Yeah, I've been slacking!

I do apologise for not posting lately, been a bit of a problem up top and my interest waned somewhat.

Le Tour has started and being an avid cycling nut I haven't watched any of it... I just keep forgetting, that or I'm out on the bike myself and too shagged to really care. Anyhoo just thought I'd throw up an update to make sure the blog stays up there! Yes I'm still pretty bad up top but I'm taking it a bit at a time, as suggested by the CPN. When I feel able I'm out on the bike, when I don't I just don't recall much of anything. I know I'll get better I always do, just a matter of waiting and hoping!

I got out last night and had a really pleasant ride up around Anglezarke Res. It's a lovely place, and at around 8pm it's so quiet. I have myself a nice little 35 mile route which I try and do as much as possible; and whilst it can be draining it's a lot more fun than it used to be. The problem every newbie cyclist has is the first initial pain barrier - that feeling of complete exhaustion going up the hills. That goes, trust me, well it doesn't but you get better at coping with it and after a while you start looking forward to those steep climbs. I used to puff and pant my way all the way up one of my local climbs (Old Kiln Lane), used to take me a good 10 minutes to get up there, now it's around 2-3 minutes, in medium gear, stood up! The weight loss has been immense, I was originally around 20 stone in weight, I'm now down to around 12/13 stone. Cycling by itself won't loose the weight, you do need to have a better diet so cut the sugar out of your drinks (tea/coffee), drop off the sugary cereals, stop having pizzas and burgers; and leave the take aways in the take away!

When I'm emotionally well enough I do a little bit of weight training, mostly bench presses, shoulder presses, upright rows and curls. I find they help my stability on the bike and since I started doing some strength training on my stomach muscles I find myself a lot better at climbing. Get this I used to wear size 38" jeans, now size 34" is too large!

Anyway I will try my best to keep posting, even if it's a negative emotional post about my mental health problems - quite a few friends and family read this so gotta give them something to gossip about! :)