The gauntlet has been thrown…

So Bob issued me a challenge yesterday, and I’m not one to pass up a good challenge. By posting it here it becomes public knowledge, and will therefore make me work harder to win – avoiding any embarrassment. The challenge is twofold, and neither will be easy. The first is that I must get my weight down below 210 pounds before we go to Moab next month (3-5 weeks). The problem is that I was nearing 220 about three weeks ago, but have since actually gained a few pounds. In all I need to lose between 15 and 20 pounds, so 5 pounds a week. That is hard, and I haven’t done that since I started to try to get my body back under control. The second part is that I need to be able to get out and ride my mountain bike for 6-8 continuous hours with Bob on one of his infamous “long” rides. This one is here primarily to assure that Bob doesn’t kill me with my reward. I think I can do 4-5 hours now, but with some training, by next month I think 9-10 hours is possible. One of the things that Bob does that I am infinitively jealous of is once or twice a year he goes out and rides the White Rim Trail. In itself that is cool. The ride is supposed to take normal people three days, and you need to have permits to camp overnight and they are difficult to come by. And by normal people, I mean people that are in pretty good shape to begin with, definitely not a ride for your average person. This is where it gets cool. Bob does this ride in one day. Let me put that into perspective. This is a 103 mile ride. Total elevation gain is around 6,000 feet. This is my reward if I achieve both of the challenges, I “get” to go ride the rim with Bob. I’m tired already…