45 year old, fat, newbie commuter needs advise please

Nik Cube

Hills !!

They are what the good lord gave us to ride up and make riding fun!
The best bit of cycling is leg burn coupled with being unable to suck enough air into your lungs added to a feeling of nausea - how could anyone mistake this for not being fun?

fatboybiker

walkingbootweather wrote:

cycladianpirate wrote:

Fatboy,

Anyone got in touch with you about the film rights to this saga yet???

I can see it now. Colin Firth receives his 3rd consecutive Oscar for his moving portrayal of “Fat boy's lunch-box”

Seriously, there are many of us here who are, or have been, “built for comfort rather than speed”. The more cycling you do the more comfortable it becomes, and pretty soon you learn that proper cycle kit (perhaps under casual clothes), and cycle shoes make sense.

the thought of my feet being connected to pedals with cleats bothers me..... not sure I could 'fasten' myself to the bike like that

Kieran_Burns

FBB - check your saddle level to check for numbnuts. If it's tilted back slightly you'll be putting too much pressure on the meat and two veg.

As for your feet, remember to position your feet on the pedals so the ball of your foot is in the centre of the pedal - this means your calves will be working as well.

I think you'll find you've been pushing with the instep and this is causing the numbness.

Agent57

fatboybiker wrote:

Is there anywhere to view peoples cam corder full length commutes?

Herer are a couple of mine:

Morning commute again
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pbcgwq2Ia7U

The scenic route home
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Np3sbXKjA74

bdave262000

I started commuting about 18 months ago, as I was hitting the scales at over 20st I thought I'd start of easy as its a 25mile round trip. Was going to do a trial run on a weekend first but never got round to it, always had an excuse to put it off, so decided one Thursday evening to just do it. Did it on the Friday morning and gave myself plenty of time to get into the office. First commute took me 1.5 hours and my face was a red as a cherry when I got into work, built up to two days a week gradually reducing my time although did not seem to be losing any weight.

Started three days a week then could feel a big change in my fitness and the weight started to drop. Now down to 17.5st and journey time down to about 55min.

My best advise would be to make sure you have all your stuff ready the night before, clothes packed, towel for if you have a shower at work, riding clothes ready and laid out, water bottle full and bike ready, this spurs me on to get on my bike, because its quicker to get on your bike than start unpacking your bag again.

Good luck.

posh_pedaller

Was gong to start a new thread about this but then thought might as well hijack this one, this is becoming the source of info for newbie commuters.
Just started a new job, currently taking PT but the buses are so godawful I've already been late in twice so looking to bike it. Thing is there are now showers in my new workplace and although the place is getting refurbished in a month or two, I haven't been able to find out if this'll include showers being put in.
My question is how do you guys get/stay 'fresh' for your desk? Although I'm not directly interfacing with customers it won't be pleasant for everyone else to have my shweaty body sat next to them!

Agent57

posh_pedaller wrote:

My question is how do you guys get/stay 'fresh' for your desk? Although I'm not directly interfacing with customers it won't be pleasant for everyone else to have my shweaty body sat next to them!

I've never found it a problem. For a start, the sweat your body produces to cool itself down isn't the sweat that bacteria feed on and causes a stink (the cooling sweat is watery, and the other sweat is fatty, IIRC. Apocrine vs. endocrine or somesuch). Besides, you can always ride a bit more slowly, or wear fewer clothes so you don't work up such a sweat.

sketchley

@PP depends how long is your journey?

If not too long a shower before leaving, clean cycling clothing (no smelly not washed for a while kit) then a clean towel, fresh clothes, deoderant etc at the other end will be fine. The simple wash hand and face in sink (disabled toilet is good for this) spray deoderant and off you go, make sure you have cooled down first and stopped sweating before you change.

Odd thing I notice is that I sweat a lot on PT (London Tube) any way particuarly in summer when I think I freshers having cycled in although I do have shower at work.

If journey too long then join local gym near work and use there showers, also check out council run sport centres, unviversity gyms, tennis or squash clubs etc etc about using thier facilities to shower in morning as they are not likely to be busy at that time of day.

iainment

and the old standby for a workplace with no showers is babywipes to clean yourself when you get in.

Crawler2

+1 on the baby wipes.

mudcow007

my daily commute is only 5 or 6 miles an tend to not push hard on the way to work, so not sweaty but on the way home its push all the way

i get changed when i get to work an wash my face in the sink in the toilets in work, cools me right down, no stinky danny!

we do have showers here but they need to get fumigated they are rank

Kieran_Burns

iainment wrote:

and the old standby for a workplace with no showers is babywipes to clean yourself when you get in.

+ loads.

It's the bacteria that make you smell; anti-bacterial wipes are a God-send

but you must cool down first, it's a bleeding nightmare trying to get dressed when you're still... glowing.

Oh yeah, I always wear WHITE shirts on cycling days - dark shirts REALLY show up the wet bits.

EKE_38BPM

iainment wrote:

and the old standby for a workplace with no showers is babywipes to clean yourself when you get in.

Baby wipes are your friend. Good for a quick once over before work, good for wiping your hands after a bit of fettling, good for giving the bike a quick clean after a ride.

If you fiddle with your saddle and still get numbnuts, consider going to a bike shop which sells Specialized saddles. They usually have a foam thing that you sit on and when you get up it leaves an indentation where your sit bones are. The width of your sit bones can be used to point you at a suitable saddle.

If all of that doesn't help, you may need to get your bike Whispered to get it set up correctly for you.

A 10.5 mile hilly country commute sounds like heaven to me and I'm sure most of us on here.

fatboybiker

another day another post.....

RE numbnuts.. The info given was invaluable, thanks. Had a quick check of my seat and it was pointing upwards by nearly an inch... so a couple of minutes fettling with the allen bolts at the front and back to tilt it flat has sorted it... NO numbnuts today

As for today... decided to get up and go for it again and had no real problems. I am doing the 8 miles in 35 minutes. I'm not saying it isn't hard work for me because it is (jeez I am so unfit.....) and I imagine it'll be a long time before it gets easy (what do you guys think?)

Having said that I really pushed myself hard tonight for most of the ride coming home and did a 30minute trip.... I only felt like death for 10 minutes after I got in, but not sure if I can do that again at this early stage.

As for the keeping fresh thing, that was a big concern for me initially but I shower before I set out and wash when I get to work. I've not gone down the route of buying any 'proper' biking clothing yet as, decent clothing is expensive, and til I loose a few ounces I dont wanna.....

nickel

I wouldnt worry about the 10.5 mile commute, in 9 weeks time you'll probably start wishing it was longer :P

Also an ascent of 590ft may sound a lot but spaced over 10 and a half miles you'll soon realise it's not that bad (unless of course the elevation profile is mainly flat with one big 500 ft hill!).

fatboybiker

Hope this works.... first attempt at putting a pic on.

this is the elevation profile for the route I may have to be taking in 8 weeks time.. as I said 95 % country roads and hills :shock: . someone commented that that would be good news to most people on here.... I was worried about retards blasting round ountry roads ! Am I worrying needlessly ????


http://www.flickr.com/photos/59992129@N02/5489103185/

fatboybiker

How the bloody hell do I get the pic to display :evil:

jonginge

They need to end in a recognized picture extension for the forum software to pick them up.

Go to your pic in flickr, click the 'Share this' button and select 'Grab the HTML/BBCODE'. Cut and paste into your post...

[ url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/59992129@N02/5489103185/][ img]http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5292/5489103185_aa478a5496.jpg[/img ][/url ]

Remove the spaces inside the square brackets above and you get:

fatboybiker

beltin'

thanks

fatboybiker

fatboybiker wrote:

Just found this..... sweet memories... unfortunately not mine some lucky guy owns this.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/59992129@N02/5478706826/

I rode hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of miles around east yorkshire on this bike (well one like it) in around the very early 80's and loved it and cleaned it meticulously ..... until some theiving scrote decided to help themselves to it from outside the local swimming baths while we were inside playing on the latest in video games Galaxians. (even at the age of 15 I cried ).

:twisted: I hope the thief got a puncture whilst riding it and was mangled in excrutiating pain beneath the wheels of a truck :twisted: .

bsa javelin by fatboybiker, on Flickr


here's the old ironing board I first learned to ride...

Pg20

hi, was in a similar position as you about a year ago. 16st and clinically obese! Bought a Marin bobcat trail and have to say it's changed my life. My cycle to work is a 26 mile round trip and includes busy a roads, b roads and dirt track. I love it and I'm now down to 13 st and lost 4 inches from my waist line. Go for it you won't look back. Also ride on the ridgeway at weekends and doing the hnc in April

Nik Cube

Top bloke keep it up

fatboybiker

Pg20 wrote:

hi, was in a similar position as you about a year ago. 16st and clinically obese! Bought a Marin bobcat trail and have to say it's changed my life. My cycle to work is a 26 mile round trip and includes busy a roads, b roads and dirt track. I love it and I'm now down to 13 st and lost 4 inches from my waist line. Go for it you won't look back. Also ride on the ridgeway at weekends and doing the hnc in April

Do you use road MTB tyres or are you on knobblies.... I ask because I'm looking at some schwalbe city jet tyres as replacement for the ones my Specialized came with, Specialized Fast Trak LK Sport, 26x2.0", 60TPI, wire bead. these are lightly knobbly so I'm not sure if changing them will make my ride better or quicker.

nickel

fatboybiker wrote:

Pg20 wrote:

hi, was in a similar position as you about a year ago. 16st and clinically obese! Bought a Marin bobcat trail and have to say it's changed my life. My cycle to work is a 26 mile round trip and includes busy a roads, b roads and dirt track. I love it and I'm now down to 13 st and lost 4 inches from my waist line. Go for it you won't look back. Also ride on the ridgeway at weekends and doing the hnc in April

Do you use road MTB tyres or are you on knobblies.... I ask because I'm looking at some schwalbe city jet tyres as replacement for the ones my Specialized came with, Specialized Fast Trak LK Sport, 26x2.0", 60TPI, wire bead. these are lightly knobbly so I'm not sure if changing them will make my ride better or quicker.

I have the same bike and switched from the standard spesh tyres to city jets for commuting/road riding when I'm at uni. Trust me if you get the 1.5" slicks you wont believe how much easier it'll make riding, think my average speed with my fast track tyres was around 15.5mph, with my city jets its around 17 or up to about 18 and half if i really push it. Also I've done about 1000 miles over the past 4 or so months with them and not a single puncture yet! (Definately jynxed myself there! :P)

flipp

have a look at swahlbe speed cruisers ,I have used them for app 1500 miles(only one puncture which i didn't notice due to slime)they have a slightly wider profile than city jets which a friend uses and they feel really stable in all weathers and feel fast and comfy.

Initialised

fatboybiker wrote:

Do you use road MTB tyres or are you on knobblies.... I ask because I'm looking at some schwalbe city jet tyres as replacement for the ones my Specialized came with, Specialized Fast Trak LK Sport, 26x2.0", 60TPI, wire bead. these are lightly knobbly so I'm not sure if changing them will make my ride better or quicker.

I've just switched back from Conti Explorer to DF2 (knobly at the edge), in time for the frost this morning, definitely faster on semi slicks. I've been eying up the City Jets as my next summer tyre.

fatboybiker

1 pair City Jets 26 x 1.5 ordered....£18.95 with free delivery. BARGAIN ME THINKS

I already use slimes inside my current tyres.

noodles71

All I can say to help that needs to be reinforced is......

Don't pass any large vehicle/Bus/HGV/Lorry unless you are 100% sure you know exactly what it is doing.

Sorry to shout but....

DON'T PASS ANY LARGE VEHICLE/BUS/LORRY/HGV UNLESS YOU KNOW 100% WHAT IT IS DOING.

This is my best advice for anyone starting out. Learnt from 9 years central London commuting experience and coming across two fatals and witnessing another 2 extremely close near misses. 10cm each time was the difference between having a f**ked bike or being turned into chutney and a f**ked bike.

Rely a bit less too on the road laws and instead pay attention to the laws of physics. Just because they have to give way to you doesn't mean they will. Always assume they will pull out, pass or open their bloody drivers side door. And if you see someone hailing a cab on your side of the road then look out, the cabbie will be half asleep and not give a rats about cutting you up.

nickel

fatboybiker wrote:

1 pair City Jets 26 x 1.5 ordered....£18.95 with free delivery. BARGAIN ME THINKS

I already use slimes inside my current tyres.

Something i better add is just be more gentle under braking in wet conditions as they'll lock up more easily than your knobblies, but as long as you do that I've never had any problems with them in the rain.

Dudu

noodles71 wrote:

Rely a bit less too on the road laws and instead pay attention to the laws of physics. Just because they have to give way to you doesn't mean they will. Always assume they will pull out, pass or open their bloody drivers side door. And if you see someone hailing a cab on your side of the road then look out, the cabbie will be half asleep and not give a rats about cutting you up.

+1

Never trust a man with four wheels.