Played the last two lacrosse games in the Winter league Sunday. The day started out not too bad, overcast and high 40s. In the second game, the tornado warning sounded. Did we quit playing? No. Even though it was hailing most of the nasty stuff looked passed us. Typical 
Back is a little tight today, but groin muscle getting better though. Still hurts a bit with lateral moves, but sprints are no problem. Will be good to have a few months off to get it completely healed.
Did a good bit of kayaking last weekend. Not a super big workout…but enough to keep the blood flowing. Gonna get on the stationary bike tonight. I haven’t weighed myself in a week or so…so no idea on progress, but my pants are getting a wee looser!
Still going strong, you can really see my progression by looking at the time it took each week. Interval training is paying off:
I have two successive double centuries planned for the end of February.
Two days, 460km, it’s gonna be tough.
I am below 95kg now, with a little less eating and a little bit more moving.
But man, my muscles hurt for three days when I do the Monday training with the skiing club guys. It sure feels nice to get some more action though, so I am going to continue doing that.
…downside is watching 16 year old girls and 50 year old women beating me in every regard. Dammit… but I can make it to their level so that’s another carrot on the stick. Still hurts the ego a lot.
Took Kai out for his first “trail” ride today on his new bike (Trek MT220 24"). It looks big for him because it is a touch big…but it actually works fine for him…and he was very good on his smaller bike, so this is something to grow into. It is his first bike with gears, so he is still working on figuring that out. I keep telling him it is better to be in a lower gear with a higher cadence while seated, but he is still standing and pedaling a lot. LOL…he’ll learn… Daddy was zipping up the bigger hills at 90 RPM while he was walking…
Nice! Also show him proper cleaning and maintenance, it’ll save you a lot of frustration later on 
Very nice! Let him figure out the gearing on his own, it’ll take a few rides but if he’s as good as you say he is, he’ll get used to it quickly. I had something similar, minus suspension and I remember those twist grips were a handful to operate in the beginning, especially shifting into the large chain ring could be tricky if the gearing was slightly off. I was very happy when I got a new bike with gear levers.
Speaking of cadence, I’m most comfortable around 80-95RPM on a flat and low to mid 80ies on a climb. I also like to go out of the saddle in climbs from time to time, just to change things up. Remember that everyone is different. While I’m just about pushing 85RPM at ~32km/h or 95RPM around 28km/h, my brother in law pedals around 100-120RPM all the time and we both ride at roughly the same average speeds and have similar endurance.
I’ll dig into my stats from January once I’ve eaten and rested a bit. Should be interesting. If you like stats that is.
Great info - and yes, I’ll need to remind myself to let him be his own rider. I was lucky enough to go to a bike shop a few years back and have a professional fitting and analysis for my triathlon bike, and it was the best $100 I ever spent. The shop owner (a competitive cyclist) noticed right away that I was a “masher” as opposed to a “spinner”…picking higher gears at a lower RPM, but requiring more effort. He encouraged me to try spinning in the 80-90 RPM range and he was spot on…my endurance went up, my overall feeling of wellness on the ride improved, and I found I had more left in my tank at the end of a ride.
I guess my form needed to be adjusted to match the Armstrong cadence instead of the Ullrich one I had been using. But Jan (and Hincapie and Spartacus) are good examples that mashing can work for certain physiology.
Alrighty, here we go. Long post, lot’s of graphs and stats but also some nice pictures.
Bikecommuting, January 2017 - In Numbers
After struggling with a cold throughout December and basically no activities between Christmas and Dec 31. I got my first ride in during the evening hours of a very windy Jan 1st, pushing myself hard into the red for just over an hour (that heart rate 
):
The next morning everything was white and I started my month of commuting carefully and slowly. 20km/h average for my 28.5km
Weather during the first week was a mixed bag of cold rain and snow, always around ±3°C which kept my enthusiasm down a bit. However, at the end of the week I finally got rid of that bloody cold!
The start of the second week was more of the same but favourable winds led to my fastest commute of January with an average speed of 26.6km/h and 5 PRs on Strava:
After a recovery ride on Saturday I ended the second week with a total distance of 347km in 14h 41m
The third week is where it gets interesting as I felt some real improvements in my fitness and decided to include a little detour up a mine dump on my way home every other day.
End of Week stats:
347.5km in 14h 23m
Week four was witness to this amazing sunset:
I improved my time up that 1km climb with each attempt (well, almost).
Current PR: 4:06min for 1.2km at 5% average gradient.
I finished the week with two short rides on Sunday that brought the weeks total up to 348.9km taking a time of 14h 11m and giving me the opportunity to snap this panorama of the river Ruhr:
Finally, on the last day of January there was almost no wind and without really trying, it became the fastest day of January overall with an average speed of 26,2km/h for the two rides combined.
January overview:
Nice overview!
My summary for the month.
100kg now 96.8kg.
684km cycled over 30 hours. It’s hilly where I live!
Still struggling to keep up with my club mates but at least I can breathe when we finish 
Cut out lots of booze but diet stayed basically the same, probably because I need to replace calories the big step up in mileage needs and my wife is a superb cook.
Still keen and hope for more improvement this month with a few 100km rides to step up the distance.
Please weather get a bit better.
I’d show you my Strava stats and type of rides I do but not savvy enough to link them
Jan 1: 226 lbs.
Feb 1: 214 lbs.
A little ahead of plan, but I got a long way to go still. This was with diet changes only, now to stay folding in exercise.
I have a little request, even if this thread is not about that.
Wife and I have this amazing cast iron pan.
It’s really heavy though. With food inside I must admit I can’t hold it with one hand.
It’s not a matter of arm strength, it just simply bends my wrist down!
What exercise could You suggest to me to strengthen the wrists?
Grip strength is pretty good, just as arm strength.
Only the wrists are weak. Odd, uh?
Thanks in advance anyway.
Remember that there are no muscles in the wrists or hands. None. All motion in the hand and wrists is from muscles in your forearm and upper arm pulling on tendons that lead to your hand and wrists.
Look for hand and arm exercises like finger curls, wrist curls, and other activities to strengthen those areas of your arms. You should be able do 10 minutes a day of these simple exercises with even a 5lb (2.2 kg) weight and see progress relatively quick.
Still holding at 158. Hit a very stubborn plateau.
Haven’t had access to a scale the last couple of weeks- long story. I’m pretty sure I’m still losing though, as my pants and belts are still getting looser.
End of week #5.
348.2km at an average speed of 25.67km/h (13h 34min)
Slowly working up to the form from last summer. Had a few weeks where I managed ~27km/h average and I think I can beat that this year.
