Mithrandir

How fast is "fairly quick"? I can keep mine stable down to 3.5mph on a steep steep climb. If you're having balance issues perhaps the bike is either poorly fitting or you may not be in a low enough gear to spin fast enough to maintain balance.

Mithrandir

For reference I usually don't ever go below 60rpm cadence (number of times the crank fully rotates per minute), and try to maintain 80-90. Most novice cyclists spin below 60 though, because they think they're supposed to feel a lot of resistance on the pedals. You should measure how fast you spin the cranks in addition to your speed (simply counting FULL rotations over a 15 second period and multiplying by 4 will suffice) when you test out the bike.

iheartbacon

Don't get discouraged by the realistic responses Moose. Your goal of someday crossing the country is attainable. It's a mind thing as much as anything else. I'm 30 and have had 4 heart attacks and on long steep hills I have to pull over for a "nitro break". It's a matter of not giving up. I got back into cycling just this year after a 10 year absence. It's very difficult at first, I'm not going to lie. There is no shame in pulling over and taking a break when you're riding. Even if it is a short distance. Hell, I rode a 16 mile round trip this week. Something the average cyclist on BF would consider a warm up. I pulled over 4 times to catch my breath. Who cares? As long as you finish what you start you'll be ok. If you want to ride around the block then do it. Who gives a **** if it takes 10 minutes or 2 hours? I'll say it again, don't give up. If you can do it mentally your body WILL follow.

Work for what you want. In November 2013 I'm running the Seattle Marathon. My cardiologist thinks I'm either insane or incredibly stupid. Last week I ran 4 miles at the track without stopping. Yeah it's not 26 miles, but it's a start with over a year to train and drop weight. One thing that helps me is I have a MyFitness calorie counter app on my phone. Since I like to munch all day I carefully plan to eat low calories delicious foods frequently throughout the day. When I hit my calorie limit and get the urge to snack I make myself wait 5 minutes. Most of the time after 5 minutes the craving has passed.

Tomorrow morning I will make quit attempt number 9 at smoking. I have the patches, I have a plan, and I have focused mentally on being successful this time around. I failed 8 times but I'm still going to try again. That's what I mean by not giving up. Develop your own plan to succeed. Don't just try to duplicate what others have done. You're a unique person with unique needs. If there is one in your area I highly recommend speaking to a sports nutritionist. A body that's exercising and training constantly has different needs than one that isn't. I've seen a sports nutritionist twice this year and it's well worth the $215 for each visit. Hell I've saved 5 times that by buying the correct foods and not just empty calories.

One thing that is kind of a pain in the ass is buying new clothes all the time because they're too big. I have my favorite t-shirt in 3 different sizes now.

MRT2

Others have already said it. Did it ever occur to you that there is a reason you don't hear about 450 lb out of shape guys doing cross country bike tours? You need to build up to it. Is the notion of a 450 lb out of shape man riding thousands of miles inspiring? Maybe, but how about the notion of a 450 lb out of shape man giving up after 200 or 300 miles, or dying of a heart attack in the Rockies?

You really need to get out and ride to have a sense of how it feels to ride. You need to be comfortable riding for several hours at a moderate pace. Ever ride to the point of exhaustion where you want to do nothing but stop and throw up? How long and how hard would you need to ride to get to that point? If you haven't ridden, the answer is, probably not too far.

This Memorial Day, I decided to go out for a ride after a long hiatus from riding. Yes, I had gained some weight and hadn't ridden much in the last couple of years. But, I used to do spinning classes and went for 20 to 30 mile rides with a Saturday group ride a few years ago. I even did a couple of 5 mile neighborhood rides to get back in the swing of things. Guess what? On an unseasonably hot day on the first "hill" I was gasping for air. That was after only just 2 1/2 miles and had to turn back. 3 months later, I made some changes to my diet, dropped about 10 lbs, and ridden myself into better shape. I can now do 25 or 30 mile rides, just like I used to a few years ago, though a bit slower than I used to do 4 or 5 years ago (12 mph). And that is just carrying keys, wallet, cell phone, a little food and water. No camping gear.

You need to respect the elements. You wouldn't decide one day to climb Everest without previous mountain climbing experience.

Moose200x

Patches don't work. Please before you quit visit whyquit.org As a former pack and a half smoker who has been quit for over 3 years after dozens of attempts I promise you that that site will help you quit. Never take another puff.

Just like you want me to take everyone else's advice I hope you take mine.

iheartbacon

People actually do this, if you want to find out how this works out read a couple of books on the 1996 Everest climbing season. Disaster.

Thanks for the link Moose!

Machka 

Have you gone for that 15 minute ride yet?

What distance did you cover?

How do you feel?

contango 

Why would a 400lb man willing to push his body to the limit be any more interesting than a 150lb man willing to push his body to the limit? Realistically the 150lb man is likely to have higher limits, and the serious athlete pushing his body to the limit is likely to be the kind of thing I'd watch and marvel at just what he could do. The person with an ability equal to or lower than my own might be interesting in the sense I might be rooting for them, but it's not going to draw the viewers the way an extreme athlete would.

Losing 150lbs would be an amazing personal achievement but in and of itself won't get you TV time. Look at the folks in the Clydes area, lots of guys who started out the wrong side of 400 and who slimmed down massively. In my time in the Clydes area I've been amazed at the fact that even at my heaviest there were still guys who had lost more than I ever weighed. It's inspirational in many ways, but how many of them got on TV to talk about their weight loss?

Truth be told losing 50lbs is going to get you favourable comments from family and friends but not much more. I've lost about 60lbs since I started cycling and people comment how much better I look - partly because I look better and partly because clothes that used to stick to my belly are now visibly loose. So far I've had no interest from TV shows wanting me to tell the world how I did it. Losing 100lbs is likely to get the same kind of observation from people around and the same lack of interest from the media.


It must seem like everyone is against you on this but I don't see people wanting to discourage you from trying to better yourself and lose weight, just encouraging you to have more realistic expectations. What I've seen so far is talk of an almighty challenge based on no training, some unrealistic numbers with regard to speed, little concern about practicalities along the way, lots of expectation about the level of interest your ride will generate, no concept of how to go about raising money for your chosen charity, and barely five weeks until you're planning on setting off.

treadtread

And still no report on the 15 minute ride. I don't think OP has any intention of doing this, it just seems like armchair exercise. Otherwise, he would have ridden first and asked later.

10 Wheels

Why do you care?

Machka 

We (all those of us who have contributed to this thread) care because we'd like to know whether it is worth it to continue the conversation with Moose, or if any further discussion is pointless.

If Moose goes out today and rides, and reports back on his ride ... and subsequent progress, then we can continue this conversation. If he does not do that, there's no point in continuing a discussion because he will have shown us that he obviously is not taking this idea of his seriously.

10 Wheels

Is treadtread on the tour with you.

My question was to him.
Why do you feel compelled to answer for him? Enjoy your tour.

Machka 

Maybe you should be on tour too. Are you going on a tour this summer?

10 Wheels

Too Hot for me.

Machka 

It was a furnace here during our last few days on the Rhine Cycle Route (temps around 40C). What a change from the cool rainy stuff we'd had for so long before that. But today's ride from Luxembourg to France was nice, just a bit on the warm side (27C).


(And I'm really hoping Moose does get out and start riding too)

hamiltonian

Says who?

Ah, okay. Some idiot purist who quit cold turkey claims that this is the only way to quit smoking. Well, it's not.

Moose200x

You are wrong. The only way to quit smoking long term is to quit cold turkey. But for you, I hope you quit by gradual withdraw.

I did go for a ride this morning and I am thinking this idea was stupid. I made it one lap on a mile track and to be honest I almost had to walk the second half

Machka 

But you didn't. You rode the whole mile. Good. Now do it again tomorrow.

A cross the US cycling trip might not be the right idea right now, but keep working at it over the next year, and next year this time ... it may indeed be a good idea.

10 Wheels

Congratulations..Moose200x... Keep it up. Do another one tomorrow.

NCbiker

Every journey starts with that first step. The idea was not stupid, you just need to alter your plan on how accomplish the goal

fietsbob

Looking back on thus thread, was said :
I was looking thru this, a different Upright tricycle , a goal for after the rider gains some fitness
but , perhaps still likes the stability of that 3rd wheel.

https://www.pbase.com/canyonlands/image/116670708

there are races , in UK , where those are handmade, for folks, all on those tricycle bikes.

there is a lot of getting out of the saddle and leaning into the corner , on those.

I'd say this applies here too , 3 wheels, cornering ,
lean to the inside of the bend.
at 450# it wont take much leaning , to shift the CofG significantly .

gpsblake

Keep up the good work, the dream of doing a tour isn't stupid. Do some more laps this week, make your goal to be able to complete 2 laps by the end of the week. Then in two weeks, your goal should be 3 laps.

StephenH

I started bicycling to lose weight, and have enjoyed the adventure. Don't get discouraged, keep on riding, walking, whatever works for you.

contango 

When someone comes asking for advice and thoughts it doesn't seem unreasonable to wonder how they got on with the advice they received.

contango 

The idea isn't stupid, but doing it in five weeks probably is.

Do another lap tomorrow, and another on Wednesday, and another on Thursday, and so on. What you find almost impossible today will be easier tomorrow and easier still the next day.

The crucial thing here is that you're establishing a baseline for where you are right now. That's the only place you can start from, and until you start you don't get anywhere. As you manage to cover longer distances remember how you struggled with this one mile ride. One day, and it may not be as far into the future as you think right now, you'll think of a one mile ride as being so short it's not worth getting the bike out for. Then before you know it you'll think the same about longer distances. Where at the moment you probably can't imagine being able to cycle 2 miles without stopping for a rest, over time you'll be doing 10 miles, 20 miles, 50 miles.

It won't happen overnight, but if you keep at it and chip away at it a bit at a time you'll start noticing your fitness improving and your weight reducing.