2010 bike tour thoughts and plans...

1 step closer. We've been talking about possible Bike tours for the family 2010 vacation. It's in California. It would start with an Amtrak ride from Portland Oregon to Davis California. Next from Davis to Napa, a lovely tour up the Napa Valley and over to the coast just short of Fort Bragg. Then down the coast to San Francisco north to Vallejo and a day at Marine world before heading back to Davis for the Amtrak Ride home. Expected time about 2 weeks. There is a map below and DH has wonderfully done a post for me at the family web site. http://www.napolitano.it/?p=270#more-270 an here is a map of the plan as it stands today.


http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/Napa-Valley-and-Coast-Tour (interactive map at Bikely)

Sites to see on the tour... the Jelly Belly Factory in Fairfield CA (day 1)http://www.jellybelly.com/visit_jelly_belly/california_factory_index.aspx . Napa Valley (Day2)http://www.napavalley.com/ Probably a good night stop distance wise would be St Helena (day 3). http://www.napavalley.com/lodging/st_helena.html Then to Cloverdale. (Day 4)http://www.sonomacounty.worldweb.com/CloverdaleCA/WheretoStay/ The next leg would be a bit longer and tougher, but would either go up to Mendocino or down to Point Arena, unless we could find lodging in a smaller town between the two. (Day 5) The rest depends on what we find for day 5 and if we decide to go up to FT Bragg or go directly south toward San Francisco. about another 4-5 days with a reward day at Marine World in Vallejo ca, http://www.sixflags.com/discoveryKingdom/index.aspx (maybe we would do a quick stop by Manteca to visit the family)Then back to Davis and Home on Amtrak. Obviously this is still in the thinking stages, not in the finished plan stages, but a rough idea of what I'm thinking about.

Goals and the process of getting there....

DH says I'm making things to sequential. that I shouldn't think of it as when I get to this point then I can... He wants me to think more about how I need to start riding more now and building up. OK I can see his point. I'm not ruling out riding more now. even doing some long weekend ride/camping stuff. The problem I have is that We live in OREGON. Flat isn't flat here. Hauling an extra 80+ lbs of me up a hill of any size isn't something I can do. Shoot there is one small grade on the way home from pretty much any, where that I often have to get off and push. It's not even a hill. When you stand on your pedal to push to go up a hill and the tire spins it doesn't work. You don't go. Gravity is not my friend. So where in Oregon am I going to go for a weekend bike trip? http://oregonstate.edu/~coltonc/page3.htm Do you see the green area? I live in that green sort of flat green area. It's not flat. Not flat enough for me to ride, be comfortable and enjoy the ride. Sure I'll try. I'll give anything a try. But I don't hold out a lot of hope at this point that I will be able to make it. That's why I want to lose at least 50 lbs before trying any really long rides. I'm afraid if I fail, if I really hate it, I will just give up. I want this to work. I want to do this.

I need to have a goal that I can make. All my life I've been told "you can't do that", "you won't finish that", "You'll never... " All failure does is re enforce the people that told me those things. I need to succeed away from those people. I can't fail. If I fail they are right. It's lovely that my DH thinks I can do this. I'd love him for that even if I didn't have many other reasons to love him. But I need to be able to take steps. Small steps. Because this is important to me and to my family, I can't afford to fail this time.

Yuck. No whining. I need to get over this virus, feel better and get back to my more positive "can do" mind set. I can do this. I will do this. Just because it's hard doesn't mean I can't do it. Sorry Mythbusters Failure is not an option.

Am I Going about this the wrong way?

I do believe I'm going about this the wrong way. Yes the dieting is going well so far. I'm OK there. But the new bike/trike reward trip thing... Not so good.

First of all I don't have a clue where I want to go. Tons of places sound great. Many of the ones I've found that I would like are probably not what DH and DD would enjoy. That part is important to me too. That we all have fun. That's the whole idea, a vacation we all enjoy and no one gets left behind. So for now I'm going to concentrate less on where and more on getting there.

Second DH could well do any bike tour and rarely break a sweat. DD and I however just don't have bikers legs. And that is going to take some serious work. More than could be done during a few spring training rides. I don't think that summer 2010 sounds possible.

Third I still have almost 85 lbs to go. I theoretically could lose 85 lbs by then but it could also take me till winter 2010 too, or even longer. So if I don't get my bike/trike (still leaning towards trike but still not decided which I will get) till I lose the weight, and it takes me one riding season (or more) to get bike legs that would make it possible to ride and enjoy a tour. It could possibly take me till some time in 2012 before I was ready to take a tour. DD has to be ready too. So maybe sometimes 2011-2012 for a bike tour. The tour is sounding farther and farther away the more I think about it.

So lets forget about the tour for a while and just concentrate on the bike/trike aspect as a reward for losing the weight. The tour can be a reward for getting in shape for a tour. That would break the goals down to 2 distinct goals /rewards. Maybe that will make it easier to think about and not sound so far away, or quite so expensive.

So now to figure out just what I really want from a bike/trike... Lots to learn about there.

A careful analysis of a few data points....

Now if that hasn't sent any science minded person who stumbled onto this half over the edge, I don't know what will.

I've been looking at the first 6 weeks of "Diet Data" ie. how many points used vs weight lost and estimated calories/week or day. (now I've lost anyone not science minded too!) If I ignore the first 2 weeks where I always lose more, I do see some points/vs weight loss correlation. At about 24 points per day I lose about 2 lbs per week. At 27 points per day I lost only .2 lbs. So I need to stay somewhere between 24 points and 27 points. WW says I should be eating 26 points /day. So my target is good.

Some issues...

1. the week I ate 191 points (27 points/day) was valentines week and we ate way to much chocolate and not much else. Sure I stayed in my points range but mostly fast food and chocolate. Lesson learned stick with better nutrition for my points.
2. the 2 weeks I ate 171 points exactly I lost .4 more pounds on one week... That week I had activities points that I didn't use. I need more exercise.
3. the week I ate more and lost less ( I'll call it chocolate week) also started a nasty elimination issue. I need to have more fiber in my diet.

So no big surprises. I need more fiber more, exercise, better nutrition and about 25-26 points a day. O and I should avoid CHOCOLATE as a main food group. Bummer.

This Weeks goals:

Sticking with my basic points 25-26.

Drinking my milk. (this was my worse thing health guidelines failure and I need to get the calcium in.)

More fiber.

Avoiding the evil chocolate.

Adding 30 minutes exercise at least 3 x per week.

Feeding the homeless

Feeding the homeless sure does give you an appreciation for how much food you waste, and how nice it is to go home to a nice warm bed. It also makes you appreciate having a choice of food. In a shelter you get what you get. at home if you don't feel like eating something you can choose something else. You can shower when you like and clean close are usually available. Being homeless sucks. The homeless also tend to appreciate not only the warm place and the food but the people that volunteer to make it happen.

It also makes me aware of how much I used to eat. And how long I've been over eating. If 3,500 calories over what you need to gain you 1 lb. And I was 100 lbs over thats 350,000 calories more than I needed to maintain a normal weight. That's 350,000 calories below what I need to maintain to get back to a NORMAL weight. If I'm eating roughly 1200-1400 cal a day and loosing about 1-2 lbs a week. That means my needs to maintain are about 1700-2400 a day. I'm not sure what I was eating as I've been about this weight for a long time. +/-about 15 lbs. Most of the weight was gained with my first child and in the 5 years after. So somewhere between 1979 and 1985 I ate an extra 350,000 calories. Interestingly that breaks down to about 160 calories a day is all, or about 1112 a week. Of course that doesn't mean much since I've gained and lost 15- 20 lbs several times in that time frame, and more times than I want to think about since. The excess fat on my body could have fed some one for about 6 months.

Which is why it's going to take me a long time to get rid of it. I am determined to do this. I so want to get rid of it and be healthier and more able to enjoy life with my DH and DD. The bike ride is a great goal, and it is about enjoying doing things with my family. But the big thing is it's about me and being who I want to be.

Honestly, I'm not sure that I even care so much where we go on the bike tour. It's the being able to DO the bike tour.

I do think that training for doing a bike tour is all part of getting to the goal. It won't be easy for this couch potato to even get started. Face it my DH grumbles about how hard it is to do his big rides especially up hill with an extra 20 lbs. Multiply that by 5 and add not being as strong to start with and it's easy to see why I whine about anything vaguely not flat and OK the down hill is fun but coming back up that last hill on the way home really sucks. How do you loose weight w/o exercises, how do you exercise when you are over weight. The answer is... It's really hard but you have to just do it. So tomorrow I will start after church. I have a W.W. DVD with some beginning level exercises. 30 minutes even if I have so split it in to two 15 minute sessions. No excuses.

I found a site for Lewis and Clark bike trail maps... it sounds interesting. Though Oregon trail might be cool too. Either one would require breaking the whole trail into more manageable bites and doing them over the course of a few years. No way will we be able to take the time to ride most of the way across the country in one go. Life would totally interfere with that! Plus it's just a LONG ride!

http://www.bicycletouring101.com/PlanningFirstAdventure.htm
http://www.trails.com/stateactivity.aspx?area=10286 Lewis and Clark maps

Wedding rings, bike gloves, cooking, rewards...

My wedding ring is loose. Ok more than loose. It used to be a bit too tight and now if I shake my hand too hard it will fly off! I do have a "place holder" wedding ring (plain gold band) and it is a bit smaller so I guess I'll have to switch. I'm not having this one sized till I'm at or very near goal. It's very interesting how losing only a few pounds can make a big difference. Even my bike gloves are loose now. Not loose as in replace them but loose enough.

I'm finding the belly fat is less like Jello Jigglers and more like regular Jello. Softer. Squishier. Oddly I'm losing weight in different places than on any previous diet. That sounds odd but if you've dieted as much has I have over the years you start expecting things Like the cups of your bras getting loose or the shape of your face changing. etc. You look for "signs" that the weight is coming off. Honestly I had *spots* that I expected to see change before others. There is some of that but mostly I see a little bit everywhere. I feel a little bit everywhere. Lets hope this is a sign that this time will be different. So far I'm not feeling like this is a hopeless journey or that I'm being forced to do this due to health or what ever. I really can do this. Having been seriously overweight for the last 29 of my 49 years many would have doubts. I guess I haven't hit any big snags yet. Or maybe I just am in the right place mentally this time.

I know it helps to see DD focusing on eating better and having DH also dieting along with me. Both are doing a wonderful job of supporting without pushing. Being farther away from people that say yeah sure then offer me a cookie helps too.

I love to cook. I've started cooking for the homeless shelter mostly desserts and that seems to have helped as I can cook but don't have keep it around or eat it! DD and I practiced making sushi the other day and ate some for our dinner then sent the rest to the neighbors for their dinner. It was fun but we didn't feel like we needed to over eat even though we made way more than we could eat without exploding. I have noticed that I'm feeling fuller sooner than before and that once full I don't sit and pick at the rest. If I overeat I feel bad. So it's easier to not over eat. Tonight I had a baked potato (3 points) and salad (2 points) for dinner and was quite full. Later I did eat an orange. I'm still on plan. I plan on staying with my current points level even though e-tools said I was loosing too fast. I'll give it a couple more weeks as I think things will naturally slow down a bit soon.

DH asked me tonight (via instant messenger) what my reward would be for hitting my first 10 % goal. Honestly I hadn't thought about it but he rightly said I might hit it sooner than I think. he may be right as it's 8 lbs away and at 1-2 lbs a week that could be as soon as 4-8 weeks from now. I can't figure out exact ally what I want. 10% is good but it's not really my final goal so I don't think It should be a big reward. I don't want it to be food related. I don't wear Jewelry much. I will most likely need some clothes. Maybe we can do something like a family day. What kind of family day I guess would depend on weather and such. I don't know nothing sounds quite right. I'll have to think about it for a while.

Maybe as a reward I can start collecting some Bike maps of different places around the world. Something we could use to research possible routes. I saw a cool ad today on TV for New Zealand. But many other places still sound interesting. Switzerland, Holland, France, and many locations in Italy would be nice. The trouble with going outside the US is that it would take a week for travel and jet lag issues and a week for a tour. I still like the idea of National parks in the US or Napa Valley in CA, I saw an advertised bike tour in the Adirondacks which is pretty nice too. That one would be cool in the fall when the leaves turn color, though the area is beautiful all year long. Even considering that there are some very beautiful places all over the world. How to choose from so many?