Vlaam4ever

I see what you mean, my awesomeness is likely skued by the 3 years off the bike. Right now a 50 mile ride in the rain with a saddle sore feels awesome.

RecceDG

I'm trying to burn off 30 more lbs so I'm eating a lot less while still hammering myself on the bike.

Reduced calorie intake rides SUCK. Legs have no jump. The get tired and leaden easy.

But once in a while I allow myself a decent meal, and suddenly I'm a freight train full of awesome.

It has been remarkable to see the correlation between eating and strength.

But at the same time, there are 30 lbs of blubber to burn - or roughly 111,000 calories. And at 60% of total energy expended able to come from fat, that's more like 185,000 calories of work to do. Averaging 1100 calories per ride, that's 168 rides, or nearly 6 months.

Evolution SUCKS.

DG

RT

Serious question - you seem to have unintentionally shown yourself the light in this very post. Are you trying to go from 240 to 210 or 180 to 150? I have found that if you maintain a level of riding/exercise that keeps you in pretty much perpetual burn mode, you can eat whatever you want, within reason. You say that when you eat a decent meal, you are a freight train. Well eat, man! I have done the 240-210 thing, and tried the calorie restriction. My body gave me an alternative of eating more (but still less than I was) and riding more to get there.

I have tried for the past year to get from 200 to 180, and it is really hard, so I sympathize. Maybe 200 lbs is the magic mark, and losing after that becomes insanely difficult.

Hope you get there before the date the math shows you. That would be awesome.

AdelaaR

I might feel slightly more awesome while riding a bike, but whether or not I am riding a bike has very little effect on my general level of awesomeness.

save10

a well-drilled, sustained, high speed pace line...doesn't happen often...but that is an awesome feeling

RecceDG

~218 to 185-190.

Two years ago I was down to 214, then I was back up to 230 this past Feb. Post ride this weekend I was 216, but that was before rehydrating. Still, it's a long way from the 300+ I was in 2007.

If I do that, I maintain weight - which is good, because then I'm a freight train that maintains weight and I get to eat too. Huzzah!

But my metabolism is such that if I want to lose weight, I have to seriously restrict the calorie intake while still beating on myself.

For me that mark has been 218.

I think part of it is that when the exercise burn rate steps up, you naturally want to eat more to help offset the exercise - which is, evolutionarily speaking, the right thing to do (so your body gets to keep its fat reserves) plus you just feel better. But I don't want the fat reserve. I'm tired of looking like an overstuffed sausage.

The math has two shortfalls: on the one hand, you burn calories outside of the time when you are riding - not as fast, but that burn is still there. So the math overestimates the amount of time.

But the math also doesn't account for occasional falls off the nutrition wagon, plus you cannot stay reduced calorie all the time. Ideally those "cheat days" or whatever aren't replacing fat... but in any case, the fact that there are occasional intake surges means the math underestimates the burn rate and it will take longer.

So we'll see. The usual rule of thumb is 2 lbs/week, which lines up with my math reasonably well.

DG

ColinL

I feel deceptively awesome at the start of any ride with at least 1 day's rest. But if I don't warm up properly, I burnout within 45 minutes and then really suffer. After warming up for about ten minutes, then I know if I am actually awesome or just average.

I definitely know what suck feels like. That's a sign of not taking enough time off the bike or at least a truly low intensity.

Gallo

sometimes I feel awesome Strava disagrees

Sometimes I fell sluggish Strava disagrees.

I think we all have good days and bad days but the speed does not always reflect how I "feel"

However it feels awesome to ride, to catch the bike in front of you,to grab onto the wheel passing you, to crest a hill at full effort, to feel the wind in your face and the burn in your legs.

That is awesome everytime

Terry66

I totally enjoy riding, so anytime I am on my bike, I feel pretty good/lucky. Even when the ride/conditions suck, I still enjoy it. Yesterday was in the low 60s and pouring rain. I rode about 30 miles on my heavy steel touring bike. It was hard riding, but never once did I want to stop or wish I wasn’t out there.

I do get the “awesome” feeling and I would say that I get that feeling at least half the time. Funny that usually I get that feeling when I really push myself, ride hills or ride with people a little faster than me. Seems the harder I ride, the better I feel afterwards.

ColinL

completely agree. I've felt a lot of pain and that I was slow on every ride that I've hit a personal record (as tracked by endomondo).

tran.300

After intervals and that chunk of hearty beef stew wants to come up and you say no?

That's when my levels of awesome signify peak potential.

Terry66

Hey RecceDG….congrats on the weight loss. I was almost 300lbs about 5 years ago. Now I am in the 178-183lbs range most of the time. Obviously the lighter/leaner you get the harder it is to lose weight. I usually eat around 1900-2000 cals a day and I ride at least 5-6 days a week and go to the gym three times a week.

I found that weight training really helps with stabilizing my weight. I was talking to my doctor and he said that obviously bulking up will add weight, but if you really focus on toning, your body will become more efficient at burning calories. I have found that to be true.

I wish you well on your journey!

RT

RecceDG and Terry66 - you guys are awesome! Well done on the weight loss.

on the path

Yes. I tend to think that this is where I am. I definitely bulk up before I ride.

Change your metabolism. It's not a fast process, but it can be done* and that is where I believe I am. (*I'm not a Dr. or a nutritionist, see sig)

I eat pretty much what I want, and I've been steadily getting smaller. I don't have a scale, but my clothes seem to be getting bigger. At this point, I'm losing weight very slowly. And that's ok. I'm pretty near my ideal weight anyway. I truly believe that daily aerobic exercise is the key. And I'll re-emphasize the word DAILY.

RT

Yes. I used to be a two box of Mac n Cheese in one sitting guy. This is the best MnC, with extra cheese added and a heaping Tbs full of sour cream. I also used to eat a pound of bacon in a day. It took a year, but cutting out specific foods like cheese and going to (ack!) skim milk and eggs only once a week was hard.

I loves me some dairy products.

I have not been able to eat even one box of MnC in one sitting since then, and it has been proven by my inability to bust 200 lbs going up. The first few months were really hard, because the body craved the fuel, the body just didn't want to burn it. It happened overnight after about 60 days where the weight just began melting off. This, with taking the longest route possible to work on the daily commute and riding Saturdays, taking only one day off a week. It does catch up with you, but my body needed the shock.

Sorry to convert this thread from awesomeness to weight-dropping, but dropping weight is awesome and deserves lengthy commentary.

ancker

I usually find that I ride my best on the Wednesday after I race on a Saturday. Clearly this is not ideal.

hyhuu

In general, the first two hours of riding feels awesome.

on the path

Right. So how often do I feel awesome when I ride? It's becoming more often. Two recent examples:

Last week, in the middle of a 46+ mile solo ride, there was a steady climb of ~1000 vertical feet, and at a fairly challenging grade. When I got to the top and aired it out on the flats...WOW, I don't ever, and I mean EVER, remember feeling so awesome in my entire life.

A couple of weeks ago I ended up with the "A" group on a club ride. Many of the guys were racers. We wound up doing several miles in a circular pace line at a very good clip. Afterwards, I said out loud to myself that it was the most fun I've ever had. Yup, with the endorphins and adrenaline flowing, I felt awesome..

WHOOOSSHHH...

mpath

Ok, enough of this feel-good sappiness. This is the 41 after all, get back to the real world: you're all still too fat, too slow, girls don't find men in spandex sexy, shaving your legs is ghey, and no one in the real world cares about your V02 max.

gsteinb

I feel awesome on the bike once a week.

RecceDG

I did that. It was called "my 35th birthday".

You are quite right about the need to exercise nearly daily though. In my current metabolic state:

1. reduced calorie intake + daily beasting = weight loss

2. "normal" calorie intake + daily beasting = weight sustainment (and pain for the group ride)

3. any calorie intake with no activity = weight gain

Like I said, we'll see where this goes. Part of the problem is staying on plan with the reduced calorie intake part... I get SO ****ING HUNGRY...

Thanks for the words of support, although to be truthful, I feel more like I am fixing myself from a self-inflicted wound more than accomplishing something positive.

DG

travelerman

A ride where I feel great for every single pedal stroke is rare... I will go through different stages throughout a ride, and not with any predictable pattern.

One thing is clear: on a 70-degree day with no wind, no clouds, and low humidity, I will probably love every single foot/yard/mile. We get about three of those days per year, and I think I rode on every single one of them last year...

ultraman6970

I never feel awesome... have to lose a lot of weight to make my bikes proud, im not worthy of my bikes anymore...

ridethecliche

Hmmmm