Adventure with Lisa and Ayla

Yesterday, the alarm clock sounded at 3am. I woke to find that the Lightning storm had knocked out three power poles just down the road from my house, and I had no electricity. Fumbling around in the dark, I found my headlamp and rushed to get dressed. I already had all my gear prepared and ready the night before; Today was to be a big day.

PJ showed up around 3:30 and we loaded everything in her minivan, my bike, gear and Anka. This would be Anka's first long car ride. My puppy only half woke up as I put her into her kennel for the trip, and she was soon asleep again. Of course, shortly after we got underway, a peculiar aroma began to seep forward from the kennel. We pulled over and cleaned out her kennel, and wiped off her paws (I always carry a supply of puppy wipes for just an occasion). I think we were only back on the highway for 10 minutes when, the now familiar aroma assaulted our senses again.

Another half hour or so down the road we began hearing a scraping sound. Stopped the van to look, and sure enough the rear tire had blown out and we were driving on the rim. After a half hour of crawling around in the mud, we were once again on our way. We had planned on meeting Lisa and Ayla at 6am in Regina, though now we had lost a half hour and had no hope of making up the time driving with the toy-sized spare tire.

Approaching Regina 35 minutes late, we saw Ayla and Lisa's support vehicle for their Across Canada For Your Heart tour. Waving frantically, the driver must have thought we were nuts, but he stopped anyway. PJ got out and explained who we were and soon Ayla and Lisa rode up on their bicycles.



Introductions all around and we were on our way.



I did look very out of place. The girls were so trim and sleek on their new road bikes, and there I was twice their size on my big old yard sale mountain bike.



We rode together for 57km until lunch time, stopping occasionally to rest and chat. I would like to thank Lisa and Ayla for allowing me to join them on their cross Canada adventure, and hope that more people come out to ride with them and show their support for a very worthy cause.

Visit their web site at http://acrosscanada.wordpress.com

My Dietary Regime

This post is added as information only. I am not a medical professional, and nothing posted on theis site should be taken as advice. Always seek the advice of a qualified medical practitioner.

As a teenager, many of my friends got into sports and began to develop larger muscles from all the physical activity, but my muscles stayed small and refused to grow. In fact, the more I tried to get them to grow, the more they atrophied. At the time, I tried several different muscle building and body building programs and always with the same result - small muscles and weak bones. So, left behind by my peer group, I basically bypassed the sports scene and entered the work force.

A few months ago, I realized that over the years my health had deteriorated so much that I had extremely little muscle and a lot of fat. With no energy and very little motivation, I found it difficult to even spend time with my children. It was difficult to get out of a state of depression, but I was missing out on too much, so I began looking on the internet to find any information that might help. To my surprise, I found several web sites that were dedicated to helping people with Alpha 1 Antitrypsin Deficiency. One of the suggestions was a change in diet, which recommended a diet high in protein and fresh vegetables. I immediately implemented this dietary change and began to eat all the protein foods that I could find, cutting out added sugars and most processed carbohydrates. There was an immediate change. My energy levels immediately increased, and along with it, my motivation. It worked so well that I decided to add even more protein to my diet and found a powdered protein supplement made from soy. The results were remarkable. From mid April 2010 to mid May 2010 I lost a full pant size and around15kg. Mot only did the fat start disappearing, but my muscles began to grow, and I am now able to spend time outdoors with my children. I was so happy with my transformation that I just wanted to tell someone, and decided that the best way to do that was to cycle across Saskatchewan, shouting it from the rooftops (well from the internet anyway).

So far, I have found that certain supplements help a great deal in building muscle and keeping me in shape. I like to start my day with a B vitamin complex, tribulus, ginseng, and soy protein supplement. The a half hour later I consume another serving of the soy protein supplement, wait a half hour then head out on my morning ride. During my ride, I stop every hour and take an amino acid supplement and keep well hydrated. Then after my ride, I take another serving of protein. The best part is that even with all this exercise, my muscles are actually growing and getting stronger. Since my teenage years, I have known that the body needs protein to build muscle, but I think that I was just not consuming enough. Now, I try to consume twice the recommended amount for body building programs, and it is working great. During the rest of the day, my diet consists of various protein sources and fresh vegetables.

As for hydration during my training rides, I have tried several of the sports drinks designed for maximum hydration, etc, etc. Some may actually work better than others, but I have found that they did very little for me, except to slow my progress and limit my energy. My personal preference is to drink fruit juices with no added sugars. Fruit juice, with no added sugar, does not make me thirsty, keeps me well hydrated, and seems to stabilize my energy. As a side benefit, the fruit juice is less expensive than the sport drinks.

Even though this diet has worked wonders for me, I am always experimenting and improving on it.

Where Is Samuel Now?

PJ has designed a nifty little map that will show my current location during my trip, which she will update daily during my ride. This map is posted near the top of the column to the right.



I would like to give a huge thanks to PJ for her tireless efforts and help in this Alpha 1 Adventure...For Life awareness campaign. Without her this entire campaign would fall to pieces.

Yahoo!!!!

Yahoo!!!!

Today was my first 130km ride!

The ride took me 6 hours and 42 minutes, an overall average of 19.4km/hr. I did stop a few times to walk a few steps to change muscle usage. My moving time was 6hr & 7min, which works out to a moving average of 21.3km/hr. I was cycling at an angle into the wind on the return trip, so I was going quite a bit slower, which dropped my average considerably. But the upside is, I have gotten strong enough to pedal into the wind for a few hours. I think I am ready to attempt the first stage of my Alpha 1 Adventure, which is to cycle across Saskatchewan. I plan on following Highway 16, from border to border. Whether I go east or west depends on the wind. I would like to make my attempt during low winds, or perhaps even a tail wind if possible, but I will work with the weather either way.



Here is a map of Yorkton, Saskatchewan.

Alpha 1 Antitrypsin Deficiency

I found a very nice blurb about Liver Affected Alpha 1 Antitrypsin Deficiency and I thought it would be nice to post it here:

Alpha-1 is the 3rd most common serious genetic disorder in the world (behind Down Syndrome and Cystic Fibrosis) and can result in life-threatening liver disease in children and adults or in lung disease in adults. It affects the liver and can lead to liver failure at any time in life. It is the leading genetic cause of liver transplantation in children. Currently, the only cure for the liver disease of Alpha-1 is a liver transplant.

A special thank-you to Jen and her Alpha Girls from whom I snagged this quote.

Too much wind?

It is incredibly windy out there today, too windy for Samuel to go out riding, so it is another day of cross training for him. He usually doesn't mind the wind, especially when it is blowing his way :D, but today the wind is blowing across the highway and it is gusting to 85 km/h, and that's just not safe.

While surfing the web today I came across the blog of 2 girls who are cycling across the country raising money for The Heart and Stroke Foundation. (Across Canada For Your Heart) I hope they are able to stay out of this wind.

Cross Training

Today was another rainy day and so I thought I would jot down a few of the cross training exercises that I am using.

Of course squats, leg extensions and leg curls are always helpful. But I also pay attention to muscles that get sore while riding, like my neck and shoulders. Shoulders, and traps are another area that seem to tire and get sore on long rides, so shoulder press, seated rows and flies are important exercises. To balance this I like to do several push-ups at different angles. Starting with angled push-ups with my feet high on the back of a chair. Then change angles and have my feet on the seat of the chair, then move my feet to the floor for regular push-ups. Lastly I put my feet on the floor and do push-ups between two chairs, which works the lower portion of the pectorals.

Naturally, it is always a good idea to hop on the stationary bicycle for a short ride, just an hour or two.

Quill Lakes

Quill Lakes is about a 90km ride (one way), but it was a nice day to take the trip today. I have only been training for about a month, and now I can easily make 100km rides. I think I am ready to tackle the province.



Quill Lakes is a International Bird Reserve. There are many different migratory foul species here. It is a great place. I am looking forward to seeing many more of these types of areas across the province.