antokelly

Are you conscious about how you look on the bike
i passed by a shop window yesterday and when i caught my reflection in the glass,
man i said how my shape has changed over the years /i'm 58 today btw.
i used to be a fit 10 stone now I'm 12.5 stone guess that comes with age
so should i settle for my tubby look or should i starve myself to loose a stone or two.

valygrl

Loose the weight, but not b/c of how it makes you look, b/c of how it makes you feel and your health.

I look hawt, by the way.
2 pounds more than when I graduated High School. I'm 45.

truman

At 46, my body looks better on the bike than it did at 36. I still suck in my belly when I ride past mirrored windows and women like Valygrl, though.

indyfabz

Not from a body persepctive, although I do care about it generally and am starting to drop some pounds I put on over the winter. (I got really heavy in college then lost 90 lbs. Never want to go back to the way I was.) I am conscious about how I look clothing and bike-wise. You will never catch me with things/wearing things like duct taped panniers, long tube socks with holes in them, a grease-stained jersey, a chipped Bell V-1 Pro helmet and threadbare shorts that reveal my azz crack. In a pinch, I will ride with mis-match watter bottle, but I won't be happy about it. With therapy, I think I can get over my problem with non-matching bungee cords.

Cyclesafe

I'd stay fat. Being svelte is over-rated. The rest of me is still ugly.

I think while touring it's important to not look homeless. People are alot more friendly when they aren't afraid that you're going to ask them for a dollar.

zeppinger

Better than I look off the bike.

SurlyLaika

I don't wear tight tops so I guess it doesn't apply and anyways, almost everyone has a few extra tires if they hunch over the bars. Not a big deal. Better than those poor people I see pulling out of drive-thru's, talking on the phone with one hand, eating with the other and steering with their knees.

antokelly

yeah but when I'm on the bike I'm a big kid again well most of the time.
i have ordered a pair of mountain bike shorts from a company in England( Corienne Dennis) they came highly recommended. but before i bought i asked the company are they slim fitting nothing worse to see a lad my age wearing massive baggie shorts.
i would love to shed a few stone but to be honest i really can't see it happening, i did try but in vain.

Terry66

I quit riding and being active for about 10 years. I woke up one morning at 287lbs. I've been watching the reflection of the guy on the bike getting smaller and smaller. 190lbs today, so roughly 100lbs gone in three years.

Booger1

I look at women....hopefully,they look back....

bradtx

antokelly, As to just to see myself? No, but I have looked at fit related items like leg extension or how the bike looks while being ridden... more often if it's a new bike or a freshly rebuilt one.

Images I wish were snapped... I do remember once absolutely just railing a turn on the crit bike and thinking that it would've been a good photograph, I've also leaned one degree more and thought what a funny picture of a low side crash that moment would've been and finally a couple of weeks ago on the mountain bike while unicycling up a hill.

Brad

DW99

Happy Birthday autokelly! I do everything I can to make bicycling an enjoyable hobby and one of those things is not looking at my reflection in store windows.

sam21fire

Maybe you could just stop eating stones...

antokelly

thanks dw99 i won't be looking at shop windows any more believe me.

simplygib

It's not true!!! Well, maybe it is, but I think it's mostly because we aren't as active as we were years ago. I know that when I am riding a lot, the extra weight just falls off. I usually gain about 15 pounds over winter, and last winter was no exception. I don't like it. It all goes to my belly. But rather than starve myself, I just ride more when the weather improves. I was a rail at the end of my last tour. I ate and ate and ate and ate, and still lost about 20 pounds. I hope that happens again on my upcoming tour (2 more weeks!!!).

antokelly

no answer to that one.

CCrew

Let me be the one to say Congrats! Kudos to you.

LeeG

I look to see if the strobe on my headlamp is on, otherwise I know I'm 60lbs heavier than I was 20yrs ago.

LeeG

wow

MMACH 5

I hope I look like something that drivers want to go around and not over.

Newspaperguy

I'm now one size larger than I was when I graduated. That's not too bad. I'm more concerned with how I feel on and off the bike than with how I look.

Personally, I think it would be better to be a few pounds overweight for a bike tour and to have some reserves from which to draw rather than being too lean. (By a few pounds, I mean just that. A lot of extra weight will have its own set of complications.)

dengidog

Like a badly dressed, 53 yr old geezette with bugs in her teeth (from smiling so much while racing down the hills).

Seriously...it's not pretty, but at least the local drivers don't try to hit me to put themselves out of their misery.

Oops...forgot to add...WTG Terry66!!!!!!!

KDC1956

UGLY on and off my bicycle.I'm just UGLY that's all I have to say to this.lol
And I am 54 soon to be 55 and still UGLY too. :-)

antokelly

ah now kdc your not ugly far from it i would say.
i really dont like my shape i have a belly and it cracks me up ,
but when i'm going well on the bike everything is great as long as i dont catch sight of myself.