Here I go again, another attempt to get back into shape. First a little history, I was fat, I got into shape, I raced road and mountain bikes and made it to cat 3 on the road bike.

My racing "career" came to an abrupt end when I found out that I needed knee surgery about two years ago. My first two surgeries did not go well and left me with two screwed up knees. After the surgeries my surgeon told me that my riding days were over so I sold all my bikes and went on with life. I finally decided to get a new surgeon and had both of my knees operated on again. I was told that I would probably be able to ride but only on flat ground. In WV riding flat ground really isn't an option so I wasn't too hopeful.

On July 4th I decided to go against my doctors suggestion, I jumped on the bike for a short 18 mile test ride. It about killed me but my knees held up fine. The worst part was that I was 260 pounds at this point.

Anyway, it's been almost three months since I got back on the bike. I am down to 233 pounds and I have ridden 1,150 miles so far, including an impromptu solo century. My knees are doing pretty well on the bike but they still ache just about all of the time. At my last doctor visit the surgeon told me to keep it up and with each pound I lose my knees will feel better.

I realize that I will never race again but I am hoping to be able to hold my own on fast group rides. My goal is 180 pounds and then see if I want to lose any more or if I am happy with myself at that point.

If anyone is interested here is a link to my Garmin dashboard showing most of my rides.

Here is a very embarassing "before" picture. This picture was taken right around July 2nd.

I wouldn't call that an embarrassing photo. Stuff happens.
There is plenty of fun to be had without racing. I wish you the best of luck.

Thanks, I appreciate it. It is still embarrassing though, this is most definitely not how I want to look and feel. I am doing my best to change it though, it's just going to take some time.

Here is my ride data from today. I screwed up and forgot to turn the garmin back on after the last regroup and lost the final six miles of the ride. https://connect.garmin.com/activity/51071084

I know the feeling.
My daily lunch ride is 19 miles with 500 feet of climbing. You can do a lot with shorter rides.
I use mine for all kinds of fun. Have fun and you will stick with it IMHO.

Congrats! Keep up the good work!

Thank ya.

Did sort of a short ride today, kind of an active recovery day. This was my first day using my new Sidi Ergo 2's and I didn't have them adjusted just right. Hopefully they will feel better tomorrow.

Here is today's ride data.

Can't really tell by this picture but I have lost almost 30 pounds since the picture in the first post was taken. I weighed in today at 231, down 29 pounds since the beginning of July.

Cool. Keep at it!

Today's ride hurt me. It wasn't extremely fast but it still hurt, especially the climb around mile 27.

https://connect.garmin.com/activity/51430736

Congrats man, keep it up. Been tracking you via the garmin thread, and your rides have been improving nicely. Really love your bike too!

Thank you, I appreciate it.

Best of luck man, I'm also at ~230 and have a ways to go. We can do it.

Thanks and best of luck to you as well.

Today makes three months since I got back on the bike. So far I have managed to ride 1,273 miles and I have lost 29 pounds. Not too bad for a guy that was told that his riding days were over.

Past couple of days have been nice boring trainer days. Woooohooooo.....

Yesterday - https://connect.garmin.com/activity/51856872
Today - https://connect.garmin.com/activity/51856867

As of yesterday I have lost a 30 pounds, woohoooo!!!!

Good job on your progress Locell. Keep up the good work. You said how your knees hurt less as you lose weight. I recall reading someplace the amount of impact each lb of body weight puts on the feet. It was impressively large. I would guess that knees take a pounding too. The lighter you get the better. I would think that if you can notice it with moderate weight loss, that once you get down to your target weight, almost all of your pain will be gone.

IMO, I would have passed on the knee surgery, and just lighten up the load/pace or whatever on the knees.. Example, a couple decades ago, I could run long distances.. I was runnning about 5 times a week. After a couple years of that, and getting some knee pain, the docs told me my cartlidge was SHOT, and that I needed surgery. Also, I had the option to stop running. I choose to stop running..End result, my knees are still there, no surgery. No I can't run those long distances, but I can still run, and now riding the bicycle.

Since you have already had the surgery, I will stick with a workout/weight training program that targets losing weight. and go from there..

Once again, surgery should be the last, last, and really last resort..

Luck to you...

I was 230 also before(I'm 5'7") and it flat-out SUCKED. I'm now a ripped 165 and now realize the absolute WORST thing you can do to yourself is injury. Welcome back!

I needed minor knee surgery a few years ago, but had to get up on my doctor's desk to get him to order the MRI. He kept saying, "but no one could do what you do if they had a torn meniscus. It's not worth the money." I was right, he was wrong. Happens.

Glad you're feeling better. Keep at it. You know what to do.

Sounds like what Lowcel needed was more than minor surgery. It's hard to say what's right for someone unless you are in their shoes. It does sound like the first Surgeon messed things up, but complications happen all the time. Glad to hear you're finally on the road to recovery and fitness!

The question is though - are you still dabbling in RC cars?

I've still got a few rc cars but I am about ready to start putting them up for sale. Who knows, might end up with enough to pick up a Quarg crankset.

Thought I would post a quick update for the week. I had a few really nice rides last week so I have decided to take today off.

■Monday – 13 mile mtb ride, first mtb ride in about four years
■Tuesday – 25 mile group night ride, had a blast. First night road ride.
■Wednesday – 19 mile group ride, short and sweet.
■Thursday – 25 mile solo ride, partly a night ride
■Friday – rest day
■Saturday – 44 mile group ride
■Sunday – 44 mile solo ride

All in all it was a great week of riding. I’ve lost a little more weight, 33 pounds to be exact, only 47 pounds to go.

Keep the work up! I'm tryin to lose me some weight too with the goal of 190 as well!