DAILY BLOG

7 pounds. That’s my weight loss goal before the tour begins. It doesn’t sound like much, but, boy, it has proven elusive for me thus far. Clearly, training for a cross-country bike tour at 42 years of age is much different than when I was a spry age of 20. Back then, I remember being able to lose 7 pounds in a snap—all the while eating junk food around the clock. Since February, I have been stuck on essentially the same weight even though I’ve more than doubled my training regimen. Where is the justice?, me wonders.

Weight can become an obsession for bicycle riders—Carbon fiber this, titanium that—all in an effort to shave a few hundred or even a dozen grams off of the weight of their bicycle. And I suppose that’s part of the issue for me. I have an ultra light bicycle, so I figure I better back that up. It does little good, after all, to have a carbon fiber frame if I can “pinch in inch.”

Besides the light bike guilt factor, a second motivation for me are the mountains we will face in California, central Arizona, and especially Colorado. (Check out those red mountain icons on the early part of our tour schedule). Any extra weight I have on me is the equivalent of strapping on a 5-10 pound weight on my back and carrying it with me up the mountains.

When I see my son Jared (who has a body fat percentage of probably 3%!) glide up hills around here with the greatest of ease, I get that extra motivation to avoid the carbs when I am off the bike until I reach my weight goal. I’ve got 65 more days to do it!