Sadly, I ended up dislodging my Fisica sensor from my phone which split my tracking in Endomondo into 2 parts, hence the 2 embedded sessions below. Still, it was fun taking some pictures during the session of the stunning local scenery.

This little video is the fruits of a couple of hours of messing around while riding around the canal between Pontypool & Abergavenny, South Wales.

What was happening was that the right pedal was occasionally locking in place and rolling under my foot, which made pedalling a bit of a pain!

Well, after a few minutes messing around with the pedal, it became apparent that the plastic cap that covers the pedal bolt had come off exposing the inner nut and bearings and that the actual bearings were coming out and jamming between the nut and the outer casing, locking the pedal in position. A quick fiddle with the bike toolkit and I’d released the lose bearings and freed the pedal, but riding back was a bit hit and miss, as more bearings came out and locked the pedal several more times.

So, I’ve contacted the shop where the bike was bought, and I have to send the pedals back for testing and repair / replacement, which is a bit of a pain as it means I’ll be without pedals. So, do I buy new pedals and send the defective ones back and have a spare set? Hmmm…..

I’ve had a stinking cold the last few days and the last 2 sessions proved less than enjoyable, so it was a great feeling to get out in the fresh air and get some miles under my belt this weekend without feeling like cr@p!

So, off LJ & I went for a ride down the canal towards Abergavenny in the lovely sunshine, armed with the camera for some snaps and a play about with some video. No racing today, just a ride at an easy pace and take in the scenery.

For me, using motivational or inspirational information, whether that’s in the form of a TV programme, a magazine, book, website or blog of a person that inspires me is often enough to gain a great sense of perspective on my own journey.

Take a look at programmes like ‘The Biggest Loser’ or ‘ A Year to Save My Life’ and you soon start to see that there are people who have started with a much harder road than you, and they achieve amazing results, overcome both physical and mental hurdles and succeed or exceed in their personal goals.

There are also some amazing examples that are less televised. One fantastic example is The Amazing 39 Stone Cyclist, who, for me displays everything that is inspirational in a human being. I cannot imagine how it must be to try to lead a normal life when you’re 39 stone in weight. To then make a conscious decision to not have surgery (a gastric band) and to lose such a huge amount of weight, improve your fitness and become an athlete is an amazing feet, especially when it’s all under your own steam.

Coping When Training

So, when you’re hungry or fed up of the low calorie meals you can look to inspiration in the form of some of those ideas outlined above. But what about when you’re training and you start to lose motivation?

Well, that’s a bit tougher to overcome. For me, I could easily talk myself out of going out if the weather is poor or I’m feeling tired. But, as mentioned in my previous post, the mental part of getting fit and losing weight is as important, if not more so than the actual act.

So, I’ll use my last ride as an example of really not being in the mood but keeping at it. I don’t know if my change in diet over the last 2 weeks or if I’m coming down with a cold was the reason behind my recent lack of energy and drive, but it really has made recent training more difficult.

I was all geared up, the weather was average (read as not raining) and the first half mile was fine. However, once onto the cycle track my great plans of using the first 5 miles as a warm-up quickly became a real slog! My thighs burned, I couldn’t catch my breath after the first hill and the enjoyment was out the window. I was really contemplating just going home and writing the session off as a bad day. But, my stubborn side kicked in and said ‘Just go to 5 Locks – it’s only 10 miles and that should make 1000 cal session’. So, that’s exactly what I aimed for.

Each rotation of the pedals was uncomfortable, my legs burned and I was counting off the miles. It wasn’t too long until I got back to my 10 mile marker and time for home. Nope, Mr Stubborn pipes up and says, ‘Just go on to the old marker towards Abergavenny.’ So, that’s what I did…. until I got to the marker, stopped for a drink and a homemade energy bar and then it was off again towards Abergavenny and my next marker. Once that marker was ticked off, it was time to head on back along the track towards home. By the time I got home, it was just over 26 miles of complete discomfort but I felt much better for it in the end.

Yes, my legs hurt, I was hungry, cold and sweaty and getting in a hot bath (thanks LJ) was fantastic; my point is simple. Did I enjoy the session? No. Did I feel better for doing it? – Yes! Did it kill me to get off my ass, get outside in the fresh air and ride through lovely countryside and move towards my goal of fitness and weight loss… so, in the end it really was worth the effort. For me, bite size chunks work to get me through the longer, less enjoyable sessions.

So, what drives me on? Well, part stubborn attitude and part a change in my mental attitude. Any pain and discomfort I feel is temporary. My fitness level is far better than it has been in years, and I know this is something that will only get better as I keep pushing through these temporary barriers that my mind or body place in my way. And also an understanding that when you look at people like those who are taking part in the TV shows mentioned earlier, that any mental or physical struggle that I encounter is probably nowhere near as difficult as the ones they battle through.

So, if you’re feeling like eating boiled potatoes and chicken for the umpteenth time is just one bite too far or going out for a training session can be put off until tomorrow, sit down, grab the TV control and put on an episode of The Biggest Loser or grab a magazine with an inspirational article in and have a read. It may just be the thing that gets you through.

Image © Loutocky | Stock Free Images & Dreamstime Stock Photos

I’ve been around people who talk about diets, losing weight and getting fit and the majority of this ends up simply being a fad. Diets always start on Monday, or are something that you have a bad few days on and then talk yourself into starting the next week and then proceed to over indulge until the following Monday, put more weight on and then spend the next 2 weeks undoing the damage done in your binge prior to starting your Monday diet again; making it a vicious circle.

So, from the start I’ve tried to approach the whole process from a more positive, change of lifestyle attitude. If you diet and convince yourself of being on a diet, this suggests that once you reach your goal that the diet ends and you can go back to normality, or a modified version of your former approach to food and eating. I know, that for me, this attitude would just set me up to fail long term!

What made more sense was to change my attitude towards food (and a lesser extent, exercise). So, I’ve re-evaluated what and how I eat. In its most basic terms, I have educated myself on food, calories & nutrition so that I have a better understanding of what foods and food groups are beneficial to my body under different circumstances.

So, on days I intend to train I will feed my body in preparation with slow release carbs, fresh fruit and take various bars out on the training session to ensure I have enough food to feed my muscles, to keep me going on a typical 3-5 hour session. I also ensure I have a good amount of liquids to replenish the lost nutrients (salt, glycogen, etc). This ensures that my training sessions are actually helping to increase my fitness, burn calories but not starve myself of the things my body requires.

After a training session and days off from training I increase my protein intake through eating chicken or turkey as well as using whey protein drinks to aid in muscle repair. I also reduce the amount of carbs eaten on non-training days. Again, nothing too scientific, just the basics of nutrition & exercise.

I also never refer to myself as being on a diet, as mentioned earlier, this has a negative mental connotation. I have never and will never be on a diet; I am simply working on a change of lifestyle that has reduced the amount of bad foods in my diet, and replaced them with better, healthier and reduced calorie alternatives. I don’t go without. If I feel the need or desire to eat something unhealthy, I will do. However, I have conditioned myself into a mindset that simply states that if I want to eat something unhealthy I will either do this after a good training session (typically burning between 1000 – 4500 calories) or I will train the following day to help counteract the poor food / drink  choice made.

While this isn’t an approach that would work for everyone, and I’m not suggesting that anyone should follow my example; for me, the process works. I’ve lost over 2 stone and can maintain the weight with a 2lb fluctuation with minimal effort.

So, next time you think about going on a ‘diet’, try this approach and it may just help to shed the pounds you’ve struggled with before :0)

© Henrischmit | Stock Free Images & Dreamstime Stock Photos

Now, don’t get me wrong, I don’t eat deep fat fried chips on a regular basis. No, I prefer to use the McCain’s Rustic Oven Chips which are only 3% fat (pretty good) and come in at around 120 cals per 100g. Bacon is cut to only offer the lean meat and is mopped with kitchen roll to remove any excess fat from cooking.

Anyway, I’m side tracking here!

For the last 2 weeks, my daily diet has been:

Breakfast

• Hobnob Medley (131 cals)
• Cadbury Highlights Hot Chocolate drink with a small amount of semi skimmed milk (50 cals).

Mid Morning Snack (11 am ish)

• 3 x Ryvita Dark (102 cals)
• 1.5 slices of pastrami (24 cals)
• 1.5 slices of chicken or turkey or ham or pork loin (avg 40 cals).

Lunch (2pm)

• 1 x low calory Lasagne (350 – 375 cals)
• Muller Light Yoghurt (90 cals).

Evening Meals

Various options mainly including chicken for added protein, potatoes, mashed, etc. avg 500 – 700 cals.

Fruit, either Granny Smith apple or orange for dessert and possibly Medley bar or yoghurt.

First week saw me drop my 2lb fluctuation weight (not really inlcuded) and one additional pound. The next weigh in will be Sunday after at least one more mountain bike training session.

Image courtesy of © Sarininka | Stock Free Images & Dreamstime Stock Photos

With the new stretch to Goytre Wharf being open, it increases the regular route that I take down the canal by another 5-6 miles, which is great news for me.

So, off we (LJ and I) headed to get a few miles on the clock and to help LJ clear the cobwebs from a night on the pop! I don’t think she found it to easy, but felt better for making the effort.

She headed off back when we got to the Pontypool basin, but I carried on to get a minimum of 20 miles in today by continuing on down to 5 Locks near Cwmbran.

I’d be lying if I said today was easy going with only 5 hours of sleep, but always feel better for getting out in the fresh air and get some exercise.

Nutrition information for today’s ride:

Pre Ride Breakfast: Muesli with skimmed milk (slow release carbs for the ride) & Muller Light yogurts.

Post Ride: Whey Protein drink for a blast of protein after the session.

The weather has been pretty poor for the last few weeks, so when the rain and hailstones cleared up this afternoon and the sun decided to show its face, I couldn’t wait to get back home, make a quick change and grab the bike for a ride down to the canal and head towards Goytre Wharf!

I really didn’t think my legs would be up to much after 4+ hours out on Sunday, but I was surprised to find that while I was generally tired, it didn’t hamper my session anywhere near as much as I’d envisaged.

One of the nice things about riding in the early evening, especially after bad weather is that the journey is pretty quiet. Most people are either just getting in from work or have written the day off! Quiet trails means the chance to kick it up a notch and get some speed under your belt. I certainly got the chance to do that this evening. I started of at a fairly steady pace, but decided to push on farther than I had originally intended. The journey back was where I bit the bullet and upped the speed a fair bit to give my legs a good workout.

The journey towards Goytre Wharf (now it’s been re-surfaced) is surrounded by some amazing views, and this time of year has the colourful oil seed rape fields in full colour! Couple this with the white fluffy clouds and blue sky and you have a recipe for a stunning ride.

I got a bit carried away at a few points, grabbed the iPhone and snapped a few shots. Sadly, the camera doesn’t really do them justice, but it’s a good reminder of the journey.

All in, I clocked up just under 17 miles in a respectable 1hr 42 (although I didn’t stop the timer while I took photos, or stopped for any other reason).

Roll on the next break in the weather! lol

I’ll have to admit that since Xmas I’ve not really been too good with my diet! There, I’ve said it…

This pretty much proves my whole slow down in weight loss. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve lost a few pounds, gained a few pounds and reached my initial goal of losing 2 stone (making me 12st 7lb). This has taken me from being overweight to being normal and dropped my BMI below the magic 25 – I’m 5’ 11”.

Still, I’ve revised that initial figure, and want to drop an extra 7lbs to get me to an even 12 stone.

I’ve relied heavily on the iPhone app ‘MyNetDiary’ to manage and maintain my dietary needs. But nothing beats a better understanding of what you’re putting into your body, and especially when it comes to the best foods and nutrition to use to both lose weight and train effectively. Now it’s time for me to move on to gain a better understanding of what I’m eating to help improve my training.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not motivated enough to become some kind of athletic superman (too bloody old for that! Oh, and I don’t want to have to wear a cape and my boxers on the outside of my clothes :0) ).

But, I really want to train smart, eat the right foods to ensure that my training works for, and not against me.

So, the first thing to do is educate myself on the benefits of complex carbohydrates v’s simple carbohydrates and how I should be using them to give myself the best fuel for longer training and for when I start commuting to and from work (a 25 mile round trip).

My normal session is 2-4.5 hours, so nutrition and energy is becoming more important (as is hydration). So, I’m looking into the best types of snacks / quick meals to take and use to keep my energy levels up for longer sessions.

So, my mission for this week is get a good understanding of the food groups / types and put a diet plan together for training days.

I’ll keep you posted :0)

This was my first time taking my new Bike out for a spin (Cube Analog Disc 2012), and I wanted to give it a good test on some mixed surfaces. So, we headed off towards Abergavenny via the canal.

You get a great mix of surfaces, from tarmac to gravel, grass and rough stuff to muddy, wet tracks.

I have to say that the new bike has impressed me so far. The hydraulic brakes never fade, no matter what surface you’re breaking on. Mud, dirt, gravel, water, etc.

The Rockshocks absorbed almost everything I threw at them, and offer a smooth ride. Once I get the opportunity to get a few hundred miles on the clock, I’ll give a more in-depth review of the bike, but until then I’m happy to just enjoy eating up the miles.

So, all in the ride came out at 33 miles, the weather was a real mixed bag but the day was great fun and I can’t wait to do it all over again.

Even better is the fact that the new path has made riding to work a real daily possibility.

I got the opportunity to pick one up this afternoon, and upon first impressions I’m pretty pleased with my purchase.

It seems to be a pretty well thought out pack, with a multitude of pockets, compartments and straps to cater for most preferences and needs. The back is well padded, with a decent central ventilation strip to keep the pack away from your spine.

There is an expansion zip to allow for additional contents (waterproofs, rain jacket, etc.), as well as a pretty neat pull out helmet holder that sits at the bottom of the pack where you would expect a rain cover.

Fitting the hydration pack is pretty painless, with an internal compartment and a metal hook to stop it from sinking down inside the pack when full.

My only real complaints with the pack is the lack of any substantial padding on the actual straps.

Now, I’ve not tested the pack yet, so I may well find that the straps are perfectly adequate for the job in hand.

All in all, a pretty nice back pack with hydration option, that looks pretty nice, has a multitude of compartments and options that should suit most peoples needs.

Just taken delivery of my new Cube Analog Disc 2012 moutain bike…

Here are a few examples of the shoot. The kit I used was pretty basic:

• Nikon D300
• Sigma 70-200 f2.8

It was a real blast shooting them in this environment as the lighting was pretty good, and the band were on top form on a decent stage which made for an enjoyable gig to shoot. Roll on Coverfest where I’ll be shooting them agai along with 5 or 6 other bands in this charity event in aid of the Velindre Hospital.

Again, this was shot with a pretty simple setup, comprising of:

• Nikon D300
• Sigma 10-20mm
• Manfrotto monopod.

I originally shot a 1 stop bracketed set of 7 images, but ended up getting the best results from just 3 images 2 stops apart. The images were processed with Nik HDR Efex Pro and Photoshop CS3 and that’s pretty much it. A little cropping, adjusting of levels and selective cloning and done.

The B&W variation was edited in Nik Silver Efex Pro 2.

All these are shot with a pretty simple setup, comprising of:

• Nikon D300
• Sigma 150mm f2.8 EX DG macro lens
• Kenko Extension Tubes (all 3)
• Manfrotto 190 XB Pro tripod
• Redsnapper Ball Head
• Cable Release.

There was no real reason for the shoot, just an excuse to try shooting frozen dew on grass that ended up moving on to other frozen goodies.

All the shots are taken in natural light, no flash or reflectors on a overcast winters morning.

• Learn how to use the Adjustment Brush
• Learn how to use Clarity to smooth skin

1. Crop & Straighten
2. Basic tools palette (basic image enhancement)
3. Graduated filter controls
4. Adjustment Brush (How to)
5. Spot removal.

We had a good session working on low key images last night, and I’ve added the ones I’m most pleased with to this thread. Each image was shot with a very simple setup of 1 400 w/s head and 140cm octobox with a black vinyl background.

All shots are with a Nikon D300 and Sigma 70-200mm f2.8.

It also helped that LJ (my long suffering better half) who is a member of the Central Beacons Mountain Rescue was helping to set things up on the Saturday night prior to the event and got me free entry (thanks hun :0) ).

Armed with a camera bag weighing in at over 7kg and some hiking shoes that decided to come off at the first signs of mud, myself and a friend headed off on the long trek up from the parking area to the first spectators spot, which worked out as a pretty poor place to photograph from. Thankfully the first stage was part way through when we arrived and after half an hour we headed off up the track to look for a better vantage point.

Within a mile we found a pretty promising left hand bend with a good spot on both sides of the track that would offer a different view of the cars as they took the corner.

Once the next stage was completed, we walked another mile or so until we found a nice looking corner with a crest to watch the cars come over, hoping for some air action (sadly that didn’t happen) and settled in for the wait until the final stage started.

The Night Glow

This in itself is worth visiting the show. It is a collection of balloon’s all igniting to music in the late evening…. there is something truly magical about the glowing orbs dancing in the night to the sounds of bands like Queen, all watched by thousands of spectators grouped around the main arena.

Bristol Balloon Fiesta