Bank Holiday Pain – To Be A Cyclist Is To Be A Student Of Pain !

Ben Roethlisberger’s coach give him this in his early years,I heard it on America’s Game and thought WOW,That’s  something to remember !

Success is failure turned inside out
The silver tint of the clouds of doubt;
And you never can tell how close you are,
It may be near when it seems afar,
So stick to the fight when you’re hardest hit;
It’s when things seem worst that you mustn’t quit

The poem, entitled So when I did the 3rd lap of Mottram Moor, heading for a finish on werneth low, I reminded myself of that line, “You never can tell how close you are” I am so close in my journey, now its time I ramp it up again and again and again, I need to kick so freaking hard now, and thats just what I did yesterday.

Bank Holiday PAIN !!!!!!

I am never going to quit, I am going to get to my goal and I sure as hell will make sure that I do it with the same style and effort I have been putting in since day 1, here we are, 2 years down the line, I am  still losing, finishing what I started, never wanting to quit, no matter how much pain I am in, I’m in a fight with obesity and I am still winning, the knock out is just around the corner.

Below is a video of the 4 climbs, Enjoy !

PhotoVideo 3.0, Amazing Shrinking Gaz The 39 Stone Cyclist’s Progress To August 2010

PhotoVideo’s have helped me stay focused since I started my long journey, The other day I heard a song on the TV and thought, humm time for a new one, but I questioned if I had the pictures to go with the song !

I didn’t need to worry, I’m not only proud of the results I have so far achieved but also the quality of production in this video,

so ENOUGH from me,

Turn your sound up and get ready for Queen and Gaz together in a feel good PhotoVideo:

Gaz on ITV 1 News (From 2009)

Taken in June 2009, Here it is for you all to view, based on how far I have come since this was filmed, maybe they should be contacting me asking for a follow up !

Photo Shoot 2.0 ! New and Old, If I quit, it lasts forever (The Old)

For bike week 2009 I did an interview with a magazine at work, as part of that they made a cardboard cut out of the “Before” me and did a photo shoot, today I was talking to a college at work about the cardboard cut out when we went off to find it,

after we did I decided to do Photo Shoot mark 2:

Photoshoot Mark 2

Before and After With Cardboard Cutout

A Never Been Seen Before “Before” Picture !

Yesterday on a work PC I found the following Picture, I  didnt even know of it !

Gaz & Tommo

SCARY Doesnt even come close !!!!!

& a Recent Picture

First Time On Wilmslow Road, Since My Accident ! (Video)

It turned out to be much better than I thought it would 🙂

BHOD In Video

A few weeks ago I did a post about “The Big Hill Of Death” in Pictures.

Well last week, while still on the Comeback 3.0 trail I managed to capture an attempt of BHOD on film.

A few points to note here are:

I am still injured from the RTC

I was tired, my legs were like lead

So I made it from bottom to top in around 3 Mins 30 Seconds, so while it wasnt a really slow time, I know I can shave soooo much more off it, but again it’s not a bad place to use as a base to start from !

A Comeback 3.0 Week In Review

Ouch is the first word that comes to my mind.

The second is WOW, I cycled 110 miles, and climbed a total of 5,498ft in the last 5 days AND had 2 days off from Hills so, I know my August Ascent can be done 😀

Towards the end of the week I rode BHOD (Video to come tomorrow) and got attacted by a gian killer wasp….on film…here it is 😀

Ok, so it wasnt quite killer but still 😀

I also picked up a new helmet, a Team HTC Columbia one and WOW, if I had got one of those 2 years ago I would have always wore one !!!

Uvex HTC Columbia

and FINALLY, it was the start of the new season yesterday, its been 7 years since I last wore a Manchester United Shirt, there is a new one out this year, so I thought i’d give it a try……and wel…IT FIT

Manchester United 2010

Ok sooooo I am well on my way back to fittness following the accident, the Cube has offically been laid to rest, now its just a waiting game 😦

Gaz

Surosa Audax Update

Just after I returned from Holiday I decided that having 2 road bikes, the same spec, was a little pointless, So I stripped and sold the Ribble, why not the Surosa ? Well the Surosa is actually the better bike.

I decided that I wanted to upgrade the Surosa, its a great bike yes BUT its not perfect, So I purchased 2 good quality , strong hand-built wheels and a full Shimano 105 Group Set.

The weekend before my RTC I started the upgrades, I was intending to go out, buy he part I needed for the cranks, get some good quality cables and finish the job at during the week, however the impact of a van hitting me left my hands far too weak to be able to do it myself, that and the fact that you cant upgrade while you are passing out !

So I took it to Crown Point Cycles in Denton and paid the man £69 to finish the job for me, that was £69 that I wouldnt have needed to pay, if I wasnt hit by a WVM, while he did a good job, I was a little gutted I didnt finish what I had started.

Surosa Upgrade

So  not does it have a better group set I have also gone from a 50 chain ring to a 53 and from a 13-27 cassette to a 11/23 cassette and a new set of “Nuke Proof Rims”.

Now I just need to find my bottle and learn how to ride again.

July A Month In Review & Time For The August Ascent Challenge !

July In Review:

Well to be honest, its been a mixed month for me, The highlight being SMASHING my previous time for the Manchester to Blackpool and doing it in 3 Hours 46 Mins,

Starting a Fight with Obesity

and Cycling over 425 Miles, despite having time off.

That leads into the low point of July, enforced time off due to being hit by a van !!! and being taken into Hospital !

Once again I want to thank the passers by and all the emergency services that were there that day.

NEVER One To Miss a Photo opportunity !

Making matters worse, I was on my Cube, for only the second time I had ever rode it !!! and now it seems set to be written off !

All that can be resolved though, Was a little gutted at the number of miles I have done, mainly because if it wasnt for forced time off due to the RTC then I would have cycled for over 500 miles !!!!! In one month !!!!! Ahh well.

Ohhh one more bad thing was Helmet Hair (& Helmet’s) !

Helmet Hair Gaz

The August Ascent Challenge:

I decided the ONLY way I am going to be able to get back to full fitness is to push myself beyond all previous limits, I hate hill, im 6 foot 4″ (so not aerodynamic) and weigh in a 19 stone (not an ideal weight for a climber) oh and my lowest gear is now 39/23, so the worse thing I could do would be to force myself to do stupid climbs in August !!!

So the challenge is to do as many stupid climbs in August as I can :D, In July I passed 18000 foot of climbing and I did what I could to avoid many hills, the challenge for August is to pass 22,000 foot of climbing !!!!!! keeping in mind all of the above that goes against me and add to that the fact my knee is smashed, my confidence is shot and the rest of my body is sore, it’s not going to be easy, but then, I never did like “easy”

July’s Stats In Full:

Ok here they are people:

Distance: 426.98 Miles

Average Speed: 14.9 Mph (Good Considering BHOD)

Max Average HR: 162 BPM

Average Miles Per Day: 22.30 Miles

Total Elevation Gain: 18,878 Ft

Max Speed: 39.6 Mph

Cals: 32,374 Cals (Using the  Garmin formula it would ave been 68, 321 Cals, Sort it out Garmin)

Livestrong Ya’All

Gaz