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Dawn to Dusk 2021 towing Ryken for PMSF

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As a fund raiser for the Phelan McDermid Syndrome I towed Ryken during the 12 hour McDowell Mountain Dawn to Dusk race.  It is a 17 mile loop with 850 feet of elevation gain.  Now that is he 8 and over 55 pounds it is a serious challenge to tow him.  He still loves getting towed and he enjoyed every minute.

I did my solo lap about about 930am in the cold and managed 1 hour and 9.5 minutes.  Then at 2:30pm I towed Ryken for 1 hour and 31 minutes.  I was 8 minutes slower than when I towed him 2 years ago.  There were times where I was questioning my abilty to finish but the other racers were very encouraging.  We got passed a lot and everyone said very nice things to us, many people accused me of being a badass.  Ryken laughed and screamed when people went by and when we went through the puddles from Thursdays rain.  Strava says we hit 37 mph but I think its lying.  We managed to pass 3 competitors on our journey and Ryken enjoyed that.

Thanks to my team mates for all the good times and help getting Ryken ready to race.  Special thanks to everyone who has donated for the fund raiser.  There is still time to donate, my next stupid human trick is January 8th where I will be “running” a half marathon with zero preparation and zero experience.

 

Wickenburg Tour De Ranch 2020, Towing Ryken this year

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Last year I won an awesome belt buckle by coming in first in the Intermediate class.  This year the organizers created an all new course which was longer.  I wanted to race with my son Ryken so we entered the Expert class so I could do 2 laps, one towing him and one solo.  The race entries were doubled this year and the course was a lot of fun.  Ryken had a great time and everyone got a kick out of seeing him on the course.  I had the go pro camera pointed at him for the race and the entire lap with him is below in 3 video segments.  The end of the 3rd segment shows his smiling face when we see all the people at the finish line.

Ryken is getting heavy, if I want to keep racing with him I am going to need an e-bike soon!

 

 

 

 

 

Added suspension to Ryken’s WeeHoo kids trailer

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Ryken’s trailer broke on a ride recently, it had about 250 miles on it, most of them on dirt trails.  It appears that the weld on this main bar didn’t penetrate fully.  I don’t blame them, they have always been helpful.  
The trails near me can be rough so we took this opportunity to slap an old mountain bike shock on there to see if it would absorb bumps better.  We used old atv linkage bearings, shock mounts and hardware, way overbuilt for this purpose.  I had a 100mm fox shock laying around.  We eyeballed the geometry and welded it up and it works awesome.  It is much more compliant.  I am running a solid rear tube so the bike is pretty bouncy but with the shock its much more tame.

Here are some results videos:

 

The trailer broken on the trail

Welding in the shock

Adding a skidplate

A pic after a ride.

2019 Dawn to Dusk Ryken Fundraiser race results

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The goal of my entry into this year’s 12 hour race was to raise money for a therapy dog for my son Ryken and to raise awareness about his rare genetic disorder by donating some of the money to the Phelan McDermid Syndrome Foundation.  I would do one of the 17 mile laps towing Ryken in his trailer that would be decorated with information about him and his condition.  Heres a photo of us on a ride before the race:

Our group of friends had 4 teams of 4 men per team which made it a lot fun.  Overall the race had 47 teams in our class with hundreds of other riders in other classes.  Matt started the race for our team called “4 men and a baby” at 7am.  While I was waiting in the rider exchange area my cousin Rich who was riding for another of our 4 teams came in and someone said “You are up”  So I quickly put on my helmet and gloves and I took off.  Problem is, Rich is not on my team, I was supposed to wait for Matt.  Turns out Matt was 13 minutes behind Rich so I really started my lap way too soon which would throw off my laptime a lot.  I had a great ride and pushed hard, when I came in and everyone said I did a 55 minute lap I could not believe it.  My goal was to be in the 1 hour 12 minute mark which would be a 3 minute improvement over my time last year.  After we realized what I did I went and told the race organizers and the only solution was to delete my lap from the results.  Thankfully I left when Rich came in so figuring out my real lap time is not hard.  I did a 1:09:05 which is awesome.
  

Here’s a video that shows the start of the race to illustrate how many entrants there are.

Ryken and my wife JoLea arrived at noon and Ryken entertained himself by collecting rocks in the pits then we put him in the trailer and went to the start line.  The trailer was getting a lot of attention and to show how small the world is there was someone there taking pics of the trailer who has a friend who’s child has PMSF.  This condition is one in 5 million (2,000 known cases in the world) and we know all the families in AZ who have it.  Turns out her friend is also a friend of my wife.  SMALL WORLD.

Ryken does not talk and doesn’t make a ton of noise but when we ride together he laughs when it gets exciting, like if we hit a big bump or go down a hill.  On this ride he was chattering quite a bit and all of the other racers were very nice.  They saw his name on the back of the trailer so when they caught us they would say his name and talk to him, hopefully they did not get offended when he did not talk back to them.  He did wave a lot and make his noise for Hi a lot.  We also managed to pass quite a few people which surprised them.  At the last road crossing Ryken caught some air and the flag in his trailer flew out, I yelled back to the road crossing worker that we would come back for it.  My goal was to do a lap in under 1 hour 30 minutes and I honestly wasn’t sure I could do it because the first 8 miles of this course is a gradual uphill that wears you down and its hard towing 100 pounds of trailer and Ryken.

Earlier in the day when I was telling the organizers about my stupidity starting my first lap too early I also reminded them about why I was riding and Ryken’s fund raiser.  So when we came to the finish line the announcer talked about PMSF  and everyone cheered.  Ryken was clapping too which was great.  He had a great time and we finished our lap in 1:23:54 which surpassed my expectations by a lot.  Ryken and JoLea stayed for a little while after our lap before leaving and on the way out the picked up the flag from the course worker.

Finish Line Video

The race continued until 7pm and we all ate way too many cheesesteaks and brick oven pizza from the food trucks that were there.  Most of us also got a very good sports massage from the on site therapy tables.  Racing with friends is a ton of fun and everyone made Ryken feel very special.  Thanks to all my friends for coming out and racing and making a great day.  The image below shows how our 4 teams finished along with each persons lap times.

My friend Bill made the banners and the frame to hold the banners to the trailer and they really transform the look of the trailer and spread the word about PMS.  We raised enough money to pay for Ryken’s dog and some training.  There will be enough to donate approximately $1,000 to the PMSF.  I am going to keep taking donations until the end of the year before sending the money.  We pickup the dog on January 4th.
Thank you very much to everyone who donated, it means more than I can adequately express.  I kept track of everyone who provided contact info and we plan to send out a thank you card once we get some good event photos and dog photos.

 

First Mountain Bike Race, December 2018. McDowell Mountains Dawn to Dusk Team Race

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or the past year and a half I have been pedaling my mountain bike (MTB) pretty regularly at about 20 miles of dirt per week.  Of course I really miss racing so it seemed like a great idea to enter a pedal bike race.  Back when I started racing quads I had been riding a quad for about a year so the timeline is similar.  We entered the Dawn to Dusk 12 hour race at the McDowell Mountains near Fountain Hills.  It is a really simple 16.5 mile loop with about 1000 foot of elevation gain and we did the 4 man team class.  We had enough guys for 2 teams which made it a lot of fun hanging out in the pits.

I figured everyone on the team would get 2 laps which would be more miles than I have ever done in a day.  Up until this point the most I had done was 27 miles in one ride with plenty of stops for chit chat.  Our two teams were neck and neck all day although we were sitting close to last in our class at about 36th out of 39 teams.  In total there were over 700 riders registered. 

Lap 1 went ok, I was not happy with my time but I had a blast and the traffic was not nearly as bad as I expected.  Active Body Worx had a free massage tent which really helped loosen up my back.  Then I had an enormous Philly Cheesesteak from the east coast cheesesteaks food truck that was so tasty.  Everyone said I would regret it but I proved those suckers wrong.   Lap 2 felt a lot better and I set a good time 7 minutes better than lap 1 but my calves did start cramping.  One of the guys on the team did not want to do his second lap so I begrudgingly went out and did a 3rd lap making a total of 50 miles on the day.  The last lap was pretty rough, I did not cramp up but it felt like I was missing about half my power.  I managed a respectable time compared to my other 2 laps so I am very happy.  Having a professional massage during an awful race like the Cinders would have been awesome!
My best lap was 1 hour and 14 minutes and of the 450ish people who recorded laps on Strava that day my lap was about 225th so I am exactly mediocre!  It does suck knowing you will never be as good at this new thing as your old thing but it beats sitting on the couch.

Some pics from my google photos site

Here’s my random thoughts comparing this to 10 years of off road racing.

·         MTB racers are WAY more courteous than motorized racers, you come up behind someone, say “on your left” and 95% of the time they say “ok go ahead” and you zoom by.  The other 5% don’t say anything probably because they are too tired but they still move over, NOBODY blocks you.
·         When faster people catch you they go by without any drama, if anything I heard nice encouraging statements from the super-fast guys. 
·         Passing people and chatting with them or hearing words of encouragement is cool.
·         The course was marked better than some off road race courses.
·         You can fit WAYYYYY more MTB racers in a parking lot than off road nerds.  J
·         I definitely miss the Casey Folks no dog rule.  I stepped in multiple piles of dog doo in the staging area.
·         Most of the bikes there cost as much or more than a Quad and I saw zero “jalopies”.  At a typical off road race you see several machines that are pretty questionable as to whether they will finish or not, that was not the case here. Everyone had fancy bikes.
·         The race course does not really “evolve” throughout the day.  722 racers doing god knows how many laps has about as much effect on the dirt as 3 motorized racers.
·         These people are perverts J, some memorable team names:  Taint Nothin, 9 inch Males, he cranks til I finish, Chub Scouts, Flyin naked apes, Suck our Cogs, Pedalphiles
·         I am hardly sore at all, after a hard quad race I would be walking like a weirdo for a few days but I feel fine today (2 days later)   I am not sure if that is due to the massages or just dumb luck.
·         Suffering in near silence on the bike at a piddly 10-15mph is different than suffering on the quad.  The quad requires so much attention that it does distract from the pain and the throttle can save you in a lot of situations.  On the bike if you push too hard you might cramp
up and end up having to walk so you do end up holding back some.
·         Not coughing up dust for a few days has been nice!
·         The racing is cheaper, but still not as cheap as you would hope.  The entry fees are roughly the same as a local off road race and the bike maintenance like suspension service, tires, chains etc does add up.  I am getting about 400 miles out of a rear tire at $70ish a pop.
·         It’s still impossible to look cool in a bike helmet.

I won a pedal bike race, Inaugural Wickenburg Tour de Ranch

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I entered my first solo mountain bike race this weekend. I always said I would not do solo races since I’m afraid I will take them too seriously and suck the fun out of my only hobby. So that’s why I just do the laid back team races. But this race was in my hometown and it was the first ever running of it so I had to go. A week before the race I hurt my foot jumping off a building like an idiot, I never got an x ray but it sure feels like something is broken, but we have plenty of bones in our feet, surely we don’t need all of them. The pain is all in the heel so it doesn’t hurt much when pedaling.

I signed up for intermediate because I am far from an expert, I don’t even own any Lycra! A few days before the race they announced the course was changed and intermediates would do two, 5 mile laps which was fine by me with my foot but they also announced a quarter mile run “le mans” start which was not going to be fun for my foot.

The course was extremely sandy which added to the challenge, it was at least 3 times as sandy as any trail I have ever ridden. It was not very climby but all the climb was in one spot which made it pretty hard, I never saw anyone clean that climb. I enjoyed it but I was glad I only had to do 2 laps. I raced a steady pace and kept a smile on the whole time and I ended up winning my class and I am very pleased with that. After the race I met some great people and the BBQ lunch was very tasty.

The Wickenburg Parks and Recreation people ran an awesome race. The signups were super easy, the professionals they hired to do the timing and scoring were awesome and they had the great sense to get Kaolin Cosmo Cummens out to MC the event and he is the man, he is a mobile party. The prizes are VERY nice. The flying E ranch were great hosts and all the volunteers on course were a huge help. Next year they want the race to triple in size and that is definitely possibly but they need to get a better loop built with less sand in order to attract more mountain bikers. Setting up a trail head with year round access would help too. I’d hire Kaoiln to go out there and setup some trails!

I also received a PMSF(Phelan McDermid Syndrome Foundation) banner for Ryken’s fundraiser / bike race next month, photo below, still lots of time left to donate to our fundraiser! 

 

Slow Carb / Keto Blog

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Slow Carb / Keto Blog

Update 12-5-19: I have been doing this for almost 4 years now.  I still feel great and look alright.  I hover around 188-192 and if I am feeling fat I occasionally do a 21 day keto reset which knocks me down to 180 and lean.

Update 2-16-17: Its been almost a year and I am feeling good and weigh 180 still on the SCD.
Update February 2018, My wife read the Keto diet book and talked me into trying it. I did the 21 day keto reset which was tought but worth it. Keto is easier thanks to all the dairy options. I stuck with Keto through 2018 and kept my weight were I like it about 185.
Update 1-19-2019: Still going ok at almost 3 years. The holidays were rought this year I gained about 7 pounds but I am getting strict again and the weight is falling off.


3-28-2016
I am starting a big lifestyle change today by adopting the Slow Carb Diet based on Tim Ferriss’s book..  Update 11-1-16  My wife started sharing her SCD recipes on her youtube page and her Facebook group

 

The starting blog
I don’t like the word diet so I will be using “SCD” from here on out. I researched SCD for a week and decided to start it Monday. I am not using SCD to lose weight and I believe firmly that when trying a food change you don’t need to be a nazi, I will strive to be good, not perfect. If I end up losing some weight then great.

I really suck at cooking, I have never fried an egg in my life. Before meeting my wife I survived on soup, pasta roni, mac n cheese and the occasional marinated and pan cooked chicken. My weight has been between 199 and 206 for 10+ years now. I didn’t increase my activity when I started this, this is my normal activity level so if I lose any weight or do better with my Lipid panel its all due to the fodo changes.  I try to workout a lot leading up to races and racing season is kicking off again in April. So I will be doing quite a bit of cardio. But keep in mind on my regular diet even with all this working out my weight is still the same. So it will be interesting to see how the SCD affects my weight and cholesterol.

I did try a no carb things about 3 years ago and I got massive headaches, it was insane.  I was very worried when I started this and thankfully I never experienced that.

TOP TIPS (Just read this to get the gist of the daily blog that starts below)
Added this section on 6/29 after being on SCD for 13 weeks.
This stuff worked for me. I am no expert but wanted to share.  I went from very active 37 year old 6ft 202 to 180-184 just by adopting SCD. My lipid panel (cholesterol etc) is posted below. 
My wife started sharing her SCD recipes on her youtube page and her Facebook group in November.
Update: After about 20 weeks I cut way down on cardio and my weight has remained the same at 180-184.

Breakfast: I tried the breakfast thing and of course sausage and eggs are yummy but it was too much of a PITA for me. I researched protein powders and ended up with Orgain from Costco since its all Non GMO blah blah blah. I also like Vega from Costco since it has a serving of greens in it. My favorite is Primal Fuel from primal kitchen, its costs a lot. It doesn’t have the non gmo certification but they claim nothing in it is GMO and the ingredient list is good enough.
The orgain / primal fuel / vega protein shake mix has been awesome for me for breakfast. It tastes like desert and I drink it in the car on the way to work. I have it at 830am and I am not hungry until noon. Get a 20 oz blender bottle from wal mart or amazon. I go with 1.5 servings of protein powder with 16oz of cold water. 1.5 servings = 1 scoop of Orgain chocolate, 1 scoop of Primal Fuel Choc coconut and .5 scoop of Vega. If you hate the vega go with 1.5 Orgain and 1 of Primal fuel. Get Orgain and Vega from Costco and Primal fuel from the primal kitchen website. The Primal fuel costs double but tastes better to me. It all tastes shitty if the water isn’t cold.

Lunch: Go to Costco on Sunday and get a thing of their already cooked chicken thighs from the deli section. Its absurdly cheap like $5 for a damn weeks worth. Then get some fresh veggies from Coscto I love green beans. Thats my go to lunch, I take a weeks worth to work in 2 containers and I microwave a servings worth at lunch on a paper plate. Easy and fast. My wife cooks the green beans using a little powdered ranch mix and its awesome. I am also generous with hot sauces like Franks or Sri Racha

Dinner: Lots of meat and lots of cauliflower rice/mash and veggies. I probably consume too many calories at dinner but I don’t care its working. If I slowed my roll at dinner I would lose a lot of weight. Snack: I rarely feel hungry but I do crave sugar after dinner. So I have a spoonful of peanut butter or some dark chocolate covered almonds (like 5 or 6 of them) yeah its cheating but its life; its not supposed to be torture. Everything I ate for the first 11 weeks can be found below:
Sometimes I need some calories after working out and before dinner so I go with almonds or cashews. I don’t have many probably 15 max.

Drinks: I hate diet anything but I successfully switched to 1 cab if diet mountain dew per day from 1 can of coke. It doesn’t taste awful like diet coke does to me.I think part of the benefit of SCD is that its hard to overeat on beans (legmes) and meat alone.  Give me a never ending bowl of fettucine alfredo or pad thai with rcie and I will eat 3000 calories worth.  But with meat and beans its just hard to overheat to an absurd level like you can with carb food. As I said I am rearely hungry on SCD and I rarely feel sick from over eating which is awesome.

When you start you will be experimenting and probably wonder “can I have this?”  This website will answer that question:  http://www.eslowcarbdiet.com/
This reddit has lots of good SCD info.

My Lab Results after 13 weeks and 7 months:
As these labs show the SCD has done wonders for my lipid panel.  However I still feel sluggish and probably low on testosterone.  My Dr. doesn’t want to give me a prescription to get my blood work T level checked since my numbers are on the low end of “normal”. So that sucks. I feel sluggish at the gym lifting weights a lot of the time, not sure if that is carb related.  I definitely will not compete without eating carbs before a race.

Day 1: 3-28-16 Monday, Weight 199.6,
T Level 346-405, Cholesterol 189 (with drugs), Triglyceride 140 (with drugs)
Breakfast “Orgain Organic Protein” shake mixed with water in a blender bottle. If you follow SCD strictly they say not to drink your calories but I am not a big breakfast person so I am going to do this a few times per week. I had 3 scoops which is 1.5 servings so I could hit the 30g of protein mark. I have never had a plain protein shake with just water. Its not good but not awful. I mixed in 6 ounces of coffee which didn’t help much. It made me feel full but also a little odd. Definitely different than my normal breakfast which was a granola bar or instant oatmeal or occasional bowl of life cereal with whole milk.
Lunch Crock Pot Italian Chicken and Green beans. 1 can of coke. This is a huge no-no for the SCD but last time I fooled around with a low carb diet 4 years ago I got massive migraines which made me quit right away. I don’t want to experience full caffeine and sugar withdrawal while also starting low carb. I want to change one thing at a time so I can see how I feel. Eventually I will cut out the coke and if I need caffeine I will try tea or some sort of plain coffee even though I really hate both.
Workout: 6 rounds on the heavy bag around 5pm and I had a lower energy level than normal but it wasn’t awful.
Dinner: More Crock Pot Italian Chicken, shrimp and vegetables my wife made.
I felt hungry around 8pm so finally around 9 I had one of the breakfast muffin things my wife made which consists of egg , spinach, and onions cooked in a muffin tin. One of them has about 1 egg in it. It was good and curbed my hunger. I will refer to these as egg muffins from now on.

Day 2: 197.6
Breakfast: After getting berated for making my protein shake with room temp water I tried it with cold water today I also had a spoonful of powdered peanut butter, it was much better.
Lunch: Same as yesterday, Italian chicken and green beans. I sprinkled some red pepper flakes on it today which was good. 16 ounce Coke.
Workout: Today I did one of the 2 gym workouts from the testosterone book that I mentioned in the intro. I haven’t lifted weights since December and I have never done deadlifts. My office gym doesn’t have an Olympic bar so I did dumbbell deadlift and bench on the smith machine.
Deadlift, 5 sets x 4-6 reps. 55-60 pound dumbells.
Bench Press, 5 sets x 4-6 reps 105 warm up, then 195 for the rest.
Pull-ups, 5 sets x AMAP (as many as possible) 2.5-3 pull ups per set, I suck.
I didn’t do any warm up which was a mistake, my legs cramped up a little after deadlifts. My chest and legs were sore for 3 days after this short workout.
After work I climbed squaw peak with a friend, it’s a 1 mile climb up, 1100 ft elevation gain. Your heart rate is high for most of it. I made it in 31:30 which isn’t a personal best but its decent.
Dinner: Taco meat with mushrooms in a big cabbage leaf. Refried beans from can. I had 3 of the cabbage “wraps” and a lot of beans. I was craving something sweet after dinner so I chugged some water. Not a great idea I had to pee about 5 times during the night. My tiny bladder sucks.

Day 3
Breakfast: 2 egg muffins with 2 jimmy dean heat and serve sausages.
I am feeling a bit off today, probably because body wants sugar.
Lunch: Microwaved broccoli and more Italian chicken. I tossed fresh broccoli in a container with ¾” of water then covered with saran wrap and cooked for 3 minutes. Turned out good. I seasoned with Montreal steak seasoning. 16 ounce coke.
Workout: 45 minute yoga class at work, it’s mostly just stretching and relaxing not a workout really. Before dinner I did 15 minutes on the Versaclimber.
Dinner: Crockpot roast and cauliflower, black beans and asparagus. 2 hours later I had 2 jimmy dean heat and serve sausages.

Day 4
Breakfast: Protein shake
Lunch: Broccoli and left over meat from Rudy’s BBQ. It was delicious which probably means it had some sugar in it. Also had my first deliberate diet soda, it was a 20oz diet mtn dew. It was good, I will stick with it but I don’t think I can stomach diet coke anytime soon.
Workout: The other workout from the Testosterone book:
Squat, 5 sets x 4-6 reps
Overhead Press (barbell is preferable, but dumbbells are
okay) press, 5 sets x 4-6 reps
Bent Over Row (barbell is preferable, but dumbbells are
okay), 5 sets x 4-6 reps
I have lifted weights many times in my life but I have never done squat or bent over row because of how important form is. But I am going to do them now. I went light today because I don’t want to be overly sore Saturday because I am doing the Rugged Maniac 5k mud run race that I signed up for in January.
90 minutes of tennis after work. I had a handful of cashew/macadamia nut mix before tennis.
Dinner: Pork chops, broccoli and black beans. I am getting tired of broccoli.

Day 5
Breakfast: Protein Shake.
Lunch: 2 egg muffins with 2 jimmy dean heat and serve sausages.
Workout: 6 rounds on heavy bag, sit-ups and pushups
Dinner: Homemade chili

Day 6 CHEAT DAY!!! 195.4lbs
Breakfast: 2 egg muffins with 2 jimmy dean heat and serve sausages. I am not starting cheat day until lunch. The rugged maniac 5k starts at 10am and afterwards I am pigging out at an Indian place.
Workout 10am: Rugged maniac 5k obstacle course, finished in 48 minutes, it was fun.
Lunch: Chicken Tikka masala, rice, naan bread, I had lots.
an hour later had frozen yogurt with brownies inside.
Dinner: Mac n cheese.
Desert 4 shots of Jaeger, 1 mikes lemonade, 1 hard root beer, 12 oz of rockstar sugar free.
2am snack, cheese crisp

Day 7
Breakfast: Primal Fuel protein shake, this one is very tasty. Its much cheaper on their website than anywhere else. I am having 1.5 servings to get closer to 30g of protein.
Early Lunch: Egg, sausage, spinach scramble. Can of diet mtn dew.
Workout: 2 hours on the quad, fun hard ride.
Early dinner: I was hungry after riding and not eating since 10am so I had a bowl of left over chili. Can of diet mtn dew.
Dinner: Pork chop, black beans, and veggie mix which was cabbage, zucchini, spinach.
After dinner about 9pm I have been craving something sweet so I started caving in and having a spoonful of peanut butter.

Day 8 198.4 lbs
Breakfast: Primal fuel protein shake, 1.5 servings
Lunch: left over veggies with an andouille sausage, 3 pieces of bacon and black beans. 20oz diet mtn dew
Workout: Rest day. I think my body needs a rest day.
Dinner: Pan cooked chicken, spaghetti squash, cauliflower rice
Spoonful of peanut butter after dinner

Day 10
Breakfast: Primal fuel shake, 1.5 servings
Lunch: Left overs from last night, chicken, spaghetti squash, black beans, can of diet mtn dew
Workout: Deadlift, bench, pull ups. 2 hours later I did 6 rounds on the heavy bag.
Dinner: Pork green chili with lettuce and hot sauce.
Spoonful of peanut butter after dinner

Day 11
Breakfast: 1 heat and serve sausage and primal fuel shake regular serving.
Lunch: Chili and spaghetti squash, diet mtn dew, can.
Workout: 6 rounds on heavy bag, situps and pushups
Dinner: Leftover green chile with hot sauce and lettuce.
Spoonful of peanut butter after dinner

Day 12
Breakfast: 1.5 servings of primal fuel shake
Lunch: Brisket and beans from a BBQ food truck.
Workout: Squat, shoulder press, bent over row.
Dinner: Veggies, pulled pork, coleslaw
Spoonful of peanut butter after dinner

Day 13, 194.8
I didn’t do this diet to lose weight but it still was nice to get under 195 pounds.
Breakfast: regular serving primal fuel shake with spoonful of powdered peanut butter. I was getting a headache so I got a regular coke.
Lunch: 1 sausage, coleslaw and veggies from last night.
Workout: 6 rounds on heavy bag, hard workout
Dinner: Pulled pork salad

Day 14 Saturday, Cheat Day 194lbs
Breakfast: Regular Primal Fuel shake
Lunch: Homemade waffles with strawberries and blueberries and juice
Plenty of snacks like chips, crackers and cheese etc.
Dinner: Chicken alfredo, I ate too much, it didn’t feel great.

Day 15
I had a race this day and didn’t want the no carbs to affect my race so I had carbs
Breakfast: Regular Primal Fuel shake
Lunch: 6” subway sub with chips and cookies
Workout: 2 hour race, I rode poorly for 2 laps but felt great on lap 3 and turned in my best time of the day on the final lap. After the race I had a Wendy’s chicken sandwich and fries which were mediocre.
Dinner: Carne asada, beans and lettuce.

Day 16 Monday April 11 197 pounds
Breakfast: 1.5 servings Primal Fuel
Lunch: Taco shop: Carne asada and Al Pastor pork with cabbage and hot sauce.
Workout: Versaclimber, 18 minutes.
Dinner: Bacon wrapped hot dogs, black beans and zucchini

Day 17
Breakfast: Primal fuel shake with peanut butter powder
Lunch: Left over zucchini and beans with a left over hot dog and a sausage link.
Workout: Deadlift, bench, pull ups. I still suck at pull ups
6 rounds on heavy bag.
Dinner: Spicy shrimp and chicken salad with refried beans. I probably had too much.

Day 18 194.4 pounds again
Breakfast: Egg white scramble with spinach and sausage, 1 heat n serve patty. Can of diet mtn dew
Lunch: Grilled chicken and green beans. Can of diet mtn dew
Workout: Day off.
Dinner: I don’t remember dinner here but it was something SCD compliant.

Day 19
Breakfast: 1.5 serving primal fuel shake
Lunch: Grilled chicken and green beans. Can of diet mtn dew
Workout: Short bike ride
Dinner: I don’t remember dinner here but it was something SCD compliant.

Day 20 Friday
Heading out of town for a trip and race this weekend so my food choices will not be in compliance
Breakfast: Egg white scramble with spinach and sausage, 1 heat n serve patty
Lunch: Deli meat sandwich from gas station
Workout: 40 minute practice session at race.
Dinner: Red Robin restaurant burger and lots of fries with coke. Frozen Custard for desert later.

Day 21 Saturday
Breakfast: scrambled eggs, sausage, bagel and cheese, juice
Lunch: Ate lunch after race, pasta factory restaurant, fettucine alfredo with chicken and mushrooms and clam chowder, neither were very good. Regular coke.
Workout: 1 hour intense race. I crashed and hurt my wrist.
Dinner: Soft taco and steak cantina taco from taco bell

Day 22 Sunday
Breakfast: yogurt with granola and fruit, sausage and egg.
Lunch: Very late lunch after driving all day. Quarter pounder deluxe, fries and coke from McDonalds. Then frappe from there to keep me awake on the drive.
Workout: Sitting on ass in car. No race today due to wrist injury.
Dinner: Campbells Gumbo soup

Day 23 Monday 197 pounds
I am pissed I hurt my wrist this weekend. Can not lift weights this week or hit heavy bag.
Breakfast: 1.5 serving primal fuel shake
Lunch: Big steak and lettuce salad from a pizza place. Diet mtn dew
Workout: no workout
Dinner: Home made chili

Day 24
Breakfast: 1.5 serving primal fuel shake
Lunch: Fatty brisket, sausage and beans from awesome BBQ place. Diet mtn dew
Workout: 2 mile hike at Squaw Peak
Dinner: Pan cooked giant mushroom with hamburger, basically a hamburger with mushroom for the bun.

Day 25 X rays on wrist negative, it still hurts.
Breakfast: 1.5 serving of primal fuel
Lunch: Home made chili and steamed broccoli
Workout: Easy yoga class
Dinner: Shredded chicken, refried beans and cauliflower rice tortillas

Day 26 192.8
Breakfast: Primal fuel shake
Lunch: Left over chili and broccoli
Workout: nothing
Dinner: I was at a wedding, had salad, chicken and a cupcake. A few vodka cranberries and later on Jaeger and Rockstar. I was up til 2am. I ate junk at 1am like chips and cookies.

Day 27, Friday
Breakfast: 1.5 serving of primal fuel
Lunch: Chinese food from restaurant, egg drop soup, spicy chicken, some rice.
Workout: short bike ride.
Dinner: I don’t remember but it was SCD compliant.

Day 28, Saturday ,road trip to LA to see GGG fight.
Breakfast: 1.5 serving of primal fuel
Lunch: Malaysian food, curry, noodles, chicken, a little rice, regular coke.
Dinner: late dinner, carne asada taco and Pastor burrito, coke.

Day 29, Sunday drive home
Breakfast: Bagel and cream cheese, tiny muffin from hotel.
Lunch: Some chips, jerky and starbucks caramel machiatto
Dinner: Zucchini noodles with chicken.

Day 30, Monday , 194.4
Breakfast: 1.5 serving of primal fuel
Lunch: Greek salad with gyro meat. Regular coke.
Workout: 18 minutes on versa climber.
Dinner: Cauliflower, mushroom, chicken with marsala sauce.

Day 31, 193.6
Breakfast: 1.5 serving of primal fuel
Lunch: Green beans, chicken, can of diet mountain dew.
Workout: Lift weights. Squat, overhead press, bent over row
Dinner: aa

Day 32, 192.8
Breakfast: 1.5 serving of primal fuel
Lunch: Green beans, chicken, can of diet mountain dew.
Dinner: SCD Food

Day 33, 191.8
Breakfast: 1.5 serving of primal fuel
Lunch: Green beans, chicken, can of diet mountain dew.
Workout: 70 minutes of tennis, gym: bench, deadlift, pulldowns
Dinner: SCD food

Day 34 Friday, 190.8.
I haven’t weighed this low in 10+ years. I feel good and I feel slim. Noticeable difference.
Breakfast: 1.5 serving of primal fuel
Lunch: SCD food
Dinner: hot wings with some ranch from wing place. It wasn’t as great as I had hoped the bennet dessert was great though.

Day 35, Saturday
Breakfast: 1.5 serving of primal fuel
Lunch: Waffle sandwhich from Crave, half bbq chicken and half beef.
Dinner: Sushi, it was delicious. Lots of drinks after dinner.

Day 36
Breakfast: ramen noodles, mountain dew kickstart
Lunch: Chinese takeout, coffee with creamer
Dinner: left over chinese takeout

Day 37, Monday, 195.4 pounds, gained a lot this weekend.
Breakfast: 1.5 serving of primal fuel
Lunch: Pulled chicken with lettuce and spinach.
Dinner: Cauliflower rice with steak, black beans and peas.

Day 38
Breakfast: 1.5 serving of primal fuel
Lunch: Cauliflower rice with steak, black beans and peas.
Workout: 80 minutes of tennis
Dinner: Cauliflower rice, chicken and black beans

Day 39 Wed
Breakfast: 1.5 serving of primal fuel
Lunch: Work luncheon, 2 hot dogs without buns with beans and vegetables and hot sauce, coke
Workout: Weights, squat, overhead press, bent over row. Easy yoga class
Dinner: Cauliflower rice with chicken and zoodles. Atter dinner I had a salted caramel.

Day 40
Breakfast: 1.5 serving of primal fuel
Lunch: Cauliflower rice, chicken and black beans
Workout: Weights, bench, deadlift, pulldowns. 1 hour hike
Dinner: Chicken salad

Day 41, 190.2
So every Friday my weight is at its lowest but come Monday I go up 4-5 pounds and work down again. Doesn’t seem that healthy for you. Also I am not eating like a total idiot on the weekend so its disappointing to go up so much each weekend and the thought of eating SCD 7 days a week is a major bummer.
Breakfast: 1.5 serving of primal fuel
Lunch: Premade chicken salad from store
Dinner: forgot

Day 42, Saturday
Breakfast: small serving of primal fuel
Lunch: Swedish pancakes from IHOP with side of bacon and 1 egg. So awesome
Dinner: forgot
Day 43, Mothers day
Breakfast: small serving of primal fuel
Lunch: Swedish pancakes from IHOP with side of bacon and 1 egg. So awesome
Dinner: forgot

Day 44, Monday, 194lbs
Breakfast: 1.5 serving of primal fuel
Lunch: chicken and green beans, diet mtn dew
Workout: Tennis
Dinner: something SCD compliant

Day 45, Tuesday
Breakfast: 1.5 serving of primal fuel
Lunch: something SCD compliant, diet mtn dew
Workout: lift weights
Dinner: caulifloweri rice, chicken, black beans

Day 46, Wed
Wife left for trip until Sunday, thankfully she made several portions of chicken and green beans
Breakfast: 1.5 serving of primal fuel
Lunch: chicken and green beans, diet mtn dew
Dinner: Grilled chicken cobb salad from AMC dinner theatre with water.

Day 47
Breakfast: 1.5 serving of primal fuel
Lunch: left over cauliflower rice, chicken and black beans
Workout: lift weights, 2 mile hike
Dinner: chicken and green beans

Day 48, Friday, 189.4 lbs yay.
Breakfast: 1.5 serving of primal fuel
Lunch: chicken and green beans, diet mtn dew
Dinner: Burrito bowl from Chipotle, no cheese, water

Day 49, 188.6lbs Saturday
Breakfast: 1.5 serving of primal fuel
Lunch: chicken and green beans
Dinner: 3 pieces of papa johns pizza, 2 hot wings and 2 brownies from about 6pm to 3am. Also several beers, energy drinks, and Jaeger

Day 50, Sunday
Breakfast: 1.5 serving of primal fuel
Lunch: Fish tacos, a few French fries
Dinner: chicken and green beans, one slice of pizza, and the last brownie…couldn’t let it go to waste.

Day 51, Monday, 192.6lbs not bad after extra long cheat day
Breakfast: 1.5 serving of primal fuel
Lunch: Fez Burger with sweet potato fries and 2 regular mtn dews. Friend was treating me to lunch no way am I going to do SCD at Fez, it’s the best burger on earth.

Workout: 20 minutes on versaclimber
Dinner: Greek chicken, cauliflower rice, peas.

Day 52, 192.6lbs
The Primal fuel is delicious and made with good stuff but it is not listed as “non GMO” so I am going to cut back on it. So I did 1 scoop of primal fuel with 1.5 scoops of Orgain. The taste and texture is not as good but its still decent. 2.5 scoops = 1.5 servings.
Breakfast: 1.5 serving of protein shake
Lunch: store bought salad with side of chicken pre cooked from Costco.
Workout: lift weights
Dinner: pulled pork in green chile from coscto with grilled cabbage and black beans.

Day 53
Breakfast: 1.5 serving of primal fuel
Lunch: chicken and green beans
Workout: easy yoga

Week 8 complete 5/23/16
After being on SCD for 53 days I am switching to a weekly review since I doubt anyone will copy what I am eating and I am not knowledgeable enough about exactly how the meals are being prepared since I am spoiled by a wife who cooks and looks up SCD recipes.
This week was more green beans and chicken. Dinner was lots of cauliflower rice, black beans and proteins. Breakfast is unchanged and I doubt it ever will. The protein shakes are delicious and convenient. My wife found a new way to prepare the green beans which makes them taste so good there is no way it can be perfectly healthy.
The pre cooked chicken thighs from Cosctco are so cheap, like $5 for a weeks worth. Add that plus some green beans and you are set for a week of lunches for under $10 total.
Cheat day was hamburgers and Chinese food.
I finished at 188lbs on Saturday and I was 191 on Monday.

Week 9 complete 5/30/16
Modified my breakfast shake to 1 scoop of primal fuel (chocolate coconut, 1 scoop of Orgain (chocolate) and half a scoop of Vega. Vega is a non gmo protein mix with 2 servings of greens per scoop. It is sold at Costco which is also the best place to get Orgain.
2 hours after dinner I still crave something sweet so I have a spoonful of peanut butter or 5-8 dark chocolate covered almonds. Cheat day was indian buffet, along with a night of jaeger and rockstar.
Finished the week at 187.4 and started on Monday at 188.8 I have not been doing as much cardio as when I started SCD. It will pick up again when I start racing in July. I am still good for one hike per week, a night of tennis and maybe 1 or 2 easy family bike rides.

Week 10 complete 6/6/16
Ordered lots more hot sauce after running out of the Sky valley Sri Racha from Coscto and they were sold out. I have been using Frank’s red hot at work on the chicken. So I ordered some xtra hot Franks plus 2 other flavors to try out and more Sky valley Sri Racha from Amazon. I think it tastes a little better than the rooster brand (Huy Fong)
Cheat day was almost all weekend but Monday weigh in was 188 so that is good.

Week 11 complete 6/13/16
The updated lipid panel (blood work) showed that my cholesterol and tricglicerides are way down. See results at top. Turns out all this fatty food helped every number on my lipid panel a lot.  So much for all the info about fat and cholesterol we have been told in america since the 80’s.  Weight steady.

Week 12 complete 6/20/16
It seems that 2 days off the protein shakes on the weekends then back to them on Monday = massive gas for Monday. Its pretty terrible.
I do feel sluggish when lifting weights.

Week 13 complete 6/27/16
I was down to 183.4 on Saturday after yard work. 189 on Monday morning after cheat day. Still feeling sluggish during weight training.

9-1-16  I haven’t done any serious cardio since early August, my weight is still good.  My cheat days are more like cheat weekends.  I am very pleased.  I am feeling back to normal during weight training which is only 2x per week now.

11-7-16  Same as above.  I am confident I could get down to 175 if I handled restriected my cheat day to less than one day but I feel good at 180 so here I am.

Installing your own artificial grass…I don’t recommend it

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After asking friends about artificial grass I decided to get some of the used stuff from a company on craigslist. They have a small pickup facility off Grand. They tear out used college, pro, and highschool fields and resell them. These places need to replace the fields often due to concussion regulations. The field I got is from the University of Utah. It was .95 per sq foot and I started with a 15×40 roll.

You can go down to their yard and pick out the roll you want but you gotta decide while it is rolled up.
It is hard to tell if you are going to get any white lines in it, mine had a few hashmarks which I think look cool. I also got the arrow and “3” from the 30 yard line which is also interesting so I won’t be painting over it. But you can paint over it with acrylic based paint. The grass is quite a bit longer than most of the store grass I have seen which means it takes more infill to make it look shorter. The place I got it from was very cool, I recommend them. If you need some call Jacob at 714-975-4013.

I called around to landscaping places and searched the internet a lot learning about how to install it. I borrowed my dad’s bobcat and plate compactor. First I removed all my existing rock; probably 4 tons worth. Some of it I just moved around the yard, the rest I dumped at my neighbors because he needed fill dirt.

For my base layer I went with 7 tons of 3/8” minus from West Valley Rock because Joe knows the owner. The owner was cool to me and gave me lots of advice. It was about $130 for the base layer. I spread it out with the tractor and shovel, then tried to level it with a long 2×4 then wet it and compacted it. It takes two people to roll out the grass because its heavy. I used a 50 pound box of 6” 60D nails from Home Depot for $50 to nail it in place.

I worked on it after work and half a day Friday and Saturday. To fully prep and install 600 sq feet I have about 16 hours in it plus 7 hours of combined help from Joe and a laborer I know. I still need to get 1-3 tons of sand to put in the turf, you can google it but it is necessary. Everyone recommends silica sand or ground up rubber but the silica sand is $15 for 50 pounds. You can get mortar sand from any landscaping place for under $20 per ton, that is what I am doing. You can’t use “play” sand as it will clump when wet. Most places recommend 1.5 pounds per sq foot with one place telling me I need 7 pounds per sq foot. I will start with 2 tons and go from there.

I got some of the cheap 5” black rubber edging material from home depot to separate the grass from the rock.
Turf = $600
Base Layer = $130
Infill Sand = $40
60D Nails = $50
Black edging = $30
Labor help with the grass = $45

Total = $895
Dumping old dirt = Free
Rake, Shovel, Hammer, Compactor, Tractor = owned or borrowed

My friend Jeff had some professionally installed for $7 per sq foot which would have cost me $3500. I would say that is a fair price considering all the hassle with prepping the area, dumping the dirt, etc.
Next I had my friend Chad from Pool Guard install the netted removable pool fencing in the front and back. Now Ryken can run around in both yards. I needed about 120 linear feet of fence and two gates which came out to $2400 fully installed. I could have borrowed more crazy tools from my dad and installed this myself but I wanted it done by a pro with a warranty.

Ryken’s PMSF Fundraiser

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Ryken’s Phelan McDermid Syndrome Foundation Fundraiser

 

On December 14th 2019 I am doing a 12 hour team mountain bike race in the McDowell Mountains. I am going to do one of the 16.5 mile laps while towing my 6 year old son Ryken. He loves going on mountain bike rides. Ryken has a rare genetic disorder called Phelan McDermid Syndrome, there are about 1400 reported cases in the world. https://www.pmsf.org/about_pms/

My plan was to donate 100% of the funds to the PMSF.org foundation which conducts research into this rare condition. But we recently started researching therapy dogs for Ryken because he does so well around dogs. A fully trained therapy dog costs $24,000-$32,000 and to make it more complicated I am allergic to dogs so we need to find one who is hypoallergenic. We have found a dog from a local breeder and placed a deposit on it.

My current plan is to start with this hypoallergenic pure breed dog and pay for several training courses out of pocket rather than trying to come up with $24,000 all at once. All remaining money from the fundraiser after paying for the dog and some training will go directly to the Phelan McDermid Syndrome Foundation. https://www.pmsf.org/research/

The event:
https://ziarides.com/event/dawn-to-dusk-az/

How to Donate:
Paypal: trelken@gmail.com (please send as a friend/family payment so they don’t take a cut)
Zelle, Cash App, Venmo: 602-550-5171 or trelken@gmail.com
Paypal messenger: Trent Kendall