The Beginning of the Beginning.

2011 is already 26 days old and I am doing well in my progress to get ready for the season. Lets looks at some of the highs and lows for the month:

Highs:

I - Stepped on the scale this morning and saw 174. I have lost 5 pounds already this year. A good work out program and strict diet have helped. I am tracking everything I eat on the Livestrong website, and I mean everything. I encourage everyone to check it out - http://www.livestrong.com/profile/pongomoto/

II - I seemed to have gotten my digestive system issues under control. After a year of ups and downs, it feels good to finally know what I can and can't eat for the most part. The new diet I am on has treated me well so far and I am not in a constant state of misery over the penalties of eating. I have had a couple small issues this month from testing certain foods but it's small in scale compared to what I used to have to deal with.

III - The 6 weeks I took off at the end of last year has helped my feet. My left foot seems completely healed and my right foot is about 85% and holding up well to the program I am doing this month.

IV - I am enjoying the cross training I am doing. I am back to doing weights again but what is really different is that I am not spending all my training time on the bike. I have been using the wife's fitness club grade elliptical machine. For those who don't know Sue a personal trainer. Anyway, the wife has tried in the past to tell me about the importance of cross training during the off season but I was always so bent on riding during my free time. So this year, mostly due to my foot issues, I am listening to my highly educated wife and giving it a try. She has a bachelor's in Exercise Science and has many certifications so really I should be listening to her. So what could have been a 350-400 mile month is turning out to be 200 miles . That's alright though because come the warm weather I will be able to ramp up my miles and ditch the elliptical and ride further into the season without the fear of the body wearing down.

V - The Kona Hei Hei 2-9 Deluxe is a solid ride and I cannot wait to rip the season apart with it. So glad I made the switch to the big wheels. Last October the bike was really good to me and I got enough of a feel from it to see how my 2011 season will be improved by having this bike.

Lows:

I - My tool around bike, Redline D640, that I use to scoot around with the kids and occasional jump at the parks has a frame recall. Bonus for a new frame but I really liked it so it's hard to see it go. 2011 was suppose to be the year I didn't make any roster changes in the stable but I have no choice. Redline says the frames are failing. So my new frame is in and I have to go give them my D640. Sigh. Haven't got the specs on the new frame but hope it's as good as the one I am giving back.

II - Due to budget constraints I think I will be squeezing one more year out of my road bike. Talk about old faithful, man's best friends, whatever cliche you want to use, this bike had been my workhorse for many years. It has taken the bulk of my training miles and keeps going. I had to get another set of wheels for it last year, it's third set, and will need new cables again this year. Hoping the drivetrain will hold up but I may have to cave and get a new chain, rings and cassette at least.

III - Lance......what's going on with this? Guy is back in deep water, past the bouies and it sounds like he'll need more than arm floaties to get back to the beach on this one. Sounds like he is going to spend more hours in the court room this year than on his bike. My take, well I have never been a huge fan of his. I think what he has done for cycling in America is great but as a person I think he's an ass. I would like to think he never doped and achieved all he did on his own but soooo many men have risen tot he top only to be found doping that it's hard to believe anyone. The biggest thought in my head is that for years he won the TDF and beat all those other guys, half whom were dopers, all on his own natural legs. Are his heart, lungs and legs really that genetically gifted? I really hope so for the sake of cycling in America.

THE NEW YOU.....okay maybe just me.

2010 was not a good year for me. My trail bike sat in the basement collecting dust from May 15th all the way until October 7th when I finally made it out for another trail ride. I still managed to rack up close to 2,000 miles on the road bike for the calander year but that's about half of what I had planned to do. After life started to get back together in the fall and I was riding more consistently again I came down with a case of plantar fasciitis in both my feet. The right much worse than the left. I fought it for a good month before I threw in the towel and realized I had no choice but to take time off the bikes, again, to rest my feet. During that time I went to see my Podiatrist and got new orthodics made for my everyday shoes and he is in the process of making a set for my cycling shoes as well. Bonus!

So after taking much of November off and all of December I am back on the bike and rolling again.....at a very slow pace. 8 miles last Sunday. 10 Miles on Tuesday and 15 last night. Gotta start slow to make sure I don't sack my feet again. With the constant stretching and foam rolling I am doing okay and by February I should be able to start ramping up a bit.

Before all this feet stuff this past summer and fall I went back to doing upper body workouts because I was getting tired of having spaghetti arms and a weak upper back, shoulders, chest, elbows, fingers, eyelids....you get the point. So I am happy to say I have gained some unaccidental weight in areas that I planned to gain weight. However, I also gained some accidentail weight in some areas that I didn't plan to. I figure I have about 5-10 pounds of excess cargo to drop before open season starts in May.....probably closer to 10. In 2008 when I was stupid fast, lean and actually fit into my European Race Cut Team Uniform I floated around 165 pounds. I was toothpick thin but a strong wind (along with my then 5 year old son) could easily knock me over. Well now I am closing in on 180, the weight I was when I retired from volleyball, I figure more solid 170 would be a good number to get back down to.

So you are probably asking yourself, what does all this talk of Aryn's bodily parts and dimensions have to do with me? Well it seemed like a good topic and I haven't blogged in a while. And since I am the one that controls this blog page you are forced to read whatever I feel like typing about.

Last, my goals or should I say goal for 2011. Only have one. Ride my bikes more. After work trail rides. Early weekend morning road rides. Rides with the kids and rides with all the people I haven't ridden with in a couple years.

That's all I got people. No bells. No whistles. No baseball cards in the spokes. No signature closing sentences to my blogs. Just RIDE.