Blogging/Journal on The Move

Today - a debate with myself - do I really need to take a computer on tour - it comes out as a lot of weight (and space) in the panniers - and it is something else to charge

Computer - Pros - it is versatile - I can run a lot of different programmes on it - It has a reasonable keyboard - It has a good screen - I can easily backup and manipulate files from my camera

Computer - Cons - Space and weight and charging it

I have tablets - a Nexus 7 which I think after my last tour has become a defacto standard for me to take on tour - it is small and relatively  light enough that it can live in one of my bags attached to the stem on the bike - easy to fish out if I need to refer to the Internet while I'm on the move - Google maps and Archies camping app being the usual suspects

My other tablet is a Samsung Tab10 and for my sins i'm going to try to write this page of the blog on the Tab 10

Test photo - added from Tab then PC

Tablets - Pros - (for the third time) light and easy to carry about - easy to get out in a cafe and do “a bit” - easy to charge either from the mains or from my hub dynamo.

Tablets - Cons - accessing photos from my camera and/or cropping, downsizing or any form of editing would seem to be a pain - without photos the blog  would just be parcels of text - not that interesting - I would be the first person to lose interest -backing up the photos from the camera would seem to be a nonstarter full stop.

First fail is that the tab 10 has run out of battery – switched to the Nexus – a couple of paragraphs and try to insert a photo from the tablet – second fail – not only did the photo refuse to appear – but I lost the couple of paragraphs that I had added – replace paragraphs using PC – back on the Nexus – add a bit more – try to save – third fail – text disappeared – publish would seem the only answer

Fourth fail – actually the fifth – the fourth was abandoning doing the blog page on the tablet and resorting to the PC – page finished tho I did manage to get some pictures on the page using the Tab 10 – The fifth fail was opening the blog this morning and discovering that most of what I did two days ago had vanished – according to the blogmeter it was published but somehow has reverted to a previous state - of course I got all cocky and didn't do the compose on word bit 

So where was I – My favourite medium for recording my journeys is Crazyguyonabike as a “Journal” - Forgive me if I’m wrong - but to my mind a journal is like a diary - starts at the beginning and finishes at the end - a separate page for each day and subject - a blog is a series of posts stacked on top of each other – reads from the top down - my personal preference as a reader of both mine and other peoples tours is the former.

However, on the two occasions that I have tried to create journals on CGOB live – I have failed miserably - so the cunning plan - create an abbreviated account of where I’ve been, where I am and some highlights as a blog – enough to satisfy those people - my public -who are interested enough to take time out and click on the internet - then I return home create the journal - more for my own satisfaction than anything else - for the first 20 years of my cycle touring all I have is some scabby notebooks with very scant notes of daily mileages and whereabouts – being able to go back and look at the journals I’ve created so far is brilliant.

Gratuitous photo break up the text - I was losing the will to live

Anyway back to the plot - debate - whatever - having failed to create/update this blog page on four occasions so far - with the benefit of sitting at home in front of quite a good PC connected to what I’m led to believe is a fast broadband  - I’m beginning to see what I’m up against - I have solved the editing and inserting photos from the tablet - however, selecting one photo from among thousands on a memory card, copying it and editing it on the tablet was very cumbersome - plus I still have the issue of backing up my photos from the camera.

Backing up the photos I found could be easily solved by purchasing/using a portable card reader/hard drive – definitely feasible - however, another 500g cum half a kilo to lug about - weight of the tablet plus bits is getting close to that of the netbook plus charger and without having the utility of the netbooks PC environment. 

Add in that it is easier to use blogger on a full page browser rather than using the app - plus the investment I would have to make in more kit I’m getting sortof 55:45 in favour of taking the netbook - Jury is out

Fitness

Fitness February 2017

My search for fitness continues - body is permanently tired from my gym sessions - sort of feeling fitter - but at present not seeing any improvement of fitness in the areas that I want - primarily lower legs - to improve my balance and general ability to cope in everyday life - and cardiovascular to improve my ability to ride a bike all day

The latter i'm not surprised about - apart from some gentle cardiovascular exercise every day ive not really been concentrating my effort there - the former i'm still concerned about - all my life lower leg strength has been a struggle for me - in my early years I spent a lot of time in physio therapy sessions doing exercises to  improve my lower leg strength - in midlife I kept the balance on the positive side by being active - playing a lot of racquet sports and cycling - following my period of inactivity due to illness the thing that i've really noticed where I have lost fitness is in my lower legs - simply walking the 1km to the shops has been quite difficult - poor balance plus the calf and small muscles in my legs getting fatigued quite quickly. So in addition to my gym work i've got a little routine using a balance board, a plank and an old bicycle inner tube - balance exercises - calf raises and ankle rotations - another 30 minutes a day load on my poor body!


On the plus side for January I lost 3kg - I wasn't really trying to lose any weight - but more to just keep it under control - I've never been into calorie counting - over the years Ive monitored my weight on a weekly basis - however last month I started calories counting - not so much to lose weight but to install some discipline into what i was eating - I had recently got into a tendency to - see it - eat it - favorite crisps and buns - as a basis I used the calorie count from my Polar V800 as my "daily target" (tests ive read indicate Garmin and Polar despite using different algorithms/methods to calculate calories are probably the best but tend to indicate around a 12% over estimate of Calorie consumption) and as a guide to consumption the values given for foods off the net and on packaging plus when required my scales - As an Engineer I like data so compiled a spreadsheet to record weekly food consumption 

and another one to record calorie and weight balance since i started

Ive lost around 3kg in the last month without dieting per.se. - daily estimates of my calorie requirement from the V800 are in the range 2100 to 2900 depending on how much "activity" I undertake - on average 43 minutes a day in the gym (From another spreadsheet ) doing mainly resistance training and average just over 2500 which for a geezer is around the recommended daily intake - calorie consumption has varied a lot more - good days and bad days - but has averaged around a deficit of just 200 calories/day

Doing the arithmetic it would seem that calorie counting for me has attributed to a weight loss of 3kg without much hardship - notwithstanding this there does seem to be a glaring disparity between the amount of weight i've lost and my calorie deficit as calculated by the Polar.

One thing I have found quite interesting is how closely my daily weight - don't normally weigh myself more than once a week but since I started the calorie counting I've been weighing myself every day at the same time - is a seemingly close correlation between my daily weight balance (loss/gain) and my cumulative calorie balance 

Using an average trendline to smooth out the scatter it is obvious that my weight and calorie consumption are closely related - should be a no brainer of course - eat more - gain weight - eat less - lose weight - however, I didnt expect itself to be so closely related almost on a daily basis

The other thing i noticed was that the amount of weight i've lost does not correlate with  the simple 1kg of fat equals 9000kCal  - my calorie deficit for a month is only just over 5000kCal - but ive lost 3kg - so where is it going - my first thought was that it must be muscle i'm losing - a quick modification to the food spreadsheet confirmed that i was probably not eating enough protein - averaging around 0.6g/body kg/day - less than the recommended 1g/body kg/day - I upped the amount of protein I was eating to average around 1.3g/body kg/day - still losing weight at the same rate - no matter - being lighter will be good for me - I can live without knowing where it is going.

Next Morning - Update - Weight loss in exactly the one calendar month since I started this calorie counting lark is 3.9kgs  - good job i wasnt trying to lose any weight 

Beginings

Feeding the Itch 

Having got into/started a debate about "proper" touring on Cyclechat the "itch" returned - body and soul over the winter have been pretty awful since I returned from the kill or cure last year - so over half an hour and a cup of coffee I came up with this

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Soul now has a focus - body however is still a problem - the trouble is the "kill or cure" tour achieved neither aspects - definitely was fitter  following the tour - but between being out of sorts due to a bug towards the end of the tour and a bit of a malaise over the winter my fitness is still rubbish - gym sessions since the middle of December are maybe starting to sort it out - but a long way to go

The long, flat, kill or cure tour last year was successful in some ways - more or less achieved the object - cycled Ostende – Dunkirk – Rotterdam – Dordrecht – Nijmegen  - Koln – Koblenz – Mannheim – Strasbourg – Basle – Mulhouse – Besançon - Chalon-sur-Saône – Lyon – Avignon -  Montpellier – Toulouse – Bordeaux – Royan – La Rochelle – Nantes – Rennes – Granville but never totally confident physically as was in the past - If Im going to attempt the Danube+ then im going to need to much fitter than I am now - winging it like last year will not cut it!

Fitness January 2017

My awful fitness has been a constant and almost obsession of mine for the past couple of years – up to 2009 I would of said that I was reasonably fit – for a geezer of my age and orthopedic background – at least one cycle tour of 1000km plus per year – gym, cycling or swimming most days – an often quite active daytime job – able to complete a near 10000km cycle tour in the summer of 2009 – however in early 2010 I went down with a leg infection – serious gastroenteritis followed by my right ankle/lower leg swelling up like a balloon - “cellulitis” the doc said – “a course of antibiotics” the doc said – three weeks later “sorted” psmiffy said – 6 weeks later another bout – “not supposed to happen” says the doc – “we will try a longer course of antibiotics” says the doc – “three months” says the doc -  six months later the bug reappears and reoccurs three to four times a year until the last time in early 2016 – for the most part the fitness held up quite well – lots of walking doing work on landfill sites – however, 2013 to 2014 was spent predominantly working at a desk – fitness is visibly deteriorating – not so much the infection itself which is easily dealt with by the antibiotics but the cumulative effects of the associated gastroenteritis playing havoc with my insides - another bout in mid August of that year and I’m pretty much on my knees.

2015 was just a bad – just not able to get going – Winter 2016 a couple of bouts of the bug but they are getting milder – following the Easter 2016 bug attack I’m begin to feel a bit better – not brilliant but better – mentally I’m getting more energy – and in July 2016 the idea of the kill or cure tour pops into the head – totally energized now – get the kit together and go for it.

The tour is good – 4125km over 86 days - but always struggling – taking more rest days than I used to – and daily distance well down – plus anything that looks remotely like a hill I’m in trouble.

So to the present it is nine months since the last bout of the bug – fitness is still mediocre – but working on it.

If I go for Danube 2017 I will need to be fitter – review of how much I carry on the bike is not going well – still around 40kg including food and water – bike plus luggage is around 57kg - 

Need more power – online calculator indicates 5% hill need about sustained 100W – for 10% hill – just over 200W to be comfortable – work in the gym seems to indicate that I’m around only 70W – 200W is a big ask – based on back calculation of some of the big climbs ive done in the past 150W was sufficient that I could do bursts of 100m climbing – Climb a bit then a short rest (snack, drink photograhs or pee breaks) then repeat – approximately 300m to 400m climbing per hour. Fast enough to get me over a monster  a day. So somewhere or other I need to find another sustainable 70W to 80W – a bit more than that would be good.

Since mid-December the gym routine has felt relentless – predominantly resistance training up to Christmas but now a rolling routine  of resistance, cardio and swimming - I'm not convinced that I'm getting fitter – certainly it's tiring me out - but the workload I've been able to do in each session  has trebled since mid December – am I fitter? – or am I still just taking up the slack - also will need to transfer fitness to bicycle - time will tell – June would be the proposed kick off – 4 months – 122 days to get it together