Well I got back into riding on July 4th after almost a two year break due to four knee surgeries. I have put in over 200 miles and I still suck, I just can't figure it out. I mean come on, I've already gone from 260 pounds to 250 pounds, you would think I would be giving Schleck and Contador a run for their money by now.

Looking at yesterday's ride it's hard to believe that I used to be in shape and somewhat fast. https://connect.garmin.com/activity/42114562

Good luck with your recovery. It's a long road but worth it.

uh oh

'SUCK' is a relative term.
We all suck in a sense.
Your aim is to just suck a little less each ride.

i don't know if you are supporting or insulting the OP.

10 pounds? At these weights, 10 isn't a whole lot.

HOWEVER, congrats on the 10 lbs. (I went from 230 to 180, so I know it's hard.).

Believe me, I am perfectly aware of this. When I was racing (I'm still technically a cat 3) I weighed in around 163 - 170 pounds. I have a very long way to go before I am in any kind of condition. This thread is sort of tongue in cheek.

Nice!!!!

I'm impressed! (Seriously)

Glad to hear your knees are in good enough shape to allow you to bike again! It's probably demoralizing to not be able to do old routes as fast as you remembers, but I'll bet it feels danm good just to be out there.

Thanks, it is great to be back on the bike but at the same time it is miserable. I don't remember riding ever being this difficult (with the exception of intervals, racing, centuries, etc). Climbs that I used to sprint up I am now just trying to go fast enough to not tip over. My feet are killing me, my ass hurts (not in a prison kinda way), my back hurts, my neck hurts, my abs even cramped up on me the other day. I didn't even know I had abs.

On aside note, I am going to see my surgeon on Monday, hopefully he will change his mind about not allowing me to ride.

I'm just getting started with riding. I'm really getting hooked. I encourage you to think about the first time you started riding seriously and what turned you on about it instead of thinking about the last time you road and how you're not as good right now. Hopefully you can connect with what you first loved about it. Good luck with the knees!

Nice parody

Thank you.

Two years off? Yikes.

Yes, and according to the surgeons I still shouldn't be riding. Oopsie.

I had this long screed written, but I decided not to post it. I'm sure that if I would have I would have gotten a couple of mods PM-ing.

Let's just say that when you shed the pounds and get into shape you will be back there as a good bike racer once again. We have empirical evidence of that.

Thanks, I appreciate the words of encouragement.

This shouldn't be surprising considering 1 week of unused muscle = 1 month to gain it back. And the surgery. And you going against you doctor's orders (which will most likely do more harm than good). Surgery is a lot to recover from, especially when you consider the atrophy ontop of whatever had surgery on it (which will never be the same in most cases). G/l, that blows

According to the surgeons I will need to have surgeries every year until I am 40 and can have my knees replaced. So, my thinking is that if I can strengthen my legs up and lose some of the dead weight then maybe I can hold off on the surgeries for a while. If not then what do I have to lose? I'll be seeing my surgeon on Monday so hopefully he will see some progress since the last time he saw me.

As for it not being suprising, it's sort of a parody of another thread.

You're working too hard at it.
Hold out for your cake and eating too...you should be able to ride fast in races and never have to do any training miles.
What you need is an ebike...preferably one like Cancellara's.

That is f'd up, I hope you dont have to deal with what they're saying, that's horrible

I've heard that riding an ebike is the exact same as riding in a paceline.

As for the cake, obviously I have had plenty of it over the past two years. Maybe a bowl or two of ice cream as well.

If you want to really improve, you have to have an intense desire to do so without riding excessively, or wanting to sweat. There's no other way. You can't shortcut it...

Charles

Great thread, btw

Bikes face when it sees you getting ready to ride...........

Yep, and it lets out a loud moan when I clip in. It sucks being fat but at least I'm attempting to do something about it.