Out Dancing

Fiona and I were out at a birthday Ceilidh last night. I do enjoy these events although not knowing the dances makes it awkward, especially when Fiona explains that she (and therefore most everyone else) was taught them at school. The steps were explained at the start of each dance, but I had Fiona telling me she knew them better. I have previously commented on Fiona's tutoring and I'm not yet ready to change that opinion. The problem last night was the small number of dancers. Know knowing them and being on display is not for me especially when I'm driving.

Since the ceilidh was out in Airdrie Fiona collected me from work so we had to head back to the office to collect my car. The light snow of all day started to settle during the dance but the trip back to East Kilbride was not particularly difficult. Until we got to the NEL site. Which wasn't plowed or gritted. And is down a hill. We got down all right and Fiona turned her car while I cleared the snow off mine. She headed out the gate while I followed. I tried to leave a gap so I could get a run at the hill. Despite fitting new tyres that day I knew the car is light and thought slow and steady may not be the best approach. For some reason though Fiona was waiting for me at the bottom of the hill. I moved forward a bit more, so did she and then stopped again. Finally she opened her door and said she was getting no traction. So, at a quarter past midnight, in light snow, I am pushing her car up a hill towards a roundabout where I'm hoping she can wait til I can get up the hill. We finally got her there with me pushing all the way and then gunning my engine I went sliding back and forth, melting just enough snow to get up the hill.
The drive home was a real nail biter. Since my spin I have been very nervous driving in snow since there is just no weight in my car. I was really surprised about how poor the roads in East Kilbride were cleared. We didn't get a clear lane until we were on the motorway and even then it was single file most of he way. No one was even in the other lane until we passed Fenwick.
Finally got back to Ayr at nearly 1:30

A shifting wind

What a cycle!
Its quite breezy so I checked wunderground.com for the wind info. It was north of east and 20ish km/hr
I knew this would make the last bit harder than usual, but I would reap the wind on my back for the only 'climb' which is over a hump back bridge. The rest being mostly north/south I headed out
And so it was. The wind was on my left shoulder, and despite almost pushing me off a few time, it was neither helping nor hindering too much. Apart from wind chill. And I got the push up and over the bridge.
Coming past the marina I was almost stationary with a killer head wind. By now I had realised that more than just the last bit was going to be tough.
I was a full 4.5 minutes slower than my best time and at least 3 minutes slower than what I was expecting.
I've got to remember that this is not a circle, but more of a triangle.

And keep a closer eye on the forecast.

Instability

Managed to get back out on the bike today.

As part of my 'Lessening myself' I have been doing my best to get out on the bike on Tuesday and Friday lunchtime when I work form home.
So far I've not been that bad - I've been hitting about half of them.
Apart from weather - my conservatory, where the pc is and from where I work on these days, has  a poly-carbonate roof. This amplifies the sound of any rain making a slight shower sound like a thunderstorm. Its not easy to leave the warm room with that noise and go out onto the bike. Scotland and winter (summer too for that matter) means rain but I have been reasonable lucky so far. I don't mind getting wet if I'm out but it takes a certain mentality to actually go out when its raining.

The other problem has been ice.

I run the risk of falling off the bike. This is due to the fact that I am only moderately stable on the bike. This is not a lack of experience. Its due to centres of gravity and big belly. The presence of one affects the location of the other. A moderately stable system will remain in that stable position until something causes it to shift into a more stable position.

Its simple to illustrate - take a standard lollipop and stand it on its end. This is not too difficult to do. It is quite stable in this configuration. You can perturb it - give it a poke - and it will wobble but will return to its stable position. Now turn it upside down and balance it. Its much more difficult but it can be done. It may take a while though and its probably going to fall a few times before you get it done. This is now also stable, but much less so than in many other positions. Its not unstable because you can balance it and it will stay there but it needs much less energy to move it out of this stable region. Give it a poke this time and it will fall into a more stable position.

Now consider me on my bike:

Due to my relatively high centre of gravity I am like the lollipop balancing on its stick. If I keep moving I will keep upright but if I slow down too much or if I lose traction then I'm on a direct course to the ground. That's where the ice comes into it. Tuesday had the remnants of Monday's light dusting of snow down here on the coast. However the fact that it hit -6C on Monday night meant I wasn't going to risk a slip on the now frozen snow. Given that its Scotland and its the coast its always slightly damp at this time so it was quite slippery out there.

Today though no excuse. Its was the first time I've had a wind from the south west. This meant that my first bit was slow and into the wind. It was not looking good as past experience shows that if you need t rely on the wind then it will shift. Today it didn't so managed my second fastest time over the 7 mile course. Max speed was down though because that bit was straight into the wind.

2 Month Update

I have decided to go more public as a means of encouraging me to go through with this.

I’m now 2 months into my campaign to make less of myself. I must be firm in my commitment NOT to call it ‘losing weight’. Losing implies an accident. I knew what I had to do to shift every gram – there’s no accident there!

I’m feeling quite good about my progress so far. I need to drop 30% of my start weight and I've given myself the year (2013 - the year I get lean) to do it all.

I've cut down on the naughty foods. Tough to do with slim people around who can eat those things. And increase the amount of exercise. Despite my size I was always fairly active and enjoyed my exercise – it gave me an appetite! – but last year with buggering my ankle my exercise took a beating. It’s too easy at the end of the day to decide not to go to the gym and head home to the telly and crisps instead. I must be firmer.

It also means regular weigh-ins. That’s where it gets confusing. Being a techie I log and plot all this (and more). I am using an Android app (Libra) which offers a trend function based on the Hacker’s Diet. This places more focus on your ‘trend’ value than the actual weigh value.  This allows for simple smoothing. The original diet was a simple pen and paper one but the method lends itself to low power devices quite well. So, I have a weight which is actually a trend and a measurement which is my weight. The trend value lags behind the actual measurement because it uses a value from a few days earlier. This means that if I have a bad weekend (which normally means having a great weekend) I can forget to record anything for a day or two and then once I get back on track my trend isn't damaged too much.

I’m now 2 months in and I've dropped between 21%(trend) and 23% (measurement)of my target. My 

trend says I should hit my target weight on 13 September 2013, well ahead of my goal date.

I have reached my first milestone which was losing a stone. I was rewarded with a pizza which meant no weigh-ins for a couple of days.

Of course I know the first bits are the easier ones to get rid of so I need to keep at it.