professorbob

I turned 50 this in February so I'm now claiming my rightful membership to this exclusive club! In the beginning of April, I started thinking about this year's riding season and what I wanted to do. I'd had a physical and instead of the Dr. telling me that heart disease is looming (like all of my ancestors) he said my blood sugar was high and that I'm pre-diabetic. That one blindsided me, as no one else in my family has diabetes. Time to make some real changes. I'm usually only out for the 20-30 mile jaunts, so I set some goals. First was to ride my age by June 1st. I hadn't thought about that commitment in a few weeks, but yesterday turned out to be June 1. It also happened to be a beautiful day, if not a little windy. So I mapped out a route-flat as a pancake, mind you, and took off on my birthday present, a new Cannondale System 6 road bike. With a couple of water breaks and a bagel break, I did 51.51 miles at an average of 15.2mph. I was pretty tired at the end, but quite satisfied and proud of myself. Next goals for the season are a flat metric century, then a hilly half century, then a hilly metric. We'll see how things go. In September, there is a great club ride that is a hilly century, with shorter options. I'll decide closer to the event which I want to do. Meanwhile, I'm committed to doing at least 100 miles per week and tackling some good hills. My weight on April 1 was 278. I'm now at 263 and hoping to eventually get down to around 200. I've given myself quite an assignment, but I think it's doable-wish me luck!

Floyd

You did it twice.... ... ...congrats on your accomplishment...keep up the good work. I too was told at one of my last doc visits that my blood sugar was 'a little high', and he sent me to meal planning classes. So i am watching what I eat more than before, a little change in routine.
Definately...good luck on bringing the weight down. I am not as big as you but also am trying to loose a few along with controling the sweets, etc.

Timtruro

Welcome to this exclusive club..........nice job on riding your age. I haven't even done more than a 30 miler or so this season, but have done that distance a couple of times. Goal this year includes at least one century.

BengeBoy 

Congrats on the ride and your commitment to getting healthier.

I got a warning from my doctor once, too, but it took me 10 years to do something about it.

I should have gotten my act together sooner.

NOS88

Congrats on the ride, your setting of realistic goals, making the decision to get healthier, and most importantly.... reaching 50 and not giving up.

BluesDawg

Good job! Keep it up.

cyclinfool

Your Awesome

This post should be a great motivator for anyone just joining us and a few who have been around awhile. Keep the progress reports coming.

cranky old dude

+1.

And congrats on the birthday ride

(oops, am I in the right edition?)

Robert Foster

You can do it and if you keep it up you will. Last May I got back into cycling after a 20 year layoff and started with a comfort bike. At 260 I felt my seat was too big for a road bike Saddle. By June I also had a MTB and was putting on 60 miles a week. By July I got my first road bike and I was putting in 120 miles a week. I was also down to 240. I have been riding with a club for a year now and am down to 215 and when I get under 2 bucks I will reward myself with a carbon fork for my road bike. To me cycling has given me a new lease on life that is both healthy for me and that I enjoy. I did my first Century last February and will do my next one in October. Next year I will be looking into doing a double. So good luck and I know you can do it.

Beverly

Happy belated 50th and welcome

stapfam

Membership of this "Exclusive Club" does have a few drawbacks. We all go through it- Loss of performance- loss of energy- loss of memory-

Now did I post this already- or shall I make certain .


Well done on the ride- and well done on having a Summer Birthday. Early January and I always seem to postpone mine.

Now a few protocols- White Garage door- Or borrow one and what PIE did you have on the ride.

And on the early signs of Diabetes-I was told that 10 years ago- and a couple of years later- and last year. Keep an eye on it- but some of us just seem to have a higher sugar count than others think we should have.

professorbob

To Robert Foster, you sound a little like me. I've started riding with one club on Wednesday nights-however, we've been rained out several times. I've got a line on a couple of others that I'm going to try. I'm enjoying the riding, I just hope I can stay on the diet. I gained all the weight beginning 10 years ago when I quit smoking. The ironic thing is that i was a better climber back then. Of course, lugging around 80 extra lbs. can tend to hold you back. We'll see how much I can lose. Thanks to everyone for the encouraging posts!

doctor j

Good deal on the birthday ride, pb. Keep up the good work. Through riding and diet, I was able to drop 60 lbs., down to 165, and I've maintained that weight. Keep riding. You'll complete the assignment.

professorbob

To Stepfam, my mouth is watering(!) for the pie, but I'm excluding white sugar for the time being. I thing that might be and incentive to get down to the lower end of the 200's. However, I DO have a white garage door...

CrankyFranky

Congratulations on riding your age (watch out for those bagels!), and also for setting your sights on a reasonable weight goal.
Did your doc point you in the direction of learning about the glycemic index of foods? Besides the benefits of exercise on controlling diabetes, it is good to become aware of the differing impacts on blood sugar of the foods one eats.
I'm hoping to have as many bikes as you do someday!
Cheers!

cccorlew

Well alright! And carry on. Enjoy the ride and the weight lose just magically continues.

stapfam

The advantage of PIE on a ride is that you can work it off by doing extra miles- Now 2 slices and you can do your age again- and 3 is a century ride.

bikegeek57

Congrat's on the birthday ride and belated happy b'day. keep up the program! it does get better!

bikegeek57

now now no excuses. neither rain, shine, sleet or snow keeps a rider from his appointed rounds. I plan to hit my birthday ride this Nov 1. by then of course I'll have ridden a metric or two. on my way...

rumrunn6

good job - pace yourself and be patient - nothing changes over night, OK? day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year, you will see improvements.

professorbob

To CrankyFranky-My Dr. told me to get to a nutritionist, which I haven't done yet (I'm a competitive procrastinator), but I'm hoping that when I make the appointment (TOMORROW DA<<IT!) that I'll be able to discuss things like glycemic indexes, etc. As well as which sugars and carbs I can eat for fuel and which to just stay away from. I will say that I haven't had a bag of Dorito's in ages. I sort of miss them, but not too much...

robtown

Welcome to the club - you should show off some of those bikes people throw away up north.

BTW - 50's no big deal - it's just half time. Now get out there and start the second half strong.