irclean

I finished school back in May, and have led a pretty much sedentary life since then. Since I no longer have a regular commute, and we've had a heat wave around here, my riding has been limited to short jaunts; barely long enough for me to break a sweat.

I commuted to and from my clinical placement almost daily for a whole year and managed to lose about 15 pounds. In the two months that I've been off I've put it all back on. When this realization dawned on me last week I promised myself that I would commit to healthier eating and to get back in the saddle.

My Athena-esque wife has had some success with Weight Watchers and has managed to lose 40 pounds and to keep it off, slipping under Athena status for the first time in recent memory. She's been feeling uninspired as of late and I figured that if I committed to the program then she would be more willing to commit herself. So far, so good (although we're only on day 3 ).

Today turned out to be a very nice day, so my wife and I decided to go out for a nice bike ride. I have the happy duty of hauling our 4-year-old son on his Trail-a-Bike. The ride was about 12 km (~7.5 miles) along surface streets and a riverside MUP. It was the longest ride I have done in some time, and I found myself having to stop twice to catch my breath. By the time we got home I had Jello legs and had to sit on the step for a few minutes to recover.

I feel like I'm back where I started; I was amazed how quickly I seemed to lose my cycling legs (and lungs). My only real consolation came when I added up the weight that I was hauling: My 315 lbs, plus about 30 for my bike, another 25 for the TAB, and 35 for my son totaled up to over 400 pounds! Add the couple of modest hills found on my route and I can understand the strain. That said, I've done the same route earlier in the year with a heavier bike (although both my son and I were a few pounds lighter), and I never had the same struggles that I had today.

Anyway, I never felt in any real danger (i.e., no bonk), but it was disconcerting nonetheless. I wonder if my recent change in diet had any effect. Can anyone relate to my experience? In any case, I plan to get back in the saddle ASAP, and I will work my way up to longer routes. I hope to eventually ride a metric century with my son in tow. I plan to lighten up the tow vehicle and increase its efficiency with a rigid fork swap, and hopefully after shedding a few pounds myself a Father & Son charity ride will be in reach.

Thanks for your continued support!

BigK75

Hi IRClean:

Where in Southwestern Ontario are you? Personally I lived in London, Ontario, but 8 months ago to KW since my tech company closed its doors.

Anyway I was reading your post and wanted to give you a high five for the progress that your making. Don't get down about starting over. We all fail believe me. I was riding 150km per week and now I am down to 75 or so. Write down a plan for your metric century. Even join a charity ride in your area that is 100K and work towards it. I am not a Clyde myself at 6'4 and 196lbs, but my friend who started our at 300lb did a metric century with me this year. Our first was Tour de Grande in Cambridge and our second 110k ride was Tour de Norfolk. He is now under 275lbs.

Plan and ride three times a week with one long ride on the weekend (increase distance 10% each week) and you will be able to do it.

Good luck and we are rooting for you.

Claude

PS My own goal for this year is to ride to Blue Mountain (crazy hilly) at the end of September. It will be our first non-metric century (160k). To celebrate we will spend the night with our wives in Blue Mountain loungin in the hot tub

irclean

Thanks, Claude. I live in London, and there are many organized rides around here including some family-friendly ones. For now I'll be sticking to family and solo rides, but your advice for regular rides with increasing distance is doable.

Congrats to you and your friend for your accomplishments. I've been to Blue Mountain and I'm not ready for those climbs yet, but a hot tub with my wife sounds great!

jmeissner

+1

Good to see another person from KW - I am in Elmira, so right next door. I am also planning on doing the C100 at Blue but I think I am going to wait until next year (2012) as I want to incorporate some fundraising for a local charity I am involved with (plus work on the legs a bit more). I will be up there in a couple of weeks to test my legs on the C50 course.

motobecane69

people in Dallas where they are having their 40th straight day of temps 100+ don't want to hear about a heat wave in Ontario! lol they are 2 days away from breaking the record for consecutive days over 100. just get back out and ride, it will get easier. aFter the long winter riding was brutal, i had no pep in my step. very disheartening. yesterday I did the most brutal hill that I have around here without using my 2 lowest gears (32 or 28, climbed it in my 34/24 combo) it was brutal, but rewarding. I didn't stop once and I know I will be better for it. I'm actually going to swap out to a 12-25 casette and that was part of the experiement. the first time I ever did this hill i was on a triple that had a low gear of 30/34 and I had to stop a couple of times! Keep at it!!!!

GeoBigJon

Congrats on getting back into the saddle. Just remember to take it easy and not over do it, don't want to get burned out or injured. Chip away slowly and the results will come. We will be cheering for ya.

irclean

Yikes!

Geographically speaking, I live in the Southernmost part of Canada and we are nestled right in the elbow of two Great Lakes. We often get hot, sticky summer weather and for the past month we've had temps in the 30s (Celsius). When you add in the humidity our temps have been in the high 30s, which approaches 100 degrees F. Luckily for us, the humidity has broken and today it is a beautiful 23 degrees C (~74 F). In the 25 years that I've lived in this area I've seen summer temps as high as 40 C (104 F) before adding the humidity factor. Nothing compared to what they're experiencing in Texas right now, but many Southerners are surprised to hear that we get the summer temps that we do.

Of course, our "heatwave" comes on the heels of the snowiest winter I've ever seen in these parts, with over 3 times the average annual snowfall. In one 24-hour period we got 110 cm (~43 inches) of snow! I parked my bike that day.

BigK75

Hello jmeissner:

I love riding around the Elmira region. I live in the Bridgeport area and my regular ride is to Elora and Fergus which is near Elimra. This sure is a great place to ride. Not sure if you belong to the Waterloocyclingclub.ca. I know a bunch of guys and girls from there are going up to Blue Mountain to practice for the C50/C100. If you ever want to ride together let me know. I am pretty slow at 27-28 km/h average but its only my first year riding, so I am pretty happy.

Claude

fast89fox

Awesome that you're getting back on the bike. I wouldn't be to hard on myself if I were you, stuff happens. In my own personal situation, I keep losing and gaining the same 10lbs over and over again. If I didn't ride and lift weights regularly, I would probably be back at 330lbs. Luckily I enjoy working out and now I am getting strict on the food again. Don't dwell on this, move on and use it as a learning experience. Keep turning those pedals bro!!

irclean

Thanks again for the support, all. Week one of the WW diet resulted in a 7 pound weight loss! I'm trying to get more saddle time, too, and I'm feeling a little stronger every day.

In other news, now that the 2012 bike lineups are being announced I have some new incentive for weight loss. Being Canadian I have a real soft spot for Norco bikes (I own 4 of them) and I find their new endurance road bike, the 2012 Norco Valence, to be drool-worthy:



I know that improved health and being there for my family should be my ultimate goal for weight loss, but that Norco makes a nice carrot!

irclean

After 2 weeks on the WW plan I am down 10 pounds! Cycling really seems to complement the plan since I earn extra points through activity. More points = more food for me! My wife is super-appreciative of my willingness to commit to the plan since it helps her to stay committed, and we are now riding together more often.

StephenH

We had 29 consecutive days of over 100 degree heat in the Dallas are in July. And that month, I hit a new personal high for miles in a month. So it can be done.

A lot of it is attitude. I find around here that it is too hot to ride 3/4 of the year, and the rest of the time, it is too cold, too wet, too windy, too rainy, too dark, or something. The point is, there's alway some excuse not to get out and do anything. You can either make excuses or you can go ride anyway. So I go ride anyway.

irclean

Took advantage of a nice, mild evening to test out my new setup; I swapped out the cheap suspension fork on my newly-acquired 2000 Norco Wolverine with a rigid Surly 1x1 fork:



Feeling a lot stronger after taking member's advice here... thanks so much! Felt like I was flying along, easily beating a city bus from stop to stop despite the lack of competing traffic. Did a similar distance as the ride that beat me up so badly 3 weeks ago, but did it 20 minutes quicker and with a much shorter recovery period.

Due to a shipping error I received the wrong fork that I had originally ordered for my Norco. Because of brokerage fees/shipping costs the supplier told me to keep the fork and refunded my money. Luckily for me, I just happened to have a compatible hybrid bike with FS in the garage and I was able to swap out its fork as well:



I have a 33 km ride planned for 2 nights from now, and I'll be using this bike. Hopefully I'll feel just as strong as I did tonight.