Originally Posted by bgary

Hi guys. This is my first post, and I thought I would put up some personal results in case anybody is curious about what to expect when starting out at 50+. Below is a brief summary of my progress this year on my mountain bike. I’ll be 52 in a couple of months, and I am significantly overweight. I started a weight-loss program in January and my goal is to lose 50 pounds this year, though I would like to continue until I have lost 70 pounds, which would bring me to my former “fighting weight”. I am currently down about 25 pounds.

I used to ride quite a bit (1000s of miles per year) from the mid ‘80s up until '97 or so, then did not ride at all until June of this year. My best years were when I was car-free, but after I bought a pickup truck, I gained too much weight over the winters, and it wasn’t as much fun riding anymore. Ironically, right now I am 25-30 pounds over that “too fat” point and I am having a blast riding. If I can continue my weight loss successfully, I am going to be one happy camper.

My first ride this year was a very gentle 1 1/2 mile ride just to see how things felt. Below, I list the significant rides I have finished, there were also some short, easy rides mixed in. I used to maintain over 20 mph for 15 miles on my Trek 750 when I was in my early 30’s -- I am curious to see what I can do now.


Mid-June...several very easy, very short rides
June 25... 12 mi... 2 hours... Thought I would die
July 1... 12 mi... 59:54... Sore for 3 days
July 5... 12 mi... 53:45... Sore next day
July 15... 15 mi... 63:04... Sore for rest of day
July 17... 18 mi... untimed... Ready for more after shower

I am hoping for more good improvement, and I will update any news over the next month or two.