Dad 2 3

First a little background. My wife and I bought a couple Trek 7.2's on May 24th. I was hooked after the first minute of my first ride. With a sensible diet and cycling I've lost 24 pounds (started at 242) and ridden 670+ miles in 2 1/2 months. My BP has dropped from 140's/80's to 100's/50's and resting HR from 70's to 52-58.

Thanks to all who post here as your threads/posts are an inspiration to keep on pedaling. A road bike is in my future next spring, but for now the hybrid is working for me. I just want more speed. LOL I know that dropping weight from the motor is the most important thing though.

Anyway, on this ride my nephew and I rode from Xenia, OH south to Lunken airport in Cincinnati, OH on a MUP. Nothing really very hard about this ride as it was flat as a pancake with 449 elevation gain in the 63 miles. Our average moving speed was 15.2. Moving time was 4:08 with an elapsed time of 5:03. I would like to cut the stops down to 30 minutes and move the average a bit towards 16 mph next time.

My ultimate goal is to ride a century before the snow flies here in the mid west and this was a step toward that goal.

I'm not posting this for congratulatory purposes, but so that hopefully someone else can draw a small bit of encouragement or motivation. If I can do it so can you!

Keep pedaling!!

epicycle

Sounds like you're doing awesome man. I remember my first century, it was pretty awesome and I felt great. I was around 270 at the time and when I finished I felt tired beyond belief and so amazed at what I'd accomplished.

Great ride man, keep on inspiring!

Zoxe

Sounds like a good day on a bike. Gratz on your Metric milestone, and thanks for the ride report.

Beachgrad05

Way to go! Doing that distance is a milestone - congrats!

TrojanHorse

So congratulations anyway! I'd say go get the road bike anyway. Or hold off till bike season is over and the local shops want to get rid of bikes but start shopping.

Anyway, my other advice to you is find a century and sign up for it. There's no training motivation better than a looming century.

EL LUCHADOR

congrats man. doing my first one this month and im nervous as heck

kevinvin

Congratz on your first metric.. and congratz on the new fitness..

once you have the distance bug its hard to get rid of.. I have a 7.2 and I ride it like I stole it.. if you want a little more speed and you are already maxing the tire pressure (85psi I think) getting some shallower tires (28's maybe? ask your LBS what will fit) should add +1mph or more.. If you don't ride clipless that can add another 1-2mph.. After several thousand miles on my 7.2 I got an older steel roadie and realized quick I wanted something better so I picked up an Allez used.. Ride that like I stole it too ;-) so now I keep my tires low (40psi) on the 7.2 for trail/path riding and do faster longer rides on the Allez..

cafzali

Have no fear, have fun! Seriously, one of the biggest keys to success in any kind of sport, even when you're not really trying to compete, is to relax. The mind can have a big limiting factor on the body's overall ability to perform at its top level. It's like the old saying goes, practice saying "I think I can!" and you'll greatly improve your chances that you actually will.

Personally, for anyone's first century, I'd advise them to pace themselves a bit rather than trying to finish it at the top speed at which your capable. Simply put, you may not really know what that top speed is and you'd rather finish than "bonk" with 20 miles left to go. Secondly, eat, but eat sensibly. Skip carb binges and focus on sensible proteins, natural sugars that come from fruits and things like bananas during the race for their potassium benefit.

Lastly, don't fall for the adage that you need to ride 100 miles straight as part of your training regimen. I never actually did a 100-mile ride before any century. Intervals mixing sprints and climbing are just as effective and fit most people's active schedules much better. Unless you're doing a Fondo, most centuries don't have that much climbing in them, so endurance is really what you're going after.

Above all, enjoy it! We all have a relatively finite number of things we'll always remember; for most cyclists, the first century's one of them.