My Fat Guy Cycling Story...Sort of.
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My Fat Guy Cycling Story...Sort of.
Well it begins as all stories like this do…I have always been big, not always fat. Played football and wrestled in high school. I am Average height, 6ft...Never fat in those days, just gobs and gobs of muscle. Always hovered around 180-190. I was able to eat anything I wanted and it never made a dent in my weight. It was during this time I also began the horrible habit of smoking (lightly then).High school transitions into Collage and the most of the physical activities died off but still rode my bike to class on good days. Then I found BEER!!!! MMM Beer…its good and plentiful on a collage campus in Southern Illinois along with all the crappy foods you can stomach. Fast forward a few more years, Got married to high school sweetheart and most recently had our first child. Last year midsummer I purchased my first road bike as really more of a way to get away from things for a few hours….and put about 300 miles on in the months from june to August and hung it up when things stated to get crazy with the baby. Well around January I stepped on the scale for the first time and it read 250lbs…wow how this did happen?
Here I am 27 years old….substantially over weight and going to be an example for the little life we have created. Smoking at least a pack a day and hating who I am.
I had become the fat/unhealthy guy.
Fast forward from January to now…Both my wife and I joined the neighborhood Gym and go regularly, I have dropped almost 12 lbs on my way down to around 200. We have revised what types of food come into the house….can’t remember my last fast food meal (except subway). I quit smoking and for the first time in a long time feel great.
All this leads me to this past weekend; I jumped on my bike and took advantage of the great weather here. Wow. What a good feeling. Not smoking makes this whole bike riding thing much easier. Rode for about 2 hours (the wind in St. Louis was horrible) but powered though it. I was able to take in all the things around me, explore a couple new roads and didn’t have to focus on how bad I felt as I did last summer. Total stress reliever and great workout at the same time. Got down in the hoods and cranked a few miles out, couldn’t do that last year. It’s a awesome start to the year and hopefully by August I will have some respectable miles logged and at a respectable weight. Attached is a photo from my ride Saturday and a Fay boy shot taken after a workout a few weeks ago!!
Thanks for listening to my rambling!!
Here I am 27 years old….substantially over weight and going to be an example for the little life we have created. Smoking at least a pack a day and hating who I am.
I had become the fat/unhealthy guy.
Fast forward from January to now…Both my wife and I joined the neighborhood Gym and go regularly, I have dropped almost 12 lbs on my way down to around 200. We have revised what types of food come into the house….can’t remember my last fast food meal (except subway). I quit smoking and for the first time in a long time feel great.
All this leads me to this past weekend; I jumped on my bike and took advantage of the great weather here. Wow. What a good feeling. Not smoking makes this whole bike riding thing much easier. Rode for about 2 hours (the wind in St. Louis was horrible) but powered though it. I was able to take in all the things around me, explore a couple new roads and didn’t have to focus on how bad I felt as I did last summer. Total stress reliever and great workout at the same time. Got down in the hoods and cranked a few miles out, couldn’t do that last year. It’s a awesome start to the year and hopefully by August I will have some respectable miles logged and at a respectable weight. Attached is a photo from my ride Saturday and a Fay boy shot taken after a workout a few weeks ago!!
Thanks for listening to my rambling!!
Last edited by ryan2001; 04-05-10 at 09:47 AM.
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Nice job, keep it up and keep us posted on your progress.
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Good for you. Keep it up.
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Great story
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Awesome story!
Like you, I was in good shape the last few years of highschool, and heck, even through my 2 1/2 years of college I really only gained 10lbs (I was very energetic in college). Even the first few years of working factory life I didnt gain much, I had started to smoke then though and chose smokes over food. Once I quit smoking I packed on the pounds. I actually gained 10lbs this winter, so I have more of a hole to dig myself out of than I wanted, but stepping on the scale the other day was an eye opener, to say the least. I have 40lbs to lose to get back to my post-college days, and I would be happy to get there. Gonna get out for a 10 mile loop soon as I let my cereal digest another half hour.
Good luck and may you continue to lose weight and reach your goal. Smoking is hard to quit, but once you feel how good it is to exercise and not huff and puff, you wont wanna go back! Not to mention here in NY smokes are $7.50 a pack for premium brands! YUCK!
Like you, I was in good shape the last few years of highschool, and heck, even through my 2 1/2 years of college I really only gained 10lbs (I was very energetic in college). Even the first few years of working factory life I didnt gain much, I had started to smoke then though and chose smokes over food. Once I quit smoking I packed on the pounds. I actually gained 10lbs this winter, so I have more of a hole to dig myself out of than I wanted, but stepping on the scale the other day was an eye opener, to say the least. I have 40lbs to lose to get back to my post-college days, and I would be happy to get there. Gonna get out for a 10 mile loop soon as I let my cereal digest another half hour.
Good luck and may you continue to lose weight and reach your goal. Smoking is hard to quit, but once you feel how good it is to exercise and not huff and puff, you wont wanna go back! Not to mention here in NY smokes are $7.50 a pack for premium brands! YUCK!
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Awesome story!
Like you, I was in good shape the last few years of highschool, and heck, even through my 2 1/2 years of college I really only gained 10lbs (I was very energetic in college). Even the first few years of working factory life I didnt gain much, I had started to smoke then though and chose smokes over food. Once I quit smoking I packed on the pounds. I actually gained 10lbs this winter, so I have more of a hole to dig myself out of than I wanted, but stepping on the scale the other day was an eye opener, to say the least. I have 40lbs to lose to get back to my post-college days, and I would be happy to get there. Gonna get out for a 10 mile loop soon as I let my cereal digest another half hour.
Good luck and may you continue to lose weight and reach your goal. Smoking is hard to quit, but once you feel how good it is to exercise and not huff and puff, you wont wanna go back! Not to mention here in NY smokes are $7.50 a pack for premium brands! YUCK!
Like you, I was in good shape the last few years of highschool, and heck, even through my 2 1/2 years of college I really only gained 10lbs (I was very energetic in college). Even the first few years of working factory life I didnt gain much, I had started to smoke then though and chose smokes over food. Once I quit smoking I packed on the pounds. I actually gained 10lbs this winter, so I have more of a hole to dig myself out of than I wanted, but stepping on the scale the other day was an eye opener, to say the least. I have 40lbs to lose to get back to my post-college days, and I would be happy to get there. Gonna get out for a 10 mile loop soon as I let my cereal digest another half hour.
Good luck and may you continue to lose weight and reach your goal. Smoking is hard to quit, but once you feel how good it is to exercise and not huff and puff, you wont wanna go back! Not to mention here in NY smokes are $7.50 a pack for premium brands! YUCK!
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Way to go, dude! A cyclist taking the opportunity to be a healthy example for their little one, and thereby help improve some of the less desirable "American" behaviors like overconsumption and lack of activity. Love it.
#9
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Congratulations! More so on the quitting smoking than the biking. Keep crankin' out the miles!
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Yep, welcome to the forums, and thank you for a great post. Lots of luck with the lifestyle change for you, and the family.
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This weeks ride was a little harder than I expected. Saturday i lugged over 800lb of mulch and countless plants to spruce up our landscaping all while smoking three racks of rib for a small get together Saturday night. Ribs are not diet food but they are good!!! Pretty tired Sunday morning, but got on and took a diffrent route for a total of about 32 miles. Right leg started giving me fits aobut 1/2 way thorugh stopped and streched but didnt help much. Looked around a bit...all in all a good ride. Deffinatly going to add this route into the mix. One thhing that i was doing that i normaly do not was looking paying close attention to my cadance. I read somewhere that keepong it around 85-90 is the most effective vs staing to turn the cranks in higer gears. So the majority of the ride my mind was watching my computer and constantly adjusting a gear or two. I am goung to assume that once this is burned in to my legs, i wont have to think much about it.
Once again, thankfull i have quit smoking. its a good feeling when you have to stop because your leg hurts compared to I cant go any more i am breathing too hard!!!
I will need to pepper in some rides through the week, but this is hard due to my work schedule. Do you think a high quality bike at my gym will help buld up my endurnace?
Once again, thankfull i have quit smoking. its a good feeling when you have to stop because your leg hurts compared to I cant go any more i am breathing too hard!!!
I will need to pepper in some rides through the week, but this is hard due to my work schedule. Do you think a high quality bike at my gym will help buld up my endurnace?
Last edited by ryan2001; 04-12-10 at 09:18 AM.
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Spent the week in Gulf Shores for one of our first family vacations. I dropped some cash on a hitch rack so that i could take the bike.....logged almost 100 miles in 3 days. Awesome. Really helped me relax. Attached are some photos. Gulf Shores to Fort Morgan=20 miles...Sure makes the beer taste better!!!
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Update....Weight has been slow to come off total of 18-20lbs depending on when i weight myself. Sliped up a few times with smoking but have not gone back to it. Trying to ride on a regualr basis but its hard with a little one. I have started picking a 11.70mile cource from my house to gauge my time and improvement, something i have not done. Went for a baseline run lastnight before the rain moved in and completed Door to Door with an avg speed of 16.7 and in a little over 41 minutes. Seems alright i guess. Mostly flat ground and 3-5 mph winds. Dont really have anything to compare it to. My wife is trying to get me to ride the MS 150 here in Missouri. A little scared about it having never ridden more than 42 miles at one clip. What do you think? I really need to figure out hydration and eating at the correct times to make it happen.
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That's a quality ride you had last night. When is the MS 150? If 1) it's a 2-day like it is here 2) it's more than 4-6 weeks away, and 3) your 42 mile ride was relatively recent (last couple of weeks) and generally comfortable, I say go for it.
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Another quick update....Went to Test myself this weekend and found that i need more work than i thought. I chose another route that is diffrent from my mostly flat ground. In honor of the Tour in the Alps this weekend i decided to chose a hilly route to see if i am indeed ready to take on a the MS150. What i found is i am nowhere near ready and need to train hard in te next few months to even think about just riding. I logged a tottal of 32 miles in a little over 2 hours. MY avg speed was good but i think reached my limit in terms of energy. My legs were dead. This has me second guessing a ride over 70 miles and my shape to do so. I found my cadence dropping off on the strech home to the point i was coasting as much as possible the last 1/4 of the ride. Hmm
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Personally, I think for distance riding, I would focus more on energy reservation than speed. Im training for the STP, 200 mile ride that is this weekend - yikes its so close!, and have improved my comfortable distance riding form 40 miles to 70 miles by "taking it easy". I have a heart rate monitor and keep my heart rate as low as possible for as long as possible. Yes, I can blast out the door and blow through 30 miles in a couple of hours but then that's it, Im done for the day with dead legs. Alternatively, I accept a leisurely 12mph and I can do 70 miles in 6 hours or so. I know my limitations and to have any chance of an endurance ride, think like a solar airplane and conserve,conserve, conserve.....
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Personally, I think for distance riding, I would focus more on energy reservation than speed. Im training for the STP, 200 mile ride that is this weekend - yikes its so close!, and have improved my comfortable distance riding form 40 miles to 70 miles by "taking it easy". I have a heart rate monitor and keep my heart rate as low as possible for as long as possible. Yes, I can blast out the door and blow through 30 miles in a couple of hours but then that's it, Im done for the day with dead legs. Alternatively, I accept a leisurely 12mph and I can do 70 miles in 6 hours or so. I know my limitations and to have any chance of an endurance ride, think like a solar airplane and conserve,conserve, conserve.....
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Lets put this in perspective
Lets put this in perspective, I am 57 years old weigh 270 .Trying to use cycling to loose at least 80 more pounds. Bought a Garmin 305 to keep track my progress.
Yesterday I rode 25 miles in two hours over flat ground and legs felt good. Temperature was about 82 degrees at 7 am when I started.
With about ten miles to go I spotted a cyclist about ½ mile in front of me and I started a chase. Catching him, and passing him, a mile later he passed me back. I followed and my heart rate went to 160 where the Garmin started beeping. The dude amazed me his cadence was about 50 and it was like he was gliding while I had a cadence of about 70. He weighed maybe 165
I am training for the Tour de Cure in Houston TX on Sept 25, 2010. The 100 mile event I have entered is fairly flat. I will need to , over the next ten weeks condition my endurance. I have set up for a stress test to determine a training program to reach a goal of averaging 13 to 14 mph for 8 hours. My biggest problem is a sore butt and breaking bicycle seats.
Yesterday I rode 25 miles in two hours over flat ground and legs felt good. Temperature was about 82 degrees at 7 am when I started.
With about ten miles to go I spotted a cyclist about ½ mile in front of me and I started a chase. Catching him, and passing him, a mile later he passed me back. I followed and my heart rate went to 160 where the Garmin started beeping. The dude amazed me his cadence was about 50 and it was like he was gliding while I had a cadence of about 70. He weighed maybe 165
I am training for the Tour de Cure in Houston TX on Sept 25, 2010. The 100 mile event I have entered is fairly flat. I will need to , over the next ten weeks condition my endurance. I have set up for a stress test to determine a training program to reach a goal of averaging 13 to 14 mph for 8 hours. My biggest problem is a sore butt and breaking bicycle seats.
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