Team ISBG Gets a New Member!

Team In Shape Big Guys (ISBG) gained a new member today! Welcome aboard Erick! It was good to see you out there with us this morning!

So Steve coined the term In Shape Fat Guys this morning. I'm not a big fan of the word "fat" even though it probably is the most descriptive word for us. So I made a slight modification and changed it to ISBG. I don't honestly know if I'd consider myself in shape, but I don't know many 300+ pound guys that can ride a bicycle 30 - 40 miles. But anyway, this morning our long time friend Erick joined us for the ride. Steve has had Erick's Trek 1200 (The pink one) for a couple years now and Erick finally gave him the OK to go ahead and tune it up. There are still a few kinks to work out, but all in all, I think it worked farily well for Erick this morning.

We had agreed to meet at the trailhead in Puyallup at 7AM. I got there about 6:35 and Steve was already there. Scott showed up about 10 minutes later and at about 5 after 7 Erick showed up. (We'll forgive him this time since he'd never been to the trailhead before.) We headed out at about 7:15 - 7:20 at a fairly slow pace. It was after all Erick's first time on a bike in nearly 18 years. Erick kept slipping gears, so we stopped around the 5 mile mark so Steve could adjust Erick's rear derailur. After that, the gear slippage problem seemed to go away. We continued on through Orting. Just outside Orting proper, I told Steve "It's time for some Rob fun!" (See Steve's blog for info and the back story on who Rob is) I started sprinting as hard as I could and Steve followed suit. My chain slipped as I tried to go into the top chain ring on my front derailur, but I finally got it locked in and cranked it up to about 25 MPH . . . and WHOOSH . . . there goes Steve . . . bastard. He later said he thinks he hit about 32 MPH. I've got some work to do. I coasted after that little gambit for awhile, making sure I didn't puke. OK, maybe the IS in ISBG is a bit of a mis-nomer.

We hit the "hill" at the 10 mile mark and I was able to cruise up it at about 14 - 15 MPH without much issue. (It's really not that big a hill, but in the past it's given me trouble) There is a good stopping point right after that, so we stopped to wait for Erick and Scott. We hung about and chatted and drank a bit. As I had to be to work, I had to turn around at that point and head back. I would have like to have gone to South Prairie, but that was another 5 miles and likely 45 mintues at our pace. I would have been extremely late for work, and would not have had time to pack for Teri and I's trip back to Canada this evening.

We said our good byes and I congratulated Erick for joining us and turned around. I wanted to push myself on the way back, so I set a mini-goal of averaging less than 4 mintues per mile for the 10 miles back. I only had two splits that were more than 4 minutes. One at 4:01 (damn it!) and another at 4:26. But most of them were in the 3:30 - 3:50 range. I felt really good about that. I got back to the trailhead about 9:08, loaded up the bike and headed home. Just had enough time to shower, pack, take the bike rack off the car, grab a bite and get to work. Good morning ride! And Erick, if you're reading, congrats again! It was great having you there! I hope to see you again soon!

Here is a link to my Motionbased Activity: