Chester to Essex Route in the books...Nice

Felt good to do my old loop again.  I've been doing this loop since junior high school when I used to ride out to visit Rich Gill in Chester, or to ride to Cedar Lake to swim.  Such a great ride that I haven't been able to do in 2 years due to illness.  Even though it was very slow, purposefully, I felt strong on the bike most of the time...Nice.

I stopped for a second at Cedar Lake to try to fix my Garmin 820, which would not pair with my devices.  Therefore I had no HR, No Cadence, No Power, but did have speed and distance.   At just under 16 miles it was a just enough.  I feel like I could have done more, but might have over extended myself in doing so.  When stopped I took a picture and facebooked it, and remembered myself having swimming lesson as a youngster with the Russel Twins and Paul Budney who recently passed.  I also remembered times as a young man with my Girlfriend at the time, who I still remember fondly. It is nice to look back, but I must keep moving "Forward"!

Now to my Garmin issue:  Apparently the update that had finished installing cause a glitch in the system and the 820 needed a soft reset.  It was a bit frustrating to get on the bike and not have my DATA.  I am a true data geek.  I still need to check to see if it works with my R5, but first a nap!

After riding, I went to Centerbrook looking for a place to have a vegan lunch, and found "Savours Cafe and Bakery".  Had a roasted veggie on Focaccia bread but had to take off the cheese...It was amazing!  Will visit again.

Ciao for now!

A good morning....

This is a good morning for sure...

I weighed myself this morning to find I lost another 1.4 lbs.  Awesome!  Veganism rocks.  I may miss a few things, but all in all it works for me.  As long as I keep loosing weight and feeling better, I will maintain.
I have along way to go and short time to get there, but just watch old...T...Ride...

I then took my Blood Glucose and it was 122...Awesome!  Lowest it has been in quite some time.  I really ate quite a bit yesterday too. I cannot help but be happy with the results so far of my diet, bringing all number back down...My energy is still lacking at times, but that will come with a few more lbs...

Am headed to Essex again today to ride.  Might to the Cedar Lake route, short version.  Hope I have enough in me to do those hills.  I will just take my time and go slowly.

Well until I get home later with a ride report...

Update...Lack of motivation

Finding it hard to stay motivated with the bad weather and wind today.  I do not enjoy riding in the wind, I already ride fairly slowly.  I also have reached a plateau on weight lose, but have not gained any either.  I guess that is a positive as I ate a crap load of veggie pizza last night.

I bought a veggie pizza from Village Pizza last night, really a modified version of their  Primavera Pizza without cheese, and changed the zuchini to Spinach and onions.  It was amazing.  The veggies were done el donte and just enough sauce as fresh tomatoes.  NICE...I just ate too much!

Blood sugar was 140 this morning, and 165 after eating, a marked improvement over a month ago.  Still need to come down a bit, but I will take it!

I just need motivation to ride today...

I did go to the gym after breakfast and had a good workout theere, not a total loss of a day like yesterday, but still need to ride a bit today...Maybe inside if the wind stays up...

New Garmin 820 in the house...

Yes I made the plunge to upgrade my Garmin 810 to the Garmin 820.  DC Rainmaker is the real culprit here, as his article about the Real Time FTP Data Field available in the Connect IQ store got the better of me.

The unit is much smaller and lighter than my 810, and originally need the larger screen to see the numbers well enough when riding, as at the time I needed glasses.  Now that I have prescription riding glasses, I feel the smaller screen with be fine. I also want to have other features of the Garmin unit, V02 Max and Lactate Threshold after the ride as great stats to have.  Being a data geek all that was too hard to give up...

Right now I am waiting for the download of new maps, I will then download the Connect IQ app/data-fields I want.  I also need to finish setting up my data fields on the Garmin unit itself, and have the machine recognize my sensors....I will finish my post after my first ride, albeit indoors and without a power meter, so no FTP and VO2Max yet...

Due to thunderstorms, my first ride was indoors.  I had to set up the device, and the great thing is you can customize the by types of rides now not by bike.  Sensor recognition was easy, and setting up the fields was easy as well, but you had to set up each type of ride.  It Might have been easier to delete all rides, and then copy each one changing the name.  One thing I forgot was to set the auto pause feature on Indoor rides, so I had to stop the session and restart the ride 4 minute in, most of which was off the bike searching for a video to watch.

Love the color screen, very easy to see with my glasses on.  I have 6 data fields and they are all easy to see.  I like the size.

Many of the new features are great, like wifi syncing, bluetooth to the phone was also easily set-up, which I cannot say about most devices with my phone, especially my Garmin 810.  Tomorrow I will check out my new data fields: Strava Segments and FTP.  This will be done on my R5, so I am headed back on the road, which should also give me more miles, as both indoor and gravel are harder on me causing me to achieve less mileage. :{

So until then, keep those wheels turn'in.

Sodium intake off the charts...gained a pound

OK - I had Korean Sweat Potato Noodles and veggies with low sodium Soy Sauce and Meso soup yesterday for lunch and it sent my sodium number to the roof...

As you can see from www.myfitnesspal.com  my sodium intake was 970mg over what my goal amount is.  This cause water retention and a less than productive bowel movement, as well as, swollen sore feet and hands today.  Not good.  The miso soup was 1200 mg of sodium alone...Wow!  I guess Meso soup is not all that it is cracked up to be in terms of health food.  I will be avoiding that and soy sauce from now on at the Pic and Mix in Glastonbury CT.  

I believe that is was this higher than normal sodium intake that also cause water weight gain of 1 lbs.  Not good.  So a reduction of Sodium is definitely on the agenda.  

Another two pounds...

I the quest to loose weight and ride longer to live longer, I have met another milestone....Under 300 for the first time in 8 Months...albeit by .6 lbs.  This is my second day in a row of 2 lbs or more.  I don't expect everyday to have such great success, but who knows.

Daily Calories and more from myfitnesspal.com

I started using myfitnesspal.com to track my food intake.  After day one it showed I only ate about 1600 Cal. with 400 KCals burnt that is a Caloric balance of 1200.  To meet my goal I can eat up to 2500 Cal. per day, but don't see that happening.  On a Veggie diet (Vegan most days), I will find it hard to reach that number.  Meatless dishes are low in calories, as there is limit fat content. I eat a lot yesterday, and still came up significantly short.  This also is due to having low sugar diet and not leavened bread.  Sugar and bread are big in calories, so my diet limits my calorie consumption by default.

My sugar, as I said in a prior post is steadily coming down, and this AM it was 130, a new morning low...Nice.  I was expecting it to be higher due to my pasta dinner last night and apple for desert, but I guess I ate early enough that it had no impact...Nice again.

Met Daily Goal...and more...

Based on my projected outcomes for the day to help me reach my goal.  I was able to ride 17 miles, albeit slowly.  A bit more than what I had on my goal sheet for the day, but it was a cool day, and riding felt good.  I need to stay in the 10 to 20 mile range for this week, and maybe next week, kick it up with one or two days in the 30's.

My caloric intake is well within parameters, and I most like will not go over, but have a significant surplus for the day of about 1200 KCals.
Since I burnt about 400 on my ride, that means I have a caloric balance of more that 1600 in the green.  I planned for a big dinner, so NO Probs there.  I started using MyFitnessPal.com to log my food intake, as that is what is compatible with Garmin Connect.

I love my new scale.  I works great, and will continue to work great as long as the numbers keep going downward....😎😎😎

I am now completely integrated with Garmin Connect on all fronts.  My bike has a Garmin Edge 810, My wrist has a Garmin VivoActive HR, My body has a Garmin Smart Scale.  Garmin loves me!  I do this because I like having my data in one place - Garmin Connect.  Although not the most complete or advanced site for any one thing it works for me.

Day 1 after my goal setting session on Sufferfest I am on track...Now for another 7 wks of the same....:)

Wish me luck....I need it.