I'm sitting here anxiously awaiting the brown truck.  The rear tire of my bike has no tread and is about down to the cords (or the equivalent of steel belt). The chain on my wife's bike is stretched and ready to be changed. And I'm going to change out the rear cassette (gear cluster) on my bike for one with a better climbing gear.

Last weekend I climbed up Twin Sisters Rd near Vacaville.  This is a private road and about 2 miles long. The average grade is 9%, but with all the flatter sections, there were a few spots where it went up to 18%, and lots of 14% to 15% grade.  Mashing up that with a 23 in the back is brutal. I made it up, but had to break 3 or 4 times to catch my breath and let my heart rate come down from 180bpm.  That's pushing my red zone. Hit that too much and I'm pretty close to spent for the day.

When I got home I noticed my rear tire was wearing out. So I broke down and ordered some tires, the cassette, and a couple of spare chains.  Chains stretch and need to be replaced every 3000 miles or so. Kind of like an oil change for your car. If you change the chain often enough, you won't have to replace a worn cassette at the same time.  This is good. Cassette's are expensive! I'll report back on the new cassette. It has a 26 tooth ring, which is 3 teeth bigger than the 23 I have now. Should make the hills just a little more manageable.

This weight loss thing is interesting. I'm not really counting calories, but try to keep a general idea of what I'm eating. I've definitely started eating too much dinner again this week. I'm cutting that back tonight. It's just so easy to go to start in on portions that are too big. Learning what a correct sized portion is, in my opinion, is the hardest thing about loosing weight.

Cutting back to smaller portions also means that you have to be much more aware of what you are eating. Get the mix of proteins/carbs/fats wrong, and you feel like a slug the next day. With small portions, it's real easy to not get enough of something. I'm learning to listen to my cravings as those tell me what my body is needing.