dmljr

Obligatory introduction post. I've lurked for a while but had no reason to register or post until now.

A little background...I'm 37 years old and in late June I visited a new doctor for a check up (hadn't been in years). After seeing the scale almost brush the 270lb mark and recording a BP of 144/110 the doctor put me on high blood pressure medication and recommended that I "lose a little weight". The following day I decided to make a life style change. Committed to quitting soft drinks immediately, restricted alcohol consumption to weekends only, and started tracking calories very strictly (eating at a planned calorie deficit to lose 2lbs/week).

The following week I pulled my wife's recumbent trainer out of storage and set it up to start "riding". I've rode that stupid trainer every Monday, Wednesday and Friday (and usually a Saturday or Sunday as well) every week since. I also started doing upper body weight training on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I hate riding the trainer, so I promised myself if I stuck with the diet and the training for two months, and lost at least 30 lbs I would spend the money to purchase a real bike (haven't ridden since I was a teen).

Thursday I hit 235 on the scale and coincidentally the LBS was having a "Back to School Sale". I bought a Trek DS 8.3 for myself and a Neko S for my wife (we will likely be doing a lot of hard pack gravel and rail trails). We took the bikes for a very hilly 5 mile spin Friday night, and a 25 mile loop on Saturday, then woke up this morning and did another 15 into town for lunch. We had a blast, though it may be a week before I can sit on that saddle again.

The reason I registered was that I had been lurking in the Clydes forum and notice a lot of people are quite self conscious about being a "big person" on a bike. I thought for sure I was going to be completely out of place, but after our 25 mile ride Saturday I realized I really have nothing to be embarrassed/ashamed of. Left the house this morning with bike shorts on and never once felt embarrassed. Now my goal is to stretch these 25's into 50's and do some charity rides next spring. Hopefully I'll be sub-clyde by then and can start thinking about 100's.

EDIT: Forgot to mention, the doctor too me off the blood pressure meds two weeks ago and I'm averaging 128/78 without drugs. More weekends like this one and I'd expect that to drop even more.

10 Wheels

Hey dmljr,

Welcome to Bike Forums.
Nice Intro.

Keep pedaling.

linnefaulk

Welcome and well done.

Lacumo

Welcome to BF and to cycling, and congrats on the weight loss and dropping the BP meds! A few years ago, I topped off at 290 and started fighting the Weight, Cholesterol and BP Demons. I started on a GT Hybrid with a “special” (ha,ha!) saddle that I bought for it---a comically oversized, cushy, padded, molded plastic cruiser style seat that (as saddles go) was quite cheap but comfortable for >50 mile rides and necessary at the time. You can find those things at big box stores, but quality LBS’s sometimes disdain them and don’t stock them. If your saddle continues to be an inhibiting factor as you bring your weight down, one of those cruiser saddles might be a good idea. I got over the need for mine and got a decent “real” saddle in pretty short order.

Good luck with your continuing efforts. Stick with the program!

dmljr

Hoping I don't have to go the cruiser seat route, but I'm not so proud that I wouldn't do so if I never get accustomed to the DS seat. Would rather save the cash for pedals, shoes and a bike rack for my truck. All that said, if a cruiser Seattle ends up being thendifferemnce between riding and not riding I'll buy 10 of them!

MO_Rider

Hi, dmljr, and welcome aboard. I, too, am from Missouri - specifically the Springfield area. If you're nearby, maybe we could meet up for a ride sometime ...