Advanced Accountability

Throwback Thursday

On August 18, 2012 I posted on Facebook that I had started walking and would start riding soon. I'd lost 61 pounds at that point. I got some positive feedback but I said it then and I said it now, I wanted to make it harder to quit. I was halfway to the spot I got to a year later but I hit a wall and even though I feel better than I ever have I want to finish this journey so here I go again ... 

Help wanted

I signed up for the pace group at the Hotter than Hell Hundred this year. It's a group that rides the rally in less than 5 hours, non-stop 100 miles at over 20 miles an hour the whole way. The thing that stands in between me and that goal is the last 20 or so pounds I've been dragging along since I hit this level in 2013. I'm asking Paul Mossa to help me with this challenge. All the years of excess weight has created a condition called spinal stenosis in my lower back. Oddly enough, I can ride for hours but can barely walk to the kitchen every morning. I am much more comfortable leaning over than I am standing up. 

The only cure that isn't surgery is to strengthen my core, lose these last 20 plus pounds and by doing that, I will also be able to ride faster and further so the Pace Group made sense, I am signed up so I am all in. I'm also telling my friends on Facebook about it so it will be harder to quit, or sneak lemonade into my green tea or to grab a cookie instead of a banana. 

Added incentive

Plus Craig Hodges said he'd tattoo my name on his ... fanny over 25 years ago if I ever got my weight under 200 pounds and everyone knows there is no statute of limitations on stupid dares so I've got that out there. I'm not sure I want my name on another dude's buttocks but if it's got to go on anybody's it might as well be his.  Paul and I are looking forward to making him squirm. 

The Usual Suspects

I've also got Doug, Jeff, Jim and Ozzie out there riding with me. Oddly enough Jeff was one of the guys that commented it was awesome that I had started walking, three years later he borrowed a bike and started riding with us, I'm picking him up at 7:30 tomorrow morning. Circle of life. 

Most of all I have my incredible family, Katie, Will, Andrew, the AshMan and most of all my bride, Linda, there with me. When I quit drinking, so did she, when I quit cheeseburgers so did she and when I decided to take on this challenge I knew she would be there, picking me up, helping me find something I set down, sacrificing something tasty so I won't be tempted.   

So here I go again, looking forward to the journey with you. 

Final Statistics from the Today I Can Pacific Coast rides

• There were 29 different rides on the tour.
• I traveled 1,873 miles on those rides. 
• There was 90,617 feet of elevation (riding uphill) on the ride. 
• The tour took 128 hours and 47 minutes of moving time to complete (only counted "moving time" doesn't include time while taking a break, taking a selfie or standing around holding a bike over my head). 
• The rides ranged from 50 miles to 100 miles.
• The most elevation I had in one day was over 5,000 feet twice, once in Oregon between Pacific City and Florence and again in California, on the Big Sur between Carmel and San Simeon. 
• Their were two long rides of just over 100 miles, once from Santa Barbara to LA and again from Arizona to Arizona State. 
• The Arizona ride included my best speeds as I was able to roll without traffic or big climbs for virtually all of the ride. My moving time was 4 hours and 41 minutes on that ride for an average of 21.5 miles per hour over the 100 miles.
• That ride also included my fastest 40 km (approximately 25 miles) at 1 hour, 2 minutes and 10 seconds for an average speed of 24 MPH.
• The lowest temperature was 50 degrees on the ride I crossed over from Oregon to California on July 11th. 
• The highest temperature was 114 degrees, two times, once between Fort Bragg and the Napa Valley on July 14th (a ride that began at 57 degrees before the temperature literally doubled as I rolled away from the coast) and again in Arizona, where it was just hot the whole darn ride. 

Thank You Junior Miller

Inspiration Comes From Strange Places

140 plus pounds ago

2 years and 140 pounds ago, before I started riding, I really knew very little about cycling other than once a year they have a big race called the Tour de France and guys rode ridiculous distances every day up and down huge mountains very fast. Lance Armstrong woke the sport up in America but as a guy incredibly out of shape, I kind of assumed that was something I wouldn't do. That being said, the marathon and the long rides always fascinated me, for a guy with an incredibly short attention span, the idea of a marathon intrigues me, I don't know why. It certainly isn't something that translates to TV very well, even though I ride a lot now, I don't follow the sport that closely, like a lot of riders do.

Tour de Pac 12 at Cal

I do know that not much was said about the sport other than some friends of mine who rode and a radio host in Dallas named Craig (Junior) Miller. He did more than talk about it, he lived it, he went to France and rode the course after it was done. He is an incredible story teller and he would spend several segments of his morning radio show talking about the ride and it got me interested. One of the things about Junior that struck me is there weren't stories of his athletic achievements when he was young, he tells a lot of stories about electronic football, collecting baseball cards, and things like that but I have never got the feeling that he was an all-state three sport athlete that things like this came naturally to but yet he could ride the toughest courses in the world and he did it at my age. He is now an incredible athlete, through hard work and determination, in fact, he just completed his first Iron Man a few weeks ago when I started this ride from Canada to Mexico aka the Tour de Pac 12.

17 Mile Drive in Carmel

So almost two years ago, when I started my cycling journey he gave me that bit of confidence that the fat kid, me, that didn't make the cut in the sports that he tried out for, could ride a bike. Probably not as well as he did, but at least I could try. I have always dreamed big so the fact that Junior rode the rides they ride in the Tour de France got me thinking along those lines. It gave me the perfect mental backdrop in 2012 when I saw a group of riders when I visited the Rose Bowl on our first trip to California and they just glided down from the mountain and majestically swept around that venue. I thought "I have to do that" (and I will on the UCLA leg of the Tour de Pac 12) in part because Junior Miller told those funny stories about lost bikes, big rides, and continuing on after his friend said he couldn't go on. Those kind of stories stuck with me and made me think those things a month before I dusted my bike off and took it to the shop. I have listened to that station since the first day it aired and been a fan of the morning team since they made the shift from afternoons so it has been something that just kept coming up every summer when the Tour de France came up. He got that ball rolling and for that I am very thankful. 

Tour de Pac 12 w
Oregon State Players

On Friday I head to Santa Monica Pier in LA from Santa Barbara and on that ride I will pedal through Oxnard California, where the Dallas Cowboys are holding training camp this year. I tried to ride from LA up to Santa Barbara last year when Linda and I came out to renew our vows on Venice Beach and I couldn't get it finished. I did make it through Oxnard and, candidly, the part of Oxnard you ride through on a bike is kind of a dump, I wondered why the Cowboys would ever leave Thousand Oaks for Oxnard so Friday I can see why and ride by where they are practicing. Additionally if I veer off the path there I will actually make my ride 100.2 miles, so I can vindicate myself for last year at the same time. 

Of course the Ticket will be there covering the event, so it's the perfect way to ride by and get a selfie with the Ticket setup in the background in what I am dubbing the Junior Miller leg of the Tour de Pac 12. It's hard to say thanks to someone like that who you really don't know so this is my way of doing it. It will be fun, I will be sure and post a picture or two on Instagram and Twitter so follow @fordbaker on either and maybe you can get a chuckle out of it. 

10-net 2: Evict the Icants

Everyone has heard of the Minions, the little yellow guys that hung around with Gru in Despicable Me, right? Minions are more than just yes men, they are YAY men. No matter how bad an idea Gru has, they literally go bananas like it's the best idea in the history of ever! Steal the moon? Hell yeah baby, let's do this thing! All we need is a shrink ray!

The Icants are the exact opposite of Minions, they are the little guys that live in my head and tell me I can't do things. Oddly enough, they gain strength from my weakness, from my failures, from me quitting and most often from me not even trying.  I think it's something that all of us that have suffered with obesity can relate to. “I can't fly” because of the looks other passengers have when I get on the plane, they might as well stand up and scream “Dear Lord NO! Please don't let the fat guy sit next to me!” Even though I've lost a lot of weight the Icants insist on still screaming the thoughts people aren't thinking when I get on a plane. They love it when I can't and they are the kryptonite of Today I Can.

A couple of weeks ago I rode in a rally called the Richardson Wild Ride, but I did not adequately prepare for it. I rode too far the night before because I thought everyone was going to keep an easy pace. When we got going it was obvious nobody remembered the talk of an easy pace and we all roared off like we were going to win the thing, my legs weren’t fully recovered, we hit the hills and I fell off the back end after a couple of climbs. Immediately I returned to the kid in junior high who finished last in every track meet, I can’t keep up with these other guys, I can’t do this, I can’t climb as fast, I can’t ride this fast and I ended up being right. Not because I wasn’t physically ready but because I said those two little words that are one of the key ingredients of every missed opportunity. I said “I can’t”

As I prepare to leave for my coastal ride, there are a lot of Icant’s that say a lot of lies, but there is one that speaks the truth. I can’t listen to them. I know I can do it. I’m sure there are lots of you with Icants that are keeping you from being all you were created to be. Before you can, you got to shut up the Icants, they are tougher than big hills, big winds, or high heat.

10-net 3: Encourage Others

You could be the final push for someone to get healthy. I don’t share my story and my success to brag, or remind myself of what I have accomplished. Quite frankly, I don’t view this success as my doing, but something that was a product of faith in the Lord and a tremendous amount of support from others. I could not have done this if it wasn’t for people pushing me to start. So I share my story, because if one person sees my story - and the dramatic change that has occurred in my life - and is inspired to make a change in their life, then all this is worth it.

Maybe this story has inspired you to make a change, then continue to spread the word! Share my story, and share yours! Maybe this message isn’t meant for you, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t share and encourage others. If you know a person that needs to make a change, be the one who steps out and challenges them. They may resent you for it at first, but one day they will thank you for. Get out there and encourage others to make a change!

10-net 5: You Can't Do It Alone

"But it's called Today I Can! Why do I need help??"
Because, hypothetical stranger, accountability is essential.

In October of 2013 I was featured in an article in the Dallas Morning News and I talked about weight loss and my road to a healthy lifestyle. In that article I talked about my good friend Doug Walker, and referred to him as my "Fitness Mentor". Doug was key in helping me get to where I am today. I am not a very athletic person, but he is, and when I first started riding he could have left me in the dust. But instead he dragged me around and patiently held back with me, always challenging me to work a little harder than I would have challenged myself. He is actually going to be joining me in the later part of the Tour de Pac 12, helping me stay motivated, and doing what he does best, challenging me to push harder.

Another man who I get the pleasure of riding with is Ozzie "The Wizard" Buckler. He too helps me stay motivated and rides with me at least once a week.

These two men have been essential in my road to health, especially when I was first starting out. Exercise is hard, and quite frankly it hurts sometimes, and if you're going it alone, it's pretty easy to say no to yourself. But it is hard to say no to someone standing in front of you saying "time to ride". It wasn't a constant battle for me to stay at it, but on the days that it was, having someone there to keep me going was crucial.

Find someone to keep you going, and if you need someone, I'd be glad to help.

10-net 7: Goals are good!

Now I know this may seem counterintuitive to the “Day One” mentality, but having something to strive for is great! But you should strive for the right thing. My objective remains the same, make good decisions today but somewhere along the way, I decided I would ride from Vancouver to Tijuana so I started to think about and study what my daily exercise routine would look like if I was going to do that and what my diet will look like heading into and during the ride.

When people go on diets they say “I am going to go 10 days without eating a cheeseburger” and then they celebrate by eating a cheeseburger. If that's the reward, I want it now, what do I do to get it faster and what can I do to get two? Your goals should be in line with the habits you are making and the reward should be something that fits in with both of those as well. I want the reward of a new bike after I ride the wheels off my old one is a goal and a reward that doesn't get in the way of my daily routines or potentially get caught up in the details of being real tangible. It does line up with what I'm doing.

Eliminate prescription drugs, get your blood pressure down. Run a marathon, run two! My wife’s goal for 2013 was to run 1,000 miles, and she did! Pretty tangible goal but she's not like me, my goals are generally to ride more this weekend than last weekend and if I don't I just reload for the next weekend. When she did that she didn’t stop running, she continued, I might not react the same but this weekend is always coming up and last weekend is always something I can improve on. So Aim high? Dream big? Absolutely but not at the expense of living in the now.

The 10-nets of Today I Can

It’s June 11 and that brings us to our final countdown, the 10-nets of Today I Can. These are the things I really hope to convey on the Today I Can ride. Each of these are a work in progress for me. I hope I have communicated that I am not Lance Armstrong, I’m not even Doug Walker, I’m Ford Baker, the accountant. I struggle to get up hills, my legs hurt after long rides, and my back hurts if I pick up something heavy. Heck, I’m 50! I must pee 3 times a night now and at least 50 times a day.

The point is that these are not just a list of ten things you check off and then are done, they are changes we make on the inside, in our perspective on life. We won’t ever be done, we are too big of a mess to start with. In reality, I always feel like I’m just beginning. Each ride teaches me something about myself, reminds me of something someone tried to convey before but I wasn’t paying attention. I have to be careful here because I know if I read this ten years ago, I’d have already quit. I am wired for short term projects with a definite start and a definite end.

This wouldn’t appear to have that but that is where I would be wrong. Several years ago, I started down this one day at a time path just trying to figure out some of the side effects my poor decision making skills had generated. I used what I learned about me there to deal with my food issues - first in how I could change my eating habits, then how I could use my tendencies to workout and ride a bike, and then how I could change my desire to eat food that made me feel better to eating the food to made me fuel better. I still don’t have it all figured out, I know that now. I still have to ask God for help to make good decisions in what I eat and drink, and that I exercise and stay safe, but now I have seen that I can add and that I pay attention to the signs He sends. Those tendencies of mine cringe at the long term prospects involved with goal setting, but note that none of the things I found out were long term goals when I started, they were by-products of just trying to make good decisions in what I ate today, to exercise today, to ask God for help today.

Tomorrow it could be start being on time, be more organized, or stop using so many swear words. I don’t know for sure, that’s why it always feels like the beginning; today He may teach me something I never thought about before or he may reiterate something that I ignored before. Who knows, but it will be on to a start of something new, a new beginning. This starting each day with a new beginning has helped me progress way more than when I thought I knew what my goals should be and ran my life myself. I had goals and passed tests and did all kinds of things but in reality, I was getting further and further from where I wanted to be and I was getting there fast.

So check back in over the next 10 days and then follow along with my ride but more importantly realize that today is the day you can #getmoving. And by all means, share this feed with others, if not you, then someone you know might be the one He has me doing this for. 

Announcing the Tour de PAC 12

The Beginning

Earlier this year Doug Walker and I started a new organization called The Today I Can Foundation, we are in the process of obtaining non-profit status from the Internal Revenue Service. It's goal to demonstrate to anyone currently suffering or will be suffering from the pain of a sedentary lifestyle combined with an unhealthy diet.

Some of you have heard it before and have spent a lifetime dealing with it. For some reason your desire for weight loss was never greater than your desire for whatever comfort food would make you happy. There are a million reasons why you can't and you cling to them all, nobody understands.

That lie is only true in your head and because it is the truth there, it is a lie you live out every day. What we want to do is simple, we want to show you that you can and you don't have to cling to those lies. In 2011 I weighed somewhere around 350 pounds and took 45 mg of Actos and 2,000 mg of Metformin for type 2 diabetes, 100 mg of Losartan and 50 mg of Carvedilol for high blood pressure and heart disease, 45 mg of Simvastin for my high cholesterol, and a baby aspirin and they did nothing but create symptoms, they were very poor band-aids. During the spring of 2012, at 48 years old, I needed a cane to get from the parking lot to my office and that's when the light bulb went off. 

"Light Bulb" always cracks me up

I realized I was morbidly obese and it was going to kill me but before it did I stood a very good chance of subjecting myself to a life full of painful side effects from diabetes, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol. In May I did a cleanse and in July I started to walk, I walked each day a little further than the day before and I started to feel better about it, this July I want to encourage someone to do the same thing, to show them what can happen if they just get moving, I am going to attempt something I did not think was possible 2 years ago when I was using that cane to get in from the office. This July I am going to ride my bike all over the PAC 12 conference, we are calling it the Tour de PAC 12. I live in Dallas Texas and my wife and I are going to drive up to Vancouver and I am going to do a couple of rides on the way but starting around July 1 I will get on my bike North of Vancouver and start a ride that will end up at the border of the United States, entering Mexico. My ride will be over 2,000 miles long. I don't have a team, it's just me and the road. 

A little about me

Before: ESPN Studios in Connecticut

Before I go much further, I'd like you to know something about me, I am going to be vulnerable. I am a CPA, a tax guy. I am not a jock or former high end athlete that called on something I've done before to do this. I am an accountant because I am good with numbers not because I ran a 4.4 40 yard dash or could bench press a Volkswagen. In fact, I never made a cut for any team that had one. I played basketball for three seasons in elementary school and scored two baskets. In the 8th grade I was the kid asked to play on the 7th grade team when they needed a player to fill out that lineup, the only 8th grader on the 7th grade team. In track I always brought up the rear in whatever race the fat kids raced in. There is nothing special about me athletically, in fact, I always kind of sucked, so if that is your excuse, consider it moot.

Back to the Tour

During: Venice Beach, California

Each day I am going to get up and ride and at some point that day, I'd like someone that needs that encouragement to just go for a walk, that's it. I don't want anything else, just for you or someone you know to go for a walk, I will ride across the country if on that first day, you will go for a walk for 15 minutes and then turn around and walk home. It would be great if you posted something on Facebook or Twitter and included #getmoving or #todayican - folks are going to like that on Facebook and if that feels good, think about doing it the next day. Maybe it will catch on.

That's it, I will keep on riding and encouraging and if you like, you can walk the next day, maybe a little further or longer than you did before. I will keep going and when I get done, I will come home and we can see what folks want to do next, if it's ride a bike and you're ready, we can help you find the right bike. If it's lift weights or swim, let's do that but let's wait until that day gets here and focus on taking that first walk, maybe pick up some comfortable shoes and something that will be comfortable to wear but that's it.

A note to the friend and loved one

If you know someone that might need a push in that direction, say a prayer for them and ask them to lunch or go to a movie and listen for the chance to tell them about this fat guy that just went for a walk one day and it changed his life, point them at my blog and maybe they get moving. Offer to walk with them, it would do you good as well, don't overdo but do something. They may offer you an expletive filled answer or they may give you a couple of very good excuses but send them the link to this note and let's see if they would take that walk with you. Also, encourage them to track how far they walked on the "Map My Walk" or "Strava" app for their smartphone and then post it on Facebook or Twitter. Use that #todayican or #getmoving and then like the hell out of every walk they take, make a comment and be supportive. Encourage them and keep on praying for them. It let's them know you care and if you believe in a higher power pray for the things that will get in their way.

A note to the guy who gets this link from someone

Don't lash out at them, read it and be thankful they care. They can't fix you, they know that. They just want you to be healthy. Don't be mad at them for caring and don't let it hurt your feelings, it is personal, it is personal and they care. Let me tell you something else, it feels incredible, it's better than a cheeseburger to jog up stairs, seriously. It's better than Cheetos to not take prescriptions each day. Seriously better. That's why I am doing this, it's this super great completely legal drug and I'd like you to experience it and it can be done not with some crazy diet or surgery or gym membership, it's just a walk. Try it one day and see what happens, if it works out try it again tomorrow.

Riding with life's experiences

Adversity comes in different forms

Just like life, riding a bicycle comes with it's share of adversity. Most of it revolves around the elements, heat, cold, rain, wind and gravity (aka hills). Well, the toughest adversary we actually face is the angry white guy being denied his constitutional right to drive 45 in a 35 MPH Zone on Ohio Drive in Plano ... but that's a thread for another day.

In Dallas we don't deal with gravity a lot, we are blessed with a pretty flat terrain. It's an incredible place to live if you like to ride because other than a couple of months we can always ride. Each spring, after the couple of months of "winter" we get here a new cycling season starts and we are greeted with one of our toughest adversaries, the wind. I guess since we don't have a lot of hills, we don't have a lot of things to slow the wind down. It seems as if it starts picking up speed once it clears the hill country south of Waco and doesn't slow down until it's halfway through Oklahoma. If the wind is from the North, I just assume the reverse is true.

Deal with it

Still like our life, the wind is an adversity you just have to deal with. It's inevitable, it's part of the game and you deal with it or it deals with you. When I encounter adversity, I turn to two ex's, my experience and the examples set by others. Both of those are used a lot on the bike but this week my experience came to mind, so that is where I am going to focus on. 

On my rides this week I had to deal with the wind, a lot of it. At points by the lake it was blowing at least 25 MPH, when that happens I draw upon an experience that helps me deal with the wind. It goes all the way back to the early 80s, when I played football and all of the linemen (of which I was one) would drive those blocking dummies and sleds all over the field. There was one set of commands I will never forget because it was said over and over again, "C'mon Baker! Drive your legs! Stay low!" It was a concept I apparently never grasped because every time the ball was snapped, I'd pop up like a jack in the box and if I ever chased down the man I was assigned to block, my legs would quit driving and I'd attempt to lean my opponent into submission. A jack in the box might be an effective spokesperson for cheeseburgers but there aren't many of them in Canton Ohio because of their effective play along the line of scrimmage. During my senior year, there was a sophomore lineman, let's call him Clark, who earned the designation "Sophomore Varsity Star" using the confidence that I instilled in him by trying to use my jack in the box technique on him.

It wasn't because I couldn't stay low and drive my feet, it just was when the chips were down and the ball was snapped, I did what I instinctively thought was best, I never disciplined myself enough to change my actions. It made staying on the field a difficult thing for me to do, a coach couldn't leave a guy in the game for long if he consistently did not do what was best for the team to keep moving the ball. 

Lesson Learned

Riding into the wind is really what being a lineman is all about, it's the job that has to be done, so the climbers and sprinters can stay fresh. There are guys on a team that do nothing but knock a hole through the wind and their opponents so the superstars can ride off in a yellow jersey. Stay low, keep your legs moving and create a hole for others to move through sounds a lot like a lineman's job. When the ride's been long and the wind is relentless, you naturally want to sit up tall and open up your lungs, your legs are heavy and you really want to coast and give them a rest. When you sit up tall though the wind grabs hold of you like it does with a sail and pushes you, but not in the direction you are heading. If you don't keep spinning, the wind makes it impossible to coast and you slow down. If you are doing both, you start grinding just to keep from falling over. After that you discover that it takes considerably more effort to speed up than it would have to have maintained your speed. The very thing you thought you were doing to rest is actually making you work harder. Inevitably, the same thing happens with the jack in the box technique in cycling that it did for me in football, you stop moving and your opponents pass you by. 

At those moments, for whatever reason, I think back to those points, where I learned that doing what I wanted, against the instructions of those who knew better and only wanted to see me succeed, didn't work out very well. The wind will blow so hard I can't hear myself think but that's when I can hear Coach Beane, Coach Nail, Coach Aaronson, Coach Harris and Coach Peterson repeating that same phrase they did from Junior High to High School, "C'mon Baker! Stay Low! Keep your legs moving!" with one big difference, I've learned it's easier for me if I follow those instructions.

Earlier this week I was riding my second lap around the lake (there is a reason they "issue wind advisories by area lakes") and I was in the into the wind part of that lap. I was staying low, my legs were spinning and I was punching open a hole into the wind. I wasn't really thinking about the wind because it's not as hard if you do it right. I may not have been moving as fast as I would like but I was getting there and in so doing, I passed a guy quite a bit younger and certainly more athletic than me. He, unfortunately, was using the jack in the box technique and his legs were barely moving. He looked miserable and it didn't help that a 50 year old grey bearded dude with a belly passed him with a cheery good morning. 

He looked a lot like what I remember Friday nights feeling like back in 1981, watching that sophomore take my spot on the field. As we get older, the roles reverse, freshmen aren't supposed to win the Heisman and run over and around the SEC like Johnny Manziel did when he was a freshman. Years later we discover that old pitchers aren't supposed to be strikeout kings and whip up on Robin Ventura like Nolan Ryan. I will probably never know what Clark or Johnny felt on the gridiron but my new favorite experience is getting to feel just a tiny bit like Nolan Ryan did by whipping up on a younger guy. It's an experience I am looking forward to having again.