cold bike ride

I tried to photo the foothills...SNOW!!! I love snow! I live in a town that is close to snow (sometimes about an hour away) but we don't get snow here(except for the freakish once every 10 years) ...what WE get is fog, frost, rain, wind, hail - all of which we've had this week...
So this was a cold bike ride. Plus I'm starting to get a cold..I gave it everything I could. This is my favorite route that I ride. It is very flat in the city(where I live) and I ride out 6 miles and I'm in country-land with cows and pretty things to see and hills. I like the big hills alot. I like going uphill because it hurts more. I feel like I'm doing something when it really hurts. -and sometimes out here..it's so windy and slow going it takes all my effort to keep my speed up. I don't come out here to have a fast average speed. I used to try to get the fastest average and ride the bike loop around and around and around...but it is boring looping around the same 3 miles. I try to ride different routes to have different things to see. This is, probably, a big reason why I never kept up with the gym(when I was a member) --staring at the person on the treadmill or bike in front of you...bor-ring. I wasnt cut out for a gym membership. This road is my gym. And it kicks my butt!
The other reason I come out here -- no one else is around. I can sing as loud as I want and the cows don't care...

New Years Challenge

I lost alot of weight in 2009. I also gained about 10 lbs back from November to January(1/2 of that was Christmas week)... Thankfully in the last 2 weeks I've re-lost what I gained and now I'm trying to lose more. The holidays were too 'holiday'...they always are. I was around too many cookies and I made too many cookies and ate too many cookies..
So now I'm ready to finish my whole weight loss journey. And I want to be done in 2010.

I have really good motivation for the next three months:

I am participating in two weight loss challenges(at the same time).
New Years Eve two of my sisters,Becky and Rachel, my mom and myself weighed in. We each put in $10 and the winner will win the whole amount. We have until April 1st to lose weight and the one with the heighest % of weight loss wins $30.
It's been 2 weeks now and I've lost 11 lbs (5%).
I really want to lose 10 pounds a month. . That would mean 13% weight loss. More would be good -- but I don't think it's realistic to lose more than 2 lbs a week.

The other challenge is with some girls I work with.
20 girls that I work with have a weight loss challenge. It goes until April 2nd. Some girls seem really dedicated (some don't). I'm trying hard to be one of the dedicated girls.
The winner gets about 250? Not sure of the amounts. We all put in $20 and the top 3 losers will win. The one that loses the most % of body weight will win the most. I want to be in the top 3%.

I think I'm on track...I struggled the first 8-10 days but I've was able to overcome the evening snack I've been ok. My biggest challenge is to eat my dinner at a reasonable time and not eat to again. When I exercise alot(days that I have a 1 1/2-2 hour bike ride) my appetite is controlled. I seem hungrier on the days that I'm less active(and more so in the evening). When I exercise I deffionately feel less hunger but, I also think it's psycological. I don't want to work out hard and ruin it by eatting the calories that I just burned. All that sweat, soreness and time would be waisted on an extra snack...

house of the future

i,m blogging from the couch! via our new wonderful Christmas present (from Williams parents), the nintendo wii. granted...it,s taken 10 minutes just type out this much with the controller.
i left william at home for an hour..and he has this set up --music streaming from the xbox and internet on the wii...i didnt know this was possible.,, he,s a genius
well-i,ll stop now before the whole day is over
i,m deffionately going to belooking into the wii keyboard
this is awesome

As much as I'm enjoying this awesome game machine...the kids, both, are enjoying playing all the fun games as well. Riley is quite the bowler!

bike ride!!!

Beautiful day today in Merced. I rode out to the UC and around.

I hung out with my cow friends for a minute(while I ate 1/2 a cliff bar).. think they recognize me by now?

My new UnderArmor top, Specilized gloves

Still about 6 miles from home. ...You can see my new tires - a Christmas present from my husband.


time: 1:36:20
3:30pm - 5:06
avg speed: 12.81 mi/hr
total distance: 20.56 mi
calories burned: 924
1st long ride w/ new tires(and in a while). did 30 second sprints, 5 times.