Barrettscv 

I'm one of those personalities that needs to set goals. I'm starting to ask myself if I am setting the right goals concerning cycling & weight loss.

What kind of goals do you set for yourself? You can select as many as you agree with.

I have a certain weight loss goal for a set time period.

I have a certain exercise goal and my time spent cycling has a schedule.

I have a plan to lose weight and progressively exercise more as my fitness improves.

I’m following a plan provided by a counselor (or MD) that includes exercise.

I've met my former goals and I now ride for fun.

I ride for fun and do not have goals.

I ride without goals knowing that cycling will improve my health.

Fastflyingasian

Skydiving has a certain weight limit for the place i plan on going. need to drop 30 pounds before they will let me jump.

theetruscan

I have a certain weight loss goal and exercise goal, but my exercising isn't scheduled so much as just when I can.

snowman40

I want to see my.....ummmm.....ego without having to look in a mirror.....

kgriffioen

As a middle aged dude with a spare tire around his waist, the only way I was going to get rid of it was to set goals. Without goals its hard to measure success.

Having said that, I began the year with my spare tire at around 210. This morning I was at 190, which was my goal, but I still have a little spare tire. So now I have revised my goal to 185. About a pound a week is all that I look for.

Again without the target, and without writing it down, it probably would not have happened.

Wogster

I've set goals, although life and the weather have often not had much pity for those goals, so I have missed most of them. have given up on setting goals, I have given up on really training, but I still track my riding, to see how I am doing. Right now I am 21km behind last year, check that 19km behind last year, it's still early in the season though....

breadbin

I should set goals but i never have before for anything! Ill take the poll when I start!

txvintage

I too am an idividual that normally sets goals and measures progress by milestones. When I started riding again around this time last year I had no goals other than continuity.

This year I set some pretty aggressive goals and I wish I hadn't. I found myself riding for no other reason to accumulate miles in pusuit of my goals. I have come to realize I will not meet many of those original goals but the fun factor is returning.

My new goal is to just concentrate on the process and the results will take care of themselves.

cyclokitty 

So far this cycling season has had it's ups and it's downs:

UPS
1) I started cycling much earlier this year than last year
2) I know more cycling trails and routes than last year, so I don't get bored
3) I now use my bike to do many of my errands
4) The weather is gorgeous and I'm literally dragged outside by my bike
5) I checked my bike journal account and I'm riding twice as much this year as last year (of course, I also have several weeks more riding this year than last due to the wonderful weather).

DOWNS
1) I'm still as slow as cold molasses
2) I gained 10 lbs this winter due to boredom
3) This past week I've never been so tired on my bike. I have zero energy. 10 miles has become a challenge (luckily, still a fun one) and it is incredibly frustrating.
4) The weather is gorgeous and I'm literally dragged outside by my bike, but I have a ton of work to do. I really need to start waking up early in the morning. I hate early!

I need a goal to work towards. And a due date. Maybe a cruel overlord who relentlessly harps on my poor work habits, and forces me to ride more, ride harder, and not be such a lazy butt. Anybody want to apply?

Hill-Pumper

I have a set of goals, but none of them them have a real time table. I have my weight goal which is to get down to 15 percent body fat. Then I have my distance goal which is to ride my first full century. I am shooting for the middle of next month for the century and the weight goal is whenever as my body gets there. I find if I set my goals to rigidly, that if I fail them, I tend to give up.

pipes

I kina have met my goal as Iam at about 225 I started at 371 :O) my goal was to get back to my high school weight . Now I am losing at a slower pace and my wife says I should stop losing says I look to gaunt what ever that is :O/... I would be fine with myself to maintain this weight but I would like to get to 199 for a day just to do it ! BUT thats NBD if it happens it happens .

It was a thrill to go out and buy all new clothes ! I was a 56 to 58 waist and 4X shirts. even my feet got smaller I no longer need wide shoes :O) or special socks to keep my feet from swelling .

I didn't have a goal but if a goal is what gets you moving and losing then by all means set one !!!

I do have one goal now to maintain this weight or lose the last bit slow I feel like iam healthy now as I am ever going to be . I would be just fine staying right were I am now thou :O)

Wogster

I can't believe you live in the same city, I have found this year's weather has been horrible for riding, got up this morning, put the coffee on and looked out the window to find nearly quarter size hail come pounding down, it almost completely destroyed the tulips and other early flowers in the garden, stripped many of the just open flowers from the cherry and pear trees. Finally managed to find a ride window to head over to the video store, we used to have a great selection at Blockbuster and a decent selection at Rogers... Now the Blockbuster is gone, and the selection at Rogers is now between awful and pathetic.

I don't like overlords, I think an accountability partner is much better, someone to whom you are accountable, and who is accountable to you. I already have one though, in 19 days we will have been married for 15 years Great thing is, she has already ridden more this year then all of last year, I on the other hand am off about 18km from last year.....

Nighteyez

I have a goal of getting down to 200 but I don't have a set time limit to do that. I have already lost 11 pounds in the first month, so if I keep that up I should be at or near 200 in six months.

cyclokitty 

I missed the hail by hiding under the blankets. Okay, I was really doing the laundry and didn't bother going outside. But otherwise the weather's been great, windy but great. This week's weather is looking rather fab: sunny and warm. I'm going to wake up earlier so I can ride longer!

I still think I need someone to witness by bad habits and get me to change them. I'd ask my mom but she likes making me cry so that's not a good idea. My best friend figures our bad habits are too similar and we'd end up having a pity party with a couple of pints of ice cream and vodka. Not good. If I can make some extra money this summer I may have to hire someone to bully me. It was so much easier finding a bully when I was a kid. I only had to go to the school yard, and blammo! I'd find at least 3 on any given school day.

I usually pick up dvds at the library. They have a pretty decent collection of movies (even ones released lately) and I request them on the computer catalogue or I snag 'em off the shelf. Some of the better branches for wide selections are Northern District near Yonge and Eglinton, the Yorkville branch, North York Central (especially the teen dept on the first floor), York Woods, and Spadina Road. It's hit and miss -- one day the only dvds available were about child birth, raising yorkshire terriers, and the magic of mushrooms. But then the next day I found 4 fairly recent releases -- FREE!

Congrats on the 15th wedding anniversary!! We recently celebrated our 14th anniversary. But he hasn't picked out a bike yet, so you are not only ahead 1 year, but also 1 bike rider.

TinyBear

I have only half made a goal for myself. Sure looseing weight be nice but i think if thats the reason im riding eventually i will platue and get fustrated. Im riding cause i enjoy messing around in the dirt always have weather it be in a built up 4x4 pick up or a duel sport motocycle. If that leads to me looseing some weight that great but honestly i refuse to get on the scale (i know i am around the 285mark weighed that 3 years ago LOL when i did my physical for work LOL) i doin this for fun no other reasone.

Now that i no longer have a 4x4 or a Duel sport my only dirt capable machine is my new mountine bike.

My only TRUE goal is to get myself in shape enuff to start enjoying the plenty of off road trails so for the time being im stuck pushing myself to go farther and faster down the streets around my home and messing around in the yard hopping the curbs and runnin over broken tree branches and such.

mez6266

+1 but 220 to 200Lbs

breadbin

Made a goal! I pulled out 3 of my favourite shirts that don't fit me anymore and each one a bit smaller than the other so starting from the biggest one - I am gonna fit into them...soon. I'm hanging them up somewhere for inspiration.

Wogster

Well, ya gotta a year to get him riding. We actually got my wifes bike last summer, from The Community Bicycle Network, one of their refurbished bikes. We did it that way, because if it didn't work out, then we were only out $100 or so, and I could get most of that back on fleabay or CL. Over the summer she put about 20km on it. We did have to change the saddle, and add a couple more things to it, like replacing the saddle clamp. I think we probably have spent $200 so far. She has also ridden further this year then all of last year.

The only problem is that you either need to increase the budget for bike gear, or split it, we need fenders and a rack for hers, and I need to replace the suspension fork on mine, as it's getting "soft".....


I think yesterday was the toughest ride though, only 4km, but almost half of that was into a 30km/h head wind. I just did the same route today, and man, that wind, I'm looking at the computer and it's reading 90RPM on the cadence, and 12km/h on the speedo, talk about going nowhere fast......I've had 15km rides that were less draining.....

Of course looking at the weather forecast, tomorrow is perfect riding weather, and I have commitments that mean I can't ride The rest of the week looks okay except for Thursday though

Neil_B

People have suggested I ride to lose weight, or to improve my health, or to help me break out of my formerly sedentary and isolated habits. I ride for none of those reasons, although I reap the benefits of them every ride. I ride because I think it's fun. I learned to ride at age 40 because it looked fun. And I think I was right.

Some folks here will groan as I pull in once again a comparison between bike riding and chess, but here it comes. One of my favorite quotations from chess literature is C. J. S. Purdy's comment that "Correspondence chess should be played for its own sake." I can't help but think the first World Correspondence Chess champion's remark applies to bicycling as well.

cyclokitty 

Oooh! Headwinds are awful. I was riding down Russell Hill Road and it is normally pure downhill fun. On a brave day I'll loosen up on the brakes and go 40 km an hour (it's winds in a couple of places) but one day I went from gliding at 25 km per hour to 10 in a hard gust of wind. Smacked me right on the nose. I was glad I was heading downhill and not trying to go up.

He wants a new bike so and he likes Urbane bike store, so we wait. And wait. And wait. Wait. But thanks for the link to CBN. I'd like to take their Wenches with Wrenches courses this summer.

Wogster

I went down Russell Hill and hit 48km/h one time, about the only time I would have liked to get a speeding ticket, I would wanna frame that one.... Some people use certain stores as a reason to do nothing. Mind you, Urbane is a nice store, and I have bought a few small things in there. For me though it's a good hours ride (one way) to get there, so I don't get there often. The trick of course is to spend some quality time in there, the two of you, get him to test ride a few bikes, in the affordable range. You don't want to test ride a $10,000 racing bike if you can only afford $500 and will be going 20km/h down the bike path, a hybrid is good enough for that. A bike and a reasonably priced lid, and he is good to go. If you can't find something there in the right price range, and experienced bicycle should always be an option.

cyclokitty 

48 km/hr is a beaut of speed on Russell Hill. If I recall the speed limit is 40 km/hr on the upper half and only 30 km/hr on the lower half/Boulder Drive portion. It's much better than the parallel uphill one way road, Poplar Plains Road -- I don't know what humourist decided to stuff "plains" into the name because it is not flat by any stretch of the imagination.

I know that the moment I take him to Urbane he'll find the right bike and buy it on the spot. I think that kind of commitment terrifies him. Makes me chuckle.

Wogster

Poplar Plains Road, is flat, just in the vertical, not the horizontal, I've gone up that hill, 3 times in 3 years, usually just find another route North, like Sherburne...



I thought it was nearly vertical, I think I was going closer to 4.8km/h going up it. So I decided to go around it, by going up a different route.

cyclokitty 

Vertical flat is sadistic.

My route around it is head up Avenue to Cottingham and then to Yonge St. Up Yonge Street to Shaftesbury (where Summerhill Station is located), and along that to Summerhill Road to a little neighbourhood park. Then through the park and around the reservoir to St.Clair and Mount Pleasant. Mount Pleasant to the eastern half of the cemetery. Then to the Beltline. That way I can avoid riding over to Sherbourne.

Or walk up Poplar Plains until Edmund then continue riding. It's fine after that.

gotls1

What does the position pay? I can be incredibly stubborn and annoying if I need to be.