3rd time, not so charming

After replacing my rear tyre 2 weeks ago I was all set to go out for my normal lunch time cycle when I discovered I had a puncture in that tyre. "I must have forgotten to re-inflate the tyre" I thought until I remembered that Fiona and I had been joking about the pump. Puncture it was.

No problem. With these new self adhesive patches its child's play to fix a puncture.
I was surprised though since I hadn't actually been out on the bike, and there wasn't a  puncture when I replaced the worn tyre. I ran my finger along inside and couldn't find anything in the tyre itself but there was a rough piece on the rim itself. Probably caused by the tyre lever getting the tyre off. These things happen. I smoothed it off and got the patches out.

Once fixed I was out and did my cycle. Since its also the first night without Cubs over the summer, Fiona came over after dinner and we both went out for a cycle.

Guess what I found out the next time we went to go for a cycle? Another puncture. I don't think Fiona minded that much 'cos she made Eton Mess for us instead.

When I got the tyre off though it got odd. The new leak is just below the new patch.
So:

1. was it a new puncture caused by the rim;
2. a double puncture that I didn't take enough care in fixing;
3. or did I just put the patch in the wrong place?

I suppose the patch could have been in the wrong place but I was out twice that day and the tyre didn't feel soft. I'm not inclined to remove the patch because I suspect that will cause more damage to the tube.
Similarly it could have been a double puncture. It does seem unlikely since I was out twice on the 'repaired' tyre.
That suggests the rim. In order to test (and because I didn't have any patches left) I decided to use my spare tyre and see what happens.

With great trepidation Fiona and I went out last Sunday but the tyre was fine. We got soaked though and had to call it short.

Yesterday's cycle was great, windy but a good time. I bumped into an old friend which despite pausing my Garmin did skew my splits somewhat.

So, that leaves me confused. Was it a double puncture or did I patch a good bit of tyre?

Come along today. All set to go out and flat tyre. At least this time its obvious - a chunk of glass still stuck in the tyre. But no patches so no ride. Bike shop in Troon is closed on Wednesday so it was a trip out to Halfords to get patches.
Tyre is now patched, re inflated and seems to be holding air. I won't bother re assembling the bike until tomorrow though just in case.

Riddle me this...

How can two bicycle tyres, the same make, bought at the same time, fitted to the same bike on the very same day, have such dramatically different wear patterns?

The one on the top is the front type and the other is the rear. It needs replacing as its through to the canvas, while the front still seems almost new.

Its a bicycle, so my weight should be equally distributed between front and rear wheels, unless I'm leaning back so much that I'm pulling a wheelie for most of my cycle.

I haven't been doing unnecessary skids since Michael, Danny, Bobby and I were kids. The necessary ones fortunately have been few and far between, certainly not enough to account for the tyre wear.

I have had the occasional wheel spin. Sadly not as I accelerate away, but because if I get out of the saddle going uphill I lean too heavily on the handlebars. But that makes sense - I'm over the front axle which the takes the weight lightening the load on the rear wheel. Push down on the pedal and the wheel slips.

Luckily, a spare tyre has now been fitted so normal service will not be interrupted.

Mediocre May

My monthly update in my attempts to make myself smaller.

A good start to the month, but a disappointing end to it. I am still down, weight wise, but a weekend away and 'feed a cold' attitude meant that by the end of the month I had slipped a little.
Overall, as of 1 June I am just under 13kg (or just over 2 stone) lighter than I was at the start of January. I still have 22kg to go though...

I am also getting a little hacked off with the Hacker diet. The trend line follows behind too far.As you can see, for most of the month I was doing quite well but the red trend doesn't really reflect that. The end of the month is all me though.

Exercise wise I'm doing well. My lunchtime cycle is faster this month again. Each month my average time for the set 7 miles has dropped. This average is now under 31 minutes while when I started in January it was 35 minutes.

This month, with me being ill, I missed once lunch cycle and one gym session. Also due to work, I missed one gym session, and a scouts meeting meant I missed another gym session (but went out for a bike ride, but not one of my lunchtime route). Despite this, my 14 workouts took 16 hours and travelled over 170 km. That's 5.5 hours and 25 km more than April.

screenshots taken on 11 June so June is looking to be an active month.

My stats for the month look good.  A big jump in May despite missing those workouts. My regular gym workout has been increased to 60 minutes from 45, but  the big difference this month were a long cycle one weekend and a long walk another.

I also seem to be quite sensitive to what exercise I do. My weight seems to drop more regularly if I mix up the lunch cycles with regular gym workouts and weekend walks or cycles. The plot of raw weighings above shows an issue towards the end of the month when I missed my gym sessions. I can't help getting sick, and work will have to take priority, but it does suggest I'll have to mix it up while on holidays and away from the gym.

Damage potential...

Part of the reason I am the size I am is a great fondness for beer, particularly a good pint of Guinness, and crisps, the fried or baked potatoes, not as in a crisp carrot stick, or crisp day to go for a walk.

What chance do I have of hitting my target when this is now available?

Weekend away with Carmen Miranda

Pineapple head

Fiona and I got back from a weekend away in Stirling last night.

It wa a rare alignment - both Ayrshire and my work choose the same long weekend, and Ciaran was at his mum's so we were able to get away Saturday morning.

Almost didn't though. We booked a castle from LateRooms but some sort of screw up meant the hotel didn't accept the booking (I'm still arguing) but we did finally manage to book somewhere else and despite my head cold we headed off.

The weather on Saturday was lovely so we headed up to the Wallace monument in Stirling.
The views from the top were breathtaking, especially since it was clear - though there was an unusual yellow object in the sky.

Dinner was at The Hollybank. The food and service was great. Fiona even managed to compete a massive dessert.

Sunday was a bit more overcast so we headed off to Culross, pronounced Cure-oss, (why? I don't know). On the way we passed The Pineapple. This is one of those weird things that rich people liked to spend their money on - a building shaped like a pineapple. It set the tone for the day.

Culross was a centre of industry 400 and 500 years ago, exporting coal, salt and iron griddles. During the good times there was a lot of investment by the main merchant and he managed to build himself a nice house. In looking after his interests the town prospered.  Over the next 200 years it fell on hard times when the mines flooded and their other industries couldn't compete. The final straw was the Americans rebelling and not buying their shoes (or English tea, but thats another story) anymore.  Basically since 1780 the town has been static - the original buildings and roads were kept and the town existed in a time warp. In the 1930's the National trust started buying buildings and by the start of WW2 the trust owned over 20 properties and over the next 30 years acquired more. This has saved many of these building from demolition.

Now the village is still as it was in the late 18th century - narrow cobbled streets, but since these are leased out, there are cars and electricity. The electrical substation is in one of the original houses.

There are odd contrasts between old and new - the Palace looks out over where the salt pans were and across the Forth towards the Grangemouth refinery. Houses with lintels dated with 1669 have wheelie bins parked outside.
At first it seems a shame but then you realise that there always was industry. The salt pans worked by burning cheap coal and boiling the sea water off, so clouds of steam and smoke see appropriate.

Sadly my cold was getting worse. After the nice dinner the night before we tried another restaurant, Brea,this one recommended by a friend of Fiona. Unfortunately I could not taste anything at all so I couldn't really appreciate it.

Monday morning was a bit of a rush. Our plan to be at breakfast early was foiled by the alarm not going off, so in  a bit of a panic we headed for breakfast just after 0930 to find no food left. It seems that, even if the alarm did go off as planned, we would have missed breakfast as it finished at 0900. Kindly they did cook us something.

After checking out we headed over to the Battle of Bannockburn site which was literally next door to the hotel. They are currently in the process of rebuilding in preparation for the 700th anniversary of the battle. This means the visitor centre has been demolished, a new building is currently being finished, the site is a building site, and there is only a portacabin where they are trialing the new branded merchandise.

I asked the National Trust staff where the battle site actually was and was surprised by her answer of "Not sure. No one actually knows".
It totally deflated my plans for a photo captioned "On this site, 700 years ago, nothing much happened. But over there..."
She went on to explain that their 'offical' site would have been a staging area, and may have seen fighting, but there has been a lack of artifacts. But artifacts have been found in the entire area. There are theories which include that the local school sits on the battlefield. I guess the serfs didn't care too much about history when life was so difficult. The redevelopment included a lot of archeology, including finding a neolithic fire pit, which was a disappointment as it didn't tie with the battle.There are a lot of plans to get the community digging.

As it was raining we decided not to walk out to the site and headed to the car to consult the guide books. Alloa Tower is nearby and indoors so that was our target. When we got to Alloa, parked and walked to the tower we found that closer inspection of the guide book would have shown that it didn't open until 1300. With 90 minutes to kill we did some shopping and tea drinking before heading back to see this oddly placed tower.

This is another legacy of medieval money, but unlike Culross time has not stood still. It sits in the middle of the village, with a Tesco occupying the site of the original stables. (long association with horsemeat). Again, fantastic staff with great knowledge and interesting anecdotes. We finished our tour on the ramparts where the rain came on again.

Then it was back home, a trip to the cinema to finish the weekend.

Good food, good times, and good company.

Karma and Just bloody Typical

We decided to go out for a walk yesterday to Millport. This was after deciding that the effort of transporting the three of us with bikes all the way wasn't worth the time. After alternative cycles were rejected we all agreed on a walk around Millport.

On our way there is a short stretch of the A78 where it goes into 3 lanes each way (obviously a very successful local politician when the road was being built) to allow for the volumes (?) of traffic. This is implemented by the slip road simply not merging. It continues alongside for the mile or so and then becomes the off slip at the next junction. Most people who are not coming off and know the road do not move into this lane as they know they have to come back out.
Fiona knows the road and was driving down what became the temporary middle lane at about 70mph when she commented on the idiot coming up the inside. This twat was doing over 80mph, one hand behind his head, to show how in control he was, and undertook us. Once he got a few car lengths ahead of us we could see smoke coming form his rear wheel arch. By the time the smell of burning rubber invaded the car he had slowed to about our speed and we could see the tyre was flat. Of course, since there is a special filter lane, there is no hard shoulder so he had to continue, which he did at about 60mph, until a lay by when he did pull over. By that time the smug grin was gone, and the female passenger looked less than impressed. Schadenfreude.

Since I have now convinced Fiona to install the MapMyRun app onto her phone so she can track her 10km training (no giggling) we both powered up before heading out.

It was a really peaceful walk. Millport (or rather Cumbrae) is really good for walking and cycling as there is little traffic and few hills (none if you keep to the coast) Since you have to leave by ferry, it is convenient to lap from the ferry terminal, with a lap almost exactly 10 miles.
I have never walked there before, having only cycled before. Its amazing what else you get to see and hear form the different perspective.

Now, since I hadn't expected to be out walking my phone wasn't fully charged and the app draws a lot of power. When pausing for a rest I noticed I was into the yellow and was concerned that the charge wouldn't last the full lap. Thus started the final charge to the ferry. I was literally within sight of the ferry (which was gone, but we never thought we would get it anyway) when the phone beep a low power warning. As that last little bit wasn't going to affect anything I decided to shut down the app to save the workout. Sadly the act of the phone coming out of sleep and presumably trying to re-sync killed the battery. Bloody typical but at least Fiona's is still running ad I may be able to recover the files when I get home.

All in all we were impressed with our walk. We started at 1330 and were waiting for the ferry by 1710. We stopped for for a breather on the route, and ice cream in Millport, and a drink in Fintry Bay (at 1605 - the tea room was closed at 1600). The walking took 3 hours exactly.

We got the next ferry, made it home and I started the phone charging. After dinner I decided to see if anything as salvageable. To my surprise when I opened up the app it had the route paused and asked if I wanted to resume, cancel or save. I quickly chose save and let it upload. It was only then that I realised that I had been allocated the journey home as a single step.
So the first 3 hours of our walk covered 10 miles at an average pace of 3.3 mph. In the next 2 hours I did another 20 miles, direct from the ferry terminal to the house, at a fast jog pace of 10 mph

Unusual Sight

I've always liked airplanes and helicopters so living near Prestwick airport and the connected HMS Gannet Search and Rescue means that there are often interesting aircraft around.

Just last week we had a military Dauphin and Merlin helicopters and over the years I have seen some pretty unusual planes.


I have seen Hercules, TriStars and a Gulfstream that does not exist. We have seen Tornadoes and Hornets and Chinooks. I've seen the Police EC135, a Lynx, a Boeing E3 Sentry.

These are just what I see when I'm not in the office!




I have a bad phone photo taken while driving past Prestwick of the world's largest airplane, the Antonov AN-225.

When that one takes off you can feel it in your chest. It has 6 engines! One year it took off during the Loans Gala - the entire place stopped to look.

I've also seen the next largest plane, the AN-124. This was a regular visitor to Prestwick but I haven't seen it recently.






On Tuesday we had another rare visitor - one of the 4 remaining Vickers VC10s.

These planes are used for inflight refueling and are due to be retired by the end of the year.

Not sure what he was actually doing, but he was pulling some tight curves over the house.

New Wheels

I am now almost 2 weeks into my new car. The garage made an offer I couldn't refuse.

I wasn't really looking for a new car, but was thinking of changing. I had received a voice message from the garage on the day the BBC reported an air bag recall on some Japanese cars. With no details other than to contact the garage 'as soon as I can' I feared the worst. If there was nothing to worry about then that's what the message would have been, right?

I returned their call only to be informed it was a prospecting call as they had some great deals. Wary of deals only available for a short time I asked if I could come in the following week, 10 days later and an appointment was made.

Ciaran and I then headed into the garage and had a look-see. After the test drive I was impressed. I had been told it was the same sized engine and felt it had a lot more oomph but when we got back we realised it was the larger sized engine. The only one with my engine size on the lot was already sold so I couldn't test that one.

Then the paperwork starts and the prices looked really good, but still more than I was paying for my current car. It was pointed out that it wasn't much more a month but I countered with the fact that over the year it would add up to 2 extra months. I said I would need to think about it and could I take the paperwork away with me.

Then the hard sell started, but he was upfront - he said that if I walked away then he hadn't managed to make the sale so he would check what else could be offered.

After some time, and a test drive of the sold car, we finally agreed on a price which was what I was already paying, a down payment of less than 1 month's payment, no first payment for a month and 2 years free servicing. In effect I was able to replace my car 3.5 years old car with over 48 thousand on the clock with a brand new upgrade for essentially less in 1 month. I save on my servicing and MOT and since it was pre-registered I can also claim back my tax disc. A real no brainer.

So what do I think of it? Its always nice to have something new, especially new for old. Also since my spin in Feb 2011 I was uneasy in the car. Won't know how that goes until the winter so watch this space. At least this new car doesn't have the scratches from that any more. Its got a smaller tank but seems to get the same mileage but its too early to know about that yet. This is a 5 door but the three of haven't had cause to use them yet.
The white colour may mean washing it more often (more often than never anyway). I also no longer have alloy wheels but that's no hardship.

April's Report

As I feared, April was not a good month on the overall campaign to lessen myself.

Don't really know what happened to my weight, apart from it not reducing!
There are a few pointers - Dublin meant more eating and less care, other issues meant less weekend sports but I am a bit disillusioned with it.
There is the notion that lean muscle weighs more than fat, though takes up less volume. That may account for it but not the steep angle change during April - I don't think the muscle appears overnight!
It could be the Easter debris - the end of Lent, the availability of eggs etc. I need to keep an eye on it as my trend line has now crossed my target line. I'm now not expected to hit my target weight until next March. Thats ot bad, but I would have liked to hit it on time. I will have to be stricter. Hopefully with the longer evenings there will be more opportunity to get out and about.

Fitness wise I'm on an upper. There is definitely an improvement. My times for my lunchtime cycle are dropping, both on individual cycles and on the monthly averages. With what has been going on, I actually managed more of my lunchtime cycles but only 1 weekend cycle. Those 16 workouts though are a bit of a hack. One trip has been counted as 3 separate workouts, so the real total is only 14.  But still, 25 more km in about the same total time. Something is looking better.

I certainly feel better. Since the start of May I have increased what I do at the gym as part fo the jump start. May will need to be better otherwise I'm not sure what the next step will need to be.

Batman Lives

While we were walking about at New Lanark yesterday I turned on the route mapping software on my phone. I figured that if I was going to do the walking I wanted credit for the workout.
When I looked the profile on the website it was nice and symmetric, as you would expect from an out and back walk.
It was only when I looked at on the phone's app. Due to the different screens it has different scaling.
The distance along the x-axis is compressed, the vertical is expanded, allowing other details but I didn't expect Gotham's own to be staring out at me...

New Lanark

Had  a great day in New Lanark yesterday. Weather was brilliant and because its in a valley it was dead calm.

This is basically a 19th century mill sitting on the Clyde. They have restored the buildings and equipment and there are some nice walks up the Clyde, through to the Falls of Clyde.

Ciaran was well pleased too. When we arrived there was music playing. It turns out that there was a music festival of some sort. Despite us not being particularly interested in that, there was a specialist guitar shop present where Ciaran spent some time.

As we walked up to the falls we also got a chance to see the nesting pair of peregrines.

Guess which metal segments are missing from the bridge?

Kindle Down

An unfortunate connection of knee and Kindle has left the Kindle the loser.

The technical reports says that the screen is 'not responding to page turns' and 'has artifacts'. The text legibility has been compromised. The issues arose after 'pressure had been applied to the screen'. A hard reset has not resolved the issues.

In laymans terms its buggered because it was knelt on when it was under the duvet and the pjs were on the other side of the bed.

 This Kindle is the original Kindle 3. I got it for my birthday in 2010. The product was renamed the Kindle Keyboard in 2011 when it was superceded by the Touch. The Paperwhite is now the current model and my model is only available second hand or old stock and not from Amazon.

It is accepted on both sides that the warranty has expired. But that didn't stop me from chancing my arm and phoning Amazon support.

After establishing the technical report as described above (because it seems their tech support can't jump from its broken because someone knelt on it and I heard it crack) I was passed onto their dedicated Kindle replacement team.
A few minutes later, those minutes establishing what I had already established a few minutes earlier, I was offered a few upgrade options to replace my broken Kindle. If  I return the broken one to them I get a discount. So I am now waiting for a refurbished Paperwhite for about 65% of new price and 80% of refurbished price.

In the meantime I am back to analogue books. I worried about RSI manually turning the pages...

Upland Plateau

March was not a good month for my weight reduction campaign.
As of 6 April I have dropped a total of 10 kg which is good news.
I am looking at the positive side. My weight is reducing but I've been here before.
Sadly there is only 0.1 of a difference between the trend and the actual, with the actual now being higher. I seem to have flat-lined my trend line. I am now not expected to hit my target at all! Of course this is a logging issue, mostly with me being away from my scales for a few days. fingers crossed.

Looking at the graphs it seems the blip that was the Kinross weekend is still the tail wagging my curve, though my slope is not as steep as it was at the end of February, meaning the weight is not shifting as quickly.
The end of the 'month' was a disaster as far as reaching my goals are concerned. I use month loosely. Since I started all this on the 7th of Jan, I have been reporting on the 7th of subsequent months, for the preceding month. That is getting too complicated so from now onward I'll report the calendar months. Suddenly March is not too bad. A definite easing but no disaster. April looks like a nightmare though...


Why the stall in my progress? I'm not really sure why. Well I am really. The cold weather -The coldest March since February they were calling it, coupled with Easter holidays.
Holidays have always been a double whammy for me. Not being at work means my discipline tends to be lower and I'll graze. This coupled with other activities which keep me away from my exercise means I tend to slip a bit. The bad weather and other incidents also meant that I never managed any longer cycles over the weekend, and this included missing our now annual Millport cycle over the Easter weekend.


Looking back at February, I did 13 workouts. My totals were 9.41 hours and just under 120 km. For March it was 16 workouts but only 117 km in just over 10 hours.

This would seem to be the problem - I seem to be slowing down a bit. But I'm not. Alright, some of my lunchtime cycles were slower but there was a stiff wind, and the cycle computer takes no account of wind.

March Cycling pace in km/hr

March had more walks (these are outdoor walks, not my treadmill sessions) so they tend to be slower, and sometimes punctuated with trips to the coffee shop. And I did forget to turn off the timer when we were waiting in line...

But I burned over 1500 more calories in March. So where is the problem? A weeks holiday meant more eating and since that included a trip back to Dublin and Easter I am going to excuse myself, but April will need to see me firmly back in the saddle.

Incommunicado

Got back home last night from a short break with Ciaran in Dublin.
The parents' lack of wifi afforded a welcome break from most of my electronic communication - only texts from Fiona were read. I found it quite refreshing but I think the electronic silence was a bit much for Ciaran. He was booting the laptop before he got his coat off last night when we got back in.

We had a pleasant time in Dublin. I finally sent my American passport in for renewal. It's only 3 years expired now. We also headed into Dublin castle but spent much of the day looking at music shops.

Ciaran is "working that whole rockabilly look" at the moment and obsessed with guitars. Fortunately he does seem to be able to play and is taking lessons. So we spent a good chunk of time window shopping for guitars.

When I was talking to my brother he said that Ciaran was described as a 'bagel'. He wasn't sure what it meant but didn't think it was too good. There was no wifi but there was broadband so we did find out an urban definition and we all learned a new word.

On our final day my niece and 2 of my nephews were visiting Grandma.While we were messing about I warned Jack that i could see what he was doing because I had eyes in the back of my head. When he scoffed Ava warned him "He does! All grownups have eyes in the back of their heads to watch kids!" It seems the message we got as kids is passing down the generation.

So three communication points - I can survive without the incessant beeping of emails and reminders; a bagel is not just for breakfast; and selection of the fittest evolves parental rear view eyes.

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.

More Curling

Just back in from a weekend in Kinross where Fiona was curling. Its a funny competition where they try to be as good as they can, but not to win it outright since the winners have to organise it for next year.

I was left to my own devices while the curlers were on ice.

I took the opportunity to hire a bike and go for a cycle. I do not recommend cycling in jeans and boots - there is no stretch. I could barely get my leg over the cross bar.

It was good fun though. There is a newish path which almost circles the loch (Loch Leven). This is the Loch Levin Heritage Trail and seems to be a locally financed initiative to promote the amenities.
They've done a great job. The path is excellent At the moment it only goes about 3/4 of the way around but plans seem to be in place to complete the ring. At the moment it goes from Kinross pier out to RSPB Vane Farm. I was worried at the very start. I didn't look very closely but the surface was a wooden deck with no-slip strips. It meant the hire bike rumbled as it passed over it. I didn't think I would cope if it was all like that. Luckily for me it wasn't.

The path was in fantastic conditions and despite all the rain was quite dry with only a few small puddles over the entire length. Being on the shore of the lake it was also quite level. There were numerous benches where you could sit and look out over the lake, and there were hides for watching the local wildlife.

It was cold but dry and I thoroughly enjoyed myself.

I finished my afternoon off with a sauna while waiting for the curlers to return.

Apart for the curling ,the main purpose of these weekends is the food and I have to admit I enjoyed mine. I'm sure the diet has gone to pot though. I'm not looking forward to tomorrow's weigh in.

The curlers did quite well - no booby prizes and didn't win outright so they don't have to organise it next year. And Fiona won both her games which she was pleased about.

Dual Use

Just got in from my lunchtime cycle. Its all part of my "2013 - the year I get lean" campaign.

We're lucky here in Troon because national Cycle route 7 passes through the town and a recent initiative has joined up all the local paths between golf courses etc as part of the Local Cycle Network. This means I can do a short 7 mile circular route virtually all off the road on cycle paths. The few bits I am on the road are cul-de-sac with little to no traffic.

One of the things you need to be careful about though is the dual use nature. These routes are not exclusively cycle routes and I don't think they should be. But I do have issue with those people who just have no appreciation that there are other people trying to use them.

In the 30 minutes I was out I had to virtually stop on 3 separate occasions. Once was just timing - I was coming up behind a woman with a push chair just as another push chair was approaching.
The other 2 were just people not considering. The woman stopped in the middle of the hedge lined pathway with her dog sniffing about. I only just managed to stop once I saw the lead. I wonder how far the dog would have been catapulted if I couldn't stop in time?

from Google Maps

The other was a family (its a nice winter's day here today and there seems to be a lot of kids about) walking across the full width of the prom, despite the clearly marked cycle path. And them glaring at me.
This image from Google Maps shows exactly what I mean. The whole esplanade to walk on and they choose to walk in the very obvious cycle path. As do the others further down. The cycle path was put there for a reason - to protect walkers by keeping the bikes in one place.

 Its amazing how those 2 metre strips of non slip surface with the white bike symbol repeated every 50 metres attracts so many walkers.


If nothing else, these stops are affecting my time!

Rant over. Time for a shower.