1FatBikeRider

Well, I got back on the bike today. Its been about a year since I have ridden. No major reason why I stopped riding - just a bunch of excuses. "Too hot." "Too busy." That kinda stuff. Did a 16 mile ride today and I noticed some things.

1. My saddle got a lot skinnier. I guess it shrunk while hanging up in my garage.
2. The last time I had ridden, I was a svelt 289lbs. Now, at 302 and out of shape, I wanted to scream - and cry on some of the hills. Well, all of the hills to be honest.
3. I seems as though I have lost some gears on my cassette. I kept trying to downshift to make things a little bit easier, but I kept running out of gears quickly - very quickly.
4. To polar bottles - one filled with ice/water and one filled with ice/water/nuun was not enough.

I guess things could have been worse. It only took me and hour and 17 mins and that included a little break at the turn around point.

Cant wait to ride again tomorrow! I forgot how good I feel once I have finished a ride. Yeah, my legs are tired and back a little stiff, but overall I feel good.

I will be checking back in here more often now.

Have a good 4th!

ecovelo

Congrats!! You're back!!!

Remember how good you feel and let that motivate you for the next ride!!

16 miles is a decent distance considering it's been a year..... Keep it up!!

corwin1968

16 miles is awesome if you haven't ridden in a year! I know the first few rides (or even weeks) are tough but it doesn't take long to get your legs back. Luckily, the post-ride euphoria seems to kick in on the very first ride.

WildcatRx

12.8 mph avg is not bad at all for the first ride in a year.

missingmaine

Any knee pain? I noticed when I was off for a long time, and went back... I thought everything was cool.... then noticed some knee pain. Thats why those Garmins are bad sometimes.... after a long time off the bike, you wanna hit those old numbers!

chefisaac

gotta start somewhere. Use this as your baseline and move from there. You will get there for sure.

ScottStr

Congrats on getting back on. Stay with it.

I haven't been off the bike for nearly a year. In fact I rode about 11 miles Sunday night, but I haven't been riding much more than 1 short ride a month for a while now. I rode 23 miles this morning and I needed several breaks and everything hurts. I've got to quit finding excuses not to ride and get back to riding lots of miles. The joy of the ride and the exercise high are SOOO worth the time and effort.

Mark Stone

Welcome back! I stopped for a while about 9 years ago, and it takes some effort to get back into cycling. Keep it up, you're saving your life!

1FatBikeRider

Thanks for all the encouragement! Plan on riding again today.

Nope! I've been pretty lucky. The only pains I have ever had while riding were 1) my butt, and 2) my quads.

CJ C

welcome back, now quit yapping and get back to those hills

whitecat

16 miles is a good number for your first ride in a while. I also did something similar, off the saddle for at least 8 months, and then the first hilly ride of about 33 km. Feelin like about to drop dead, but I made it. A couple of rides later, the weight is starting to come off me. You keep up the good work, it is always nice to read about others doing the same.

breadbin

congrats! keep it up and dont let them excuses get the better of you this time