Tag: My Weight Loss

Here are the stats

Started: Glendale – 1300 ft
Finished: Superior – 2800 ft
Day 1 –
Travled 80.5 miles
Climbed over 2000 ft in all – most of which were in the last 10 miles

I started at 5:30am from my house. I got 500 ft from the house and had to turn around — I forgot my shades! Then it was all business – I was averaging 13-15 miles an hour for the first few hours – there was no traffic, it was cool (only 70 degrees) and I was excited.

I told Stephanie last night that I felt like a kid on Christmas Eve – I hardly slept. We were able to get the bike tuned up before I left and Stephanie and I both picked up new cell phones. My new phone is also an MP3 player, so I can listen to my tunes and still hear when Stephanie calls me. I also purchased a new pannier for the handle bars, so I have a place to put the map, extra water, my phone, my wallet, and anything else I needed. Between the phone and the pannier, I was riding in luxury.

Meanwhile at the home front – Stephanie was stuck packing the car and making sure we had everything we need for the trip. At the same time, she was dealing with Zander and running last minute errands. I think I had the better deal. It wasn’t all roses for me however. I was on the bike for a total of 7 hours 45 minutes today. While I averaged almost 13 miles an hour for the first 5 1/2 hours covering 70 miles of road, the last 10 miles took the other 2 hours and 45 minutes!!! I had steep climbs for the last ten miles and although there were a few downhills in the middle, I was so tired from the climbing that I could barely move my legs to pick up any speed on the downhills.

Anyway, today was different than the rest of the trip in that I had a lot of climbing at the end of a long day. This put the tough part of my days ride after I had already gone 70 miles and during the hottest part of the day. Anyway, I really enjoyed Day One. We are likely staying at camp sites for the next couple of nights, so until next time…

Well, I only have one full day left. Yesterday I bought a roof rack to mount the bike on top of the car. I still have so many things I wanted to get done before I left that likely will not get done. I need to get the oil changed on the car, and I intended to get the bike tuned up before I left. I wanted to get Stephanie and myself new cell phones, as we have both had our phones for a while (and they have both been dropped more than once). I also wanted a new camera, as the one we bought at Christmas was damaged and our old one is… old.

As for work – I’ve spent all week transitioning my projects to other engineers, but there is much work left undone that I’m pretty certain will become a huge mess by the time I get back. It seems all the projects I have were dragging their feet on timelines until they heard I was leaving for two weeks – now everything is due while I’m gone!

But despite all of that – I’m excited! Tomorrow I plan to hit the road at 4:30am (just before sunrise). I head down to Tempe, then across Mesa, on to Apache Junction. From there it gets rough. I have a long stretch of nothing but busy highway road, then steep climbs up to Superior and on to Miami/Globe. I won’t make it all the way for several reasons – namely its over a 100 miles and the last 40 miles are all climbing in the heat of the day. So, at 2pm no matter where I am on that mountain, Stephanie is picking me up and we drive the rest of the way to Globe. We found a $40 a night hotel the last time we were there that we plan to stay at. The next day is a 90 mile day, with three big climbs but a good amount of descents as well.

This is likely my last post for a few days, but I will keep notes and post when I can. See you on the other side!