This last week I purchased a Wahoo Fitness Bike Sensor case for my iPhone.  With this device I?m able to have it monitor my heart rate from a heart rate strap that I am wearing around my chest. Here is a picture of what the Bike Sensor case looks like mounted to my Optibike handlebar.

I?m currently testing out the iPhone software program called ?Log Your Run? on it. This software logs my speed, time, my location (including elevation) on a map, and my heart rate readings. Here is a sample of my ride home earlier today after I saved the results online and brought up the graphs.

On this trip I was trying to go at a fairly steady pace and trying to keep my heart rate about 140 bpm. While riding you can keep track of what zone you are in just by the color of the heart rate shown on the iPhone screen. These same colors are represented in the above pie chart.  This device is going to be a good tool to use to improve my riding results and keep me in the right zone.

Odometer Miles: 1742

Winding down after a great Saturday in Kentucky… After a bowl of oatmeal, I stopped to see from friends (Debbie and Tara) in downtown Louisville. I then met Jeff, Richard, and Chuck for a round of golf in Shelbyville, Kentucky. I played my best in some time, shooting an 82. It must have been the great company! Jeff and I had a healthy dinner, then headed down to the Kentucky State Fair. After petting a few mules, we went to the Midway. We watched kids on rides, all the games, a few bands, and who knows what else! Great people watching. Jeff and I walked at least 10 miles and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. We were so proud to pass on all corn dogs, elephant ears, deep-fried butter, deep-fried Kool-Aid, deep fried Oreos, Krispy Kreme Bacon Cheeseburgers, etc. Having eaten a healthy meal before the fair, it wasn’t even tempting to eat such marvelous fair food. What a great healthy, active day with great company… Lucky in Kentucky!

As I promised in my July 2nd blog I was determined to get back to a ride along Folsom Lake for the day. This last weekend my wife and I were finally able to do that. Part of the path along the lakes bike trail was paved and then as we proceeded further north it was dirt. It was a pretty hot day reaching about 96 degrees Fahrenheit. We did take time to eat lunch along the shore and enjoy walking along the shore in the water. I really do enjoy these rides and visits to the lake.

Here I am enjoying the shore and showing off the Optibike.

Odometer Miles: 1619

Quick post today… After last week’s phone call with Coach Traci, I am working on both thinking and speaking positively. We moved last weekend. I encouraged my wife (and myself!) to stay positive and enjoy the process. It was a great day. I was delayed for several hours at an airport this week. I called my wife to tell her it would be a late night, but that I was smiling! It is amazing how a little change can make such a big difference. Thanks Traci!

I visited the Doctor this week. It is a lot more fun to see him when making this kind of progress. I am down 81 pounds so far. Doc was shaking my hand, congratulating me, and really encouraged me. My blood pressure was 112/70 and heart rate was 44 beats per minute with no medication for several months now. I am no longer diabetic. I am really enjoying having the ability to participate in life so much more. Next doctor visit will be in late September.

Now that I?m back from vacation I?m able to get back to riding my Optibike on my daily commutes to work. It seems to be that once you are away from something you like so much you appreciate it even more once you get back to it. Such is the case with my bike. I?ve been enjoying my rides on it. This is the coolest bike.

I did see a really cool bike when I visited the Optibike showroom on my vacation. It was the first OB1 that was quickly snagged up a few years ago by the California Academy of Sciences Museum who called it, ?The Future of Transportation.?. Now its back home and the future is here!

My current odometer reading:

Last week my wife and I and our dog took a vacation and drove to Colorado. On one of the days there we met with Coach Traci in Boulder, CO.  It was good to finally meet our coach. She let us know about some interesting areas in Boulder to check out while we were there. One place was Pearl Street mall which is a 4 block pedestrian mall in Downtown Boulder. Another place we were suggested to check out was the National Center for Atmospheric Research which is sitting on top of a big mountain in Boulder. It had some good scenic hiking trails that led all around the facility. The view from there was fantastic overlooking Boulder and beyond.  I noticed a lot of bike riders throughout Boulder.

We also visited the Optibike retail store and manufacturing facility in Boulder. It was in a former Ford dealership. I was able to meet with Craig Taber who gave me a tour of the whole place. I was amazed at how many bikes that were shipping out that day and I couldn?t wait to get back to mine when I returned home.

Before we left Colorado we visited the Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs. A beautiful place to visit. One of the most amazing things there was the Balanced Rock.

In our conference calls this month with Coach Traci we learned about doing interval training and sprints. I wanted to start adding sprints and interval training to my workouts. This involves doing repeated periods of intense riding, as hard as you can go, (for 200 meters) followed with a period of recovery (about 1 min). During the last week I started doing these. I tried doing it over a 20 minute period. Boy, was it difficult! Those last few sprint intervals were the worst. I had to stop early on them. We are not supposed to keep going if pain results. Thats when lactic acid is building up in the muscle tissue. I can tell this kind of training though will certainly help me out. By pushing myself even farther into the anaerobic zone the next time out I will help improve the capillary growth in my muscles. I am going to continue this training as well as get a heart rate monitor that can be used as a tool to help keep me in the right zone for the most efficient results.