Clydesdales/Athenas (200+ lb / 91+ kg) - new here!! got some questions..

hey everyone im new here and im from memphis. i got a couple of questions. i am 21 and 5'9. i weigh around 260 and would love to get to around 210. i have a nice gary fisher mountain bike but for me its hard to make time to get to the trails. i am wanting a good road bike that below $1000. my problem though is that i have a crack in my 5th bone on my spinal cord so i think it would it might hurt to be bent over for along time and i don't want to spend a lot of money and find out it just going to kill my back. so i guess my question is what bike would you guy recommend for me?

Is there a bike rental place in Memphis? If so I would rent a road bike for a couple of hours and see if it is painful. That way your not out so much money if you can't tolerate the drop bars.

you can also get a road bike with a more upright position. I actually have two stems, one that sits me more up right and one that drops me down a bit

oh and go to your local shop and test ride a bunch of bikes...you should be able to find something under 1,000

Random question/thought I had in reading your post: Why is it that the mountain bike is not sufficient? If tires are the issue, you can replace what's on there with road slicks. As far as road bikes go, test ride a few when you go shopping - you might be pleasantly surprised when it comes to being bent over. Besides, that is not necessarily a problem as was noted. I know I spend 95% of my time (and I'm sure most do?) on the hoods of my road bike, and I don't have (much of) a problem with it so far, given some back concerns of my own..

yea there is no rental places around here. im going to go check out some shops this weekend. i know most companies like trek have bikes the flat bats and riser but im not to sure about those.

for you riders that are trying to lose some weight what is your diet like?

I don't know what part of Memphis you are in, but The Peddler Bike Shops are great. 1140 Germantown Pway 38018 in Cordova, 901-758-9770, 2095 Exeter Road in Germantown 901-757-8585, 575 S. Highland Memphis, 901-327-4833/4834.

for you riders that are trying to lose some weight what is your diet like?

Yogurt for breakfast. Lean Cuisine for lunch (just out of sheer lazyness on my part). Some sort of fresh meat and frozen veggies for dinner. I keep granola bars at my desk for midmorning snacks.

No soda. A lot of coffee and tea. Very little beer or booze. My weaknesses are late evening snack cravings and eating at restaurants.

Keep a food diary for a few days (calorie count) and you'll probably be surprised at what you can cut without causing yourself too much grief.

There are a lot of threads here on weight loss, hit the search option at the top of the page.

Why not ride the bike you have? The bike I ride most of the time, pavement and dirt, is a mountain bike. Why? It's comfortable. I may have to work a little harder but that just makes it better for conditioning.

yea there is no rental places around here.


Your google-fu is weak, you need punished. Remove the chain from your fisher and flog yourself with it 6 times while standing on one foot. This shop was in the top three results, I didn't check the rest of them:

http://midtownbikeco.com/page.cfm?pageID=816

oh i know everything about midtown bikes. they use to help me out on bike parts and repairs when i rode bmx. the only bikes rent out at kinda like beach type bikes for tourist downtown.

i've started to look and think about getting a fixed gear bike with riser bars..

I've had three back surgeries and a fusion at L5-S1 and find my road bikes to make my back feel much better when I can ride them regularly. One key is to spend most of your time on the hoods. The stretching is what helps me.

The thing with backs is that they affect everyone differently.

get any road bike...most shops will swap out any stem you want (to bring the bars relatively even to the seat). if you have problems get an adjustable one like below

http://www.nashbar.com/bikes/Product_10053_10052_122057_-1_201511_10000_201514

But try to get a non race bike (often called "performance" or comfort fit) such as a cannondale synapse or giant defy etc.

or go the touring route with a surly etc.

These will have a longer head tube to facilitate the even seat:bar height.

I've had three back surgeries and a fusion at L5-S1 and find my road bikes to make my back feel much better when I can ride them regularly. One key is to spend most of your time on the hoods. The stretching is what helps me.

The thing with backs is that they affect everyone differently.

What is "the hoods"?

I've had three back surgeries and a fusion at L5-S1 and find my road bikes to make my back feel much better when I can ride them regularly. One key is to spend most of your time on the hoods. The stretching is what helps me.

The thing with backs is that they affect everyone differently.

I've also had back surgery and my Trek FX-7.3 keeps my back feeling good. The only time I have trouble with the back now is when I don't ride often.

John

What is "the hoods"?

This video demonstrates all the road bike riding positions towards the beginning. Short summary: The hoods are on the top side of the bars. The drops are on the lower side.

http://www.livestrong.com/video/838-ride-road-bike/