H23Nutcase

Been commuting for two & half years now to get to 10k miles. Went through several cassettes, chains, tires. tubes and brake pads. Overall well worthed it. Thanks for everyone here keeping me motivated.




H23NC,

hxzero

Nice!

Although at first I thought that you rode 10,002 miles "today". I was like, "dang this guy is super fast".

no motor?

How about, that's just what I thought.

H23Nutcase

Oops sorry for the confusion. I usually put in 26 miles a day, not 10,002 miles a day....

Barrettscv 

Congrats! Tell us more..., When did you start? Where? Why?... you get the picture.

Michael

H23Nutcase

I started commuting back in April 2006. The reason I got into this was because of my health. I didn’t know I was obese at 255 lbs for my 6’ 2” frame but after my doctor showed me the blood report I was petrified by the shocking results (LDL & blood pressure thru the rough, sugar level on borderline).

Don’t let an engineer speak to the world, so I’m going to outline some major events that I have experienced in my almost 3 years commute:


2006 (From April to November):
1) Bought a Trek 7.2FX at Free Flite to start my 24 miles round trip commute
https://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=2133501
2) Chased by a dog
3) First flat with no tools to repair flat or a cell phone to call for help, so walked the rest of 6 miles to work and found a lost cell phone on bike trail (2 miles away from work at this point, why couldn't let me find it sooner).
4) T-boned a car that was trying to make a u-turn on left lane (I was in the in the middle of emergency/left turn lane).
5) Horrified to ride again in crazy suburb of Atlanta and concluded the year with 1704 commute miles and lost 35lbs.

2007 (From March to December)
1) Brave enough to ride again and regained 10 lbs to 230lbs.
2) Trek 7.2FX had a bent frame from last year accident, so bought a Trek 7.3FX from the same store.
3) Bad fall from locking up rear wheel and caused some nasty road rash (out for 1 month)
4) Straightened out 7.2FX frame and geared it up for winter beater (2 X 15lbs Battery, 35 Watts HID & 55 Watts Halogen Headlight).
5) Changed the route to a longer and safer route (26 miles roundtrip)
Same route as last year going to work, but return route changed:
https://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=2133524
6) Bought a used 2004 Bianchi Vigorelli road bike for $500 and start riding it to the gym (17 miles round trip) to do some weight lifting.
7) Finished the year with 4903 miles and weighed in at 170 lbs (lost 60 lbs from being 230 lbs at the beginning of the year)

2008 (From Jan to Present)
1) Freaking out drivers with my powerful 3000 lumens HID front light.
2) Bought a 1999 Trek 5200 OCLV carbon for $500 and commuted on it occasionally.
3) Most flats ever in one week, almost one everyday, so switched to 23cc Gatorskin with Performance Thorn proof tube and Mr Tuffy tire liner (no flats since April).
4) Smoked several roadies on my 7.3FX running with new tires (120psi) and single front 53 tooth crank.
5) Found 2 cell phones and returned to owners. Never missed a day since the beginning of the year, 4089 miles and still counting. Weighing in at 182lbs with mostly muscles gained from weight lifting.

77midget

wow. I love these types of reports-they really motivate me, and think about how much more I can accomplish. Also, whenever I think about slacking off a bit, I think about all the success stories I have read here.

Keep it going, Nutcase!

sparky221

Just to give an idea of what you have done for the planet:

Assuming you would have driven a car getting 22 mpg and paying an average of $3.00/gal over the last 3 years, you saved:

454 gallons of gasoline from being burned
8,818 pounds of CO2 from being released into the atmosphere (that's 4 tons)
$1,363 dollars, some of which you spent on bike repairs

On behalf of the planet - THANKS

Your wallet will have to thank you itself.

jo8243

Wow.. very impressive. I've been commuting for about 5 months but I don't do it every day (~3 days/week). Looking at your route, those look to be some pretty busy roads (I know marietta a little bit). What time of day do you commute? Are the busy roads 4 lane?

Awesome !

jo8243

Oh yeah, and.... do you have bike lanes?

kila kila kila

My hat's off to you. Hope to join you soon(ish). Cheers to your good health, my man.

ironhorse3

The physical accomplishments are incredible, with the amount of weight lost, and then the build up you did. Did you find the cycling burned a lot of calories, and if so roughly how many calories per day were you consuming from January until now? Congrats!

Bill Kapaun

Glad to see you gained some weight back!. The way you were going, you were going to need to carry ballast to keep from floating away!

icedmocha 

Congratulations, and thanks for the motivation!

Grim

Great story and great results!

Definatly an insperation!

I'm in the same boat. Hit 240 in Feb. Cardioligist told me stories of a slow miserable death with diabetes and another heart attack. Dieted for a couple months. Started riding a little over 2 months ago. Will make 500 miles this weekend.
Lost almost 30lb. Bouncing around 210 right now. Mostly the riding and smaller meals now. Got to buy new clothes as they are all falling off me now.


So what sort of drops are you seeing in your blood tests?

I can't wait to do my next one next month to see what mine are.

Did you happen to be in Marietta a couple Friday's ago and get asked about your lights by a couple with a kid in a red Toyota 4Runner at the corner of Cherokee and the North loop?

H23Nutcase

And here's a copy of Cleanair Campaign log sheet to show my number of commute

H23Nutcase

thanks for the compliment. Don't let any obstacles or the environment despair you, your mind can accomplish great things.

At first my coworkers were kind of un-supportive by saying negative things, now they have become somewhat more accepting that this is my mode of transportation whether they like or not. So don't let any negative comments get to you, soon your persistence will overcome their skepticism.


H23NC.

H23Nutcase

Sparky,

No need to thanks, just trying to save myself and few pennies for my wallet.



H23NC,

H23Nutcase

Yes Cobb 41 Parkway is a busy 4 lane mini highway (2 lanes on each direction) and some section is 55 mph speed limit. Good thing there are plenty of right turn lanes and wide shoulders. No bike lanes but there are bike trails on Old Hwy 41/Kennesaw Ave & Atlanta Rd.

This rear mirror has saved me couple times: https://www.performancebike.com/shop/...slisearch=true

I usually leave my house at 7am and arrive work at 7.48am. With a road bike, I can get there by 7.38am.

H23NC,

H23Nutcase

I don't know how much I burned, but roads are pretty hilly here. I guess I must be burning a lot b/c my diet is still the same from my 250 lbs weight.


H23NC,

YULitle

Congrats dude! That's awesome!

coldfeet

Yeah, I have zero will power where food is concerned, if anything I eat MORE! ( That's why I got rid of the car! )

Have dropped 30 lbs, down to 195 from 230ish. I'm 52 but most people have hard time putting me higher than early 40's.

Yes, I'm feeling smug.

Good job Nutcase! Keep it up.

nashcommguy

Great motivational story! Thanks for sharing it

My goal last year was to ride 7500 miles and use my vehicle under 5000. Managed 6800 riding w/2 operations(deviated septum and hernia). Drove a little over 7000 last year. The recovery time set me back a bit and I ended up driving much more than I wanted, but this year I'm already over 4500 cycling which projects to 7700 for the year and I'm projecting around 4800 miles for my truck. It helps to have a 40 mi rt commute w/moderate hills. 4 bikes(well five counting my wife's)are set up for commuting w/bags racks etc., except for my SS conversion which is set up for speed. I use a fanny pack for my lunch...yeah, that's right I wear a fanny pack on my singlespeed...and ride it tues-thurs while using my #1 commuter Monday and Friday to take and bring home work clothes. The system is working great. Have lockers at work and my co-workers ask me on potential raindays if I rode my bike today. When I say yes, there's the inevitable, but respectful headshake and genuine concern re thunderstorms.

My breakfast consists of raw oatmeal, ground flax seed, wheatgerm, protein powder, meuselix(sp?) and 2% milk w/a banana. Fish oil, Centrex and an allegy pil, also. I work in a warehouse on the docks and am constantly hydrating w/at least 2 28 oz bottles of Gatorade per day. I get the economy size and fill my bike water bottle. It's WAY cheaper in the long run. Lotsa brown rice, chicken, leafy greens and fruit, too.

Please, continue to share your perspectives as they are truly motivating...especially now that we've hit the 'dog' days of summer and it's hot out there on those afternoon commutes!

H23Nutcase

You are making good progress there. What bike do you ride and where? I'll definitely see you around in Marietta vicinity. That was probably someone else you were seeing. I'm happened to be on AJC metro section, check it out here (2nd photo down):
https://www.ajc.com/metro/content/met...ta_square.html

I'm trying to hold on to my large clothes as long as I can for commuting only though.

Binder clip works well on clipping large pants. Belt is too heavy and would not look right on large pants.

I punched too many holes on my old belts and the tongue is hanging down like I have a master black belt. I figured a way to make my belt shorter and that is to cut the belt on pin end side (only works on belts with clamp on teeth).

My HDL was like 60 something, blood pressure 118/65, blood sugar normal, 40 bpm resting hr



H23NC,

TalkingHead

dang, congrats man that's a ton of dedication.