Jclayton

Hi everyone! My name is Jon and I am very new to cycling. I have been reading this section of the forum thanks to a tip from my lbs and find all of you very encouraging, thanks! I always want to thank Pub for posting the "embarrassing questions" thread, those really hit home with me as I have had the exact same thoughts. Thank you for your positive responses.

My wife and I just purchased Jamis Citizen 1's this weekend both hoping to loose weight. I am 6'4 310lbs at 30 years old and realize that I need to do something now and quit making excuses. In the past I've had good luck with my treadmill and dieting, going from 350lbs down to 280 about 2 years ago, but back and knee pain has killed my motivation. I am hoping that the bike will be some lower impact fun exercise for us.

A few questions for you guys.

1) Bike choice, did we do ok? We will be riding paved paths and neighborhoods.

2) When you guys first started, how far could you ride? Yesterday morning was our first ride together and I logged just over 4 miles which seems like nothing but man it wore me out. The worst was the muscles on the top of my legs (behind the knees) burning/cramping on hills. I have yet to figure out cadence and shifting, so hopefully that helps once I do. I am just wondering what a realistic number for an out of shape biker is.

My wife logged 7+ and came in and jumped on the treadmill for an hour, neither of us are close to in shape but she is a lot closer than I.

Looking forward to reading this forum!

skilsaw

Welcome to the forum Jon.

Don't worry about what others do on their bikes. If you are faster or ride further than them, it will make you arrogant, and if you are slower, and can't ride as far, it will depress you.

You are who you are. Keep a journal, or a blog, or just a scrap of paper to write down your biking achievements. It will keep you interested, and show you your progress.

Your bikes are an excellent first choice. Others will tell you to have the wheels trued and retensioned, or buy 36 spoke wheels but that is not necessary right now. Just get out and ride the bikes. It might be a year or more until you break a spoke and you can deal with it then.

Check in on the forum occasionally and post your achievements. If 4 miles is the best you can do, well done. Next time take a 15 minute break after 4 miles and then do one more.

Remember to drink lots of water, and watch your diet.
Cycling will help you loose weight, and it becomes fun in its own right.

And PS. The bike industry will try and convince you you need lots of extra stuff. Hold off until you make a habit of riding. Then reward yourself with new toys.

chefisaac

Jon: Welcome bro! Glad you could make it over here. Its a lovely group. Where abouts are you from?

I was able to do about 4 miles when I first started and the finny thing was that when the four miles was done, I thought I at least went 20 miles. lol. I had the same issue as you.... the thigh muscle (its big and long) hurt soooooo much on both legs. I had a hard time standing and walking. But all said and done..... you get used to it and things dont hurt much. I road 20 miles on Thursday, 25 on sat, 22 today and plan on 25 tomorrow. Thighs hurt just a little but not much. You start building muscle which will help in the long run.

As you ride, your body might hurt.... for me it was my palms, elbows, knees, feet going numb.... but it comes down to tweaking the bike and making the needed adjustments as you go along. I went in and got a extensive bike fit which helped a lot. Might be something you consider if things start hurting on you.

As for now, start riding when you can. Dont be affraid if it is only a few miles. Set yourself a goal. Try to do 100 miles this month. Get a calander and start logging how many miles you do. Dont forget to take days off to recover. Dont push yourself too much. Make it a good experiance but I will tell you this..... and its important for you to listen up..... YOU WILL GET BETTER, FASTER, AND GO LONGER DISTANCES if you continue to build and ride. I look back at where I was a month ago.... 4 miles here.... 6 miles here.... now I am riding a lot and love it.

Ride on my friend and please, feel free to bounce stuff off all of us. There is a lot of motivation here! Use it to burn your internal fire!

1nterceptor

Welcome aboard. Proper cadence and shifting is important;
these will help you ride more comfortably and do longer rides.

etofhb

Welcome home. Your LBS gave you some great advice by sending you here, you will get excellent support, encouragement, advice and lots of motivation. It could be from biking, nutrition or our special needs.

Here’s my advices. First be safe! I’m not just talking about being safe in traffic. I’m an extremist, I’m all in no matter what I do. For example, if I drink I don’t stop until I’m falling down drunk, okay bad example but that’s why I barely drink any longer. The same can be said for cycling and weight loss, don’t do any extreme dieting, your body is going to need all the nutrients to build those muscles you need for stamina. A good rule is to eat what your body will require at your goal weight that’s probably about 2200-2500 calories and drink lots of water.

Take care of your body. If you are hurt you can’t ride, if you can’t ride or do other exercises it’s hard to keep motivated which then makes changing your eating routine difficult to adjust too. We’re about the same size, I started at 300lbs and I’m 6’1”, I have arthritis in one hip and I’ve had 3 knee surgeries, 2 shoulder surgeries and a ruptured disc in my back. So we have to take care of our bodies so we can keep moving forward. I want to ride a 100 mile ride but that’s not realistic so keep your goals realistic but don’t be afraid to stretch them a bit, you want to build not break!

Okay so my first ride was 3 miles back in March and ended with a hospital stay for chest pains. In the end my heart is in great shape but I was having a reaction to a new diabetic medication I was on. It was May before I was cleared to ride again, I started at 4 miles just like you. I’m down to 257lbs last month was in rode 393 miles. I’m twenty years older than you so if I can do it you can do it too!

As far as equipment goes buy some good cycling shorts and use chamois cream, it’s mess but I haven’t had a saddle sore yet!

Good luck, be safe and make good choices!

goldfinch

Don't push the pedals hard, just spin them around and around as fast as you can. Down shift as much as you need for hills. Keep those pedals spinning. Your legs will not tire as easily.

Now come and join the Up to 100 mile Challenge for new riders! You can pick how many miles you think you can do this month, whether 50, 75, 100. Join in and post about your rides. https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...enge-September

Jclayton

Thank you everyone! I took a quick spin yesterday between rain showers. Hope to log more miles this week!

Rona

Welcome!!!

Don't worry about how little you do at first. I got back on a bike after decades and my first trips were just a few blocks in the city. My big first milestone was going over a canal bridge <_<

seenoweevil

Welcome Jclayton! Just keep riding and search these posts as questions come up. There's a great deal of helpful information(and a lot of really cool people) here!

CJ C

hello, and welcome to your new addiction.

the leg muscles will be the most sore the next two months, well actually mine always find some pain somewhere but its a sign that i am pushing myself and not settling. my first time back on a bike i only rode a 1/2 mile to get some milk, the next day 1 mile to the hardware store, the next day to family 3 miles, then the next week i started riding 4 miles one way to work twice a week, then 4 days a week, then added one weekend ride of 10 miles, then 2 weekend rides of ten miles then..........well you get the point.

the first time i had to ride up a hill, well okay it was a steep overpass not a hill, my whole body gave me the middle finger. i stopped at the bottom and rested by a tree for 30 minutes. then a while latter when i finally concurred that "hill" with energy to spare to continue riding a older guy with gray hair in full kit road bike flew right up the "hill" and totally demoralized my recent achievements. as of last week i am now flying up the "hill" passing others like they are standing still.

its an awesome addiction and you are one lucky man to have a wife to do this with you as it helps on the days you would rather take a nap.