am not Clydesdale, I am only about 5'101/2" so 145 is not as bad as it sounds. I have a cycling background so I am really trying to work on my swimming and endurance. I plan on leaving posts here for you all to chart my progress along with me.