Riding with the window down…

Chris takes a minute during a bike ride with the boys to shoot a little video.

0:38
On one of our bike trips we discovered Jacob’s Well Nature Area… now we delve further into the woods.

That’s right! I have broken the 200lb barrier. Thinking back, the last time my weight began with a 1 instead of a 2, I was about a year out of college. I have officially now lost 41 pounds and accomplished the initial goal I set for my “getting back in shape” plan.

In retrospect, it was much easier than I imagined and never once left me feeling hungry or over-exercised. Through a series of minor lifestyle modifications, it came off slowly and steadily. We are not talking rocket science nor Herculean effort here.

I would like to continue to drop some weight just because the gut is still too big. That said, I’m pretty sure that’s about all I am going to lose for awhile. I have a couple things working against any further weight loss. I am eating a lot more recently because I have been hanging with people that make amazing homemade dinners every time I come near, also, things are really getting busy with work. Between football season about to go full blast and the videography gigs picking up speed… Jack is a very busy boy.

One last thing and probably the most important - when I first set the goal to crack 200, I told myself that I would dream up some great reward in honor of the accomplishment. I thought about skydiving - buying some cool new electronic gadget - taking a trip - you name it, none of it really seemed worthy of what amounts to erasing 20 years of poor eating and exercise habits.

Then, without noticing, I had my reward. It wasn’t one that I set out for myself. It wasn’t something I ever even imagined. It was something much more rewarding and much more worthwhile. I found happiness.

Not just “I’m the fun guy, jokester that enjoys a good laugh,” but happiness on the inside. Call it a peacefulness, call it joy, call it serenity, call it love. Whatever you call it - we’re talking about good stuff.

I crashed my bike the other day - okay, crash may be a bit hyperbolic. I did have a mishap, but it was nothing serious. I was heading up a sketchy hill with a lot of loose gravel and just as I was thinking, “I should clip out,” I was on the ground before I knew it.

Cornering on an uphill, when your tire slides out, and you’re clipped into the pedals, usually means only one thing - you’re going down. It always means the fall will be ungraceful. Without the ability to put a foot down to catch, all you can do is hope to guide gravity a bit with some frantic body english. I splayed out over the handlebars and managed to break my fall with gloves on both hands taking the brunt of the impact. My right knee however, smacked hard into the top tube of the bike frame.

After a second to pause and do an internal system check, I popped up and went about my ride. I really didn’t notice the knee until the next day, but it has been pretty tender since.

As falling off my bike is something that comes very rarely, I had to think hard to remember the last time it happened.

I was riding the Ant Hills in Houston and decided to take the much more technical route in an area that gave us a choice. Dave took the high road as I bombed in and out of the trees, over vines, around rocks, and up and down gullies and ravines. As this was the first time I had taken that route, I should have done it slower to scout it a bit, but I was having a blast.

I broke out of a heavily wooded area and saw something I wasn’t expecting - a straight drop of about thirty feet with a narrow bridge crossing a ravine smack dab at the base. I was halfway down the drop before it even registered that this was not going to end well.

In an effort to cut right and line up with the bridge, I slid hard. The bike reacted more than I expected and my right shoulder smacked hard into an Oak tree about ten inches in diameter. I remember the impact, I remember instantly laying on my back on the tiny bridge, and I remember my bike flying through the air directly toward my head. Then it went black.

The guy that was down there watching it, tells me that my left arm shot out, grabbed the bike by the frame inches from my head, guiding its momentum enough to miss. Apparently, then I just lay there silently. He said that about ten seconds later, I kinda looked up and just lay there still for a bit.

I do remember waking up on the bridge and trying to decipher how I got there, but have no memory of the attack of the flying bike. I walked up the other side of the hill back to the easy trail where Dave was waiting with a look of triumph for having beaten me to that junction.

For the first time in at least a dozen or more years, the first of the Grand Tours (cycling’s big three races) has came and nearly gone without my noticing. Usually, the Giro d’Italia is my warm-up to the Tour de France. Often the drama is more riveting and, at times, the performances are more impressive than those of “Le Tour.” The dramatic stage wins of “Super Mario” Cippolini and amazing mountain wins by “Il Pirata” Marco Pantani are part of cycling legend.

Stage 17 was underway today and until last night, I had no clue the thing had even started! What could possibly have distracted me from one of my favorite events of the year? Let’s just call it an “affair of the heart.” Yes, I have been so preoccupied with other things that I missed it entirely. The good news is that thanks to modern media, all is not lost.

Not only are each of the days television coverage available LIVE online, they are all archived. This means that I can watch them all in order, and since the Giro doesn’t really hit the news in the US, it won’t be ruined by spoilers. As of this afternoon, between letting the coverage run while I work and do other things, I am just finishing up the end of Stage 4. Thirteen more stages and I will be caught up - should be just in time for the conclusion of the tour.

I also have to give a big shoutout to Universal Sports for the great coverage of the event. This looks like another great move by NBC that, along with Hulu, continues to prove they get new media.

I am pleased to see Lance Armstrong’s new team, Astana, doing well as well as Team Columbia High Road - another team I like - turning in a good tour. I am wondering what happened to George Hincapie as the last time I saw him, he was on Team Columbia High Road, but doesn’t seem to be in Italy at all - perhaps they are saving him for the Tour de France.

Bike repair break and a tale of earlier entrepreneurism.

Seems that everything is coming up roses - well, not everything, but even those things that are lagging behind are moving in the right direction. First off the cycling. I now have less than 900 miles to log on my bike before I reach 20,000 lifetime miles. That’s kind of cool.

Another thing (and one of the side effects of the bike riding) is that I have dropped down to 217 pounds. (I maxed out at 240, just before moving to San Marcos.) This is pretty monumental as it has been years since I weighed this little. The combination of cycling every day and the recent addition of weight training to the routine seems to be a good fit. I have also greatly cut down the empty calories from things like soft drinks. I think my end goal should be somewhere around 200 lbs because I am going to continue the weight training, which will add some pounds.

It’s never too late.

For the first time, you get some video shot during the ride. I take you on a tour of the city park and some of the Texas State University campus.

Chris heads to the wild area that connects Prospect Park and Lower Purgatory to cure his EDD (Environmental Deficit Disorder)

The weather cools down and Chris sends out an Easter message.