seacycle

MIkabike...you go, man! I'm rootin' for you!

froody

Just want to say I love reading about your progress. Keep it up!

Tim

Mikabike

Hey I noticed that my front wheel flattens out a bit as I'm riding. What PSI do you think I should run them at? My Wheel size is 26x2.35.

I think I could cut my rolling resistance a bit by inflating them more but I need a number. I am taking the turns nice and easy because I'm afraid of angling too much and rolling on the sidewall. I don't know if this is a real possibility or my fear getting the better of me. I've never wrecked on a bike before from excessive speed because I always erred on the side of caution.

I just don't know how these things handle with my weight or what I can expect for turning performance. I'm still learning to trust my bike, and it hasn't let me down so far. No popped spokes, the wheels are still true, but I'm carefully going around speed bumps and taking the turns with a very wide apex much like an 18 wheeler would.

I love the feedback you all are giving me. It helps keep me going when other people get excited. Maybe I'm an attention lover or something but when someone who 'knows' how hard cycling is gives me a thumbs up I just smile and smile.

Nox

Mike whats your weight man? Im guessing its gone down a tad hasent it? For your size I would go with the around max pressure your tubes can handle no offense ment but then you will find it most easy to pedal up hills and so on. But im no pro so dont trust me get a second opinion. Good luck with your traning

overthere

AWESOME Mikabike! Best thing I've read in the forums in a while; it's funny, inspiring, and I really admire the changes you're making. It's not easy to start and keep up what you're doing. YAY for YOU!!

Mikabike

It's in my sig.

Roody

I think tires support more weight at their maximum pressure. Check the sidewalls and inflate to the max.

pritt_john

Great Job. Just remember to keep the positive attitude and you will go far.

John

Big Lug

The max PSI on my hoss dee lux is a 26 2.2 and my max is 65 an i use it when i ride on the road to make less rolling resistence (sp) but 65-70 psi will be fine! It will make a big difference also!

Gibbygoo

How's the progress Mikabike? Keep it up man. You are an inspiration to us all.

Mikabike

My left ankle is hurt and stiff so I have been trying to take it easy and keep weight off it this week.

givempills

HEY FOLKS.....Hey pwdr...i saw those pics...you change tires and rims like crazy.....i've seen more pics off your bike with diff rims/tires and pedals...holy crap man....i love that stuff though....keep it up......talk to me about chain cleaners...i want to buy that park contraption that the chains runs through and ya got the degreasers and the brushes and all that...really exciting.......do they take off white lightning...i like that stuff...Holla back

Gazoo

Mikabik,

Are ya feeling better yet?!?!?

Mikabike

Just got back from spending mothers day at my parents and I decided to test my ankles strength on the bike since I haven't rode in several days. I don't want to re-injure it so I took it easy and just rode around a little on the level area in the parking lot. I noticed that the tires were flattening against the road a little and I decided to check the air pressure.

You see, the bike hasn't had any air added since they gassed up the tires for my test ride when I bought it. And I think he just inflated em enough to make it rideable.

I picked up a presta adapter and threw my trusty old psi gauge on it and found I was running about 20psi front and rear!!!!!! And at that PSI the tires still 'felt' inflated when I pushed on em. I guess the steel belting in these tires makes em feel stiff and full even when they need air.

So I broke out my 2 way micro pump and put about 40 pumps on the rear. That should bring it up to 40psi I thought. Nope, it added 3lbs. So about 150 pumps later I've got both front and rear up around the 40psi mark and now my arms are ready to fall off. I got more of a workout pumping the air than I did riding. Go figure.

I am ordering a powered air compressor (the mini kind) off the web and air the tires up to 60 when it comes in.

So, 20-25psi + 560lbs = fatigue, terrible efficiency, and hard to control.

Also, I read somewhere that your supposed to air the tires up before each ride, something about the valves not being meant to hold air indefinately. I don't know about that but it's obvious to me now that 3 weeks without air was too much.

My ankle is still bothering me, even with me taking it easy this week. I tell ya, when you get big, it takes forever for leg injuries to heal. Maybe I'll get an anti inflam from my doctor but I don't want to let him know what I'm doing yet. I want to surprise him. For now I guess advil will have to do.

Sorry for the lack of updates. My momentum is faltering a little after the hectic first few rides and weeks but I assure you this isn't a temporary endevour. I knew it wasn't going to be easy to do this so I'm prepared for these little hang ups. Because I know I like riding and I will keep doing it.

Nox

Thats awesome Mike. I usually find waiting out those injuries are one of the harder things to do. And as soon as u can go back you dont feel that motivation anymore. So you gota keep at it. But not to hard or you will make it worse and you will be taking off some more time

Gazoo

Glad you're feeling better...maybe you could do some strengthening exercises for your joints etc....maybe seeing a good physio-therapist might help you reach your goals?!?!!?

Keep goin man...I'm with ya..

I lost about 80lbs in my early 20's...and I know it's hard!!!

But keep in mind its easier now than when you'll be 35 or 40

Moonshot

Mike,

You're doing great! What kind of immediate goals do you have?

Have you thought about riding the Katy Trail in Dallas?

schickdog

Mike, EXCELLENT job, man... excellent job. Keep it up, think LONG term, keep your eye on the prize. I'm proud of you.

If I might include some advice, include some stretching. Make it an everyday thing. It will help immensly in the long run.

As far as the ankle, here's a quick exercise to help; pretend your big toe is a pencil, then write the alphabet with your toes. all the movement will help loosen tendons and ligaments and speed recovery.

Again, AWESOME friggin job. People don't quit when things are easy, they quit when things get hard. A human's measure is determined during such times of adversity and challenge.

Mikabike

Well my goal/game plan is something like this with respect to the cycling.

I've already done over a mile non stop that's my first milestone (aside from riding period!)

My next is to do 2 miles, then 3, then 4 etc until I build up to 15.

I need to be able to ride 15 miles averaging over 10mph with 1 break in order to do the 'beginner' bike ride for the Plano Cycling association.

My first goal healthwise is to walk into the doctors office with a very smug expression, tell my doctor how much weight I've lost and tell him surgery isn't the answer. Once that's done I'll seek the medical help to help me reach my goals. Namely anti inflamatories and testing. I would like to know what my BMI is so that I have something to go off. I may plateau or even gain weight on my journey and it would be nice to know how much muscle I've gained.

Basicly I am personally curious how out of shape I am medically, so I have something to compare to in order to see my improvements. I also want to make sure I don't over train and hurt myself. My pain threshold is a little weird, suffice to say it's hard for me to tell if an injury is serious or not. For an example I dislocated my knee cap last year and didn't realize it for months. I thought my knee was just stiff. I strengthened my knee by exercise to tighten the tendons that hold it in place so it wouldn't keep popping to the side. It's not that I don't feel pain, just that I tend to ignore it some times, and other times it bothers me even if it's a minor problem. I'm just weird like that.

My ankle has some tendon problem on the outside where it wraps around the ankle back around under my heel. Think "fat man standing on ice skates" the wobbly ankle, it's like that. The fact that I spent a week in a training class in a seat that was much much much too short, forcing me to cross my legs under me and never being able to take my weight off my feet, even while sitting, didn't help much.

Another way of looking at my 'goal' is to keep on keeping on, not fail, and live without guilt.

Also, with the training and different schedule, stress etc I slipped back into a few 'unhealthy' meals, ok a lot of em hehe. But I haven't gained any weight thank god. But I haven't lost any last week either. Then again I woke up at 10:30 today, went to my parents, hung out, went riding at 4:30 or so all without eating anything. I just wasn't hungry. I find if I deny my impulses it builds em up until I really go impulsive eating. So I let it slide when I really need to, but still keep some control and not go completely overboard. I think for me at least the guilt is the worst thing, so I try not to feed my guilt. I'm not 'dieting' after all, I'm making permanent changes and a few steaks aren't going to change that.

Pedal Wench

Great job, Mike. Keep up the work, and more importantly, the updates! We're all cheering for you!

I hate to offer an opinion that wasn't asked for, but here goes. I know (and understand why) you don't want to go to your doctor until you have a significant improvement. However, it seems that you might benefit from the guidance of a good, supportive medical expert - someone who could help with your joint issues and make sure you don't overdue it, or even undertrain. We just all want to see you be successful, and not let injuries sideline your progress.

Keep us all posted!

lilHinault

Here's something else you can do that's almost up there with bike riding for general fitness, the concept2 rowing machine! www.concept2.com

It's a very well-made machine, not one of those hokey rowers, and it's kind of an underground thing that's not well known yet, was invented, and perfected, by Olympic type rowers over the years, same guys/company makes the best oars...

Anyway, go to the web site, tell them your story, they'll send you some stuff about it, heck knowing them they may help you out getting of the machines.

Rowing is a lot like cycling, aerobic and anaerobic, and you get the same "charge" out of doing a good 5k on a rower as from a good bike ride. You get some feedback right away, since you know your time for a 1k, 2k, 5k, whatever distance you choose, so you can see your progress. There's an Internet site (www.row2k.com) where you can compare your times with others' around the country, the concept2 rowing fraternity is a pretty cool cult!

So why am I writing about this here? Because, it's another low-impact, aerobic/anaerobic exercise, and it's pretty easy on the body - much much more so than walking, running. Probably easier for someone really overweight to do than biking (horrors! Whip me with a wet noodle!) and the idea is to get back in shape and this is an excellent weapon to add to your arsenel.

Personally, using the rower, the only trouble areas I've found is, if I wear shorts with a seam, the seam can irritate my tailbone. That has to be watched out for, a lot of rowers just wear bike shorts. Another trouble area, and this occurs in the boat too, is various interactions between the back of the calves and parts of the rowing machine or boat. Tall socks can be a big help here! Being a small and pretty flexible, if chunky these days, female, I end up with front edge of the sliding seat on the rowing machine hitting the backs of my ankles, where that big tendon is. I keep vowing to sand down that edge on the gym's machine but haven't yet hehe. Unless you're really flexible, you probably won't experience this.

This machine is a Godsend not only for every country's Olympic etc rowing team, there are numerous people who have gotten quite overweight, and used it to get back in shape, so you might want to look into this.

Your story here is very inspiring!

Treespeed

Mikabike,
you rock! It's so cool that you are sharing all of your trials with the rest of us.

I had a suggestion for your ankle recovery, though I can understand if you aren't too excited by the idea which is swimming. Even when I got heavy and had injured my ankle I could still swim or even walk in the pool as the water would take most of my weight. I am lucky as there is a huge pool right by my work that is almost always empty so I don't have to worry about scaring the kids when I strip down to my speedo. Again, just a suggestion, thought it might be nice for you to move without getting beat up.

-Marcus.

Gazoo

Mike,

Marcus probably has a great idea for cross-training with that hurt ankle!!

Mikabike

Oh yeah, pools are real nice. The only place I can take all the weight off all at once and let my body unwind. And my belly serves as a flotation device in case of beer ingestion. I'm not too self conscious about getting in the pool with strangers, and I live in an apartment that has a pool. I just don't like certain aspects of it like the chlorine and such. I'm really sensitive to stuff like that. Good idea though. If I ever get a house I'm all about the hot tub though.

Well I don't know if I'm sick or if it's allergies but I'm uber sick today, dry cough, sore throat, fever, you name it. The funny thing is I was fine at 5PM last night, I even went riding a bit. Woke up this morning and I was sick as a dog.

I ordered my electric tire inflator off the web. Yeah yeah everybody was like "get a floor pump" etc. But those floor pumps cost as much or more as an electric one. And I do like to take my SUV off the trail sometimes and it would be nice to let some air out when I'm in the sandy stuff and be able to pump back up without hunting for a service station. Its also a portable inverter with AC plugs on it too.

Treespeed

Gazoo,

What's up? I was replying with a suggestion for Mike's ankle trouble:

My ankle has some tendon problem on the outside where it wraps around the ankle back around under my heel. Think "fat man standing on ice skates" the wobbly ankle, it's like that. The fact that I spent a week in a training class in a seat that was much much much too short, forcing me to cross my legs under me and never being able to take my weight off my feet, even while sitting, didn't help much.

Obviously he has a lot more going on than that. I was just trying to give him an idea for something to help him recover so he could get back on the bike. Are the sarcasm and double exclammation points really neccessary?

-Marcus.