JakiChan

I've been heavy the majority of my 38 years, starting from maybe the 4th grade. Back in the beginning of 2011 I started a medically supervised weight loss program. At the time I weighed 460 pounds. Now, as of this morning, I weigh 246 pounds.

It has gone pretty well so far. The plan may be medically supervised but at the end of the day it's plain old diet and exercise. The exercise has mostly been an elliptical trainer for cardio combined with strength training led by an awesome trainer. I'm not 100% sure where my goal weight is - I'll have to see what the next body comp test shows. I had always said 180lb (I'm 5'11"), but both my primary doc and others have said for various reasons (like bone density) that I shouldn't go below 200. My doctor thinks that I should stop somewhere around 210 - to allow for the skin removal that I'll have done after I've been stable for a year.

A few weeks ago I started some physical therapy for my knees with the goal of regaining enough flexibility to ride a bike. I've had long-standing knee problems - osteoarthritis from the weight as well as from being knock-kneed (although that was corrected with surgery right after I graduated high school.) We started with 5 minutes on the stationary bike. The therapist let me add 5 minutes a week and when I got up to 20 minutes he gave me permission last week to go bike shopping and today I came home with a Specialized Sirrus Comp. My short term goal is to start riding to work soon (that's only about 5 miles). However I have set a long term goal of doing the AIDS LifeCycle in 2013. The therapist I've been working with sees no reason why this isn't do-able - although he did want me to prepare for the idea of doing it in 2014.

But everything starts small. I'll ride 2 miles tomorrow. (I need to let my butt adjust - not only are my sit bones not used to riding but I'm also missing quite a bit of padding back there that I used to have.) I'd love to read about a training plan for someone starting off like I am - while I did ride a bike in college (going to UC Davis how could I not?) it wasn't "serious" - and now I'm hoping for a form of exercise that's more interesting than the gym. I was happy to spend a moderate amount of money on a bike but I see already that if I start to enjoy this and look like I'm going to actually make the Ride then I'll happily throw money at the problem. The toys are one of the things that interests me about this form of physical activity.

goldfinch

Congratulations on the weight loss!

I have been cycling a year after not doing any exercise at all for most of my life. Some ideas:

1. Listen to your body. If you are at all like me the drive to improve can lead you to over do it. Sometimes I would be so beat up from biking that I had a hard time going to sleep at night. I still have that tendency because I think that I should be able to do x but I only can do y.

2. Put in the time. Start with easy miles and just put in the miles. This is building your base. You are not training for speed or anything like that until you have built that base of maybe 500 miles.

3. Gently increase the miles/time you are able to do. A number here suggest increasing mileage by 10% a week. That roughly seemed to work for me.

4. Make sure any comfort issues are addressed. If you are not comfortable on the bike riding will not be fun. So, make sure that your bike shop helps you make sure you are properly fitted to your bike. A proper bike fit is not just the store getting your seat height adjusted. It is making sure the fore and aft is correct for you. That the tilt is correct. That the handlebars are the correct height and that the stem is the right size. This takes time. A fitting is often provided for free, though less often for less expensive bikes as it is a time consuming process. (I paid for a fit on my hybrid, I got a free fit on my more expensive road bike). It does take a while to adapt to a saddle and your sit bones will be sore at first. But if it causes discomfort beyond sit bones you may need to try saddle adjustments or even a new saddle. Gloves and/or ergonomic grips can help with had issues if you have them. Appropriate bike clothing can help with chaffing if that is a problem for you. However, for the initial short rides you can probably get by wearing most anything.

Above all, have fun! That is what keeps me biking.

vesteroid

Everyone here will have a different opinion, and all of them probably work to some degree.

I suggest picking 3 days a week and riding. Then two days a week do your elliptical. Take two rest days starting off for the first month.

Then add in one day of biking. Try that for a month. Then see where it goes from there...maybe replace an elliptical day with a ride day or replace a rest day with whatever.

I still like to have at least one day where I can goof off and not have any scheduled exercise.

As far as duration, try and get 30 minutes of riding at a comfortable speed. Pacing, being able to complete the time, is much more important than ow far you go in the beginning. Over time work up to more time (your speed will increase on its own over time)

sjscorpiomark

Congratulations on the weight loss.

I have recently just started riding as well, lost 5 pounds in the past 10 days. My first ride was 3.2 miles and I was huffing and puffing and my legs were jello. now I ride the same 3.2 miles and get off tired but not completly winded. I have done on about 25 miles in 6 actual riding days plus about 4 hours on the indoor trainer. Since you have been doing cardio during your weight loss you will probably actually be in a lot better shape than I was.

Like goldfinch said make sure to get fitted. My LBS did a quick fitting when I bought the bike but the seat was too far back so i was on the nose of the saddle be sure to get a good fit or it will make it uncomfortable. I went back to LBS after suggestions here about my fit and they did do a more thourough fit and my rides are much more comfortable.

JakiChan

I put my first ride in today. It was only about half an hour, but I'm sure I have a lot to learn. I was paying attention to things like cadence, where my feet were (not going to clipless just yet) and other technique things. So much to learn to do this "right"...

One thing I am very thankful for is that I have done a LOT of cardio to lose the weight that I have. My usual cardio routine for the last few months has been 40 minutes on the elliptical with an average HR in the 135 - 140 range (I do intervals so it peaks around 152-ish) and then some time on the stationary bike. My resting heart rate when I started was around 85 and now it's about 58. My blood pressure started at 140/90 and now is usually about 102/60.

The point being - from a cardio standpoint I'm not in bad shape. The only soreness I had from my ride was my sit bones. The only thing holding me back was a bit of muscle fatigue in my legs - I guess I use the muscles differently than I do on the elliptical. But I feel fortunate that I wasn't huffing and puffing - in fact for a workout my HR was pretty tame.

10 Wheels

Do easy five miles rides until your rear gets use to the saddle.

Seve

Congrats on the weight loss, it's a great accomplishment and no doubt has added decades to your life.

Just my Opinion.

Don't get distracted by technical details. Just go out and ride and enjoy that experience.

Items such as cadence, posture, technique can be addressed later.

snrynkee

Congratulations on your new life. 5 years ago I saw a picture of myself at Christmas and I thought I looked liked a beached whale in a chair. I'm 5'9" and I weighed 243. I'm still a little heavy at 215, but I don't get hung up on a certain weight. I've completed two marathons in the last year and I have 5 century rides under my belt. I think 200 is my ideal weight, 190 is my Adonis weight. My best advice for your bike training is to not forget to have fun. This will cause you to ride more and as a result get/stay healthy. I ride rolling hills east of Norman Oklahoma, and I still moo at cows when I pass them by. fun!

JakiChan

Today I rode 14.1 miles in 1:20. It was kinda slow - wicked headwind at Shoreline today. (Made the return ride fun, though.) And I'm feeling pretty knackered. I can't help but feel - if I can't do a 14 mile ride on a nice Sunday without feeling trashed then am I really going to be able ready in a year to ride from SF to LA?


It almost feels like starting over - like when I started my diet and couldn't imagine losing 100 pounds, much less 200. And a woman I work with who has done the ALC twice and she said her first time he weighed what I do now when she started training - and she didn't start until January. She's telling me I can do this, but after rides like today I wonder if my goal is even slightly realistic. I know I have a year, but I thought I was in better shape than this.

goldfinch

Can you tell us more about this ride you are working towards?

You are quite a bit younger than I am. I started biking a bit more than a year ago after being sedentary and losing a lot of weight. At first I struggled to get past 4 or 5 miles. I was very slow and easily trashed as I worked up my mileage. After a few months things really started to improve. Now a little more than a year later I can ride a metric century and feel good the next day. This is at 57 years old and I was not in good shape at all when I started in April of 2011. If you keep plugging away you will be surprised what you will be able to do a year from now. For now, don't push too hard and burn out. Just put on what miles you can and enjoy yourself. Add a bit each week and you will get better and faster.

JakiChan

It's the AIDS LifeCycle. SF to LA over 7 days. Obviously I'm not doing it this year - it started today. I'm shooting for 2013.

Black wallnut 

Lighten up on yourself! Just put in the time and miles. You are still working on your base and should be for several months to come. Building up endurance for endurance riding takes time and miles. Two years ago i started riding. 15 months ago I became serious about tracking my efforts and then it took me to July until I really started to add the miles. In those 3+ months I only logged 371 miles at a very slow pace. Then I logged a 430 mile month in July. I've added miles to that since than and cut back a bit over the winter. Everyone is different and we all have to progress at our own pace. Find yours and don't be in such a hurry. Set some achievable goals such as do that 14 mile ride 2 minutes faster in three months, or complete a 15 mile ride in 2or3 weeks.

You've already done wonders for your self! Congrats, now enjoy better health and peddle that bike for the fun of it!

chaapa 

Gee, that sounds like most of my rides and until I read this I thought I was doing good!!!

JakiChan

I wouldn't mean to suggest that you're not. I am, notably, very hard on myself. The staff of my diet program is well aware of this fact.

I am mostly a goal driven individual. I chose what seems like, to me, a pretty serious goal of doing the ALC in 2013. And so while I'm trying to have fun I'm also trying to make sure that I'm keeping on track to meet that goal - and my hope that the goal is do-able.

One of my checkpoints is 50 miles. If I can do 50 miles on a weekend ride, I'll buy myself a road bike. I've got it kinda already picked out, even.

TrojanHorse

Well, not to derail your goal setting self, but if you get a road bike it'll be easier to do that 50 miles.

Just saying.

JakiChan

It might be. This hybrid I've got seems very 'road-ish'. Tires are fairly skinny, mostly road gearing (with a nice big rear cassette).

My eventual goal is to treat my bikes like I treat my cars. I have the very handy and capable daily driver. It can do lots of fun things. Then I have the "weekend car that is MUCH quicker but not really great for daily living. While I can afford the road bike no problem I want to "prove" to myself that it will get used as intended...by building up enough time on the hybrid so that it really looks and feels like it's something worth spending the money on. If that goes well then the hybrid will become the "daily driver", saving the road bike for training and "faster" riding. The 50 miles thing is something I pulled out of my...head. We'll see where I am in November.

TrojanHorse

Well, whatever you decide to do, get the bike that makes you want to hop on it and ride all the time. If your hybrid does that for you now then keep at it!

JakiChan

It does for now. And it makes a lot of sense for commuting, with racks and whatnot. But I also feel I'm working towards "earning" a road bike. I've even kinda have it already picked out - or what I hope it will be, anyway, And it's something I can afford, but I don't just go and drop $3500 on something before being sure I'm gonna get good use out of it.

chaapa 

You sound very disciplined. ( I would be more inclined to go along with TrojanHorse and get the bike anyway it to make my ride easier. In fact, that is what I did. I promised myself a road bike after 30 pounds and then went out and bought it after a particularly tough ride). I am sure you are going to meet your goal and enjoy that ALC challenge. I hope you keep us updated on your progress. You're a real inspiration!

JakiChan

Well it's not like I haven't been spending money. The bike was about $850, and with a helmet, a car rack, and all the goodies...I'm spending cash at a healthy rate. (My LBS loves me.)

Next step: work myself up to wearing those shorts I bought.

Also, I'm going to get some shoes with SPD cleats and try the spinning class at work. Once that is going well, I'm going to add some pedals to my hybrid (the fitter at the shop thinks Speedplay Zeros would work best for me). That should help towards my November goal.

snrynkee

A few thoughts about your goals. Don't be disappointed when you have days where you don't know where your fitness went, those days happen. Also, be patient in reaching your goals. Goals are suppose to be hard, that is where the sense of accomplishment comes from. Ride 14 mile rides until they no longer kill you, then increase to 16 mile rides. Look into riding a local ride event for 20 miles. The experience of leaving the starting line with 500 cyclist is invigorating. Adrenalin will get you a few more miles when doing an event, not half of the event miles. If you can ride 14 miles now, you should be able to conquer 20 at an event. 50 miles is a huge ask if you have only ridden, say 20 miles, in training. In endurance riding, what you are asking your legs to do is to bear the pain for a long period. This requires patience, you'll get there. Thanks for sharing your story. You have inspired me to lose my extra baggage. Look forward to reading your progress.