When my friends cornered me and convinced me I could ride a bike 16 miles to the top of Bogus Basin, I trusted them.
So much for enemies.
Actually, it hasn’t been that bad. Bogus and George’s Bicycles are trying to raise $25,000 for the ski hill; they wanted a test dummy, so I came to mind. You can join me climbing Bogus.
I started by meeting with Erin Green, a nutritionist, who works with the Boise State football team and is a professional triathlete. She whipped my diet into shape, allowed me 3,500 clean calories a day and outlined my training schedule. She set me up with a free app called MYFITNESSPAL where I log all my exercise and food and she can keep an eye on me. I also downloaded MayMyRide so I knew how I was doing on the bike. I already played tennis about 6-8x a week so adding some bike time allowed me to keep the calories higher and support my near 290 lb. body with the fuel needed to train harder and lose weight. I have lost about 10 lbs. in 45 days. I don’t starve myself and have energy to exercise almost 3 hours a day. I am still losing weight as my exercise increases. Just yesterday I ate pears, keifer and Greek yogurt, granola, bagel, wheat bread, deli turkey, taco chicken, salad with real bleu cheese dressing, banana, peanut butter, turkey kielbasa, squash with butter, watermelon, cliff bar, and whole milk. It’s easy as long as you exercise. No, I am not drinking alcohol right now and limit eating out.
I could never have gotten this far without Erin. Check out her diet. I started with an easy bike ride in Sun Valley and then followed that up a week later in Santa Monica, Ca. I rented cruiser type bikes and rode mainly flat land for about 1-3 hours. Then, the training started to intensify. I got my custom fit road bike, helmet, tights, gloves and inspiration from Mike Cooley at George’s Cycles . I can’t imagine anybody else in town knowing as much as they do about local riders and gear. My Oakley sunglasses have also saved me from all kinds of bugs and provided crystal clear vision , thanks Josh Loubek.
I ride four times a week now. I try to make it four straight days. I go from my home off Bogus about 15 and 20 miles down Hill Road toward Eagle, do a greenbelt 10-15 miler with my wife and then 1x a week up the hill. I started with Erin on a 4 mile ride up, then 6 and just finished 8. I figure I will keep adding 2 miles uphill a week til I get there by August 6th. The race is August 20th.
My breathing isn’t bad, it’s the legs tiring out, and lower back, hands and feet going numb that get me. I also have to battle my mind as I keep looking up and seeing no relief in sight. I stop 2x or so to adjust stuff (yes, there is some soreness at times down there but not as bad as most), drink G2 and then keep going. It is quite an accomplishment to hit my uphill mile marker for the day and go back. I haven’t ridden longer than one hour and forty five minutes. I don’t like going downhill and brake a lot of the way especially into the hairpin turns. I also watch out for snakes. I listen to sports podcasts and try to keep my mind focusing on other ideas.
Podcasts give me some things to think about that I may have never thought of! ….
If you want to get in shape and feel some accomplishment this summer it isn’t too late to join me, especially if you have a bike. I will only train for about 2 months but I had never been on a road bike before. If I can do it, you can do too. 
