Conradstudios Blog

On Thursday, February 15^th, I took delivery of a new bike: a 2007 Cannondale systemSix Team 1 – Dura-Ace. Sure, I’ve only had the Synapse for a few months, but after spending some time with Brandon Heflin from TriCentric Training for a training camp up in Solvang recently, I felt that I could use a higher performance bike. Both Paulette, from Incycle, and Brandon recommended that I take a look at the new systemSix from Cannondale. In fact, Paulette arranged for me to have a couple demo versions of the bike, one outfitted with the Dura-Ace group, the other with the SRM Force. Unfortunately, due to time constraints – the bikes had to be back by Wednesday so Cannondale could take them to the Tour of California – I didn’t get more than one day with each.

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One of the basic tenets of the diet that I follow is that I have to limit my intake of carbohydrates. Low fat is also important, not just for the calories associated with it but also for the cholesterol and other bad things that a high fat diet can lead to. However, in this short little entry I’m going to discuss carbs.

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So maybe I shouldn’t call it a setback, but an occasional moment of weakness can quickly turn into a tidal wave. This weekend I decided to go off a bit more than I would have liked to, but I’ve been doing pretty good and I know it won’t be an issue as long as I:

• Don’t let the consequences get to me.

• Get back on the program

The biggest problem I’ve had in the past was almost always the first one, which quickly cascaded into the second. In the past, if I was on one of my half-assed dieting attempts, I would go off, frequently, because I was doing so well on my diet. I’d put the blinders on and stick my fingers in my ears and go “lalalala,” go off the diet, then see the ultimate gains, get depressed, and never get back on the diet. I would also avoid weighing myself for days, all the while never getting back on the diet, and once I did weigh in I’d be completely depressed and give up on dieting.

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In November of 2005 I weighed somewhere in the vicinity of 305 pounds. I’m not sure exactly how much, however, as I didn’t keep track of it, but my visit to the doctor that month had me at about 302, so give or take 5 pounds. For the sake of brevity, I’ll just say that I was at 305.

At the end of November, ironically after getting a flu shot, I got the flu and for all of December and the first part of 2006 never fully seemed to shake it. On the Sunday before MLK Jr’s birthday, we went to a nice BBQ restaurant where I gorged on four different meats, creamed corn, lots of Coke, and all the goodies. That evening I ended up in the hospital with pancreatitis, the second time I had had it and almost a year after the first attack. Four days of good drugs and observation and I was discharged with a follow-up doctor’s appointment.

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