Schwinn Crisscross Project and some talk from the fat guy.

Schwinn Crisscross Project and some talk from the fat guy.

1991 schwinn crisscross bike crisscross project schwinn crisscross project suntour xpress suntour xpress accushift Weight Loss

I have posted images of the Schwinn Crisscross that I bought back in January before and am doing a sort of walk through on the build up... if you want to call it that, this post will touch on that project. The last post about the bike I had picked up a set of Suntour X press shifters for it, well, I had some free time and installed the shifter that the bike needed along with a brake lever to go with it because it had one of those Shimano brake lever/shifter combo dealies on it and to top it off it was broken. I also put a rear rack on but it was taken off of another bike that I sold last year and it appears that the rack is for a 26 inch tire bike, at least if I want to add fenders it is as there is only about 1/2 inch of space between the 700c x 38 tire and the bottom of the rack. I was looking to 1.) do this project as cheaply as possible 2.) make it into a commuter type bike of sorts so that I can use it to run down to the local store for random stuff and 3.) using mostly parts that I have on hand from my "stock pile" of bike stuff. Adding fenders is kind of important to me for more than one reason so I may end up having to buy a new rack if I can't stuff a set of fenders between the rack and tire.

Full on side shot with the new/old rack and shifter/brake lever installed.

Check out the rack on her!

New X-press shifter installed and adjusted, you can see on the clamp that holds the brake on that I had to scavenge a bolt from a different lever and it is a bit too long, I will fix this eventually.

The new shifter and brake lever work great but the cable routing is a little off but will be addressed when I change the handlebars, I have a set of riser bars that I am swapping onto the bike next.

Funny enough I just happened to have a Dia Compe XCT brake lever set in my Box O stuff so it matches pretty close to the Dia Compe XCM that was on the rear brakes, I may swap the XCM to the other XCT eventually just so it all matches. I needed to cannibalize another frame that I have laying around to get a barrel nut for the brake lever and will eventually replace it with the correct nut but for now what I have on there does work and since this is a budget friendly project hey! it is what it is. Taking the bike for a quick spin down the street showed me that it shifts great and actually feels pretty good as far as fit for me goes, If I end up riding this bike around on a regular basis once its completed I may go as far as getting a better wheel set for it because of how comfortable it feels when riding. .

Some future plans for the bike.

*Fenders
*Front rack
*New seat & possibly seat post
*Pedals
*Grips
*Lights front & rear
*Handlebars
*Change Skewers/seat clamp from quick release to bolt on

Changing gears I want to talk about my weight loss for a moment, For the last few weeks I have been more than on track and the scale is reflecting that with some drops in weight that remind me or the first 6 months of my weight loss program. Feeling extremely focused with my eating staying on task has been fairly easy in the last few weeks, I can't explain it other than saying that I had a little chat with the 534 pound me and we both agreed that I can't go back in that direction. I HAVE to keep my health on the forefront of my thoughts and efforts otherwise the rest crumbles beneath the weight of all of what comes with being an obese man and like I said, I ain't going back to that life. My intake has been very much within the calorie limits that I set for myself and here is a look at the menu from yesterday.

Breakfast
7:30 AM
coffee/creamer 90

9:45 AM
2 C honey combs 220
1 C almond milk 90

Lunch
11:45 AM 3oz grilled chicken 150
1 deli slim 100
1 wedge laughing cow cheese 35

1:15 PM
1 banana 105

2:45 PM
2 slices lite rye 120
3oz deli ham 180
1 wedge laughing cow cheese 35

Dinner
6:15 PM
3 T lite Cesar dressing 90
3 T parm cheese 60
2 100 cal wraps 200
lettuce 10
4oz grilled chicken 200

Grand total of 1685 for the day.

Making my way back down the ladder I have a goal for Jan 1st, I believe it to be realistic yet challenging and posting that weigh in will be interesting how ever it plays out. Me, my bikes and the discipline that I know exists within me says that I will make my goals, not because I want to but because I NEED to and I am the only one that can make it happen.

Make good choices with intake, Exercise, drink much... This is the plan...

As Ever
Me

Jump Jump! CrissCross will make ya.... oh wait

Jump Jump! CrissCross will make ya.... oh wait

1991 schwinn crisscross bike crisscross project schwinn crisscross project suntour xpress suntour xpress accushift Weight Loss

Back in Jan of this year I picked up an old Schwinn Crisscross on Craigslist for a mere $35 and have had plans to get it riding again so that I have a bike for when I need to run down to the corner store for a gallon of milk or a Cigar and a bottle of Jack. I figure that I can do some posts about the progress of this bike so anyone interested can watch it transform from something that was ridable as long as you only want 7 gears to a decent bike good for carrying small loads around and general rolling around the neighborhood. The bike has sat dormant for the past however many months because of the shifter that controls the front derailleur which is really wiggida wiggida wiggida wack when you think about it. The problem is the old not made any more Suntour Xpress shifter that I needed to match the rear derailleur shifter was not easy to come across unless I wanted to spend top dollar and well I am cheap so it took a while. Anyone that knows me knows that I am not afraid to search out a great deal, I figure my time is my time and if I can save as much as possible either searching out deals or waiting for one to come along I am no worse for wear and I end up with some killer deals.

The day I got it, this is as the bike stood, see its in good shape, especially for $35

Ebay to the rescue this time around I found a set of NOS Suntour Xpress accushift 6 speed shifters, the Crisscross is a 21 speed but the rear derailleur/shifter looks and functions perfectly so I only need the front shifter from this set. I got the Shifter set for $13 delivered so I am into the bike now for $48 and am planning on reselling the rear shifter on ebay at some point. I am not sure how far I will take this little project but I have been pricing wheel sets out for it and I have lots of odds and ends that I can use on it laying around in Tupperware but the plan is to keep this as budget friendly as possible and see what kind of a bike I can turn it into.

Brandy spankin' NOS shifters, soon enough the one I need will be on the bike.

Cycling has in a way kept me going, anything bicycle interests me and since I can't really do much riding if I weigh 500 pounds it keeps me in check when I am not feeling like staying on track. Taking things apart to see how they fit back together has always been something that i was into so having some bike projects is a great way to distract myself from anything that is stressful in my life and I am planning to use it as a tool to help keep me on track. Since this is after all a blog about a fat guy taking the weight off (putting it on and then again taking it off lately) I wanted to pop my menu from yesterday up here for anyone who cares to see it. I hit 1730 calories for the day which is ok since I aim for between 1700 and 1800 total for any given day, here is a look at how yesterday played out.

Breakfast
7:30 AM
coffee/creamer 90

8:45 AM
2 C Honey combs 220
1 C milk 110

11:45 AM
2 slices lite Rye 120
3oz deli ham 180
1 wedge laughing cow cheese 35

Lunch
1:00 PM
1 banana 105

4:00 PM
Healthy choice Café steamer 300

Dinner
6:15 PM
6oz baked breaded haddock 380
1 C southwest corn 120

7:30 PM
boiled egg 70

1730 total calories for the day.

Of course I had my green tea, that is something that has not changed no matter how off my eating is, I do not drink my calories! I do drink a gallon of green tea per day and another gallon of H20/Powerade zero on top of that with some Pepsi max or some other diet soda tossed in now and again... yeah yeah I'm working on getting off of the diet soda again! I went almost 3 years without it and just recently started indulging again.

Yesterdays post I got a couple comments and was going to respond but I cannot respond to comments for some reason so I need to sort that out so that I can leave comments on my own blog! My restart? yeah lets call it that, has been good so far and I am able to separate any outside stresses from my health plan, I think that focusing on my bikes is helping as well and this Crisscross project I think will give me something to focus on.

Thanks for the support and for stopping by to read the musings of a fat guy and his bikes..

Until next time.... That's all I got...

As Ever
Daddy Mac

Shifting focus, A tale of a clyde and his 1988 Rockhopper.....er something like that.

Shifting focus, A tale of a clyde and his 1988 Rockhopper.....er something like that.

1988 rockhopper comp 1988 specialized rockhopper comp bike specialized rockhopper comp vintage mountain bike Weight Loss

Though I have not been on game lately with my calories and exercise I have been staying on my bike and I am starting to realize that I enjoy riding my bike as much as I enjoy anything. Now I know this is not really a bike kind of blog but biking plays a HUGE role in why I am where I am with my health and weight loss today so veering into a project that I picked up isn't really that off the beaten path. A while back I picked up a bike on Craigslist for a great price, the title of the post was "Specialized Rockhopper comp FREE" and when I saw that there was no way I could let an old Rockhopper not be mine for that price. When I got to the owners house I then saw how much worse the bike looked in person than in the picture that was posted but she was mine at that point and off we went home with the dirty ol girl and into the shed it went. Yesterday I had an hour and a half to myself and decided to wash it up and check out where we stood on the real condition of the bike and after a good bath it actually looks pretty good.

The bike is a 1988 Specialized Rockhopper comp which is a fact that I found out with some research and it is adorned with all Shimano Deore components that are all in good working condition. I will need to replace the shifter cables and possibly the brake cables though the brake cables look like they were recently replaced so I may leave those alone, it will need tires, tubes and possibly a chain though I am going to try and rehab the chain that is on there now. I snapped a few pictures of the bike post scrubbing and was actually considering making a blog for the project to chronicle in detail how its coming along but I might just do it here instead, anyways here are a couple of the photos.

This is the day that I brought it home, check out that rear cassette in this image and then the next one, I wish that I had taken more close ups before washing it.

A side shot post wash, the pictures do not do justice to the difference from before to after, I think when I get new tires on it that it will look awesome.

Front shot, You can see the difference in the wheels in this one, they look almost new close up after the scrubbing they got.

Here is a shot of the biopace crank which looks a lot better than it did, I am planning on doing a more in depth cleaning but even with just a wash there is a big difference.

Finally a look at the Cassette and you can see part of the rear derailleur and how clean it came out.

After washing it up I noticed that a lot of the chrome bits had some surface rust on them and I started researching how to remove said rust, I found lots of different methods posted by lots of different people but I found one that I had all of the stuff on hand so I tried it. It was said that using some crumpled up aluminum foil with some automotive polish/rubbing compound should take the rust off but leave the chrome alone as the foil is softer than the chrome, I was skeptical that this would work but to my amazement it had incredible results! The seat post had a section at the top where it was pretty rusty (more so than the images above show) and the clamp to hold the seat post was also rusty and now they both look great.

This clamp looks like new after polishing with the compound and aluminum foil and I am planning on doing some more of the small parts this afternoon.

This is the polished seat post and you can see the damage to the upper part where the rust was, it shows up in the photo much more than with the naked eye because it looks almost perfect in person, either way I am pleased with how it came out.

I did adjust the seat and filled the tires with air to see how everything functioned but the bike will need two tubes as they leaked out pretty fast but I did get to ride a short distance which was long enough to find out that it shifts and brakes as it should. I am trying to refurbish this bike as cheap as possible but am willing to drop a few bucks into making it function and look good, New tires and tubes will probably be next on the list. I may just swap the Kenda Klaws that are currently on my K2 onto this bike as I was planning on changing to a more road friendly tread on that bike anyways so tubes will really be the only thing that will be bought to complete that part of the project. Hopefully I can save the chain that is on there now, it moves freely except in one spot where it binds slightly but I am hoping that some elbow grease and oil can work that out for me, a new chain is only about $15 so its not too bad even if it does end up needing to be replaced.

The paint has a lot of small chips in it pretty much everywhere, I do like the paint scheme and there is something cool to me in keeping the original paint job on an older bike like this but I haven't decided whether I will repaint it or just touch up the chips. The decals are in ok shape though they could use some love and ultimately decal condition may determine the bikes future in the looks department. I was thinking of an olive drab paint job on the entire frame with a flat white star somewhere and maybe "no step" in a pseudo military theme leaving all of the chrome and aluminum parts alone besides polishing them up a bit while the black parts stay black but like I mentioned I am not sure just yet, opinions would be great.

With everything that's happening right now in the stress department taking on this little project that I had hanging in the basement is taking my mind off of things and well, I'll take it. I am back to counting the calories and am heading out shortly for a bike ride with the kids as school is over so getting to the gym will be a tad harder and the bike will be my go to for exercise for at least a while until I figure out a compromise with a sitter. I will keep updating the status of this bike in this blog and may still create a specific blog for that project but that's to be found out I mean if I am finding it hard to update here lately imagine if I had two to update.

Keep on keepin on and all that and I'll do the same, that's all I got for today.

As Ever
Me

The bike is back

The bike is back

bike exercise Weight Loss workout

I have an easy feeling over me because I have my bike back, so now I feel like I can get in a good cardio workout in no matter the weather. for the first time in probably 2 months I rode the bike and I have to admit that I must have come a ways physically in that time as I rode for 20 minutes and barely felt it, and back when I was riding the bike exclusively for exercise 20 minutes felt like a lot more work. In fact, I only stopped riding because of the seat hurting my behind, so with that said if anyone that rides a bike for exercise reads this and has a suggestion for a nice cooshy seat or knows where one can be had for a fair price I would love to know. Being limited by the seat making me uncomfortable is not good. the workout went like this, start the mp3 player and load it with some Bad Religion and turn that up loud, got on the bike for 21 minutes, 20 mins of riding with me sprinting for a minute at a time every 5 minutes and a 1 min cool down. I stretched and did 50 push ups, 20-15-15, and onto some light dumb bell work, 3 sets of 10 concentration curls, 3 sets of 10 hammer curls, followed up with some lateral raises, 20 to the front 20 to the sides (using fairly light weight for the laterals) . finished up with a nice stretch routine and a glass of water. Even though that was not what I would consider a hard workout, it was a good solid routine and I can really feel it this morning especially in my biceps. I want to try and work a routine like that into the schedule three times per week while keeping the cardio up, and the walks steady through out the week. I feel like I have made it to a point in this weight loss regimen where I can step the exercise up a bit to include some more strength movements because losing muscle and strength is a worry of mine with this much weight to lose. so with that said, even though I am very sore this morning its that good sore, and I will just ride the bike today without the weights, I may or may not do some push ups because I don't want to over do it this being the beginning of the soreness again.

My calories ended up at 1285 for Monday, I ate balanced and spread through out the day. I did not write down the times etc but the food I did, but because I don't have it structured on my excel sheet I am not going to post the exact times and meals for today, I plan on putting the menus back up here regularly in these posts. My weight has stalled at the same weight that I was on Friday, Usually by Tuesday I am down at least a pound so this weeks weigh in should be interesting, and hopefully I do lose something by Friday. I have to admit that I am slightly worried about it but it is what it is and if nothing drops so be it, but hopefully because of the reintroduction of the bike that will not happen and the weight will keep on dropping. the week is looking up because of the bike and yet down because of the no drop as of Tuesday, there is not a gain so I guess thats a positive.

Until next time...

As Ever
Me

Exercise

Exercise

bike exercise push ups Varsity blues work out

I have not posted an exercise entry in a bit so I shall today. I rode the bike for 15 minutes and did my push ups as well as my stretch routine. I have to say that I am enjoying watching my monthly minutes and push ups go up each time I work out. I feel better and better each day and I thank everyone for the support that I have received thus far.

I have been reading more and more peoples success stories, Like David Smith who lost 401 lbs, and theres a Gentleman named Charles on 3FC whose story is amazing as well with him losing more than 300 lbs, and now this Varsity blues actor fella Ron Lester who lost 315 lbs that I posted in my previous post. it gives me hope that I may be the next success story.

I know I am the next success story!

As Ever
Me

Exercising for Me.

Exercising for Me.

bike exercise push ups work out

Ahhh my favorite part of the day...not really ;) not yet anyways. it was raining all morning and I wanted to go for a walk, I put my 2 year old down for her nap and pretty much as soon as she fell asleep the sun came out and its clear and windy right now, but the kiddo is sleeping so I had to ride the bike. it was a 20 minute ride today followed by some push ups and stretching. then a light lunch of soup. all in all a decent afternoon so far if not boring. I can't wait until it warms up, I have had that park on my mind all day, theres a hike through the bird sanctuary that I have never went on, no reason really for not going but now for some reason I gotsta do it.

So as far as the exercise goes for me I am in full on exercise mode and being very adamant about making sure I do it every day. because I know if I stop then I won't want to start again so thats that, I am doing it and I am not stopping. It takes a whole 30-45 mins out of my day to do it and not doing it is much worse than taking that tiny piece of time from my day, and honestly I feel better after I work out. hopefully some old habits return and I get into a zone (getting there already) and eventually get back into lifting weights on a regular basis.

Thanks for reading

As Ever
Me

Exercise

Exercise

bike exercise push ups work out

I was feeling good and it is a bit warmer than it has been here today so I decided to go on a walk about. I just walked around the neighborhood for 30 minutes with my daughter, I smartened up and brought a ball that we played with as we walked. it was a nice walk. then a bike ride was in order along with the normal calisthenics that I have been doing so a good day exercise wise! and so far my Lunch and small breakfast was great so all in all a good day.

a sketch from the TV series Heroes, I just wanted to make the post more interesting as this is one of my favorite TV shows. I have many of the paintings that Issac painted in the series.

As Ever
Me

Exercise hath returnith.

Exercise hath returnith.

bike exercise push ups work out

By 9:15 am I had ridden the bike for 15 mins, done 30 push ups, a stretch routine and some crunches. all while my daughter cheered me on lol. Clifford and Word why was the back ground sounds for the days exercise as this is my daughters time lol and those are her favorite cartoons. I plan on riding again when she naps this afternoon, but nothing is written in stone :) I stayed off of the scale this morning as my "official weigh in day" is tomorrow, I hope to see a good number for what was lost for the week. I am sure that I will be on here posting the loss/gain 2 minutes after I weigh in tomorrow lol, off to a good start today it seems and I am in a good mood because I don't feel any of that cold or w/e it was that I had for the past few days, so it would seem I beat it :)


As Ever
Me

Exercise

Exercise

bike exercise push ups work out

15 more minutes on the bike and a few more push ups down and I am feeling great today, because I know my weight and I know that in a week I will have something positive to gauge my weight loss/gain against. I set a short term goal for myself to get under the 500lb mark. this is getting interesting for me now, I have all kinds of stuff going on in my head as far as goals etc go, right on up to some longer term goals, one of the longer term goals is to be able to run 2 miles again. over all feeling for the day is great.

very short post but I wanted to get it in there, as usual thanks for reading. Thanks

As Ever
Me

Exercise part deux

Exercise part deux

bike exercise work out

Exercise has commenced once again! I got in a 20 min bike ride along with the push ups and a 10 min stretching routine. feeling good again...wait did I ever say I didn't feel good...hmmmm Still feeling good!! :)

I gotta say, I didn't want to ride the bike today but once I got on I did 20 minutes and only stopped because I didn't want to run myself down, it is after all only Monday. the house has been full of kids running around playing all day, a friend stopped by with her daughter so I almost felt like it was going to be hard to get a ride in, but they all left to the mall and the house was/is mine!

No music today I started before I got a chance to set up the mp3 so I just watched tv while I rode today, which surprisingly made the time go by easily. nothing more to post up so I will just post a cool Alice in wonderland pic I have on my hard drive.


As Ever
Me

Buying bread from a man in Brussels

Buying bread from a man in Brussels

bike exercise music push ups

He was Six foot Four and full of muscles, It was an 80's kind of day for the music (a couple 70's) which was cool because, well I knew all the words to all of the songs and that helps make the time pass. 15 mins on the bike, 30 push ups in 3 sets of 10. I believe I could do 30 mins easy on the bike (maybe not easy but do it) if not for the damn seat hurting my behind. I guess I will have to get use to it before I go off on a 30 min ride ouch! heres the play list for the day, there were a couple more but I closed the player and can't remember exactly what else was on there.

1. Ah ha ~ Take on me
2. Men at work ~ Down under
3. Crowded house ~ Beds are burning
4. The Clash ~ Train in Vain
5. Men without hats ~ Safety dance
6. Cory Hart ~ Sunglasses at night
7. David Bowie ~ Ziggy stardust
8. Queen ~ Somebody to love

As Ever
Me

Wonderboy & Young nasty man

Wonderboy & Young nasty man

bike exercise push ups

Exercise for the day went well, so well that I did 20 minutes on the bike, but only 2 sets of 10 for the push ups, and squats was 2 sets of 15. The music for the day was a mix that I just went through the music library and made a play list, I will keep this post relatively short, so heres the list.

1. The White Stripes ~ Icky Thump
2. Tone Loc ~ Funky cold medina
3. Black train Jack ~ Guy like me
4. Black train Jack ~ The joker
5. Tenacious D ~ Wonderboy
6. Tenacious D ~ Tribute
7. Rollins Band ~ Blues Jam
8. Rollins Band ~ Just like You

As Ever
Me

Exercise

Exercise

bike exercise push ups work out

Exercise for 1/15/08 is fini, 15 minutes on the bike, followed by push ups and squats, left the crunches out as its after 2:00PM and I have not eaten lunch yet and my belly is growling. Music for the day was Black train Jack. This is my favorite music to work out to as the songs are relatively short and I know all of the words so 15 minutes passes quite fast and effortlessly, if you don't count the sweat and heavy breathing lol. I updated the "Monthly minutes" and I am thinking about adding a push up counter as well, just for the record it was 2 sets of 15 today.


1.Time
2.This Is The Way
3.Guy Like Me
4.Who's That Man
5.Mad Doll
6.My Disciple
7.No Reward
8.Leapfrog
9.Someday
10.Newest One, The
11.One Love
12.Doesn't Matter
13.If I Can
14.Guy Like Me



As Ever
Me