Hamster's Treadmill

[toadfood]

Rock on, Hamster! Congratulations on the weight loss and the "stretched" pants!

[Jan]

Hamster, where are you? Hope you're doing OK and staying on plan. Our Fall is just hours away. Is Spring springing down there?

[bunsofaluminum]

Hey hamster

Today, I'm using your trick of seeing an on/off switch in my brain. It feels like a "cheating" day already this morning. Gotta be proactive...

but!!! with my plans on creating some Indian cuisine, learning Indian recipes and techniques this month, and shopping for the spices I'll need for that venture, I may find myself "nibbling" on foods that are on plan.

oooh...better turn it off...LOL


thanks for the great idea!

Heidi

[Ege Bamyasi]

Hey Hamster, buddy? Are you okay?

I'm really missing your presence here. Even though I'm not on as much myself, you are one of the posters whose input I'm always searching out. I hope things are still good with you. You are missed by many, and I hope you'll be posting again soon.

[Tina]

Hi Hamster. How are you doing? We miss you here. Do check back in soon.

[LauraA]

Hi Hamster - I sent you a private message hoping that you are still around. I wanted to wish you a Happy Birthday, since we have the same birthday, and the 4th comes sooner where you are than it does here. Take care, LauraA

[Hamster]

Gentle reader,

Those of you who have been here for awhile and have a loooooooong memory might remember me. Anyway, my weight two years was 184 pounds but has now snuck up to 211 pounds. This, of course is due entirely to poor food choices .

The good thing is that my fitness has improved and despite the weight gain. When I was here last I was just getting into cycling, now I’m doing a 30 km per day commute plus some extra kilometres on the weekends.

The way to shed the weight is by getting the diet sorted.

[Ege Bamyasi]

.

[Rosey]

Welcome back.

[simoncat]

Yeah, Hamster!! Good work!

Outside of just the pus in milk, I read that cows usually live to be 20 years old, but factory cows only live about 6 years and around their 5th year, can barely walk.

[Hamster]

Gentle reader,

Really not much to report since yesterday, I rode my bike home from the station and then rode it back this morning. The early morning view across Moreton Bay is a little like this.

http://redchamber.org.au/home/digital-camera/

When I’m a little more organized I’ll take a series of pictures and make them available.

The railways here provide bike lockers, basically a lockable metal box large enough to hold a bike. Apart from a $50 refundable deposit for the key it’s free! The ride is 15 kms each way and takes me around 45 minutes. I started riding to the station about a year ago, but then it was ride a day, miss a day sort of thing. About 6 months ago I decided to ride everyday, regardless of the weather. I’ve missed a few days through illness but I guess that that’s ok.

At 95.9 kg I’ve really got to drop at least 10 kg and possibly even 15 kg and the only way to achieve that is through diet. A good exercise program combined with a crap diet equals weight gain .

My current theory is that provided I eliminate the garbage food then weight loss should follow. Here goes .

I’ve always been interested in cycling but I’ve got much deeper into it over the past couple of years. Just curious but would a series of brief articles about how to choose the type of bike to buy, where to buy it, how to set it up etc be of interest?

[Rosey]

The railways here provide bike lockers, basically a lockable metal box large enough to hold a bike. Apart from a $50 refundable deposit for the key it’s free!

We have those here but ours have it so we can put our own locks on them. Only problem with ours is that my Townie Electra is to tall for them unless I loosen my handle bars and fold them down. I tend to just use the other lock ups because of that.

[Ege Bamyasi]

.

[Rosey]

I used to be totally bicycle-dependent years ago. Various schools and jobs required me to pedal as much as 12 miles one way, and I loved it.

I don't know if I could bike in traffic now due to the lingering problems in my shoulders, but I love stationary cycling indoors also and that doesn't involve the arms like steering a regular bike.

Still, I am in favor of any information you would want to provide because you never know who it may help.

I was having issues with my shoulders and hands till I got my Townie it puts your arms in better position.

[Hamster]

I was having issues with my shoulders and hands till I got my Townie it puts your arms in better position.

I’ve never had sore shoulders from cycling but I have had problems with my hands going numb. The basic problem is that alloy-framed bikes are very stiff. They have to be because aluminium is a very soft metal so bike has to be made with fat, thick-walled tubing.

The main solution is to concentrate upon your riding posture, this link might be interesting

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/pain.html

Other things to consider are has the bike been set-up properly. Things to consider are seat height, seat angle, forward and back seat adjustment, and handlebar height. These are all adjustable and make a huge difference.

http://www.peterwhitecycles.com/fitting.htm

A good pair of cycling gloves with gel-padding also helps.

My road bike came with a carbon front fork and a carbon seat post. These helped but I’ve also replaced the original handlebar stem and handlebars with carbon ones. Carbon is more flexible than alloy and thus gives a smoother ride.

More expensive solutions could be buying a bike with front suspension which takes up most of the bumps. You could also buy a carbon-framed bike which will cost a lot of dollars and brings with it other problems or you could buy a steel-framed bike both of these give a smoother ride.