We Can Do It !!

2012 - 10K Chalenge

2012-01-16T08:48:00.004-05:00

2011 was a huge disaster year for me fitness wise.

This blog has been basically a chronicle of my failures from 2009 to now to try to get into a fitness routine and to lose weight. I have made quite a few starts only to see them fizzle out as work and a weak will cause me to quit after only a couple weeks doing something.

The beginning of a new year is usually a good place to start again and this time I have a goal in mind. "I want to run a 10K race by September 2012."

I walked in the Jamaica Cancer Society 5K race back in October and enjoyed it. Take away the pain in my feet, ankle and arse and the fact that I walked sideways like a crab for 2 days afterwards. It was run on the Saturday morning of a holiday weekend so I had Sunday and Monday (along with Excedrin) to recuperate. I loved it, my wife ran while I walked and I am not ashamed to admit that, but I realized that there were many out there challenging themselves like me to get fit.

A couple weeks ago I started walking with Andre at the football field but this morning I got up at 5am and headed to Emancipation Park in New Kingston and walked their 500m track for 10 laps (5K). I started walking at 5:40 and was done at 6:30. I was joined by a co-worker Dave, who decided that he would be the person to constantly motivate me to get fit - Thanks Dave.

Afterwards I felt good and am looking forward to another go at it on Wednesday morning. Come next week I will up it to 3 days per week before settling in at 4 times per week, by then I should be running and walking. On a Saturday morning I will hope to add a bike ride and maybe an evening or 2 off kicking the ball around.

I have just started so I dont want to over do it or set expectations too high. A weight of 220lbs and running in a 10 K for 2012 is the goal. My wife is already making adjustments to our diet (she lost 20lbs over the past 2 months)

New year new goals.

Challenging Myself

2011-10-02T16:10:00.004-04:00

I have thrown out a challenge and it has been taken up with glee, so I better make sure it doesn't cost me much.

Recently while at Dunns River Falls in beautiful Ocho Rios, I jokingly challenged my wife's Uncle to a contest where I would lose weight in 6 months faster than him. He accepted especially when I said "I bet you ........." Well the bet is J$ 10,000 for the person that loses the most weight over 6 months.

I am currently 240, he's 190 but I am probably 5 or 6 inches taller. So it looks like getting down to as close to 200 for me an as close to 150 for him. One thing I didn't count on was that he's more active than me and also loves a challenge and wont back down. My wife came home last week to tell me that he's putting in a lot of time on his exercise bike and has adjusted his diet already...... YIKES !!!!!!

My first step is to eliminate as much Pepsi as possible from my diet. On a normal day while working on the road I will consume 2 or 3 500ml bottles, so I have purchased a little cooler and now carry 3 bottles of 500ml water with me. I do indulge 1 a day but am about to do away with that. I have also eliminated patties which contain a lot of oil and fat, and cut down drastically on refined carbs.

I needed to find a way to up my cardio workout, which has been non-existent over the past 6 months, so I got a small exercise bicycle set up at home and I will ride that twice per day during the weekdays and get out on the road on a Saturday or Sunday. I will also be adding some resistance training to my daily workout.

Wish me luck, cuss me out of I fall off and look for updates every 2 weeks or so

---------------------------------
October 1, 2011

Weight - 240lbs

Target - March 31, 2012

Weight - 200lbs

Wow - Time Flies !

2011-08-11T10:15:00.002-04:00

I havent done any serious road work since March !!

I got sick in March and stayed home for almost a week, on the comeback trail my walking partner Andre got busy with work and his busy period usually runs from 4-6 weeks, but since then I have allowed work and home life to keep me busy. I am so exhausted that sometimes on a Saturday Antoinette will take the kids on the road and I would stay home and sleep for hours on end.

A large part of the exhaustion I am thinking stems from me not exercising regularly, the body would have lost all the gains I had within 2 months and I would be back at square one. So when Andre suggested we start back walking after the guys took me to the movies for my birthday, I agreed. I will of course blog it here to keep track of what I'm doing and hopefully motivate me to reach higher.

I will also be doing posting additional stuff here, my thoughts on movies that I have watched, beautiful girls that I see and whatever wacky ideas that come up.

Cheat Weekend extended to Cheat WeakendS !

2011-02-20T10:34:00.002-05:00

Not really !

I havent been on the bicycle all month and not been to the field in about 2 weeks. On my last run I picked up a serious blister, big enough to cause serious pain, stripping away of flesh, etc. I was limping for a couple days afterwards.

I needed to make a couple adjustments to ensure that my feet are comfortable in my shoe, so i stopped off and got a couple of Dr. Scholls Double Air Pillows, one set for my work shoes and another for my sneakers. I have a brand new pair but they fit much too close for my comfort so I might sell em to a friend and get another pair.

This morning my feet felt much better so we went off walking. I could have gone riding but with the kids in tow (Antoinette's niece and nephew) we figured that it might be easier for them walking around a field instead of along a road. If they got tired they could sit and wait, on the road they would have to walk all the way back to the car. My ankles ached a lot when I jogged, so it was mostly brisk walking (12 laps in all).

Next week it's back to walking/running on Monday/Wednesday/Friday and riding on Saturday

Cheat Weekend - No Riding !

2011-02-07T08:08:00.002-05:00

I knew it would happen eventually, a weekend where I wouldnt get out to ride and I would feel guilty over it, and it happened this weekend.

The weekday walking/running sessions were good and apart from Friday where my energy and enthusiasm level just plummeted, we got in some serious work. Antoinette joined us on Friday and did well until her knees started aching and she basically crawled the last lap. I had no energy and my back was killing me, so after 7 or 8 laps I just stopped.

On Saturday morning I took T all the way to Ewarton to look at a house and then went off to help a friend move house. We didnt finish that until about 8pm and didnt hit bed until about midnight. That was more than enough to scuttle Sunday morning ride. I knew I would feel guilty but I also knew that life will sometime interfere and keep me from riding occasionally.

This evening its walking again, have to make up for strolling most of Friday evening.

Knowlege is Power !

2011-01-30T12:31:00.003-05:00

Another week another couple days of working out.

Monday evening was good, getting in over an hour of walking/running with Andre. Wednesday was dead as I was busy with work and blew it off, Friday was great as my better half joined us and nearly kicked the crap out of us. Seriously though, missing that one day made me feel guilty.

This morning was nice and cool and it even drizzled lightly as I rode. Of course you know there is usually extra wind around with the rain and riding in wind is always a chore. This morning I went out quickly and did well, but starting out quickly usually takes it toll later on, and it did. I had to stop for a drink before completing the full ride.

This morning I met a couple guys on the road and they offered some very good advice. They noticed that I was riding in a pretty high gear and suggested that since I had just started back after months of inactivity, I should be riding in a very low gear and just spin away to build my capacity (lungs, heart, etc) and legs. Riding in a high gear makes it harder to pedal and you cover more distance. Its like lifting weights, if the intention is to lose weight, then you go with relatively light weights for 15-20 reps, if you're building muscle mass you go for heavy weights and crank out 6-8 reps. One gives you an aerobic workout (high reps, spinning) while the other gives a more anaerobic workout (heavy weights, high gear)

This also brings home the reality that I am over 40, in lousy shape and need to concentrate on doing it right, building slowly and not setting unrealistic goals. So no 100 miles in May, more likely nearer the end of the year.

On the way home it was still very overcast, so I called up Andre and bullied in into going walking. He really didnt need much encouragement, we were off in a light drizzle and did 10 laps of the football field before quitting as a result of the drizzle getting heavier. If it hadnt we would have gone on for 15 laps. I didnt just walk this morning but did also did some jogging and that is what told me in no uncertain terms that I am one fat unfit fuck !!

Good morning, good workout, good all around week.

---------------------------
January 30, 2010

Miles today - 12.0

Miles Ridden MTD - 75

Target MTD (revised) - 75

Target for February 2010 - 100 miles

Toughening It Out

2011-01-23T15:20:00.003-05:00

Another ride this morning, and this one was a pain in the ass.

We started late, I got a serious neck ache, I was winded, I was out of sorts.........

We started late because of me. I had gotten a call from someone in Harbour View last night who told me it was raining pretty heavily with lightening and thunder. After the soaking yesterday I wasnt looking forward to getting wet again, so I didnt set my alarm. Good thing Antoinette was awakened by her Aunt who wanted to know where we were as she had already started walking. We quickly got up, got on our sweats and went out the door grabbing a couple fruits as left.

The going was tough and my ass was still hurting from yesterday and I got winded pretty easily on the way back in for some reason. It was torture but I stuck it out. When I passed Antoinette on the road she commented that she always could tell when it was me riding up behind her as everybody whizzed by while "I pokied on by". I couldnt care less, nearly everybody out there is faster than me, nearly everyone out there been riding much longer than me also. As long as I get over an hour of aerobic workout, push myself hard and do the work, I know I will improve.

Walking tomorrow evening

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January 23, 2010

Miles Today - 11.7

Miles Ridden MTD - 63.1

Target for Month - 75

Miles Needed for Target - 11.9

I Fought the Wind and WON !!

2011-01-22T11:57:00.007-05:00

This morning was hell, but I fought the rain and the breeze and I won !
My routine is taking shape. Walking 3 days during the week and cycling 2 days on the weekend. It might not always go according to plan but I have to make sure that I get minimum 3 days of aerobic workout per week.

I've already posted about my Monday evening walk, on Wednesday we upped the ante by doing 10 laps of the football field before heading back home. I didnt push the pace as I still had the small blister from Monday. Andre enjoyed it though and texted me to say he felt very energetic the next morning. Friday evening didnt happen as Andre was out of town working and couldnt make it back in time, and I was very distracted with the T20 match on tv.

Missing Friday evening convinced me to head out Saturday morning for a make up. Normally I would be up and out before 6am but the warm bed and wifey felt so good, so I left an hour later. It was overcast so I figured I could do 24 miles easily..........
NOT SO !!!

On the way back on my first ride, the wind kicked up fierecely and I knew that rain was close by as it got chilly very quickly. Half way back it started pelting. Normally I would struggle against heavy wind but since coming back I have been getting into a decent rhythm, pedalling more, coasting less, feeling much better. This morning I just powered through and made it back to the car, exhausted but ok.

The wind kicked the shit out of me though and I really didnt feel like going back out, I was soaking wet and cold, but that didnt stop me from picking up apples, bananas, some cashew and trail mix for the house and a nice piece of jack fruit for Antoinette. On second inspection the jack fruit looks a bit young, hope its edible.

I am determined to get as much refined crap as possible out of my diet, the refined crap that will still have to be consumed will be controlled - STARTING RIGHT NOW WITH PEPSI COLA ! Sodas are now a thing of the past, I have to get my sugar intake down and stopping soda with all the carbon and caffine and God knows what else is a good way to start. Cashews, peanuts, hazel nuts, trail mix, etc. are what will keep me company during the days, now I will just have to find a way to buy in larger packages for a better price (I wonder if Pricesmart has cashews ?)

Walking again Monday evening

--------------------------------------
January 22, 2011

Miles Today - 11.7

Miles Ridden MTD - 51.4

Target for the Month - 75 (revised up from 50)

Miles Needed for Target - 23.6

Adding Walking to the Mix !

2011-01-18T07:36:00.007-05:00

I've added walking to the exercise mix and know that this will help with the getting fit plan I have for 2011. My best friend Andre who's pushing 300 plus has from time to time worked out with me and really just need someone to keep him company while walking. Back in 05 he and I worked out at a private gym for about 6 months leading up to my wedding and he was very disciplined, lost quite a bit too. Like me, work stress inevitably gets in the way and we retreat to inactivity.

Andre's pushing 320lbs and I am at 235lbs, we have been friends since high school so we have known each other for about 26 years, he was one of the groomsmen at my wedding and have always been very involved in my life, we are both pushing the big 40 now and I know if we dont start getting active we wont live to see the big 50 !

40 minutes of very brisk walking was enough for the first day out. We walked through his neighbourhood to a football field and did 5 laps, then we walked all the way back to his house. We got a pretty good workout and having my phone there with about 2 days with of music helped, we just dialed up some hip hop music and just stepped to the beat.

The plan is Monday, Wednesday and Friday evenings for an hour of intense walking (time will probably increase the fitter we become). I got a small blister on my left foot during the walk and have to make sure that I lace up my sneakers pretty good so my feet dont move around while I'm walking, its feeling better this morning and I am hoping that it will be all healed by Wednesday.

One thing I have found is that brisk walking leaves you winded pretty quickly and building up stamina walking will definitely help with my riding. Andre used to hike a lot years ago, gonna see if we can get involved in that again, and he's very interested in getting a bicycle.

Making Steady Progress

2011-01-16T18:52:00.005-05:00

This was the Palisadoes Road this morning. We have a serious pollution problem in Kingston, whether it be dust, garbage, rundown ram-shackled buildings, water pollution, etc.

Kinsgton Harbour in this vicinity is disgraceful with garbage floating along the shoreline. I read an article a year or two ago that stated that Kinsgton Harbour in the vicinty of Harbour Head is stagnant as before the erection of the Causeway bridge on the opposite side of the bay, the Rio Cobre entering Hunts Bay created currents that circulated throughout the entire basin allowing for it to cleanse itself. Progress usually interfer with nature and sadly we usually find out too late. This dust nuisance can be controlled though and we need to hold the authorities accountable in making sure that corporate Jamaica clean up their messes.

This morning's ride was very good. Earlier start by about 10 minutes and a steady ride out to Port Royal, I covered the distance faster than last week (I dont have a bike computer and am in the process of getting one) and came back in feeling good. As I passed my wife on the road I told her to meet me in Harbour View, which is another 3 1/2 miles on the Palisadoes Main Road.

I stopped, had a drink, circled down by the airport and headed past The Jamaica Maritime Institute and onwards towards Harbour View. The road surface was great and made riding easier, but the garbage pollution on that side of Kingston Harbour got me a bit down. A bit further on I stopped for about 5 minutes, my lungs had started to burn a little on nearing the section pictured above. A couple of guys rode through and told everything would be fine, so I hopped on and rode onwards. Luckily the dust wasnt dense and within 20 seconds I was through.

I rode on to the roundabout and onwards another half mile (not counted in my mileage) to my mother-in-laws house where I was rewarded with callaloo, ham, dumplins and nice soft yams.

A good ride, more miles than last week and I still felt good.

Hopefully 20 miles next week, and enough time to maybe do 75 or 80 miles.

---------------------------------
January 16, 2010

Miles Today - 15.7

Miles Ridden MTD - 39.7

Target for the month - 50

Miles needed for target - 10.3

On Tackling 100 Miles.

2011-01-09T09:34:00.003-05:00

12.5 miles this morning and all in all a good ride.

It's almost like the 8 months break didn't occur except that I am a little more winded than before, I could have gone more but Antoinette and her Aunt being there curtails that as her Aunt has to get to work by 8am. I love the fact that Antoinette is going walking while I ride as the before and after time is good for us. She just got her pass to go jogging at the Mona Dam, so during the week she and her other Aunt will be jogging around the dam during the week.

I haven't stared walking yet, I wanted to on Monday morning but a couple of gunshots not too far from the house Sunday night at about 11pm convinced me otherwise. I am hoping to get out for 2 -3 days of intense walking to back up my weekend riding this week. Also I will now ride on Saturday and Sunday with Saturday designated as my "long" day (25 miles and up)

The title of my thread probably gives you an idea of what I want to do this year, which is to ride 100 miles (a century) in one day. We are in January and with consistent riding (2-3 days per week) and walking plus some weight training, I am thinking that I should be able to do 100 miles by the end of April (4 months). Riding 100 miles ( 6-7 hours) isnt easy and one has to plan breaks for eating and drinking (refueling) and make sure some sort of support is close by. Riding 20-30 or even 40 miles can be done on 2 bottles of water and gatorade each but your body will need food to replace energy expended so it takes some planning.

Main priority for January into February will be to get myself up to as close to 50 as possible, March will be the month to ride 60 to 75 miles, mixing it up with shorter rides and April will be the century month (100 miles with breaks every 25 miles).

So the Goal has been set and all I have to do is "Just Do It !!"

I'm Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack !!

2011-01-02T09:01:00.004-05:00

Not a bad comeback at all. I was able to ride 11.7 miles without passing out or puking, as a matter of fact the second half hour was way better than the first as I sort of found a rhythm pretty quickly.

It was quite a good morning, although many people who had expressed an interest in joining us on our walk/run/cycling journey abandoned us when it came time to head out. I know that getting up at 5am is not the easiest thing to do, but damn.......... Antoinette and the kids got up and got ready to join me for fun.

I went off for my ride while they along with an Aunt of hers went walking. The journey out was choppy as I got used to the tough seat and also pacing myself so I didnt get too tired too quickly. As I said before the ride back was better than the ride out, but it was really great getting back on the road. I will make sure that I dont stop for any extended period again as starting back is really hard, plus I can only imagine how far along I would be if I had not stopped.

Antoinette and the kids had fun, although Shari found the distance a bit tiring and Auntie Carol ended up out-walking all of them.

Next Saturday for another ride/run/walk for the family

..................................
January 2, 2011

Miles Ridden - 11.7 miles

Target for month - 50 miles

Miles Needed to achieve target - 38.3 miles

Goals for 2011

2010-12-25T11:30:00.006-05:00

Plain and simple.

1. Weight from 240lbs to 210lbs by August 1
2. Ride 2,000 miles for the year
3. Walk and ride 3 times per week
4. Take part in a 5K run
5. Get my waiste down to 36"
6. No soda, elimanate as much refined sugars as possible

January 1 is a good day to start on a journey, there's no big difference between it and say January 2, or March 14, or July 14, its just another day like any other.........

except

it actually denotes the beginning of a new year.

I tend to not make New Years' Resolutions but I have found if I dont set goals I usually dont accomplish what I want, and a significant date at that helps even more.

I want to be in Toronto by the end of August and want to surprise my sister, what better way than a newer, slimmer, fitter me...

I am also taking this opportunity of renaming my blog. Mutterings from Near and Far was just a name I came up with when I decided out of the blue to do a blog. It really didn't mean anything apart from the fact that at times I might go off on a tangent and talk about movies or comic books or the weather, basically anything that tickled my fancy. I can still do that but I wanted a title that would be inspirational and what better title than borrowing one from Nike "Just Do It" (without the swish)

So its a new design, a new name and a new mission (well, not entirely new but you know what I mean) that will lead to a better me.

Happy holidays everyone, enjoy yourselves, cherish those closest to you and make 2011 a wonderful year.

-----------------------------
January 2010 Goal

Ride 50 miles

Am I Lazy ??

2010-11-28T16:07:00.002-05:00

or is it just circumstances why I havent been able to exercise consistently and get down to my desired goal of 180 lbs ?

I put in quite a lot of hours with work, I had a challenging time earlier in the year leaving WBS and settling into a new job. Money is tight after our move and my bike needs tubes......

They are all excuses, and not even very good ones at that.

In life we hold ourselves back with excuses. "Nutting nah gwan", "me nah make enough money", "me lose me job and just get another", " too busy to go back to school or "I didnt get the job caused the Personnel Manager didnt like me or had her favourite". All excuses we use to justify not accomplishing what we should, the buck stops here with US. Whenever we fail to achieve goals, we can only blame one person "ME".

I like reading about people who accomplish goals. Tom Stormcrow is one such person. He weighed in at 589lbs, he lugged around an oxygen tank where ever he went, he has lost nearly 300lbs and is much healthier now. The Clydesdale/Athena Forum at www.bikeforums.net contains tips from hundreds of people (including Tom) who have lost weight by adjusting their diets and riding their bicycle as primary exercise, and this is where I got the motivation to get a bicycle and start riding last year. It was fun, tiring, painful, back breaking, sweaty, dirty work, but the more i rode the easier it became, the firmer I felt my legs getting, the easier it was to run up the stairs at The Progressive Grocers Head-office.

I havent ridden in months because of various excuses, excuses that I have been using as justification for not getting up off my lazy ass and get healthy. I am taking my bicycle to get the tubes repaired and will hit the road bright and early on Saturday morning. I hope I can make it back to Port Royal and back, but if not at least it will be a start, a start at not making excuses for my own failures.

I want to be like Tom Stormcrowe and The Historian over at bikeforums.net, and the hundreds of people who have taken control of their life, lost weight and enjoyed themselves while doing so.

Am I lazy ??

Yes I am !!!

Not for long though.

Jamaicans get ready for Tomas

2010-10-31T10:17:00.008-04:00

Hurricane Tomas lashed St Vincent and St. Lucia last night after roughing up Barbados earlier in the day, leaving behind billions of dollars in damage in the eastern Caribbean. Tomas has slowed in forward momentum, which is not good news for Jamaica, Haiti, Dominican Republic or even Puerto Rico as the prediction of its path is pretty wide.

Prediction map from wunderground.com

The general consensus among the various models is that it will re-curve northward before reaching 75W which is bad news for the twin nation island of Hispaniola, especially Haiti which is still recovering from a devastating earthquake and now battling an outbreak of cholera. A late turn could also mean trouble for Jamaica as it could slam right into Jamaica, coming ashore between Morant Point and traversing the length of Jamaica. Tomas is currently a Category 1 hurricane but will strengthen significant over the next 4-5 days as it travel over exceptionally warn Caribbean waters with little or no shear to counter it. One model has it continuing west, passing south of Jamaica before curving slightly southward to slam into Nicaragua.

damage in St. Vincent (Barbados Nation)

Jamaica is ill-prepared to handle a hurricane right now much less one at a strength of category 3 or 4, as we have been having rains constantly throughout the summer and took a proper soaking last month from tropical Storm Nicole. Widespread flooding and loss of lives resulted from 3-4 days of constant rain, but we can expect even more flooding and loss of life if 150+mph winds are added to the equation.

The country is in a pickle,the damage from Gustav is expected to be about $ 20 billion. For a country under a tight economic constraints, we can ill-afford what will be the resultant destruction from a cat 3 or 4 hurricane. Prime Minister Bruce Golding is to meet with the various relief agencies tomorrow morning at 9 am after which he will announce to the nation steps being taken to prepare the country. I think it would have more prudent to meet with them today as time is precious. Plans need to be in place to evacuate people from flood prone areas and open up relief shelters before it starts raining.

Sunday October 31, 2010 11am update

This latest forecast takes into consideration steering currents as a result of a low pressure building up in the western Caribbean re-curving the storm to the north and then north-east, which is not good news for Haiti and Dom Rep.

To be forewarned is to be forearmed.

Where's My Baby ?

2010-10-23T16:25:00.004-04:00

There she is, all alone in the washroom keeping company with a bag of Pedigree dog food and various containers - clothes basket, a mop, etc.

The past 4-6 weeks have been disasterous. We have had a couple weeks of rain, hard enough for us here in Jamaica to have some serious flood damages and loss of life. It all started one day after Andre and I started our walking so we got approximately 1 day in before the fun and games began. We are still having regular rain during the week but if I wait until the rain stop then I will never start back, so I am taking my baby out today, clean her up with a damp cloth, check her chains and brakes, pump up her tyres and go riding again.

I am not yet back up to 240lbs and I want to avoid that as much as possible. I have settled into work and am doing well so far, and a lot of the issues that have been distracting me are being dealt with.

As usual I will post my ramblings here for all to see (anyone here?)

Hope I can do Airport to Port Royal and back without getting a heart attack.

This Morning Was Great !

2010-09-21T09:00:00.002-04:00

It finally got off the ground, Andre and I hit the road this morning and had a brisk 45 minutes walk throught his neighbourhood and a couple laps around the playfield.

Andre felt it more as he's a big shot Accountant/Auditor, so he gets to sit in a chair all day banging a calcultor, I get to walk quite a bit while working, but we need to do more as our middle has expanded with our age and thats not good.

I did an extra 20 minutes of quick walking when I arrived home and am just about to jump into the shower. More of the same for the rest of this week plus riding on the weekend.

Let's Get It On

2010-09-19T20:42:00.002-04:00

Andre was here today and we made plans to hit the road tomorrow morning. I havent done anything too strenuous in 4 or 5 months and Andre probably hasnt done any in years, so the plan is to hit the road and start walking.

We need to establish a routine of hitting the road in the mornings and just walking and have fun doing it. We have an opportunity of making significant lifestyle changes and now that we are living close to each other we can motivate each other. Later on the weekend I will be out at Palisadoes on my bike. Nice and easy will be my mantra as I try to assess just how far behind I have fallen.

Walking during the weekdays and cycling on the weekend with rest days in between.

As I am writing this it has started raining pretty heavily, I am hoping that this doesnt affect our plans.

The Return is Nigh!

2010-09-06T08:00:00.004-04:00

My return to the quest of changing my lifestyle to a more physical one is here.

The quest had gotten railroaded by numerous circumstances, all of which have been dealt with, mostly. I am now back in Kingston and am in the same area as Andre (we've been friends for over 20 years) who's on the hunt for a partner to walk with in the mornings. The plan is to walk in the mornings durin the week and cycle on weekends and add some weight lifting as cross-training. We will start later on this week after we finish unpacking from the move.

The last 6 to 8 months have thrown me some serious challenges, but with support from my wife and our family and friends, I am back on track.

Just need to check my bike to make sure that it's road worthy and its "pedal to the metal baby".

My 232 lbs have morphed up to 237 lbs, still 3 lbs shy of the 240 lbs wich is the heaviest I have ever been. No concrete goals but I would sure like to get to 220 lbs by December 31st.

I'll Be Back !! (Arnie accent)

2010-06-08T17:58:00.003-04:00

I'll be back very soon.

I have been away from riding for the past 3 to 4 weeks. I have been very busy getting my work life sorted out, changing job, settling into a new one, etc.

You will think that I am using all of this as a reason to not ride and on a level you would be right, but there are other underlying reasons that have caused me to pause, and those are about settled now, so ...............

I need to change the pedals on my bike as my new dog got at it and bit off the straps. I thought of going clip-less but am leaning more to going back to what was there before. I also need to get a new seat before hitting the road, as my ass will sure as hell complain like it did the first few weeks way back last year.

I will have to get back in and fall back into my routine, I also need to supplement my riding with mucho cross-training. I have been maintaining my 232 lbs but I really want to kick start the losses and get down to 200lbs as quickly as possible (without going overboard).

More to come

Kingston to Negril 2010 Ride is On

2010-04-23T11:51:00.007-04:00

I am not going anywhere near this, despite my post late last year that I would.

The Kingston to Negril run have riders going through Bog Walk George up to an estimated elevation of 1,650 feet to Moneague and then down to sea level into Ocho Rios, trekking along the north coast through Discovery Bay, Flamouth, Montego Bay and on into Negril. 140 miles, that is like a 5 1/2 hours driving at decent speed, much less on a bloody bike. Wasnt it last year it was along the south coast ?

I have been chugging along doing 35 miles on my best days and need to sort out a few things on my bike, like changing the seat to a more comfortable one but right now other things take priority. Last week I didnt get in any riding as it was rainy and I ended up spending the day with my better half and the guys from school finishing off an assignment. I am now free of school and am going to really try to get my ride time per week up.

This weekend will also be a tight one, but I am determined to get a good workout tomorrow. 35 miles is the target and I am going to work my butt off with the intention of riding a 100 miles trip before the end of 2010.

The home page for registration for the Kingston to Negril ride is http://www.jamaicabybike.com/

Check em out

35 Miles last week was no fluke

2010-04-10T13:09:00.003-04:00

35 miles again this morning.

Starting early helps and it looks like I might have to get up even earlier to get my miles in before it gets too hot. 5:30am this morning was a brighter than it was last week and I know that in another 2-4 weeks it will start lighting up by 5:15am.

On Saturday last week it took me a little over 3 1/2 hours to do the ride, this morning the time was down to 3 hours, which meant that my average speed over the 35 miles was about 12 miles per hour. I have a few 5 minute stops in there so I might actually be going faster.

On Wednesday I will be trying to get out again for hopefully a 25 miles run in the hope that I will be able to ride consistently twice per week.

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April 10, 2010

Miles Ridden Today - 35.0

Miles Ridden MTD - 81.7

Target for March - 150 miles

Needed for target - 68.3

Really trying to get into week day riding

2010-04-08T23:04:00.003-04:00

Its hard to motivate myself to do it during the week, especially when I am under work pressure, but I know if I dont increase my workload then I will stall my weight loss initiative.

This morning was crazy, I left out hoping to get at least 25 miles in and could only manage 11.7. The wind was blustery and I had to take a break when my heart started pounding from the exertion. My Doctor has suggested that I get a heart monitor and try to remain within 80% of my maximum heart rate. Apparent you maximum heart rate is 220-your age and staying with 80% of that number.

I am 40, so my maximum heart rate is 220-40= 180. I need to stay within a maximum of 144 heart beats per minute to keep my heart from pounding, having me break out into cold sweats wondering if I am having a freaking heart attack.

Rest day tomorrow and then an attempt at 35 miles on Saturday. I hope the breeze has died down by then.

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April 8, 2010

Miles Ridden Today - 11.7

Miles Ridden MTD - 46.7

Target for March - 150 miles

Needed for target - 103.3

Breaking that 25 miles barrier

2010-04-02T13:42:00.007-04:00

On February 13th I broke the 12 miles barrier and left it behind when I rode 25 miles. Today April 2, 2010 I broke the 25 miles barrier and took it to 35 miles. It was not easy and left me exhausted but I was so elated at the accomplishment.

I have issues that have prevented me from riding every Saturday and I am not going to sweat it, I am going to keep plugging away as often as I can and enjoy myself. We are on the first day of 4 days off from work, its the Easter weekend here in Jamaica and I am going to try to get 4 days of riding in and hopefully complete 100 miles for the weekend, something I have not been able to accomplish over a one month period.

I started earlier this morning as with the approaching summer the mornings are a little bit earlier and the sun a hell of a lot more hotter. My first circuit (12 miles) was a bit of a struggle, but the next 12 miles was easy, by the time I started tackling the last stretch the sun was scorching and I was glad I had carried extra water.

The road was nice and quiet as most people seemed to be sleeping late today and only 2 other cyclists showed up, I had to stop on the last stretch to help someone who had gotten a flat. He had a brand new tyre on and it looked like it had a hole and somebody had stitched it, he was not amused as he couldnt get in his miles and with today being a public holiday he cannot get the tyre replaced until tomorrow, so he cant do his regular Saturday morning run. I had to ride on the last 2 miles to get his car for him.

April is off to a good start and I am hoping to do another 35 miler tomorrow as Wayne had already planned that for us. If I can keep this up I will get to my goal off riding 100 miles in just 4 days.

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April 2, 2010

Miles Ridden Today - 35

Miles Ridden MTD - 35

Target for March - 150 miles.

Powers - Excellent Comic Book Series

2010-03-17T19:22:00.010-04:00

Every now and then I will read a comic book and just be blown out of the water by the type of story and the artwork. When you have been collecting comics as long as I have it takes something special to hold my attention, I mean most of the times I feel like I have "been there, done that", not so with Powers.

Powers is a crime drama comic book that takes place on an Earth populated by Superheroes. They soar above people in brightly coloured costumes and clash with Supervillians in epic spectacular battles like Gods while down in the streets normal citizens try to go about their lives in a dirty crime infested city. Police Detective Christian Walker (a former Superhero) and rookie Deena Pilgrim are teamed up and investigate crimes (mostly murders) related to Powers (the name given to people with........well powers)
Creator Brian Michael Bendis, a writer who made his name in the independents before becoming Marvel Comic's star boy, has stated that he really wanted to write this book as Alan Moore (Watchmen) and Frank Miller (The Dark Return Returns) told all there was to tell about Superheroes, and he found these types of stories more interesting. There are times when Bendis' obvious Mamet's style of writing irritates, but thankfully the substance of the stories usually make up for it

The artwork by Michael Avon Oeming is simple and reminiscent of Bruce Timm's style from the Batman Animated Series of the 90s and actually enhances the scripts greatly. His clean dynamic layouts have made me an instant fan.

If you were/are a fan of Hill Street Blue, NYPD Blue, CSI, heck even Law and Order you will enjoy this. It is serious, funny, irreverent, smart and damn good comic writing with stunning art.

I have a friend that I supply with what I consider exceptional comics, right now he's devouring Bendis/Maalev's excellent Daredevil run, I think I will give him Powers next and watch as his head explodes.

Powers - copyright Brian Michael Bendis and Michael Avon Oeming
Trades available at Amazon at this link

Mileage already going well this year

2010-03-15T09:28:00.003-04:00

I got my bike in late 2009 and started riding, not as much as I would like to but at least I was getting some exercise.

On January 2010 I decided that I really needed to take this lifestyle change seriously and really ride more consistently if I wanted to hit 200lbs by December. There was no way a half ass attempt was going to get me there, so I have been out more, I can still get out more and will.

Total miles for 2009 - 51. 03 miles
Total Miles for 2010 - 177.20 miles (YTD)

In January 2010 I rode more miles in one month than I did the entire 3 or so months in 09. It helps that I am already down 10lbs just from eating better and the doing more, but can you imagine the strides I could make with consistency ??

October is the date for the Kingston to Negril 142 miles bicycle trek and I am still working my way to taking part in it, it is a goal that I have set for myself and want to see just how much of that journey I can complete.

Stay tuned for more updates on my consistency.....

I have seen my mortal enemy and it is ...........

2010-03-13T20:21:00.003-05:00

the wind.

The blustery incessant wind that pops up every now and then while riding. It saps your energy, makes your heart pound and turn your legs to silly putty. It makes you feel that all the months of heavy riding suddenly means nothing and you are back to your old self , huffing and puffing away , helping to make you doubt your ability to finish and fueling the nagging thought in the back of your mind "maybe I should quit early today"

I had no intention of backing down from this beeeeyatch, she wasn't going to dry hump me and leave me wanting more, no sireebob. I was going to conquer her and walk off with a smirk on my face, and that is exactly what I did.

I paid no attention to the breeze while getting ready to ride, I just hit the road and cycled like my life depended on it. I started 10 minutes earlier than usual and rode out and back. Going out was fine, coming in was not, but I just gritted my teeth and steadily fought the wind and was genuinely very surprised at how quickly the ride seemed to be, it was not actually, but not bitching and moaning and just riding, concentrating on form, breathing properly, costing when I felt exhausted (never stopping).

I was wasted after 25 miles and after 10 minutes rest and some water and gatorade I actually felt like I could do another 6 or so miles, problem was that 6 miles would take me to Port Royal and I would have to ride another 6 in the wind again back to the car, and the sun was already out in all her glory and Wayne was wasted.

Next week I will start another 15 minutes earlier and go for 3 circuits - 36 miles. That should be very challenging as I have never ridden over 25 miles before

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March 13, 2010

Miles Ridden Today - 25

Miles Ridden MTD - 55

Target for March - 100 miles.

Quickie 5 Miles to Golden Spring

2010-03-10T17:20:00.005-05:00

Need to ride more often.

Although I have lost weight riding one day per week - Saturdays and watching what I eat, if I can get myself up to 3 times per week and keep off the Pepsi Cola I should shed lbs more quickly.

Its not easy motivating yourself to ride up here in Temple Hall as the road is narrow and busy. On Ash Wednesday a couple weeks ago I rode to Golden Spring and back and it was a good ride. I have been riding for 20 plus miles in Kingston on a relatively flat road, but the slope up to Golden Spring is very challenging and is exactly what I need, so this evening I came in a little early and just got into my padded shorts, grabbed a bottle of water and off I went.

Back and forth at an average of 15MPH, it was grueling going and fun coming back. I know I probably did 6 miles as I rode an extra mile to the gas station to cool off, but for my recording purposes I will cap it at 5.

I feel good and will try to do another run tomorrow and take Friday off in anticipation of a 25 miler on Saturday. I have included a couple of pictures so you all can see how narrow the road is.

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March 10, 2010

Miles Ridden Today - 5

Miles Ridden MTD - 30

Target for March - 100 miles

Back with a Bang !!

2010-03-06T11:10:00.004-05:00

Apparently nothing motivates more to lose weight than losing weight. Nothing gives you more energy than positive results, if you don't set a high targets then you results will be mediocre.

In my last 2 posts I talked about losing 10lbs over the past 8 weeks and the extra work that I had put into my riding, I was riding more days, going at it harder and longer. I had also adjusted my eating habits slightly, cutting down on rice and flour, consuming more complex carbs, stop eating before I am full, etc. but I still had the Pepsi habit.

Well the Pepsi habit is no more, I have been off it for the past week and I don't miss it. I have been drinking a lot more water and a product here call Cran-water - bottled water with Cranberry added. The best thing about Cran-water is that it has half the sugar of Pepsi and is not carbonated and not as addictive.

This morning was a 25 miles trek along my regular route by myself. Most times I prefer riding by myself as I can concentrate totally on my ride without being distracted with conversations. I am not anti-social but sometimes its hard riding and trying to keep up a conversation. Occasionally though, riding with a partner motivates you to continue even after you feel like you must stop or die.

This morning I felt good, I was rode at an average of 12.5 miles, which might seem slow to some of you, but for me is quick enough. I am not training to be a racer, I am riding to lose weight, so I concentrate on keeping form, breathing deeply and to keep soldering on. I also rode in a higher gear which made the pedalling more difficult but with less rotations.

At the end I felt good not wasted as usual, and that is probably a good sign that my body has adjusted reasonably well to 25 miles. I went for a quick 30 minutes walk after-wards as this guy I known suggested just as I was finishing that a brisk walk would be good just to mix things up.

Good start to March, on Tuesday and Thursday morning I will try to do a 5 miles quickie to Golden Spring and back.

March 6, 2010

Miles Ridden Today - 25

Miles Ridden MTD - 25

Target for March- 100 miles

No Riding this weekend

2010-02-27T17:48:00.005-05:00

I really wanted to ride this morning, I wanted to celebrate my losing a whopping 10lbs over the past 8 weeks by hitting the road and powering my way to 25 miles and for the first time ride in excess of 60 miles for a month, alas this was not to be.

On Tuesday night I went to bed and started watching tv in an unusual position, resting on my left shoulder. My better half wasn't feeling well and she was taking up half the bed and I couldn''t bring myself to move her as she looked very comfortable. Long and short is I fell asleep in that position and woke up 6 hours later with a searing pain in my left shoulder (cuff? ) I couldn't raise my arm to even put an a shirt.

I tried relaxing all week, applied some stuff that I found in a drawer and just prayed that my arm would feel better by Saturday morning, but that was not to be. My arm would not extend properly to hold the handle bars without aching painfully, much less gripping while riding and putting part of my body weight on it..

Very very disappointed, but this evening I feel the pain easing somewhat. If it continues I will drag my ass out of bed on Tuesday and Thursday morning a do some quickie runs to Golden Spring and then plan for a real 25 to 30 miler for next Saturday.

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February 2010

Miles Ridden Today - 0
Miles Walked MTD - 5

Miles Ridden MTD - 55.5

Target for February - 60-75 miles

Target for March 2010 - 75 miles

Woo Hoo: I am down 10 lbs.

2010-02-24T16:55:00.006-05:00

I work on the road and my job has me interacting with all the major supermarkets in Kingston and St. Andrew, the temptation of eating all the sugary and starchy crap and drinking all the soda I want is in front of me on a daily basis, yet over the past couple months I have lost 10 lbs.

In January I quit my job with WBS. I loved my job and I could see myself working there for the next 10 years and enjoying the heck out of it, but sometimes things happen and you move on and you are surprised at how much better you feel from not having the constant stress on you, the stress to over-perform, over-achieve, yadda yadda yadda.

I decided that I wanted less stress, to try and start by own business, spend more time spent trying to live a healthier lifestyle and trying my best to forge an even closer relationship with my wife, (I have a tendency of being a work-a-holic and sometimes spending way too much time on the job or on the internet) and the it has been trying as day to day challenges and bills come in, but working together as a team really helps, instead of me taking on everything, bottling it up and trying to solve everything myself, Antoinette shares the burden with me.

I have been riding on and off (more off than on actually) for the past few months and you can look back through all the entries here and follow my (mis ?) adventures, but at the end of January I decided that I really needed to commit to upping the intensity, so 2 Saturdays ago I rode 25 miles and this Saturday I did 23.5. I am also trying to do 2 in the week 5 miles ride, but I haven't consistently followed through on that yet. The result has been pleasing - I am down 10lbs.

I have not put myself on a strict diet or anything. I am eating better since moving further from Kingston, more bananas, yams and potatoes and less rice and bread, I have cut Pepsi consumption but not totally eliminated it, and I eat my dinner before 6pm and in slightly smaller servings (I don't eat until I feel full, I stop just before)

The address of this blog is target190lbs for a reason as a weight of 190lbs is my ultimate goal. Way back when I started this blog I was 250lbs, I am down to 240, the next step is 230 and knowing that I am well on my way is motivation enough to really crank out some miles on Saturday and beyond.

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Weight

October - 250 lbs
February - 240 lbs

End of 2010 Target - 200 lbs

The Heat is On !!

2010-02-20T18:19:00.003-05:00

Did 23.5 miles today.

I really wanted to try for 30 miles, but my riding partners upped the pace on me this morning and I was exhausted after 23.5 miles.

I didnt drive this morning, I had my better half drop me off and the intention was to ride 23.5 miles and then the rest from the route back to my mother-in-law, but the guys were really feeling their oats this morning and set a serious pace. I remembered last weeks lesson and concentrated on breathing but it was still harder completing the route.

At 8:30am we called it quits, the sun was really pelting and it felt like July or August. Wayne had to go off to the hospital as his Uncle had been admitted suffering from a heart attack, and he thought I looked pretty bushed and was reluctant to leave me there, so I just barely nodded as he loaded up the bikes.

I fell asleep as soon as I sat down at my mother-in-laws and got up an hour later with a fierce neck ache (from sleeping in a chair in the living room).

I think 25 miles will be the limit for the next month, although I will be striving for 30. I probably need to start out another 20 or so minutes earlier in the mornings as the dawn is coming up earlier now than in November and December. By about May to June it should be light out by 5:30am, by then I will be hoping to outfit the bike with bright lights so I can ride before sunrise.

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February 2010

Miles Ridden Today - 23.5
Miles Walked MTD - 5

Miles Ridden MTD - 55.5

Target for February - 60-75 miles

Quick 5 Miles this Morning

2010-02-17T16:49:00.002-05:00

Quick dash to Golden Spring and back.

Well it was quick because I was on the road for an hour, but it wasnt quick going to Golden Spring as I was riding it for the first time. The undulating road made for an interesting ride as I had spots of overexertion followed by relief and I didnt get too winded making it to Golden Spring, I did work up a great sweat though.

It flashed through my mind briefly to go another half mile or so up towards Stony Hill, but one look at that hill dissuaded me until I get fitter. So the routine now will be Palisadoes on a Saturday and Golden Spring/Stony Hill on a Wednesday.

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February 2010

Miles Ridden Today - 5
Miles Walked MTD - 5

Miles Ridden MTD - 32

Target for February - 60-75 miles

I Just Kept Going on and on and on and ...................

2010-02-13T17:16:00.006-05:00

Today while riding I had a bit of a breakthrough.

I have been riding very infrequently for the past 6 months and have only been able to consistently ride about 12 miles on any given day. I usually get tired, my heart would race and I would be panting like a hound dog in heat. After riding only 2 miles on Wednesday and almost dying from exhaustion (see post below) I was determined to ride more than 12 miles today.

Started riding by myself at 6:15am and inhaled very deeply as I started out and hit upon the breakthrough idea, I will specifically concentrate on my breathing today, no extraneous thoughts on how tired my legs felt, no thinking to myself that its a long way back, nothing, just concentrate on my breathing and ride. And that is what I did and in the process completed 25 miles.

I usually go nearly 6 miles straight to Port Royal, take a break and then roll on back to the car, but this time I was really feeling good. I kept a steady pace, concentrating on form and breathing and just soldered on. On reaching Port Royal I just spun around and started back without stopping and went straight back to the car park.

I still felt great so I had a drink and went off for another circuit, back and forth and then on down to the airport and along the road towards The Gunboat Beach and back. I didnt feel exhausted, didnt feel like I was dying or anything, I felt great - well apart from a sore ass after siting on it for the past 2 1/2 hours.

Wednesday is a holiday and I am going to try Temple Hall to Golden Spring again. The last time I tried it I almost had a heart attack from riding up the incline, but if I apply the same principles - breathe deeply, pay attention to form - I should be able to make it.

Wish me luck

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February 2010

Miles Ridden Today - 25
Miles Walked MTD - 5

Miles Ridden MTD - 27

Target for February - 60-75 miles

The King is Alive - Long Live the King

2010-02-12T00:07:00.010-05:00

If you have read any of my postings here, you will already know that I am a big comic book fan and I especially love good comic book art, although I really consider myself a bit of a "writer"(sort of), I just love seeing purty pictures.

Just today DC released an image with gorgeous David Finch art that tells us that "The King is Back, Long Live the King." Aquaman The King of the Seven Seas is back !!

I have always been a major DC fan and as a kid got in the usual kid arguments of "Who's better DC or Marvel" and although many fans often think of Aquaman as the superhero with the silliest power ever (dude, he speaks to his fishy friends) I always thought if handled properly he had the potential to be a star.

In the early 90s Peter David was tapped to chronicle the adventures of Aquaman and a star was born. David infused the character with a real personality and purpose and populated the series with interesting characters that complimented and also provided conflict for the main character. King Orin was a leader of his people and his bearing took on the arrogance of a King and the excess baggage and problems that went with such responsibilities. He also radically changed Orin's personality and had his hand eaten off by piranhas (ouch) and replaced with a hook (Arhhhh, me maties), got him involved with Dolphin ( a girl named dolphin, not a real one) and had him communicating with various aquatic lifeforms fishes, dolphins, etc. (the dolphin Pom - his adoptive mother, and sharks - damn, they are pretty dumb you know)

Fans either loved it or hated it, they accused David of making Orin a carbon copy of Marvel's Namor the Submariner, but David just seemed to gleefully go off on plots that stretched for issues on end and plot twists that had fans laughing menacingly like evil dictators trying to rule the world.

Eventually irreconcilable creative differences between himself and the editor (was it Dooley or Raspler) led to his departure and a wretched 12 issue run written by Eric Larsen, followed by a wonderful under-rated run by Dan Jurgens and Steve Epting could not prevent the series being cancelled against the doldrums of low industry sales in 2001.

Since then Aquaman fans have had to get their thrill from Orin's appearances in books like JLA and on Warner cartoons. There was a revival of the series in 2003 by writer Tom Veitch which ran for 39 issues before morphing into Aquaman:Sword of Atlantis which gave us a blond blade wielding Aquaman who was certainly not the original character (if you dont ask, I promise not to tell), but the series fizzled and really couldnt hold on to its readers.

Aquaman was eventually killed of in some silly "event series" that DC and Marvel seem forever wanting to heap on fans every couple months, and it has taken Geoff Johns' runaway hit Blackest Knight and the upcoming Brightest Day to restore a character that has so much potential, but which nobody seems to be able to get a proper handle on (except Peter David).

I have been on a break from buying comics as I try to get certain things in place for 2010, but rest assured I will be following the adventures of one of my favourite character to see how he's being handled and whether someone/anyone has finally gotten a proper handle on him. (PAD ! Where are youuuuuuuu ?)

The Aquaman covers shown were all accessed at the Grand Comic Database and are the copywrite of DC Comics Inc.

Video: Our Ride on Saturday

2010-02-10T17:10:00.004-05:00

Video: Saturday Ride

Uploaded a video to Youtube of Wayne and a girl riding last Saturday morning, as I posted before i had a flat and did a fair amount of walking and ended up with a serious ankle ache that lasted until the next day, but everything's ok now.

I went for a quick ride this evening, I started off at 4pm and was back by 5, trying my best not to have a heart attack. The main road from Annotto Bay all the way to Stony Hill is really one long incline and it gets extreme at Golden Spring, but all through St. Mary and onwards through Temple Hall it is an incline, and after riding for months on the relatively flat road of Harbour View and clocking close to 12 miles per ride, I figured Temple Hall to Golden Spring and back would be a "cake walk" (5 miles) - but I didn't consider the friggin' incline.

Riding towards Golden Spring with the incline is like riding in heavy wind on the Palisadoes, it makes you feel like your heart is jumping out of your chest and you have to find somewhere to sit and take deep breaths until the feeling of puking your guts out while dying passes.
I did just that and drank some water and then reversed the course - NO !! I did not make it to Golden Spring. The best part of riding an incline going, is riding the decline coming, and that was fun and I am sure I was topping 30 mph at one point.

My adventures on Saturday told me that although I have been riding a little more and feeling better, I am still very very out of shape and I need to increase the frequency of my aerobic activity, I definitely will be riding this road more. The traffic wasn't that bad, a bit nerve wracking as buses and trucks raced past, but I had more than enough room to ride.

I called my good friend Andre this evening, we used to walk together and do the gym about 20 years ago, he was always heavy in high school and has dropped weight in the past, but with the approach of his 40th anniversary of his life on earth and the type of job he has (Accountant), he has really packed on some excess pounds, so I invited him to go walking on a Saturday morning while we are riding. He has expressed an interest in getting a bike and joining us, so I am going so see if I can get a suitable bike for him. Its not going to be easy dragging his ass out of bed at 5:30am as he is used to going to sleep late at nights, but I have to push him, or I might end up losing one of my best friends to a heart attack or something.

This weekend coming up I will try to record us while we are riding, so you all can look out for it

Peace

Billy Joel: We Didnt Start The Fire

2010-02-07T18:23:00.002-05:00

WE DIDNT START THE FIRE BY BILLY JOEL

Harry Truman, Doris Day, Red China, Johnnie Ray
South Pacific, Walter Winchell, Joe DiMaggio

Joe McCarthy, Richard Nixon, Studebaker, television
North Korea, South Korea, Marilyn Monroe

Rosenbergs, H-bomb, Sugar Ray, Panmunjom
Brando, "The King and I" and "The Catcher in the Rye"

Eisenhower, vaccine, England's got a new queen
Marciano, Liberace, Santayana goodbye

CHORUS:
We didn't start the fire
It was always burning
Since the world's been turning
We didn't start the fire
No we didn't light it
But we tried to fight it

Joseph Stalin, Malenkov, Nasser aand Prokofiev
Rockefeller, Campanella, Communist Bloc

Roy hn, Juan Peron, Toscanini, dacron
Dien Bien Phu falls, "Rock Around the Clock"

Einstein, James Dean, Brooklyn's got a winning team
Davy Crockett, Peter Pan, Elvis Presley, Disneyland

Bardot, Budapest, Alabama, Krushchev
Princess Grace, "Peyton Place", trouble in the Suez

CHORUS:
We didn't start the fire
It was always burning
Since the world's been turning
We didn't start the fire
No we didn't light it
But we tried to fight it

Little Rock, Pasternak, Mickey Mantle, Kerouac
Sputnik, Chou En-Lai, "Bridge on the River Kwai"

Lebanon, Charlse de Gaulle, California baseball
Starkweather, homicide, children of thalidomide

Buddy Holly, "Ben Hur", space monkey, Mafia
Hula hoops, Castro, Edsel is a no-go

U-2, Syngman Rhee, payola and Kennedy
Chubby Checker, "Psycho", Belgians in the Congo

CHORUS:
We didn't start the fire
It was always burning
Since the world's been turning
We didn't start the fire
No we didn't light it
But we tried to fight it

Hemingway, Eichmann, "Stranger in a Strange Land"
Dylan, Berlin, Bay of Pigs invasion

"Lawrence of Arabia", British Beatlemania
Ole Miss, John Glenn, Liston beats Patterson

Pope Paul, Malcolm X, British politician sex
JFK, blown away, what else do I have to say

CHORUS:
We didn't start the fire
It was always burning
Since the world's been turning
We didn't start the fire
No we didn't light it
But we tried to fight it

Birth control, Ho Chi Minh, Richard Nixon back again
Moonshot, Woodsto/ck/, Watergate, punk rock
Begin, Reagan, Palestine, terror on the airline
Ayatollah's in Iran, Russians in Afghanistan

"Wheel of Fortune", Sally Ride, heavy metal, suicide
Foreign debts, homeless vets, AIDS, crack, Bernie Goetz
Hypodermics on the shores, China's under martial law
Rock and roller cola wars, I can't take it anymore

CHORUS:
We didn't start the fire
But when we are gone
Will it still burn on, and on, and on, and on...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jR-A4QFHZBA

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I have always loved this song and find myself listening and singing a lot last week

Feeling Flat Flat Flat !!!

2010-02-07T06:44:00.003-05:00

with apologies to Arrow and his great soca song song (Feeling hot hot hot !)

I didnt get to ride on yesterday as I had a flat.

I have been riding for a while and have gotten used to having to stop to put air in my tyres occasionally, so I know which gas stations have air hoses attached to their pumps at 5am in the mornings (very few). Unlike the Boys Scouts though I was not prepared on Saturday morning.

Usual routine on Saturday morning and I headed out probably 10 minutes later than usual, I knew I had the flat and knew it wasnt just normal, as my tyres normally wouldn't loose a lot of pressure, this time it was flat ! I left it until reaching Harbour View and that is when I realized that there might be a big hole in the tube as the pumping wasnt helping and Wayne had neither patches or extra tubes with him today.

I was determined to exercise and went off for a brisk walk towards Port Royal. I had quite a few people asking me "where's the bike?" accusingly, as I if I had murdered it and hid it in the bushes, but the walking was good and very different from riding. I found it much more difficult and will concede that it and running is a better aerobic workout than riding, but man its hard on the joints. I completed a little over 4 miles and ended up the a serious ache in my right ankle that has eased only somewhat nearly 24 hours later.
No doubt about it though, I got a very good workout, the hear rate was up for 80-90% of the walk and I worked up a great sweat, I could feel the muscles getting pump and was sufficiently exhausted when I returned to the parking lot.

On the way home I stopped by the bicycle shop and picked up a small patch kit and an extra tube to carry around in my car so I will always be prepared, I couldnt find the air pump here and need to check my by my mother-in-law's house today as I am sure it was left there. I havent patched the tube yet and need to learn how to do that quickly as flats are part of the day to day routine of cyclists, also getting a pump that can be attached to the bike is a given.

I am off to a class in another hour or so, my ankle is still aching but has eased a bit, and I can only hope that it will be fine for work tomorrow

Ramping up the work out

2010-01-30T12:09:00.011-05:00

It occurred to me today " I need to really ramp up the workout"

The facts are that between work, school and a couple other endeavours that I am looking into, it is going to be hard to get more than one full day to get any kind of heavy aerobic work-out done. Where I live makes it inconvenient to do my Port Royal Ride any more than maximum 2 days per week and school has now come along and cut that down to one day. My better half had stated an early morning walk with our next door neighbour but she and I wont be able to continue until maybe next month when the mornings are not so damn cold up here.

I really wanted to ride in excess of 15 miles today but realized very quickly that it was not going to happen as on getting out of the car at 6:10am I was greeted by very blustery breeze, and the effort needed to ride in blustery breeze is like trying to breathe with someone standing on your chest.

The ride out was brisk, but the ride back in was a chore and I got winded very early. Its pretty easy to throw your hands up in the air and take a break, especially when your heart is trying to jump out of your chest from exertion and I was tempted to stop and take a break, when up rode this guy I didnt know, he obviously knew me as he called me by my name. A friend of mine in Atlanta (Jackie) who knew I had taken up riding told her friend who rode and pointed him to my blog, so he knew what I looked like and what I was riding.

He was out racing with the Spinners Club - you know the group of riders who barrel past you at about 28-30 miles an hour shouting out "RIGHT" so that everyone in the pack moves to overtake as a group. He had seen me and turned back to say "Hi" and ride with me for a while. He was a tremendous help as he gave me advice and riding along with someone really motivates you to not quit, I did stop for about a minute to get a drink but completed the route. Back at the car I chatted with a couple of more experienced riders and listened to their sage advices, the majority of riders that I have met so far have been real gentlemen.

Before coming back home I decided to hit Chancery Hall and tackle a steep hill that I used to walk on regularly maybe 10 or 12 years ago. It's a 1 mile hike straight up what I call "The Mother of all Hills", pretty steep, no flat area as such. I used to struggle over it when I was 27 or so and wanted to do this right after riding on a Saturday. I managed to do about 1/3 of it before nearly collapsing, I know my legs will be tired after riding, but I want to really overload them and then give them a couple days to recover. The entire hill up and down is 2 miles, so more work for me.

Chancery Hall told me how much out of shape I was. Cycling is good, but adding hill climbing will probably get me in shape quicker and help me to get my distance and speed up on the bike - so it should be a win/win situation.

So from now on it will be bicycle ride and then hill climbing. Let us see how that goes.

--------------------------------------
January 30, 2010

Miles Ridden Today - 11.7 miles

Miles Ridden MTD - 56.7 miles

Target for month - 100 miles

Miles Needed - 43.3 miles

Time to Step Up Nehemiah Perry

2010-01-25T07:47:00.010-05:00

The Jamaican cricket team has been dominating West Indies regional cricket for the past 5 years and seem likely to continue the dominance this year, as they have easily dispatched the Leeward and Windward Islands and currently have the Guyanese team staring certain defeat in the 2010 Four Day Regional Competition. However there are serious flaws in the makeup of the Jamaican team and it is obvious that the Panel of Selectors are aware of them and are actually support these shortcoming.

Looking at the XI that face the Islands over the past 2 week, the Jamaican team seem to be unbalanced, with a bowler short and playing the extra batsman, when you have an all-rounder in David Bernard Jr. opening the bowling with either Darren Powell or Andrew Richardson, you know something is wrong. It is obvious the Selectors have reasoned that our strength lie in our spin bowling duo of Nikita Miller and Odean Brown who have, over the past 2-3 years run riot over all and sundry to the extent that Captain Tamar Lambert seem to use his pacers to get the shine off the ball quickly before turning to spin, and it has worked, so the Selectors are probably saying to themselves “Why mess with Success?”

Continued dominance in cricket depends a lot on the reserve players that we have waiting in the wings, and the amount of opportunities given to them to learn how to cope at the higher level. Stacking the team with batsmen and depending on 2 bowlers and an all-rounder to consistently bowl out the opposition can backfire if there no real bowlers to back them up, what happens if both spinners are unable to break a partnership ? Instead of playing Darren Powell who seems incapable to getting wickets at this level, and has next to no chance of getting back into the West Indies test team, we should be blooding young pacers like Jason Dawes, Krishmar Santokie, Andre Russell and Ricardo Dacres and giving them an opportunity to learn at a higher level.

The quartet of Xavier Marshall, Brenton Parchment, Shaun Findlay and Danza Hyatt have all failed to give Jamaica reasonable starts at top of the order and we have had to depend on Lambert, Nash, Hinds and Baugh to set us good scores, what happens in the one or two matches that Hinds and Baugh fail with Nash away on West Indies duty in Australia ? A perfect opportunity exist for Mr. Perry and company to blood one of or both batsmen Zeniffe Fowler and Horace Miller and achieve two tasks, one - to expose two new players with enormous potential and two - to drop from the system chronic under-performers who have been given more than enough opportunities to show that they belong.

The Trindadians, Windwards, Leewards and Guyanese have all been “blooding” youngsters, while the Jamaican team has correctly allowed players time to settle in and perform, but methinks that Messrs. Marshall, Hyatt, Parchment, Findlay and Darren Powell have had more than enough opportunities to prove that they belong, and unfortunately the verdict is NO - THE DO NOT BELONG !

The Selectors seem to be playing it safe because we are currently winning, but if they wait until we start losing to get new players into the team, we will be running the risk of taking two steps backward before taking one step forward again, and erasing the advances that have been made in our local cricket programme.

Pictures: Andrew Richardson, Donovan Pagon, Nikita Miller, Jerome Taylor & Nikita Miller
Copyright to their respective holders

12 more days before its back to the daily Grind

2010-01-20T10:27:00.011-05:00

I have been on vacation since the 3'd of January. I decided late last year that despite all the important issues that are demanding immediate attention in my life, I needed to make certain lifestyle changes that would ensure that I live beyond the age of 4o, and the main one was to eliminate stress. I loved my job and the career path but I also know it is important to balance my work life with personal time, hence the change. I just signed my contract with my new employer and come February 1st will be off on a new adventure.

One of the advantages of having 3-4 weeks of down-time is that it makes you think a lot, and I been thinking of various ways I can go into business for myself. While brainstorming over the past few days I hit up on an idea and after consultation with a couple of my friends, we have decided to take the plunge. We all work full-time and the business will demand very little in the way of Capital to start up but we think it has enormous potential and will meet on the weekend to finalize everything. This will have little or no effect on my main job as the other partners in this venture will be available to help guide and grow the company.

Being on vacation also gives me a lot of time to catch up on my reading and movies and also comic books. I havent been buying for the past 8 or so months but I still read a lot inline and look at pretty pictures.
Today I ran across someone who had uploaded pages upon pages of DC Style Guide artwork of Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez and I just had to share it with you all. Why would any of be interested in this ? well if you have ever bought your son, nephew or cousins Batman or Superman PJs or Wonder Woman t-shirt for your daught or neice or Super Friends bedsheets then you alreay know his art. JL's art has been used on millions of licenced products world-wide.

JL is a Spanish born Argentine artist who lives in the US and works for DC Comics. He has been acknowledged by many of his peers as a master draftsman and is admired by millions of fans worldwide. I consider him my favourite Superman artist and have yet to see any work from him that I dislike.

Its my hobby and I am excited to discover these pages, and I am determined to own a copy of DC Style Guide in the future (the cost be damned)

I did not ride this weekend, for some strange reason I woke up with a pretty bad headache and my wife felt so nice and warm and cozy that I just couldnt resist snuggling back into her arms. I also have the constraint of having to watch my money as I have another month or so before I get paid plus I have to attend classes on Sunday. I will be making a real effort this weekend to hit the road.

All characters in this post are the copyright of DC Comics Inc.

The Ladies are right: An Inch Does Make A Difference !

2010-01-09T10:17:00.008-05:00

An inch makes a big difference, so anytime a lady tells you that size doesn't matter - AH LIE SHE AH TELL !!

So I adjusted me seat by an inch and what a difference it made. I always knew it needed adjustment as it felt uncomfortable when I rode, like I was cramped for room. The seat needed to be raised and also it sloped slightly upwards. All of that was fixed and now it feels a little better. I will have to adjust the handlebar as I get a slight backache while riding.

When will I ever learn ?? Everytime Wilson tells me that he wants to start early, invariably he will be late. Yesterday it was overcast the whole day and Antoinette and I were in Mandeville looking at some properties, we came back in and ran straight into friday kingston traffic and rain. But rain be damed, we will still ride.

The plan was for 5:45am start. I was there at 5:50 but Wilson was still home, and I just set up and started. It was still pretty dark and I dont have lights on the bike but I was sure it would light up enough before I end up under a truck. Its really nice riding early and I saw Paul riding with his group. The ride to Port Royal was great, the ride back was not. It was a windy blustering morning and it really took a massive effort riding against it. I had to stop to catch my breath and get some water three quarters of the way back as my heart was really pounding from the effort.

It was a good ride tough and I saw a business associate of mine who rode up, pack away his bike, took on some fluid and went off for a run. He said he was training for competition, I need to ask him what exactly he takes part in, but he really inspired me and made me realize that riding alone wont work with me, it will have to include walking, running and weights training.

------------------------------------
January 9, 2010

Miles Ridden Today - 12.3 miles

Miles Ridden MTD - 45 miles

Target for Month - 100 Miles

Miles to be Completed - 55 Miles

Enjoying the break and putting in more miles

2010-01-06T09:13:00.003-05:00

As I intimated in my last post I need to make major changes in my life and maybe the first one is the job, so I did it, I resigned.

..........and I feel good. I loved my job, I was dedicated to it and gave my all, but over the past 12 months I had become dissatisfied and knew that eventually something would have to give. I gave notice and was told that notice wasnt necessary, so I have a 3 week vacation before starting my new job.

This morning I decided to hit the road again, with so many days free it is entirely possible to do 100 miles for the month, so that is my target. I drove down to my regular spot this morning and did 11.7 miles. My wife surprisingly accompanied me and went off in the other direction for a brisk morning walk and we met up back at the car about an hour later. The ride out was good, but back in was a struggle as usual. I am sure my seat and handle bars need adjusting as I get an ache in my lower back after about 40 minutes and will need to address that by weekend. I enjoyed having my wife along although she's insistent that she will not be riding a bicycle, the thought of cars and buses passing her while she's riding terrifies her.

She will be up at 6am tomorrow to do a brisk 2 mile walk and I will be joining her, the more exercise I get in the better for me. My next ride is Saturday at which time I will try for 15-20 miles.

------------------------------
January 6, 2010

Miles ridden today - 11.7 miles

Miles ridden MTD - 32.7 miles

Target for month - 100

Miles to be completed - 67.3 miles

Great Start to 2010

2010-01-02T12:24:00.006-05:00

21 Miles today

I have been riding infrequently, I have been busy with work and school and a number of other issues. Where I live the road is very busy and as far as I am concerned not conducive to riding, so I occasionally ride when I can get up early on a Saturday morning to get it done. My job invariably interferes and it seems like 50-60 hours during the week is not enough for me to at least have Saturday mornings free.

My life needs changes and the first change is the job. I have been at my current place of employ for the past 6 years and although my passion is high and my dedication is more than 100%, there are times when one must make an honest assessment of what is happening. Am I being treated fairly ? are my opinions valued ? are we just cannon fodder to make the numbers and nothing else ? do I have peace of mind ?

I have made some promises to myself for 2010:

1. I need to have peace of mind while working
2. My dedication to getting fitter and healthier has to be prioritized
3. My family must take priority
4. I must assist my wife as much as possible to ensure her new business venture succeeds.

This morning I did 21 miles. I have never ridden more than 12.3 miles before and haven't ridden since the middle of November and was determined to ride today and tomorrow. A friend who rides a lot suggested that I work on fear of riding near my home and just get to it. He rides up here regularly and has never really had a problem. The advantage to riding up here is that the roads are not flat, and about 3 or so miles away there is a steep climb to Stony Hill. I am under no illusions that I am ready for Stony Hill but I know fighting my way up that slope on a regular basis will benefit me tremendously. So tomorrow its Temple Hall to Golden Spring and then eventually up the hill incrementally until I can do it.

Today was a big challenge and I copped out before finishing. I met with Robert a co-worker of mine and we did Airport to Port Royal and back in good time. On the way back I saw Wilson my regular riding partner heading out. After the ride Rob and I leaned against the car and chatted for a while when up rode Wilson. We chit chatted for about 20 minutes before Wilson convinced me to go another round. I wasn't totally sold on the proposition but I need to really push myself. I didnt carry any Gatorade this morning so that might have contributed to my being wasted, but I soldered on gallantly to Port Royal, on the way back though my legs gave out a couple miles from the car. It was about 10:30am and the sun was very fierce. I was thirsty and probably a little dehydrated but I really couldnt continue on. Wilson rode on and got the van.

I didnt finish the ride, but I am glad that I was able to get in 21 miles, which is a wonderful start for January and for 2010.

Sunday morning at 6:30am will see me doing Temple Hall to Golden Spring and back. Shouldnt be more than 5-6 miles, but its not flat and that should be an entirely new challenge. Maybe I'll even tackle a little bit of Stony Hill

----------------------------
January 2, 2010

Miles ridden Today - 21 miles

Miles Ridden MTD - 21 miles

Target for month - 100 miles

Merry Christmas and a Productive and Active New Year

2009-12-23T21:26:00.008-05:00

Image copyright Ty Templeton

The cartoon above is hilarious and is written and drawn by Toronto based writer/artist Ty Templeton. I have met Ty on the 2 occasions that I have visited Fanexpo and he is a charming and funny fella, always willing to do a free sketch for a fan. Check out his blog here.

The end of 2009 is nigh, and I wanted to say thanks to all the people who have been following this blog (officially 3 - damn)

It has been a difficult year, IMO we are in the middle of an Economic Depression, despite Economists and Politicians worldwide saying that we are in a recession, and this will go over into 2010 and 2011 from the sound of things. We in Jamaica are having some serious fall-outs, our Bauxite and Sugar Industry has been devastated, Tourism is struggling to survive and workers are losing jobs as companies compensate for loss revenue by cutting expenses.

My year has been difficult both personally and professionally as my job is directly impacted by how well the economy is doing. Antoinette and I faced the challenges of 2009 together, we discussed issues both positive and negative and I continued learning that sharing the burden really helps. She has been an inspiration and my strength when the going has been tough.

2010 offers a new challenge as we are worried about how our shrinking economy will affect our career and what social upheavals may result from a shrinking of the national economic resources. We already have problem with rampant crime and there is a possibility that it will get worse the longer the recession continues.

Personally I am prepared to meet any and all challenges in my job and to conquer it. I also need to pay more attention to Antoinette's business and try to help her as much as possible. I started getting a lot more active physically so I can get in shape and will continue in that quest and will post my progress, thoughts, ideas here more frequently.

To all my friends and family - Have a wonderful Christmas and a prosperous 2010.

Eat, drink and have sex, und sex, und sex, und sex ..........................:)

Port Royal - Here I come again !

2009-11-21T09:43:00.005-05:00

Ye Old Bar - Port Royal, Jamaica

Back in the saddle again.

Went out today and did 12.3 miles, the same distance I did 3 weeks ago before getting sick.

The morning started out routinely, up at a little after 4:30am for a cup of tea and some crackers, getting ready and out the door at about 5:15am for the drive into Kingston. For some strange reason I couldn't get through to Wilson, normally I would hear from him early.

Arrived at 6:15am and got ready right away and hit the road all by myself. As usual while riding by myself I found that I was pushing myself harder than usual, no problem I thought, if I get tired I will just lower the pace and try to catch my breath, and that is exactly what I did, steady pace into Port Royal. I was very surprised that I had reached there so quickly and took only 5 minutes to get a drink and massage Robbie and the twins back to life.

Betsy parked accross the road from
Ye Old Bar

The journey back was a little more difficult as I continued pushing myself a little faster than usual and the last mile to the car really did me in, but I stuck it out like a Champ. There were a lot of people on the road today as there was a Walk-a-ton in progress, they didn't travel along the Port Royal road so they didn't really get in my way until I was driving back home. It was wonderful seeing dozens of people walking aggressively in the hot sun working up a sweat.

I felt good today, I didn't ride further than I did 3 weeks ago but I know I did it at a faster pace than before and most importantly I didn't have Wilson there pushing me, I did it all on my own.

-------------------------
November 2009

Last Ride - 12.3 miles

Total Ride for the Month - 12.3 miles

Target miles for November - 60 miles

Being Sick Really Sucks

2009-11-14T09:46:00.006-05:00

Last week I got sick, very sick.

I was so pumped up after doing over 12 miles on October 31, that I was prepared to repeat the process and just "keep on keeping it on". I wanted to use the achievement as motivation to ride a little bit harder and little bit longer, and believe me nothing motivates more than success.

Last Friday was different, instead of my regular job of being on the road all day, I ended up in a meeting all day. During the afternoon I developed a cough that seem to be getting worse as the evening wore on. I was concerned, the cough was pretty dry but there seemed to be no particular reason for it as I had not eaten anything unusual or been in a dusty environment. Later on my better half asked me to pick up her nephew Joel and take him home as she was busy at her office. My coughing continued all the way home.

At home I went about my Friday evening routine, setting water and Gatorade in the freezer, laying out my riding clothes, getting the bicycle in my car, etc. I was still coughing but was determined to ride early in the morning before heading off to the monthly Sales Meeting at work. At about 10pm I suddenly felt my sinus clogging up, my throat getting dry and a few aches and pains coming on very quickly. withing an hour I was almost totally incapacitated with a terrible headache, a clogged sinus and a constant coughing that irritated the hell out of me.

The long and short of it is that by Saturday morning I was totally useless and that continued right into this week, I had a full blown cold, with clogged sinus, running a temperature and felt very weak. By Wednesday I was in my doctor's office because while I had started to feel better I had a wheezing on my chest that sounded like trouble. My doctor put me on a nebulizer (my first time on one) and ended up sending me home for the rest of the weeks with very strong antibiotics to clear up a serious chest infection with orders to stay off the bike until I had fully recovered.

This week has been torture, everytime I inhale deeply I feel a tightness in my chest and that usually triggers a coughing fit. I am a bit worried about that and hope its not something else developing (Asthma perhaps). In the meantime I have been religiously taking my medication and getting a lot of rest and spending a lot of time with Grandma who just came back from a 6 month long sojourn in the Great White North. (that's Canada for those of you not in the know)

I really am looking forward to next week as I do'nt want this to be a very long break from riding.

The Journey of 142 miles begins here

2009-10-31T16:06:00.010-04:00

Go to http://www.e-griff.com/ someone has a
great sense of humor about a middle age fella
on a bike trying to get fit (Sounds familiar eh ?)
Cartoon copyright to John Griffiths

After finding various excuses for not doing my Saturday morning rides all of this month, I finally just said "to heck with it". All the reasons I have had were just excuses not to haul my ass out of bed at 4:30am to eat and get myself down to Palisadoes to ride to Port Royal and back.

Last night I blew off some co-workers who wanted to go for an after-work drink (they ended up cancelling anyway) dragged my carcass to bed by midnight and was up at 4:40am just before the alarm went off. I had put my bike in the car already and just needed to eat, dress and head out. I left 15 or so minutes too late as Australia was batting in the second ODI v India and I got caught up.

At the intersection of Old Hope Road and Mountainview Avenue I saw about 25 or so cyclists setting off for Port Royal and I continued on, making one stop at the gas station at Harbour View to pump up my tyres. Wilson arrived 10 minutes after me and I rode off before him knowing that if I was going to try and do over 10 miles today, I would have to pace myself. I had half of an orange and some water before taking off, I need to carry a banana and oranges next time to help keep the energy levels up.

The ride was great, there were two rather fetching young ladies on mountain bikes ahead of me and I sure as hell didnt want to stop hacking and wheezing anywhere near them - oh the embarrassment would have been devastating. Wilson caught up with me after the first mile and we talked as we rode on and on. I followed his advice of riding slow and steady as he was of the opinion that I was being too aggressive just starting out and needed to give my body time to adjust to the workload. We kept up a decent pace, passed the rather fetching young ladies and to my delight made it all the way to Port Royal without stopping. It felt great !!

We spent 5 minutes, with me catching my breath, sipping on water and gatorade and then we started the journey back. The sun was up in all its glory and the heat was getting fierce. The ride back was challenging, mostly because some pressure is placed on the arms, hands and shoulder when riding a road bike. On reaching back to the starting point we just continued onwards towards the airport. Now that was an experience - the road is relatively new and smooth like my wife's ......... er, smooth like a baby's butt (yeah, thats it !) and I was able to really sprint down towards the roundabout. Another quick stop for water and to check the if the sausage and beans were ok after being squashed all morning on the seat, and it was back to the vehicles.

Clocking the distance revealed that I had ridden for a total of 12.3 miles over the course of about 1 1/2 hour which works out to 7.31 minutes per mile (inclusive of 2 water breaks). Now that I have finally conquered Port Royal and back I will try to increase my speed a little more every week until I can do it relatively easily, then it would be time to increase the workload.

A quote from the Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu (604 - 531 BC) says "The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step", my quote is "The Journey to Negril of 142 miles begins with this initial 12.3 miles)

----------------------------
October 2009

Last Ride - 12.3 miles

Total Ride for month - 19.38 miles

Target Miles for November 2009 - 60 miles

One Year from Now I will Ride in the Kingston to Negril

2009-10-16T21:36:00.010-04:00

Is this an unreasonable goal ?

I have gotten my ride and just started back, my first ride was torture and I wasnt able to ride last weekend because my partner's son was sick.

I tried riding up here one morning and got cold feet from all the passing cars, trucks, buses, etc. but I will try again and hopefully will improve as I am still a bit unsteady on the bike.

I am sure I mentioned in an earlier blog entry a friend of mine - Paul Goldson, who was one of the first person in Jamaica to attempt the Kingston to Negil ride and complete it successfully. I know that he's still an avid cyclist and recently came across his website Jamaicabybike.com. On it he promotes the annual Kingston to Negril ride with proceeds going to the Intensive Care Unit at the University of the West Indies Hospital and the Sir John Golding Foundation.

The ride is 140 miles and takes a south coast route through St. Catherine, Clarendon, up the steep hill to Mandeville, down the other side to St. Elizabeth and on into Westmoreland and is a test of man working in tandem with machine, battling against the elements and the limitations of the human body and spirit.

Right now I am putting my stuff together to go riding tomorrow morning and hope to really take it easy. I seem to have a habit of going a bit too aggressively and running out of steam quickly. I need to take it very easy and try to go beyond the 7 miles I did week before last. I can also get additional exercise by going walking in the mornings with Antoinette. She was always a very fit person and walked rings around us once when we went "hill climbing" a couple years ago. she was laid up recently after doing a minor surgery and wants to get back active very quickly.

The Kingston to Negril Ride is my long-term one year goal. My immediate goal is to be able to ride 50 miles 6 months from now. Not unheard of as I have read of quite a few people who have done more than that in less time. Little goals first - tomorrow - 10 miles hopefully.

Make no bones about it, i have to succeed. I have a soda habit to kick, a more active lifestyle to get used to and 50 lbs (mostly around my gut) to lose.

I'm back in the saddle again...........

2009-10-03T12:29:00.004-04:00

Yep, I am humming that old Gene Autrey song (or was it Roy Rogers ?) while feeling the aches and pains associated with my first ride in months.

If you have been following my blog, you will know that I started riding back in May and did a few circuits before getting rid of the bike in June as it was too small and I wanted a decent roadie. Well this morning I had my first ride on my road bike and I will probably never go back to a mountain bike type ever again. I was a little unsteady at first but I adjusted quickly and was able to get into a decent rhythm very quickly. My shoulders ached, my hands hurt and my neck complained but I know it will take a while for my body to adjust to the position and the weight placed on my hands and shoulders.

We started off very late this morning. I was up at 4am and made it to Harbour View before 5, unfortunately Wayne's son was sick and he had to look after him before heading out. We didnt start to prepare for the ride at the airport round-a-bout until about 6. Then the pump would not work, we spent the better part of half an hour trying to borrow a pump or use a little crappy hand pump that came with the bike, but no such luck, eventually I went off to the gas station in Harbour View and fortunately one of them had an air hose attached.

It was 7am and already very hot, but I was determined to ride, and I did just that. I clocked 7.08 miles before I nearly collapsed in exhaustion. As usual there were a lot of encouragement from the riders who passed me and while on a stop to get the blood flowing to the sausage and beans, Danville Walker head of the Customs Department rode past and advised me jokingly to be careful of crocodiles as they had been known to eat a cyclist or 2 out there.

I am happy to be back riding and intend to really take it seriously. I intend the first 5-10 rides to be very casual, getting a feel for the bike and helping my body to adjust. The first thing I will do though is to change the seat as my sausage and beans are still complaining about the abuse I put them through this morning.

-------------------------------
October 2009

Mileage Clock - 7.08 miles

My New Bicycle is here

2009-10-01T22:35:00.006-04:00

It's here, I just picked it up and I am so excited.

It's about time, my break from bicycling was just too long. I stopped back in the first week of June and had every intention of starting back quickly. I can blame it on my moving house, taking a while to properly settle in, getting Evan to buy it and arrange shipping, etc. Fact is I was busy with all the above plus some serious work that piled up on me. But I was determined to not give up on my quest to get fit and to generally lead a better lifestyle.

I am taking it in to a bicycle shop tomorrow to get it put together and adjusted for my height and on Saturday morning at 4AM I will be driving out to meet up with Wayne to test ride this baby. The longest I had ridden before was 7.5 miles. I dont know how I will do Saturday morning as I have done very little exercising since June and will probably get winded very early. The wheels on this bike is much larger than on my previous bike, so I should get more distance with the same effort.

So here I am again - off on an quest (after an interruption) to get my body weight down from 250lbs to 190 lbs.

Wish me luck, give me your support, encourage me and let us see how much I lose by December 1, 2009

-----------------------
October 1, 2009

Mileage Clock = 0

6 More Movies You Didn't Know Were Comic Books

2009-09-26T10:00:00.027-04:00

I have been on vacation this week getting some well needed rest, spending some quality time with my wife, watching some movies and most importantly reading some comic books.

This morning while watching cricket (West Indies v Australia) and browsing the net, I realized that there were a lot more movies that you would never thought were comic books. 2 of the 6 movies I will be listing should still be showing at the Cinema and both have well known stars in the lead.

1. The Surrogates

Written by newcomer Robert Venditti with art by Brett Weldele,

The year is 2054, and life is reduced to a data feed. The fusing of virtual reality and cybernetics has ushered in the era of the personal surrogate, android substitutes that let users interact with the world without ever leaving their homes. It's a perfect world, and it's up to Detectives Harvey Greer and Pete Ford of the Metro Police Department to keep it that way. But to do so they’ll need to stop a techno-terrorist bent on returning society to a time when people lived their lives instead of merely experiencing them.

The Surrogates is a story about progress and whether there exists a tipping point at which technological advancement will stop enhancing and start hindering our lives. It is also a commentary on identity, the Western obsession with physical appearance, and the growing trend to use science as a means of providing consumers with beauty on demand.

The movie stars Bruce Willis and opened just this week to very good reviews. Robert Venditti broke into comic accidentally and worked with Top Shelf Publishing packing orders before writing his first comic book. A creative writing graduate he delayed moving back to Florida to try his hand at writing in Atlanta and having completed the 5 issue series in 2004 had to wait just 5 more years to see his work adapted for the big screen.

I have read the first issue of Surrogates and am dying to read the other 4.

2. Whiteout

Whiteout is a trade paperback collecting the story of Deputy U.S. Marshal Carrie Stetko, sent to Antarctica to solve a murder. It's written by Greg Rucka, drawn by Steve Lieber, and published by Oni Press.

Rucka a well-known crime novelist, has been writing comic books for the 10 years and has written Batman and Wonder Woman. Steve Lieber has had runs on Detective Comics and Hawkman and his and Rucka's sequel Whiteout: Melt has won an Eisner award.

Kate Beckingsale star in the movie adaptation and she must investigate and try to solve a murder within three days before the Antarctic winter begins. She crosses paths with a U.N. operative (Gabriel Macht), also investigating the murder.She must chase down suspects and find more murders. Early in the story, Steko is attacked by the killer and left for dead in a storm. She saves herself but loses two fingers due to severe cold-related injuries.

The movie makes some changes from the comic book but both can be enjoyed and appreciated.

3. Timecop

Perhaps the only movie starring Jean-Claude Van Damme that I can watch without gagging, Time Cop tells the story of a future (2004) where time travel is possible. Van Damme plays a Time Enforcement Agent, part of a specialized police organization. He is conflicted, because he knows it is possible to prevent his wife's death, but his job as a Time Enforcement Agent prevents him from acting on such a prevention.

Timecop remains Van Damme's highest grossing film (breaking the $100,000,000 barrier for a worldwide gross). It was also regarded as one of Van Damme's better films by critics who usually derided his acting ability.

There is still some controversy that Timecop was a comic book before it was a movie. The film and comic book were written by Mike Richardson founder and publisher of dark Horse Comics (Mark Verheiden co-wrote the film) and drawn by Ron Randall, but there is doubt over which came first - the film or the movie. I am going own this though as it was written by 2 comic book guys.

4. The Mask

The Mask is a very popular Dark Horse comic book series created by writer John Arcudi and artist Doug Mahnke, and based on a concept by publisher Mike Richardson.

The series follows a magical mask which imbues the wearer with reality-bending power and physical imperviousness, as well as bypassing the wearer's psychological inhibitions. It was adapted into the 1994 film The Mask, starring Jim Carrey, which was followed by an animated television series, and a 2005 sequel Son of the Mask.

In the original comic stories characters who wore the Mask would become dangerous antiheroes with ultra-violent tendencies, even if this was not the original intention of those using its power. When adapted into a film, the violence was toned down to make The Mask only as dangerous as the wearer. The Mask #1-4 follows the adventures of Stanley Ipkiss, but unlike the movie goes off in a totally different direction and is worth reading.

A very young Jim Carrey is hilarious as The Mask and this movie probably leaves its mark in movie history as the film that debuts Cameron Diaz.

5. Wanted

Wanted was written by Mark Millar and drawn by J.G. Jones and was published as a limited series by Top Cow Comics in 2003-2004.

It tells the story of a World Without Superheroes. Back in 1986 (the year is significant as The Dark Knight Returns and The Watchmen were published then) Super-villains the world over organized themselves and using teamwork eliminated all Superheroes, making the world more "dark and grittier". People no longer remembered heroes, only as fiction and the world is ruled by The Fraternity - a cabal of leading Super-villains.

Wanted follows the adventures of wimp Wesley Gibson as he goes from harried office worker of no significance to finding out that he's the son of The Killer - a super assassin. He goes through a period of training, in which he is desensitized to violence and given license to fulfill every desire, including rape (which is referenced but not actually depicted), racially motivated violence and arbitrary murder. As a member of the fraternity, Wesley is promised a consequence-free lifestyle; as such, merely displaying his membership pin to any law enforcement agent gives him a free pass on any crime, whether it is murder or a parking ticket.

The movie Wanted departs from the main plots containing Super Villains and uses Super Assassins instead and introduces nonsense such as "curving bullets" and getting lists of people to be killed from a "Loom of Fate". This does not distract from it being a very good action movie that did extremely well at the box office.

Well worth watching, but more importantly to get the real deal - well worth reading.

6. Men in Black

The Men In Black was a 3 issue limited series created and written by Lowell Cunningham and illustrated by Canadian Sandy Carruthers and published by Aircel Comics in 1990. Aircel was acquired by Malibu Comics who themselves were later bought by Marvel Comics.

The Men In Black are a secret Organization responsible for the monitoring and suppression (most times violent) of paranormal activity on earth (aliens, demons, mutants, etc.) while keeping the populace ignorant of any shenanigans. An agent will use any means necessary, including murder and destruction, to accomplish a mission. All agents sever every tie with their former lives, and as far as the world is concerned, they do not exist. Agents who go rogue are hunted down and eliminated.

The movie starring Will Smith (coming off the hugely successful Independence Day and Fresh Prince of Bel Air) and Tommy Lee Jones makes changes to the Organization as it merely police and monitor extraterrestrial activity using memory erasing devices instead of just eliminating witnesses.

The Men In Black never became a hit as a comic book but the movie generated a movie sequel and an animation series.

There you have it, 6 more movies that were comic books before they were films (well maybe not Timecop)

My roadie should be here by next week, so hopefully I will be posting again about Cycling and trying to get fit.

8 Movie You Didnt Know Were Comic Books - Part 2

2009-09-12T20:21:00.002-04:00

In my post yesterday I spoke about 4 movies revered by movie fans that had its' Secret Origins as comic books. A lot of people still think that comic books are juvenile crap produced for the barely literate, when in fact comic books has been a legitimate and respected sub-genre of literature for decades. Many current Hollywood writers, producers and directors sight the seminal works of Will Eisner, Frank Miller, Alan Moore and Neil Gaiman as inspirations that led them along the path of storytelling and film making.

Of course for every great comic book movie produced, we have had maybe 5 or 6 crappy movies but that is a discussion for another time. Let us now look at 4 more movies that fans in general would not have linked to a bleeding comic book

5. From Hell

It is 1888 in Whitecahappel England, and the poor live in squalor and fear as they are hunted by Jack The Ripper.

Starring Johnny Depp, Heather Graham, Robbie Coltraine and Ian Holm, this movie chronicles the life of Inspector Fred Abberline a brilliant opium addicted policeman who uses his psychic visions to aid in his work.

In the graphic novel written by Alan Moore (him again !) and artist Eddie Campbell, Abberline is a different character than the one portrayed by Depp, Abberline is middle aged, married and is assisted by an opium addicted physic. Moore uses actual historical records in writing his story and all the characters in the books are historically accurate.

The film turns the whole story into a "whodonit" but the graphic novel specifically states who Jack the Ripper is, and what a shocker it turns out to be. Moore speculates that the Jack the Ripper murders were a cover-up to hide a royal scandal - an illegitimate baby fathered by Prince Albert Victor the Duke of Clarence and that royal physician Sir William Gull tasked by the Queen to kill everyone with the knowledge, was Jack the Ripper.

While the people used were real, and Moore and Campbell spent hours researching hundreds of historical documents, Moore himself has stated that his story is a hypothesis of what happened and that this hypothesis has been disproved over the years but it did make for an interesting story.

If you ever have the opportunity of reading the book, please do so, as the movie has absolutely nothing over it.

6. 300

In 2007 people went ape crap over a movie based on the Greek legend of King Leonidis of Sparta at The Battle of Thermopylae, who along with his army of 300 men held off the combined might of Xherxes and the invading Persian army from over running Greece.

Comic book legend Frank Miller uses double spread pages throughout the entire book and his wife at the time Lyn Varley provided the lush colours that made the art really jump up off the page. Miller has been criticized for taking liberties with accuracy but his approach to the story is more theatrical portrayal rather than a historical battle.

While movie goers were oogling the rippling bodies of the Spartans, marvelling at the technology used to provide the unique colours and singing the praises of director Zack Synder, comic book fans were laughing to themselves quietly, realizing that Snider reproduced the entire comic book merely panel by panel and thus the movie is an exact duplicate of the comic book.

7. A History of Violence

A History of Violence was nominated for 2 Academy Awards, one for Best Adapted Screenplay and one for Best Supporting Actor - William Hurt.

It starred Viggo Mortensen as a small town diner owner who kills two robbers in self defense and becomes a bit of a celebrity. When confronted by someone from his violent past, Stall has to admit to his family who he is and why he ran away from his former life. Forced to confront unresolved issues, Stall returns to Philadelphia and deals viciously with outstanding issues before returning to home to his wife and kid.

The graphic novel written by John Wagner and illustrated by Vince Locke was turned into a movie with intelligence and insight and should encourage movie makers to continue to pay proper respect to the source material.

The film ends suddenly which might annoy some viewers, but the Director using a minimalistic approach leaves enough for you to conclude what happens next.

A wonderful movie that is worth seeing again and again.

8. Road to Perdition

I remember seeing this movie years ago and was just blown away by it. It had drama, action and intrigue, a fantastic and intelligently written plot and starred Tom Hanks at the heights of his career.

Mystery writer and former Dick Tracey chronicler Max Alan Collins along with artist Richard Piers Rayner produces an enthralling crime noir about revenge, morality and family loyalty. Michael O'Sullivan is a deeply religious enforcer for an Irish mob family. When O'Sullivan's son witnesses one of his father's hits, the Godfather orders the death of the entire family.

Barely surviving an encounter that takes his wife and youngest son, O'Sullivan and his only remaining child embark on a dark and violent mission of retribution against his former boss. Featuring accurate portrayals of Al Capone, Frank Nitti, and Eliot Ness, this book offers a poignant look at the relationship between a morally conflicted father and his adolescent son who both fears and worships him.

Directed by Sam Mendes, Hanks is joined by Paul Newman, Jude Law and Daniel Craig to help this comic book movie adaptation to 6 Academy Awards nominations for 2002 (It won for Best Cinematography)

The Road to Perdition holds a special place in my heart and blatantly shows along with the other 7 comic book movies listed above that comic books have to come to an age of literary and critical maturity and with the current slate of comic book movies currently in production, expect to see many more, whether the long underwear variety or not.

8 Movies You Did'nt Know Were Comic Books - Part 1

2009-09-11T20:25:00.005-04:00

On my last post I shouted from the top of the mountain that I love comic books. I had read them from the late 70s onwards and never really left them behind. The magic and excitement I get from viewing a story graphically is very different from the experience of reading novels (which I have also read a lot of) or watching movies. If there is a good book in my hands there is very little that could draw me away to watch a movie.

Of course people will scoff at my love for comics not realizing that Hollywood and television has been mining comic books for original story ideas for decades. Live action TV shows based on Superman, Batman, The Green Hornet, The Human Target, The Incredible Hulk, The Flash (blink and you would have missed that one) Wonder Woman, Smallville, plus numerous animated series.

In this post I will list 8 movies that many people would never have known were originally comic books.

1. 30 Days Of Night

Ok I will admit that it doesn't take a hell of a lot to scare the crap out of me, but the movie adaptation of Steven Niles and Ben Templesmith's comic book published by IDW, about the horrors the residents of Barrow, Alaska go through when a group of vampires have 30 days of total darkness to snack on as much food (people) as they can.

Pretty-boy Josh Hartnett does a good job portraying Barrow sheriff Eben Olemaun and shows us the sacrifices that both himself and his wife Stella make to ensure that there are survivors to spread the word on exactly what happened to the town during that dreadful month.

I have read online that 30 Days was originally an unsuccessful "film pitch" that was re-worked by Niles as a comic book which proved to be very popular among fans and critics. Fans of the film though probably dont even know that there are "horror comics"

2. Constantine

He's definitely not American and looks nothing like Keanu Reeves. He's blond, he's English, curses a lot, and always dying for a fag (British for wanting to smoke a cigarette)

John Constantine was created by comic book legend Alan Moore in the pages of Swamp Thing during his amazing run in the 1980s. He went on to star in his own contemporary horror comic book titled Hellbaiser published by DC Comics imprint Vertigo.

The comic series is set in a world without superheroes where Constantine is a street-wise magician/occultist with penchant for getting himself in trouble with very powerful demons while helping people. He's known as a cocky arrogant bastard who relies on his wit, deceit, guile and ingenuity to get him out of trouble and has lost many friends/lovers/assistants who are usually collateral losses.

The movie has Constantine going up against the agents of Heaven and Hell and surviving the wrath to be had for daring to go where he's not wanted and surviving, and is a decent adaptation of a very good comic book (if you can ignore the American accent, pretty-boy Keanu, etc.)

3. Blade

Blade the Vampire Hunter made his debut in the Marvel comic book hit Tomb of Dracula and was created by Marv Wolfman (creator of The New Teen Titans) and Gene Colan.

Brought in as a supporting character, he made a few appearances over the years in various titles and never really broke out as a star.

The action packed movie starring Wesley Snipes made him a favourite among movie goers, but 2 subsequent successful sequels co-starring Kris Kristofferson, Ryan Reynolds and the ultra hot babe-elicious Jessica Biel and a short lived television series still wasnt enough to gain him popularity to maintain an on-going comic book series.

Action movie junkies would never in their wildest dreams thought that their cool new hero had his beginnings in a comic book.

4. V for Vendetta

V for Vendetta was a 10 issue series created and written by British writer Alan Moore (that name again) and British artist David Lloyd and told the story of a dystopian future United Kingdom ruled by a totalitarian Government.

Alan Moore was inspired by the political climate in Britian in the early 80s and predicted that Margret Tatcher's Conservative Government would be defeated in the 1983 elections leading to an incoming Labour Government committing England to a total removal of all nuclear arms thus resulting in the country being spared decimation during an impending exchange.

Moore could see facist elements subverting a post-holocaust England and the need for an Anarchist revolutionary dressed in a Guy Falkes mask begin a well-planned, theatrical campaign to take down the government.

A movie starring Hugo Weaving, Natalie Portman, Stehen Rea and John Hurt was accepted by movie goers world wide who saw it as very original, and despite having a character prancing around in a mask and a cape and waxing poetically, many never realized that they were watching a story from a damn comic book.

Note to readers - Google Guy Falkes

More to come

I Love Comic Books

2009-09-04T20:39:00.000-04:00

I read a lot

My earliest recollections of reading is with my Grandmother, she's a Jehovah's Witness and she used to read My Book of Bible Stories to me as a kid, and I read along with her. Mom fed the habit by buying comic books for me everytime she went to the grocery store, and I just read everything that I could get my hands on.

Hardy Boys were book produced to be read by 10-14 year olds or so it said on the back of the book, I had read most of them by age 11 and had graduated onto more "meaty" material, but I still read comic books. I found that the graphic interpretation of a story fascinated me to no ends. I love movies and music but I loved reading more and will miss watching the latest blockbuster if my subscription comes in on the same day. Of course this love affair with comic books also led me to a love affair with art and comic book art in particular.

I am a "DC" guy, most of my friends are "Marvel" zombies and swear by their books, but my first comics were Superman and Batman, and that just stayed with me, I love a few Marvel book - Daredevil and Captain America to name a few and years ago when it still made sense I was an avid fan of The Uncanny X-Men.

I have never hid my love for comic books from anyone and laugh to myself when I see people going crazy over movies like 300, The Road to Perdition, Men in Black, Wanted, The Mask (ok, maybe nobody's not going crazy over this one), Constantine, V for Vendetta, Blade, Time Cop, From Hell, etc. I read them years ago when they were originally produced in comic book form.

Television shows like 24, Heroes, Smallville all use comic book style of writing, (well they are inspired by comic books) and comic book writers are now invading mainstream television shows (Ed Brubaker, Neil Gaiman, Frank Miller).

The move is actually both ways as movie/tv writers like Jeph Loeb (Commando), JM Straczynski (Babylon 5, Changeling) Bob Gayle (Back to the Future) and Kevin Smith (Chasing Amy, Mallrat, Dogma) have been very succesful writing comics

A recent word that has entered the vacabulary of everyone is "graphic novel", I hate that word. A graphic novel is a name used to try to "de-ghettoise" the fact that a graphic novel is just one fat and meaty COMIC BOOK.

So what is the point of this post ? (you might be asking while scratching your head)

There is none, I just felt like ranting a little, work has been stressful as usual and I start back school on the weekend.

I love comic books, I love reading, I love art (comic book, life drawing, Rockwell, Wyeth, etc)

I love it !!!

Jamaica at the 12th IAAF Championship - Part 2

2009-08-23T13:28:00.000-04:00

Let me start out by saying nothing can take away from the fact that Usain Bolt deserves all the congratulations and accolades that are being offered. He is a phenomenal athlete who in time will probably go down as the best ever. I cheered along with everyone else wanting him to beat the world records, we werent worried about Tyson Gaye beating him, we knew that would not happen. We were cheering Asafa Powell to beat Gaye, and for Steve Mullings to also medal in the 200M.

Three athletes however struck a deep chord with this writer and their victories meant more to me than anything else.

SHELLY-ANN FRASER

This young lady won the 100M at the Jamaica Trials and went on to win Gold at the 2009 Olympics in Beijing and yet the discussion in Jamaica was always "Kerron can beat Shelly, Kerron is faster, Kerron will win Gold in Berlin". I never once believed that Kerron Stewart would beat Shelly-Ann Fraser. Taking nothing away from Kerron who has done extremely well on the European circuit and as far as I know is still unbeaten in the 100M, but the determination that I saw on this young lady's face and the pure unadulterated joy in her celebration will stay with me for a long time.

Shelly obviously doesnt have the "top end" speed that Kerron Stewart and others have, but her lightning quick start is her weapon and she uses it unmercilessly. I am sure she has heard all the discussions around her, all the predictions that she will be beaten by Kerron Stewart and she could have allowed that to affect her, but she hasnt. She took to the track and did what she did best "Get a lightning fast start and then hang on for dear life".

I was not surprised when she won the Gold - Congratulations Shelly Ann Fraser.

MELANIE WALKER

Melanie Walker can be easily described as "the people's champion". She's the one who when being interviewed calmly and comfortably drops into the Jamaican vernacular and speaks her mind. Take nothing away from Kerron, Usain or Shelly-Ann's interviewing skills but Melanie always first and foremost call out to all the "ghetto people dem from Maxfield Avenue" and inspires them with her words to "hold their heads up and strive for what you want in life".

TVJ got her on the telephone just after her win and asked her what would she say to inspire people looking on and everybody in the office at the time stood transfixed, there was the ocassional snicker when she used "raw ghetto slang" but there was almost not one dry eye when she was finished and I felt pretty damn inspired after listening to her.

She's a true champion who ran an exceptional race in the Olympics and who came to Berlin and out ran an athlete who everyone expected to beat her. Again, I had no such doubt, I knew she would have won. Jamaicans, no matter if they are from Maxfield, Waterhouse, Tivoli Gardens, Rema or Liguanea and Manor Park all love winning.

Congratulations to Melanie Walker - The People's Champion

BRIGITTE FOSTER-HYLTON

Brigitte Foster-Hylton for me is the athlete that inspired me most. Similar to Veronica Campbell (another favourite of mine) she has gone out year after year and done her best. There have been times when she has been injured at critical times, lost her rhythm in the finals or just not run well enough to win and she has never complained and gotten bitter over it.

She stuck it out through a period in time when it was obvious that they were competing against athletes who were getting medical assistance and this situation caused the retirement of hurdler Gillian Russel (another favourite of mine) way to early in her promising career, Brigitte soldered on, determined to be a champion.

After disappointment in Beijing, Brigitte decided to retire, but was convinced by her coach to give it one more try and this time was the charm. At 34 years old she ran the race of her life and won. In an era of the 22 years old Champion, she's an inspiration for people like me who left 22 years old nearly two decades ago.

I cried when she won that race. I cried in joy for Brigitte and Deloreen Ennis-London who won bronze, I cried for Michelle Freeman, Gillian Russel, Grace Jackson, Merlene Ottey and others who would have mined Gold a long time ago if the playing field had been level.

Jamaica comes away from these games with 13 medals, and most importantly with inspiration. A whole new generation of athletes are being inspired by what is happening now and are training 6 days a week for hours on end, so that they can emulate their heroes, so they can be like Usain or Asafa or Melanie or Shelly-Ann or Kerron or Shericka, etc. etc.

Jamaica at the 12th IAAF Championship

2009-08-23T12:26:00.000-04:00

I am sure that this is an event that Jamaicans both at home and away have been following for the past 9 days. We are a country that is slightly smaller than the state of Connecticut yet we have been able to produce sportsmen/women and academics who have risen to the pinnacle of their chosen profession. Bob Marley is a name that is easily recognised all over the world and is on parr with Cocoa-Cola, Mickey Mouse, Superman and Tarzan as names that transcends languages.

Jamaica has been winning medals at world games since the 1930s and really came of age in 1948 Olympics when Arthur Wint won our firts Gold Medal. Later on in Helsinki in 1952 Wint, Les Laing, HerbMcKinley and George Rhoden teamed up for gold in the 4X400M relay and led the charge that had Jamaica reaching 13th on the medal table.

Lennox Miller (father of American sprinter Inger Miller), Donald Quarrie, Merlene Ottey, Grace Jackson, Juliet Cuthbert, Bert Cameron, Ray Stewart, Beverly McDonald, Winthrop Graham, Deon Hemmings, James Beckford, Sandie Richards, Michelle Freeman, Lorraine Fenton and many others that I am not remembering now are some of those who became world beaters or who at least challeneged for the titles. We followed their exploits cheering them on in victory and commiserating with them in defeat.

We were the perenial challengers and runners-ups to the United States and during the late 80s words started filtering out in many circles about athletes using performance enhancing drugs. Throughout the 90s and into the new millennium technology caught up with many drug cheats and slowly but surely the playing field finally levelled and Jamaica started winning GOLD MEDALS galore.

ENTER USAIN BOLT

Usain Bolt stormed the athletics world like a category 5 hurricane breaking records and winning hearts with his playful antics and I am sure driving the US Athletic Association into perpetual insomnia. To Jamaicans who follow atheltics from the high school level, we were extremly surprised but now shocked. We all knew that Usain Bolt would have been a world beater, we just didnt know how complete his victories would be. I want to give kudos to Usain Bolt for his double record breaking run and congratulate all the athletes who competed and helped Jamaica to 2'nd place on the medal tables with:

Gold - 7
Silver - 4
Bronze - 2

Total - 13

behind the USA who had 22 medals overall (10 Gold, 6 Silver, 6 Bronze)

As I sit here watching the closing ceremonies I reflect on the performances over the past 9 days and realise that certain performances have had a more profound effect on me than others and as great as Usain Bolt's runs have been, those are not the ones that have brought a tear to my eye.

more to come

Congratulations to all the Athletes in Berlin, Germany. Those who competed and won, those who competed and didnt, and those that trained with the team and offered support (Hello Sherone Simpson - hope to see you running soon)

Looking Good at 60

2009-07-27T18:41:00.000-04:00

I have not started riding again and I have only myself to blame.

We moved back in June and it has taken a while to adjust to the new location. It is not very far from Kingston, it just seems far because of the hills that I have to climb to get home. I have noticed though that although the cars, buses and trucks all travel at a zillion miles per hour up here, that doesnt stop peeps from riding.

I still havent replaced my bicycle yet (can you say pro-cras-ti-nation) I have a couple hundred US dollars in my paypal account and I have found a very basic road bicycle on amazon, so I will go with that. I am ordering it this week and will start back when it arrives. If I am going to ride up here I will have to get used to traffic on the road and will have many little hills to tackle, and leave the 10 mile run in Kingston for Saturday and Sunday mornings.

As for the title of this post, I ran into a friend of mine today, we used to work out together 10-12 years ago, he continued working out, and even openned a bodybuilding supplememt business and I let it all go to hell. He's trim, looks good and is 60 IN DECEMBER. I could not believe it, it is obvious that he dyes his hair but he's trim, his arms bulges and he looks damn good. Very simple he said "Eat right and work out hard"

He likes the fact that I am riding (will start back soon, I promise) and invited me to visit him at his store on a Saturday when he's working so we can discuss diet.

I think I will take him up on that.

Unintentional Break from Training

2009-06-11T14:22:00.000-04:00

I am on an enforced break.

I moved over the weekend and am busy setting up house, overseeing painting, closets, etc. actually Antoinette is busy overseeing everything, my input is a grunt every now and then when she asks me something. :)

My better half is much more capable of choosing paint and decor for the house as my sense of fashion resides in my ass. I am as capable as a 4 year old when it comes to stuff like that, I mean up until a couple years ago I thought peach was just a fruit, who know it was also a colour ???

With the move comes the problem of deciding where and when to ride. Living in Kingston I could ride along the Palisadoes strip which gave me an uniterrupted 10 mile stretch with little or no traffic, where I am now is hill and gully with a main road as the only road that you can cycle on, with a hell of a lot more traffic (cars, buses, trucks, etc) far more dangerous.

I sold my bicycle to my co-worker and decided to buy Wayne's Bike, but sounded a bit unsure as I wanted to build my own road bike, when I finally decided that the road bike was probably another 9 months away, Wayne had already sold it to someone else.

So now the hunt is on, I am looking for a frame to build on.

I will you all updated as I go along.

Big Dose of Reality

2009-05-29T20:35:00.001-04:00

It's going to be very hard work.

Yes it is....

The human body is an ungrateful creature, laze around for a couple of years stressing out on the job, school, life in general. Watch a lot of cricket, movies, whatever, while snacking on your favourite snack and what happens ?? you find yourself at 250 lbs, I mean how unfair is that ????

I went riding last night and learned a very valuable lesson - DO NOT RIDE IN THE EVENINGS ON THE PORT ROYAL ROAD. "Why ?" you may ask, "because of the bloody wind !!" says I.

I did a 5 miles this evening and it was torture. First I started out late and had only gone about half the distance when the sun just took a quick dip below the horizon, I swear, one minute it was there big and bright and the next, it was gone.I turned back quickly as I did not have any lights on the bicycle and wanted to get back before it got really dark, and that is when the problems really started.

Immediately on turning back I felt it, the wind was full blast on my face and the pedaling got very difficult. I soldiered on determined not to give up. I am sure I did between 10-12 minute going out and this was reduced to probably less than a quarter - IT WAS TORTURE. I made a quick stop to prevent a heart attack and continued onwards towards where I had parked. I nearly made it but ended up pushing the bicycle part of the way as the road had become completely dark and I didn't want to get hit off by passing traffic.

I arrived home to a proper teasing from my wife, who had insisted that I go out earlier, took a long cold shower and stretched my aching body for a good 15 minutes. My side and back ached fiercely as I was probably hunched over while battling against the wind. It taught me an important lesson though - it will take hard work to undo what years of neglect has brought on.

I am moving in another week or two and am setting up a small gym in my new digs. I already have a Bowflex and will augment with a bench and some dumbells. I love resistance training and am dying to really get back into weight lifting.

-----------------------
Target Miles for 2009 - 1,000 miles
Target Miles for May 2009 - 30 miles
Amount of Days Cycled so far - 4 days
Total Miles travelled - 19.35 miles
Total Miles Needed for Month - 10.65 miles

Target Miles for June 2009 - 150 miles

Take these Broken wings........er..... Pedal ??

2009-05-23T09:04:00.001-04:00

Oh man, I am so disappointed.

I went riding this morning again with Wayne and broke a pedal. Well not exactly break the pedal, it would seem that the guys who put together my bicycle didn't screw the pedals in properly and the right one had actually cross-threaded when going in, so the pressure I exerted on it this morning caused it to just come out.

I started out well this morning and by 5:15am we were off, Wayne decided to pace me and it worked. I settled into a nice rhythm and just kept on going and going and going. Last week I made about 4 stops (5 minutes each time) in doing 12.2KM (7.5miles) but this time I had only stopped once for about 2 minutes before passing the halfway mark of 6.2. I stopped briefly to get circulation back around the "family jewels" area and a drink and passed the spot I turned back at last week feeling very good. I knew I was nearing Port Royal and was determined to reach there and back for a grand total of 17.6 KM (10.93 miles) when, on reaching the 7.4 KM mark my foot flew off the pedal, or so I thought.

The pedal had come lose and despite help from other riders who stopped, it was hopeless getting it back on as it was cross-threaded pretty badly. I took a seat on a rock and watched the sea while Wayne rode on to Port Royal (I insisted he complete his ride) and then head on back for my van. A Lot of the riders inquired if I was ok as I waited and pretty soon Wayne was back and we were all packed up.

I am dropping off my ride at a cycle shop later on today for replacement pedal and to get it checked out by a professional. I want to know basic maintenance and also top get a small pouch so I can carry my wallet, cell phone and some Allen keys and such if I get into any problems.

I have asked Wayne to get a frame for a road bike for me, so I can start slowly putting together the parts. I want that to be my pet project over the next few months as I continue getting into shape. There is a Kingston to Negril 140 miles run later on in October and I really want to get up to speed enough to try and complete between 20-40 miles of if. I figure if I get in shape and increase my riding between now and October, I should be able to tackle 30 or 40 miles as I am on the cusp of doing 10 miles already.

That is my main motivator for the next 5 months.

I might also be changing my ride, my friend Veron wants to start riding and I might sell him mine and buy Wayne's Rambo. Wayne is now very comfortable with his road cycle and is putting his Rambo up for sale, it has been modified and is a whole lot lighter than my current ride.

MORE LATER.

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Target Miles for 2009 - 1,000 miles
Target Miles for May 2009 - 30 miles
Amount of Days Cycled so far - 3 days
Total Miles travelled - 14.35 miles
Total Miles Needed for Month - 15.65 miles

Target Miles for June 2009 - 150 miles

Star Trek: 2009

2009-05-21T07:49:00.001-04:00

I have been a huge Star Trek Fan since seeing Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan sometime back in the late 90s. I am also an avid reader so I devoured the novels for about 5 years before falling away, losing a lot of interest during the time of DS9 and Voyager and the last 2 Next Generation movie.

Star Trek has been around since 1966 when Gene Roddenberry took his wild and wacky idea that in the future we would have moved beyond certain human tendencies that are dominant today and have established a world government, living peacefully at home, directing all our energies in exploring the galaxy and co-existing peacefully with other races. It was an amazing series and dealt with issues of war and peace, the value of personal loyalty, authoritarianism, imperialism, class warfare, economics, racism, religion, human rights, sexism and feminism, and the role of technology, but above all else it was just damn good television that made actors like William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForrest Kelly, Nichelle Nichols, George Takei, Walter Koenig and James Doohan househld names. Who in the world has'nt heard the expression "Beam Me Up Scotty!

The series was successful enough to last 3 years, but exploded in popularity when it went into syndication in the 70s and has since produced:

Six Movies with the Main Cast

Star Trek: The Motion Picture
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
Star Trek III: The Search for Spock
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
Star Trek V: The Final Fronteir
Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country

4 Spin Off Television Series

Star Trek: The Next Generation (87-94)
Star Trek: Deep Space 9 (93-99)
Star Trek: Voyager (95-01)
Star Trek: Enterprise (01-05)

4 Movies with the Next Generation Cast

Star Trek: Generations
Star Trek: First Contact
Star Trek: Insurrection
Star Trek: Nemesis

For a franchise that has not been afraid to push the envelope and evolve, why the need for a new movie bringing back the classic characters ?

Simply put - The franchise was dying. Like James Bond before it, like John Byrne's Superman relaunch in 1986, like Frank Miller's Batman: The Dark Knight Retuns, like Christian Bale's new Batman movies - every now and then a face-lift is needed.

Star Trek had gone through its various incarnations and with help from Rick Berman and company had progressively lost popularity. The tone had changed from the 60s - Kirk solving problems by jumping in head first and using his fists and/or phasers to solve a problem, to Jean-Luc-Picard's noble presence which demanded negotiation and rationale before taking action if necessary. It did not help that for every good Star Trek movie that was produced there were a few duds in the lot (Final Fronteir, Insurrection, Nemesis) and that also extended to the series (Enterprise).

I saw Star Trek on Saturday night and at the end of it I proudly proclaimed that the franchise has been reborn in the capable hands of JJ Abrams. Known for his Executive Producing popular TV series Alias, Fringe, Lost, Felicity and others, Abrams took up the task of re-introducing a Star Trek that would have mass appeal beyond the core supporters (Trekkers, Trekkies). His solution was to go back to beginning of James T. Kirk and crew members of the Enterprise and "re-tell" their first meeting and then to "take it from there....." He ran the risk of alienating millions of Star Trek fans worldwide and not attracting a wider audience and had to straddle a fine line in doing so. His solution to the problem was to do a time travel story and have the subsequent events branch off on a seperate timeline leaving the original intact.

I won't get into details about the plot and story, just to say that JJ Abrams delivered Star Trek on full warp drive with space battles and explosions and feeling of intense danger the likes of which have not been seen since Star trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. We no longer felt that the characters were sacred and changes were impossible.

Lenord Nimoy's appearance to hand over the batton to the new crew was handled well and his character was integral to the story, and while the discerning among us saw plot holes and coincidences large enough to drive a semi-trailer through, it did not distract enough to lessen the impact of the movie. The cast settled into their roles comfortably and I expect them to grow into the characters bringing their own unique personalities to bear in the near future.

Star Trek is back - Hip Hip Hooray !! JJ Abrams already has plans for Star Trek II sometime in 2011 and this is one Trekker who will be waiting with anticipation.

Hit the Road Jack and dont you.............

2009-05-16T09:27:00.000-04:00

give up no more no more no more !!!

I went riding this morning for the second time. My plans for riding around the block during the week got railroaded due to some very important issues that required a lot of time dealing with. I got up at 4:30am and got myself a cup of tea (Tetly and condensed milk) and a large glass of water, loaded up and headed out ariving at the destination at about 5:20am. Wayne showed up at the same time and we spent a little time adding 2 bottle holders to my bicycle and pumping tyres. Wayne had put together his road bicycle from various parts and it looked great but we had a problem, his front tyres were leaking so we had to patch tube. Knowing how slow I was and that sun would be a problem I started off leaving Wayne to do his patching.

Slow and steady was my motto with proper breathing. I was hydrated this time unlike last week and found the going easy enough. I kept at it, passing the spot where I turned back last week and kept on going. I made 2 stops heading out and going back mainly because a not so nice by-product of cycling is that you get cramped in the region of your "family jewels" and I would stop until the sensation comes back. Charlie and his 2 friends have been good to me my entire life and I intend to keep them alive and happy for another 20-30 years.

Today I did a whopping 12.2KM (7.58 miles) heading out and back a big improvement on the 7 Km (4.35 miles) I did on the first day considering that half of that 7Km was pushing the bike back. I was on the orad for a little over 90 minutues which translate to an average of 11.87 minutes per mile ? That's really pathetic, but I am not worried abut that right now. I could have kicked myself though as another 30 minutes of riding would have taken me right into Port Royal. I had 1 500ml bottle of water and one bottle of Gatorde to keep me company and that was enough to keep me hydrated.

I am now back home and am getting some chicken for breakfast, not fried or stewed, but jerked. I am watching what I eat but am not on any strict diet. I know weight loss will come if I increase aerobic exercise and add weight training, so as my body gradually adjust, so will the training regime. I will be back on the road tomorrow to repeat what I did today as the body feels just fine, no aches or pain.

Thinking of getting a simple heart rate monitor, the little one that you strap onto your wrist so I can monitor my heart rate while riding. A really good aerobic workout involves getting your heart rate up to 80% of maximum over 30 minutes of working out, so I need to determine what my regular heart rate is and work towards 80% while riding. It is also a fact that the more fit you are is the slower your heart beat so I would like to monitor my progress on that.

1st Picture - Moi posing with Wayne's road bike

2'nd Picture - My bicycle

3'rd Picture - Wayne

It's Not An Easy Road

2009-05-09T10:39:00.000-04:00

"They see the glamour and the glitter and they think it's a bed of rose, who feels it know..." - Buju Banton

I strated riding this morning, I am discovering aches in places that I never know existed before. You all should know that I am a huge cricket fan and one particular sledge of Arjuna Ranatunga of Sri Lanka by Shane Warne ran through my mind while I was huffing and puffing away this morning "You get no kudos for being a fat, unfit f**k." :)

The route was a 8.8 km ride from The Officer's Club near Norman Manley International Airport out to Port Royal on a nicely paved stretch of road that is realtively flat. It's used by many cyclists from the beginners to the hardcore professionals who rush past like a bullet train, calling out to overtake and ensuring that I keep my wobbles to a minimum and not cause a pile up.

We started at 6am which was about 30 minutes later than we wanted to, Wayne was up last night late working on his road bicycle and slighly overslept. We made some adjustments to both bikes and off we went very slowly. Now I haven't done any serious working out in over 3-4 years and while my job keeps me on my feet on and off throughout the day I am seriously OUT OF SHAPE, and it showed up pretty early but I soldered on until about 3.5 Km where I stopped and refused to go any further :) Wayne continued onwards to Port Royal after a bit of fussing and I made an attempt to ride back to the car, but ended up walking and pushing the bike for about 3 KM, at least whether riding or walking I am getting exercise (I thought to myself). The sun was ripping at the time I stopped and I realised that we would have had an advatage if we had started earlier. The big riders who barrelled past me going and coming were all so pleasant and encouraging, most slowed down and asked if I was ok while I was walking back and many told me not to worry as the more I did it the better I would get.

I have started and stopped exercise routines before and know that I need to take things slowly and give my body time to adjust and most importantly STICK TO IT. I will be up again on Wednesday morning when I will do a few circuits around my neighbourhood ( a few inclines there) and again on Saturday where we will see if I can go 4 or 5 KM this time :)

The ride from the Officer's Club to Port Royal is 8.8KM one way and my goal is to be able to complete that and stay alive, then increase that distance to both ways. I am going to need to adjust my diet to help with the weight loss aspect and also try to quit my worst habit - PESPI COLA.

I love taking pictures and from time to time will pepper here with photos of Jamaica, etc. so look out for those.

1st picture - Part of the route

2nd picture - Building in Port Royal

Maybe Cycling ..................

2009-05-05T22:45:00.001-04:00

I have always wanted to........

Yeah, I rode a bicycle as a kid, up and down Norway Terrace with my sister and the kids in the neigbourhood. I had a Chopper or a Thomahawk or whatever the heck that bicycle was called. I also skate-boarded a lot too.

Skip to the early to mid 90s and a very good friend of mine named Paul cycled a lot, a heck of a lot. He asked me to travel with him one day while he rode around the eastern end of the island - Yep, the eastern end of Jamaica. From Kingston to Morant Bay to Portland to Annotto bay and on back into Kingston, a total of about 140 miles in one day. I carried a couple spare tyres and drink and food for him like bananas, grapes, bulla, water and drink. He still rides and he was featured in the Gleaner a couple Sundays ago. He was also one of three persons in Jamaica to do the first Kingston to Negril ride back in 1991, a couple years before I met him. Now he does the Kingston to MoBay to Negril to Mandeville to kingston route once per year - Whew !!

I have decided to use cycling to get my aerobic workout.

I have been talking to an acquantance of mine Wayne about it, he picked up cycling a couple months ago and stopped by the house one Saturday morning to show me his bicycle. I rode up and down the road a couple of times, marvelling at how unsteady I was and worrying if I was going to break my damn 40 year old neck (well, 40 in another couple of months) Then I found out that my neighbour (distant neighbour) also cycles in the morning and that just sealed the issue, I would have someone to ride with in the mornings to keep me company and keep me motivated.

Now I dont have a wad of cash lying around, so I went bicycle hunting today and saw a few units that will serve me well as a start-up unit, until I really get into it and maybe get a real road cycle (Mwahahahaha !!! :) ). Gonna give it a try and see if I like it.

I have a problem with jogging as it hurts my knees and very long aggressive walking hurts my back in a weird way, so I cop out everytime Antoinette gets up at 5am to go walking. With work and school I had half convinced myself that I dont have the time, but that is a damn cop out and I will not use that excuse again.

I will link up with Wayne tomorrow if possible and show him what I have in mind, see if it is a proper enough fit and then hit the road on Saturday for a light ride. I will do some light riding over the first couple weeks and increase intensity as I go along.

My doctor gave me a full blood workup to get done months ago, and I will stop off and do that next week, and then tell him what I am up to exercise-wise (Yeah, yeah, I know I am doing this part backwards).

So wish me luck and start the countdown with me.

No use procrastinating - It starts now

2009-05-03T22:22:00.000-04:00

No more excuses - No time, too busy with work, too busy with school, too tired, yadda yadda yadda.

The big 40 beckons August 7 and I took a picture recently at school and the size of my gut was depressing.

I have always been conscious of my weight but never really done anything about it over any period of time. I have joined the gym on and off over the years and find that once I get past the painful first few days I actually enjoy working work, getting sweaty and feeling my arms and chest pumped, but invariably work and personal stuff encoaches, finances might get a little strained and the gym is usually the first casualty.

I read a lot, I have all this accumulated knowledge on training, weight lifting, aerobics, nutrition and I have done nothing about it and that has to change or I will be a "diabetic heart attack" just waiting to happen at 50.

I am starting and will chronicle my advances here weekly at first and then more often as I proceed. Right now I am 6', 245lbs with a huge waiste.

The target is to get down to 190lbs by August 2010.

I have every intention of achieving that target before August 2010.