alfredoR

I am a supreme lurker here and don't usually post but I'd like to chime in as a former Clyde. I am 5' 11.75" and used to be an athlete in college (baseball) and then got married and had two kids and the weight escalated to a high north of 230 lbs. At 32 years old I began taking the bike seriously on November 2014. I began riding about 20 to 30 miles a day (had to work my way up to that mileage) 3-4 times a week with big group rides of 50 to 70 miles on the weekends. I used myfitnesspal to keep the calories down, usually south of 2000 but would occasionally hover around 1500. A step counter to stay active throughout the day and throw some runs in here an there. Today I'm at 190, I've begun to incorporate weight training a few times a week (bowflex dumbbells in the office during lunch) rowing a couple of mornings a week (bought a used Waterrower, Frank Underwood style) with the goal of being a lean and muscular 175 (college weight)

As far as bike fitness my heart rate still climbs to the 190's in hard efforts and north of 200 in max efforts I just find that I'm going much faster for the same heart rate and it is easier to recover after the spikes whereas when I first started a hard effort would get me dropped off the back. Progress was slow but my Saturday ride has a portion mid-ride with three loops to a sprint finish. I would do zero loops at first and then one and would get dropped. Then two and get dropped. Then a top 20 finish within the peloton. Just recently I managed a top 5 finish at 36+ miles per hour!

I have been inspired by success stories here so I wanted to add my own experiences. Keep your calorie goal. Buy a digital scale and measuring cups and spoons and stick to serving sizes. Don't listen to anyone when it comes to food; we attach a social aspect to eating which packs on the pounds. There is always something to celebrate, its always someone's birthday! Last but not least, vary your workouts. If the bike is your only exercise tool it is easy to burn yourself out. Mix in other activities. It is not fun if its an obligation.

Quick before and current picture.

Around 226


Around 190


Here is a video of a fundraiser for cancer ride I did this Sunday. Details are in youtube.


Thanks for the outlet and if there is interest I could update if/when I reach the goal of 175. Keep pedaling and if anyone is in south Florida and has great a great group ride or event I'd love to join. Any speed or distance, doesn't matter - all fun.

Mvcrash

congrats on the hard work.

TrojanHorse

Well done! Hey, how do you get the HR / speed and stuff in your video? That's slick. And what's that blue thing over to the right?

Anyway, post more & lurk less and definitely post updates.

alfredoR

I have two ways to do it. The garmin virb elite has gps built in along with ant+ sensors. You have your bike sensor and heart rate linked to it. When you record a video it creates two files, your .MP4 and a .fit file with the data. I use the Virb edit software that garmin provides to edit the video, add sound etc as well as giving you many options to overlay the data. Very easy to drag and drop the different gauges around. When you are satisfied with the video you hit export and it creates a new mp4 video with the data displayed permanently. In theory you would only need the camera to capture the data but the battery only lasts a couple of hours so it wouldn't work for longer hours on the bike which leads to the way I do it:

I use a garmin 810 for all data recording and the virb for video only. When you upload the video to the software and the .fit from the edge 810, the software automatically syncs the gps data from the camera and gps data from the edge so technically you can have several different videos from the same ride and one .fit file. There is also a manual way to do it where you can drop a pin on the map of your ride to correlate it to the video. Sorry if I confused you.

The percentage on the bottom right should be the grade. I don't know how accurate it is but looks close enough.

LGHT

Wow what a great story!! You did say you are married with 2 kids right? Where do you find the time?? Love the video btw!

alfredoR

Thanks! I'm a creature of habit and find it very difficult to do anything without a routine. My work schedule is favorable so it helps. I work M-F 7am to 3pm. There is a local park nearby with a 3.2 mile loop so I ride for a couple of hours right after work. As for the wife and kids I find it helps that as soon as you get home don't go into a bike coma and nap or be lazy. The wife is more supportive of the hobby if she doesn't feel abandoned so when I get home from the ride on weekdays its a quick shower and I'll cook dinner (that way I can control the nutritional content) and I'll bathe one of the kids. Weekends the group rides are over around 11ish so I rush home and make brunch and play with the kids. Proactively take away the complaints means more saddle time and it makes it easier to rationalize buying more gear! (Wait until she see the MSRP of a Stages Power meter)

Edit: Upon rereading my post it sounds sugar coated. This is really the best case scenario... it is a struggle!

LGHT

It's good to have a plan. I'm trying to work something out now. Prior to my son being born and before the time change I would ride after work also, but now she's waiting at the door for me on weekdays. I do get in longer riders of 40 miles or so on either Saturday or Sunday which is nice, but during the week it's tough since I'm in the office until 5:00pm. I'm actually thinking about commuting to work tomorrow for the first time to see how I like it. That would give me 1 extra day of riding during the week and maybe when the time changes I can add in 1 quick ride after work as well and maybe add in a workout or 2 during my lunch break.

I don't think I'm going to be able to rationalize buying more gear for at least another year since I just started riding and had to purchase everything I needed. However my next purchase will be either a new set of wheels or a power meter.

TrojanHorse

Amen to that!

My kids are competitive soccer players, so they have practices that overlap and are sometimes 2-3 hours long 3 nights a week... guess what I'm doing while they're practicing? They have games that can be anywhere from 10 to 90 miles away so unless we have a conflict that requires my wife and I to divide and drive separately, I'll ride to their games.

Unfortunately, cycling takes a lot of time, and riding centuries or spending a day cruising up GMR with friends is nearly a whole day exercise. I try to book those on the calendar as soon as I can. Fortunately, my kids are old enough to leave at home alone now (12 and 14) so I can get out on weekends too if my wife is otherwise occupied. Or the best scenario is when she goes riding with me.

Gyrine

Great motivational post - yes, please keep us informed.