New member, new(ish) bike, general advice please!!

andy_jeffries

Hi All!!

Have decided to get back into bikeing after a long lay off with the aim to firstly loose weight then get on to a bit of the more advanced stuff..

I did not not want to spend alot of money to start off with as I am not sure if I can still hack it/enjoy it!

Ayways... set a budget of £200 and set about hunting eBay etc and ended up with this...



It's a GT XCR 4000 in pretty good condition and the rear has been adapted to run a disk brake..

I have had a look around the bike at the gear thats on it and can tell it has these bits (I think!)

Rock Shox Judy front/rear shocks.
Shimano Alivio front and rear mech
Hydralic disk brakes off a Giant (has MPH on the calipers and giant logo on leavers)

There are other bits that are non standard but think the bits above are the important ones?

Anyways, have set up the i-drive for my current weight and been on a ride from home to work to see how I would cope, and all is well I think!

The main question is that the ride is 1.5 miles each way and I will be doing this 5 days a week. Will I actually burn any fat off?

Also, how good is the bike? will it do the road riding ok and how would it fair on the tougher stuff if I get that far!?

Thats about if for now, many thanks
Andy

supersonic

If you pedal hard you will burn fat off lol. But it is quite a short distance, and a bike like this is not really made for the roads. That could be a good thing tough...

I tested one of these bikes when they first came out and loved it. Are a bit heavy, and complex bearings, but feel so good to ride. The suspension is excellent.

Keep on top of the maintenance and it will serve you well.

robertpb

You will need to do a fair few more miles to see the weight come off.

Your current distance would probably only burn off 1lb every 4 or 5 weeks.

Now if you went out and did 15 miles of trails over the weekend then that would start to make a difference.

underdog

robertpb wrote:

Now if you went out and did 15 miles of trails over the weekend then that would start to make a difference.

Very true, riding a trail once a week with a bit of natural stuff inbetween is making me lose a few lbs every week, wasn't my intention, just a natural result of having a bloody good laugh on a bike I guess

joec1

yea, at the end of the day, you may burn off less by only riding a small amount,

but its still something... so dont be disheartened.

if your anywhere near Wilts, your welcome to come out with Setting a Scene (link below) we ride "beginner" routes all over the place, at steady paces.

FunBus

Also, on the geeky side of sports nutrition you could look to do some fat burning excercise rather than muscle building.

easiest way to do that is not eat after 8pm, drink water or low calorie sports drink (eg, High 5 Zero) and ride to work before breakfast on an empty stomach. This way your body will not have any carbs to burn - just fat! You should limit this to an hour, so why not take the long way to work?

andy_jeffries

Thanks for all the replys and advice so far!

Just to give you a bit of an insight to my plans with the bike I do plan to move onto more of the off road stuff and some nice hills as thats what I used to enjoy when I was younger.

I got my distances all wrong with the ride to work and it looks to be closer to 2.5 miles each way but I dont always plan on rideing the shortest route.

I am quite lucky in that my house backs on to a nature reserve and has many miles of paths trails and other interesting stuff that I will investigate as time goes on!

I have looked at a good testing route to start with that would contain a bit of an off road section, a few large hills and some gradual climes and after I get a bit more general fitness back will look to extend the ride home as I live in quite a rural area so can be in the middle of nowhere in no time!

I just wanted to add also that I do go to the gym when I can and play golf alot so the cycling is not going to be my only form of exercise, due to my job I dont always get a chance to go to the gym or play golf so if I can get half hours light exercise in 5 days a week it should help get me back into shape!

once again thanks for all the advice - Have also managed to find a nice local bike shop that will service my bike for £25, hopefully nothing is broke but will find that out later!

Andy