MYB October: If you think earning points is hard, try making up a good thread title

[KingMC]

copypasta from last thread, because I'm no good at creative writing.

The idea is simple. Move your body. Get fitter.

Between the dates of October 1 and October 31, the challenge is to earn 50 Becker Points. Points can be earned in the following fashion:


1 mile (1.6 km) on foot = 1 Becker Point
3 miles (4.8 km) road cycling = 1 Becker Point
2 miles (3.2 km) mountain biking = 1 Becker Point
1 mile (1.6 km) swimming = 4 Becker Points



If you just do one thing, you'll need to hoof it 50 miles, or road bike 150 , or mountain bike 100 miles, or swim 12.50 miles. You may combine items to build toward 50 Becker Points in any fashion you choose. Honor system in play.
This thread will be the place where people report in on their progress.

 

[KingMC]

I'll start first:

This morning I took my youngest sister to the annual 'Take your kid Mountain Biking Day' sponsored by IMBA, in Washington it's at Duthie Hill park up in Issaquah. We ended up riding on trails for a total of 11 miles, which adds up to 5.5 BPs.

This afternoon, less than an hour after getting home from mtn biking, I kept a friend company on a paved trail ride, ended up going 7.5 miles round-trip, for a total of 2.5 BPs.

5.5 + 2.5 = 8 BPs. Best start I've had in any month.

 

[TBL]

So far this month I got 5!

Oct 1'st - 2 Oct 2nd - 2 and today 1.

 

[granitestateofmind]

Thanks for getting this up, KMC. 33 mile ride this morning. Windy as hell and about 45°f.....contrast that with Tuesday's ride at near 80° and humid.....Anywho, rode the tailwind out and fought the headwind on the way home. At the turnaround my avg. speed was 19.2 mph; fell to 17.9 by the time I was home.

11 BP's to start the month. It's gonna be hard to get out as the temps drop....but I'm gonna try.

As an aside, given the Spartan thread CF has put up, I stepped on a scale for the first time in I don't remember how long, mostly out of fear of what I would see. I am starting the month weighing in at ~225 lbs. Too much for my 5'9" frame. Gonna see if I can shed some of that.

It was a nice day, nonetheless:

 

[KingMC]

Went on my best ride yet, 17 miles down Des Moines Memorial Drive to the South Park bridge and back, 3 mile of solid incline is fun to go down, up not so much.

5.66 + 8 = 13.66 BPs

 

[ocnLogan]

I've been awful at keeping up with these points, but because the spartan GAW, I've been motivated to write it down :/.

And out of curiosity, since it seems everyone here so far is cycling, what kind of bikes are you guys riding? Dedicated road bikes? Mountain bikes on the road? Cyclocross? I'm riding a hardtail mtn bike with psuedo-slick tires (Michelin country rock). It works great for my paved commute, and also has enough tread to keep me out of the dirt when I hit the gravel downhills that are part of my weekend ride.

And Granite. I'm impressed as all getout with those numbers. The farthest I've ever gone is 28 miles, and I was pretty toast at the end. And I try to ride into the wind for the first part of my rides if I can, so then when I'm pooped I can turn around and get blown back home :/. I've had a few rides where the ride out took ~45 min, and the ride back took ~20 because of the wind, so I totally know what you're talking about.

Since the beginning of the month:
Thursday: 2.4 mile bike ride to work and back on a paved trail.
Friday: 2.4 mile bike ride to work and back. An hour and a half of Futsal.
Saturday: 17.6 mile "weekend route" bike ride. 95% paved, but includes two ~200ft climbs that are no more than a few hundred yards, so the incline is pretty severe. Also, we had a "wind warning" here, which meant a pretty steady 20-40mph headwind for half the ride. I have a route I set a while back that takes me just over an hour. My goal is to get under 1hr for the route sometime. This ride was 1hr 1min 57 seconds, which was my closest yet (usually ~1:04).
Sunday: Day of rest
Monday: 2.4 miles to work and back, and another hour and a half of futsal (pending).

Now, I have no idea how far I run in an average futsal game. There was a guy that used to play with us that wore one of those fitbit things, and he said he ran 3-5 miles each evening. So I'll call that ~4 miles of "on foot" exercise, unless anyone wants to argue it down/up (which I'm fine with, since futsal/soccer isn't quite as steady state as jogging/running/walking).

But that brings me up to... 12.27 BP. (2.4 BP (.8 x 3 from riding to and from work) + 5.87BP for my weekend ride + 4BP for my Futsal on Friday, with another 4 hopefully by tonight)

Monthly Total: 12.27

 

[KingMC]

And out of curiosity, since it seems everyone here so far is cycling, what kind of bikes are you guys riding? Dedicated road bikes? Mountain bikes on the road? Cyclocross? I'm riding a hardtail mtn bike with psuedo-slick tires (Michelin country rock). It works great for my paved commute, and also has enough tread to keep me out of the dirt when I hit the gravel downhills that are part of my weekend

I ride a really old Sakae heavy-duty road bike meant more for cyclocross, with road slicks of course. I'll get a picture eventually, it's old and heavy but absorbs the bumps well from all the crappy shoulders in my neighborhoods.

 

[TBL]

So far this month I got 5!

Oct 1'st - 2 Oct 2nd - 2 and today 1.

2 mile run this morning, 1 mile walk this afternoon with the family = 8 so far!

 

[granitestateofmind]

And out of curiosity, since it seems everyone here so far is cycling, what kind of bikes are you guys riding? Dedicated road bikes? Mountain bikes on the road? Cyclocross? I'm riding a hardtail mtn bike with psuedo-slick tires (Michelin country rock). It works great for my paved commute, and also has enough tread to keep me out of the dirt when I hit the gravel downhills that are part of my weekend ride.

I've been riding a dedicated road bike, since I'm riding on the road and I've been a dedicated bike geek for a few decades. Specialized Tarmac Pro SL with carbon fiber hoops and tubular tires. It definitely IS all about the bike....truth be told, I feel lucky to have it and also like it's WAY more bike than this old spare-tire totin' boy should have - but it's a great ride. Drool away:

As the weather cools of I'll start riding my 'Cross bike, which is an aluminum Redline Conquest. Good winter bike for the road, plus it goes off road with a fair degree of aplomb as well. I was hoping to do a little Cyclocross racing this fall, but don't really feel fit enough - though I still may.

And Granite. I'm impressed as all getout with those numbers. The farthest I've ever gone is 28 miles, and I was pretty toast at the end. And I try to ride into the wind for the first part of my rides if I can, so then when I'm pooped I can turn around and get blown back home :/. I've had a few rides where the ride out took ~45 min, and the ride back took ~20 because of the wind, so I totally know what you're talking about.

Well, don't be that impressed. I ride on some pretty flat terrain (most of the time) and my gravity well is pretty deep so anything uphill slows me down considerably. It's almost like a parlor trick - I've ridden tens of thousands of miles over the last 4 decades and am a pretty efficient rider. Plus, I'm on a bike that maybe weighs 17 lbs. On the other side of the fitness coin, I probably can't do 10 push-ups, so......the Spartan Challenge is going to be....challenging.

 

[crimsonfalcon07]

Well, GSOM, to give you an idea, if you can do at least 6 pushups, your first workout will go 6 pushups, 60 secs rest (or more if needed). 6 pushups, 60 secs rest. 4 pushups, rest, 4 pushups, rest, max at 5 or more. It's rough, but manageable.

Glad you all are motivated. I'll be ordering steel for some of the prizes around the end of the month...

 

[ocnLogan]

I ride a really old Sakae heavy-duty road bike meant more for cyclocross, with road slicks of course. I'll get a picture eventually, it's old and heavy but absorbs the bumps well from all the crappy shoulders in my neighborhoods.

I've been riding a dedicated road bike, since I'm riding on the road and I've been a dedicated bike geek for a few decades. Specialized Tarmac Pro SL with carbon fiber hoops and tubular tires. It definitely IS all about the bike....truth be told, I feel lucky to have it and also like it's WAY more bike than this old spare-tire totin' boy should have - but it's a great ride. Drool away:

As the weather cools of I'll start riding my 'Cross bike, which is an aluminum Redline Conquest. Good winter bike for the road, plus it goes off road with a fair degree of aplomb as well. I was hoping to do a little Cyclocross racing this fall, but don't really feel fit enough - though I still may.



Well, don't be that impressed. I ride on some pretty flat terrain (most of the time) and my gravity well is pretty deep so anything uphill slows me down considerably. It's almost like a parlor trick - I've ridden tens of thousands of miles over the last 4 decades and am a pretty efficient rider. Plus, I'm on a bike that maybe weighs 17 lbs. On the other side of the fitness coin, I probably can't do 10 push-ups, so......the Spartan Challenge is going to be....challenging.

Thanks for satisfying the curiosity of a fellow Beckerhead guys . Now I won't feel "quite" as bad when my avg speeds are lower than yours, even though my elevation changes/distances are lower .

I'm riding a 2012 Focus Black Forest 4.0. I grabbed it on a crazy JensonUSA sale for just about $1000 less than its MSRP. Its FAR and away the nicest bike I've ever had, and is about half the weight of the Iron Horse I had before that (which was stolen from my apt ). Since I live in a small apt, I don't have room for lots of bikes, so this with some 80% pavement - 20% offroad 1.75in tires lets me do most things fairly well. That, and the remote lockout on the fork helps a lot.

Obviously not my photo, but here it is.

Got a flat over the weekend though, and I noticed that I'm wearing most of the way through the Michelin Country Rocks I've got on there, so I'm debating if I should get another set, or try something more road specific. Decisions :/.

And futsal happened tonight. Instead of our normal 5v5, we did 3v3... and man, I was exhausted. Even though I've been playing twice a week for months now, it still kicked my butt :/. But thats another 4BP, bringing me to...

Monthly Total: 16.27BP

 

[tjswarbrick]

Sometimes I do better when I don't log.
Internet has been waaay flaky all weekend.

Walked 1.5 miles Saturday night, 1 on Sunday, and 4 tonight.
Not sure how, but missed Take-your-kid-Mountain-Biking day. Kids had all-day playdates with friends so I did chores and errands.

6.5BPs to start.

 

[granitestateofmind]

Aight. 30 miles today, but all this talk about getting out of one's comfort zone had me headed for the hills of Coastal Maine (which is about a mile and a half from my house) instead of the flatness of the NH coast. LOTS more ups and downs, with a couple short (very short) climbs at pitches up to 14°. Breaks up the rhythm of steamrolling the flats. Plus, not one single driver honked at me or got too close to me.....'twas nice, and it's a perfect day here today.

11+10=21 BP.

The Nubble Light, perhaps the most photographed lighthouse of all time:

I came from waaayyy down there, somewhere....

Hard to take selfies when you can't see the screen. I thought this one was kinda funny.

 

[KingMC]

very pretty indeed.

Oh yeah, and the lighthouse is pretty cool too.

 

[TBL]

2 mile run this morning, 1 mile walk this afternoon with the family = 8 so far!

2 mile run in the morning = 10

 

[KingMC]

Have no time this week for any cardio, cuz I'm taking Friday off for a weekend over on the other side of the mountains chaperoning a bunch of teens at a retreat. Reason I'm mentioning this in this particular thread is on Friday morning I'm going to hit the best trail in the state, Mission Ride & Devil's Gulch, for a 14mile MTB joyride. Can't wait...

 

[granitestateofmind]

Have no time this week for any cardio, cuz I'm taking Friday off for a weekend over on the other side of the mountains chaperoning a bunch of teens at a retreat. Reason I'm mentioning this in this particular thread is on Friday morning I'm going to hit the best trail in the state, Mission Ride & Devil's Gulch, for a 14mile MTB joyride. Can't wait...

That sounds pretty awesome. Especially the "Devil's Gulch" part - no possibility of a survival situation there, eh? I will be taking the weekend off as well - leaving Friday for the Northeast Gathering where I will likely not exercise at all (unless wresting the tent into place counts), and may possibly fall into a bacon induced coma. Don't worry, though, as I should be able to drink it off with some malt beverages, and recover with a different sort of coma . I might shiver off a few calories, tho....the last coupla Gatherings overnight temps were in the 30's....

 

[TBL]

2 mile run in the morning = 10

ditto the above for 12!

Seems all of us are slacking off at once My boss told me I need to start 2 hours early for some overtime the next two days. I'm going to try to get active after work, but while watching the kids I never get any serious workouts done. May be Monday before I can hit the treadmill again. Will continue with my abdominal work and module for push-ups :thumbup:

 

[KingMC]

That sounds pretty awesome. Especially the "Devil's Gulch" part - no possibility of a survival situation there, eh? I will be taking the weekend off as well - leaving Friday for the Northeast Gathering where I will likely not exercise at all (unless wresting the tent into place counts), and may possibly fall into a bacon induced coma. Don't worry, though, as I should be able to drink it off with some malt beverages, and recover with a different sort of coma . I might shiver off a few calories, tho....the last coupla Gatherings overnight temps were in the 30's....

It is awesome, a good canyon ride with lots of 200 ft drops on the side. All downhill, about 3800ft elevation loss. We'll be shuttling it this year, after 6 years of riding up it and then down we never felt very good on the way down, being tired. Now we can hit the downhill at full speed.

Enjoy the NE gathering, hope it'll be as good for you guys as it sounds.

 

[tjswarbrick]

Biked 9 miles yesterday.

9.5 BP TTD.