Jim's Place

Photos from Tennessee BFL Champions weekend

Just got back to my hotel room a little while ago. I had a great time today re-connecting with old friends and making new ones in the Body-for-LIFE community. It was great to be able to say I'd dropped 70 lbs since Jan 21. Most of my friends have followed my journey and were so excited about the big turnaround in my life with the reversal of the pituitary disorder. And they couldn't help but be happy for me that I finally had love back in my life... I created a photo album and will be uploading new photos to it as the weekend progresses. Click on 2008 TN Champions weekend to display the photo album.

From my blog of 9-29-08... The courage to love again...

I never saw it coming... I just wanted to build a strong friendship when I first met her a few months ago. The idea of a romantic involvement wasn't even on the radar screen... We spent hour after hour sharing our common passions for making the most out of life. She understood why bicycling and fitness were so important to me. She had always loved running but was anxious to get on a bike and train for triathlons. She had also learned some hard and painful lessons in life and like me has been commited to recovering, learning and growing. It meant a lot to me the last few months to be able to be myself around her and share my hopes and dreams for a new life. With all of the hurt and disappointments of the past I suppose we could have easily justified letting go of our dreams... Hard to believe that the last time I even had a girlfriend was 1996. That's when illness started to dominate my life. Year after year I kept thinking I would finally meet the "right one" but it was all I could do most of the time just to make it to work and keep my job.

The Tour De Poway 50-mile bike ride - Sunday 10/5

I knew I wasn't really in the shape I needed to be to do such a difficult ride. Even though I'd already dropped 69 lbs this year, I was still at 236 lbs and the longest ride I'd done was 42-miles on September 6. A persistent sinus infection had made it hard to stay on track with my training and I started to wonder if I would even have a hope of completing a 50-mile ride that was going uphill most of the time - especially since it started with a 3-mile climb at an 8% grade. In my training the toughest climb I had done was 2 miles at 6%. On Saturday night, I was a bit apprehensive because I was running a mild fever and felt a bit sick to my stomach. I thought about what one of my friends had said a few days before... "Jim, you don't have to do this ride..." But what else could I say but "No, I don't, but I DO have to TRY..." I figured if I still didn't feel well Sunday morning I could at least do one of the shorter rides and even the 6-miler designed for families and their kids...

But there I was Sunday morning at 7:30AM at the starting line of the 53-miler. I still didn't feel that well but it had been 1995 since I last did the Tour De Poway and I wasn't going to miss it again... Within the first mile it was obvious that I would have to dig deep. The road began to climb - starting at 500ft elevation rising to about 1800ft. I couldn't help but notice that none of the other riders were carrying much extra weight. I knew that most people in their 50s carrying an extra 50-60lbs just couldn't get too excited about pushing their body to the limits I knew I would have to if I was going to make it to the finish line.

The climb seemed endless and I still had more than 2 miles to go. I was pushing my heart rate into the high 150s and wondered if I truly had what it took... Did I really have the conditioning to make it up this climb? And after that there would still be almost 50 more miles...but I knew I had to just concentrate on the moment and take it one pedal stroke at a time...

I felt a jolt of confidence when I finally reached the top of the killer climb but there was yet another hill just ahead. But I was in a rhythm and went right up it - although slowly with numerous other lighter riders whizzing past. Slowly the miles began to roll by. Although the climbs came one after another I was encouraged to see that my body recovered well after each one. When I saw 30 miles on my Garmin, I started to believe that I just might finish this ride after all. But I knew better than to look too far ahead. Sure enough, I developed a cramp in a hamstring. But I shifted my pedaling motion and the cramp soon faded.

Approaching the 40-mile mark I could tell that I was fading. I was having to push extremely hard to get up even the numerous small hills. My heart rate was climbing to over 160 and I knew I was now at risk of not finishing. The high heart rate was probably due somewhat to dehydration as well as the phenomenon of cardiac drift - a condition where the heart is having to beat much faster to circulate enough blood to help cool the body. I had been drinking a lot of water but I guess it wasn't enough... I started chugging even more and hoped that I could hang in there for another 13 miles... Nothing else to do but keep on truckin'...

As tough as it had been things were getting even tougher. I knew I was reaching the limit of my endurance. I was almost at the 50-mile mark but I wasn't out of the woods yet. I had about 3 miles to go when I came up next to a group of cyclists who were all wearing their bike club jerseys. One of the guys struck up a conversation and I told him about how I had dropped almost 70 pounds this year and that this was the first time I had done the Tour De Poway since 1995... "Well, you're here now...and you're doing it. You're doing great and there are only a couple of more miles. We'll see you at the finish line..." He and his buddies sped away but I felt a real boost from their encouragement.

I squinted my eyes to make out the sign in the distance but there it was - "Tour De Poway - Finish"... My God, I was almost there! After all these years I was actually going to once again complete the 50-mile Tour De Poway bike ride! A small crowd cheered and rang the bell as I crossed the finish line. As I rolled down the street towards the park where the after-ride party was just getting started, I felt overcome with emotion... "Man Jim! That was TOUGH! But you did it...you finally made it back to the Tour De Poway... Way to go buddy..." The event was not a race - just a "fun" bike ride... yet there was no denying that it was still a tremendous victory...

I was in the saddle for almost 4 hours with an average heart rate of 144 bpm. The total climbing was about 3400ft with numerous climbs between 7-9% grade. Here's the graph from my Garmin. You can see the big climb reflected in the green elevation line. I gotta tell ya gang, I'm starting to seriously believe that 2008 is my year... Click on the image to view a larger version.