Friday, July 31, 2009

Complete Canal Biker

DAY 21
Time:
32.03min going.
32.06min (PB) coming home.
Record daily total 64.09min
Weather: Fantastic.70F/21C degrees, puffs of wind.
CO2 Emissions Saved: 118.5kg


Routine
How long do you have to do something before it becomes a routine? Six weeks? Six months? A year? Not 21 days. But it is a start. And a finish. My Tour de France simulation is complete.

Tour Facts:
Tammie: 355km or 220 miles
Tour de France: 3500km or 2174 miles
Percentage of Tour de France Tammie managed in 21 Stages: 10.1%

Rabo Riders who fell: 8
Times Rabo fell: TBA
Times Tammie fell: 0

Minutes on bike: 1503
Calories: 9 per min, 35 per km, 50 per mile

Calories per day: 700
Total calories burned: 13834

Calories in a pound: 3500
Calories in a kilo: 7700

Days to ride off 1 pound: 5
Days to ride off 1 kilo: 11

Weight Loss
Expected based on exercise calories only: 3.9lbs or 1.8kilos
Weight gained: 6.2lbs or 2.8kilos
Weight lost during whole journey: 8.6lbs or 3.9kilos
Actual weight loss, first weigh - last weigh in: 2.2lbs or 1.1kilos

Goals and Quitting
The inner commentator says "Make a new goal or you won't stay with it." High school buddy John reminded me of a most excellent scene from Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story with inspiration from fellow Texan bike racer Lance Armstrong. Very appropriate for today's decision to ride or quit. I changed the names:

When you feel like quitting from Dodgeball
Tammie Nolte: Uh, actually I decided to quit... Lance.

Lance Armstrong: Quit? You know, once I was thinking of quitting when I was diagnosed with brain, lung and testicular cancer all at the same time. But with the love and support of my friends and family, I got back on the bike and won the Tour de France five times in a row. But I'm sure you have a good reason to quit. So what are you dying of that's keeping you from the finals?

Tammie Nolte: Right now it feels a little bit like... shame.

Lance Armstrong: Well, I guess if a person never quit when the going got tough, they wouldn't anything to regret for the rest of their life. Well good luck to you Tammie. I'm sure this decision won't haunt you forever.


Biker's bridge on Leidse Rijn Canal
Fallen and Can't Get Up
Fresh out of good reasons and excuses to stop. Didn't ride as fast as the Rabo Pro Cycling team. Didn't ride as far as the Rabo Riders. My final stage was 5 days late. However, Rabo guys, I stayed in the saddle. I didn't fall.

Every Rabo Rider fell during the Tour de France. Gesink broke his wrist, kept riding. Oscar got shot in thigh with a pellet gun and kept riding. Falling down and getting shot down was not the theme here. Not physically anyway. Did catch the saddle point in the jacksey (pubic bone) once when trying to stop too fast.

Tour of Spain
This weekend, will work on a new goal. New challenge. I will continue. But I need to have a reason to ride and a reason to write. Vuelta Tour of Spain is also 21 Stages and runs from August 29 - September 20. The first four days of the Vuelta start in Holland this year. Need a training goal for all of August between the Tour de France and Vuelta a EspaƱa.

Favorite picture of whole blog taken today. Click on it, it will get bigger and prettier.

1 comment:

  1. Tammie just keep riding the bloody bike. Think of all the fun people you've met along the way. Take your colleague's advice and do it everyday without thinking about it. Not because you have to but because, deep down inside you really want to. Otherwise you would never have started. I bet when you played basketball etc you did it for fun. Focus on the fun. The solitude you have each day. And, quietly, knowing that if you ride your bike every day for the next year or so you will be super healthy and feel great. Thanks for the blog. It is our first real winter for years so it's been nice to read about your adventures and your mild summer days. x

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