This will hurt

Corporate Camper

Hello!

When I logged in to the forum it said my last visit was in June 2013... I've barey been near a bike since then and I've put somewhere in the reigion of 5-6 stone on in weight (and I was a fatty back then too).

So today I've brought my bike to work in the car and I'll ride home (maybe 14 miles ish).

I decided not to risk folding my CAAD8 up like a piece of Origami, so on the last C2W scheme I opted for a Trek 29'er, I'll ride that until I feel "right" about getting back on a road bike.

essex-commuter

Well done!!


(getting back into it I mean, not the weight gain!)

stu-bim

Congrats on making the change and not just thinking about it

gingaman

Well done and good luck.

veronese68

As above, well done.

Corporate Camper

Thanks all. I'm actually feeling pretty nervous about it, and I'd be lying if I said that I wasn't tempted to stuff the bike back in the car and drive it home!

I'm determined to sort myself out though, I went from 18st to almost 24st and right now I'm about 22.5st so there is plenty of work to do.

Ian.B

If you don't do it now you'll have the forum to answer to!

Think how pleased you will be when you get home and you've overcome the mental hurdle of doing it for the first time - and let us know how you get on!

hegyestomi

You will grin widely in the sun, you probably picked the best day to restart it!
Enjoy the lovely weather, look out for "blinded" drivers! 8)

cookeeemonster

Gonna be hard for the first week or two but get into a rhythm and you'll be fine.

Good luck!!

veronese68

I would add that you should pick and choose your days at first. Tonight and tomorrow morning should be fine and dry, tomorrow night not so much.

meanredspider

Very cool - well done!

Corporate Camper

Mission accomplished :-)
15.87 miles but I found it really hard going. Some of the route is off road (Sustrans route 51) but a lot of it is on road, nobbly tyres (even 29er's) just seem to sap energy.

I did it, but realistically I would have been better getting smaller rides in first. I'll do it again for sure, building up to regularly. Feels good now, almost destroyed my soul at the time!

meanredspider

Well done. Because you're going to do it regularly, ditch the nobblies

Corporate Camper

Yes, I think that's a must. Really I need to be back on the road bike again, the route via the road isn't much longer but I want to drop a couple of stone first.

veronese68

Excellent, well done. Get some tyres with a smooth ridge in the middle and some knobs on the side for on and off road use. Not sure what's good in 29er but I have Marathon Cross on my old hack and they are a reasonable compromise.

Corporate Camper

I used to have Continental Double Fighter II's on an old Marin, they rolled well but I don't think they do them in 29

stu-bim

Good work

tlw1

great and def not easy start

Wheelspinner

Continental Speed King tyres are about the fastest roller in a 29'er MTB tyre I think, light enough, but not cheap:

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/au/en/continental-speed-king-ii-mtb-tyre-racesport/rp-prod109873

or there's these sort of thing:

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/au/en/continental-travel-contact-reflex-road-tyre/rp-prod18827 which would be a decent compromise perhaps for road/trail use?

WELL DONE, btw... most impressed you picked mid winter to get started again. That's commitment!

merkin

Well done that man.
Great time of year to do it too. Spring is on the way, never mind that mid winter stuff.

Manc33

Sore bum for you.

I sat on my ass for 10 years smoking, eating crap... well in 2010 when I got a MTB again (after about a 10 years break from touching a bicycle or any exercise) I started off going down the canal and I swear I used to do like a 3.5 mile ride down the canal, I could barely get up those tiny hills next to the locks in the lowest gear of a MTB... my average speed used to be 8.5MPH and only doing that one 3.5 mile ride I used to be yawning for 2 or 3 days after it, unable to even do a ride on those days.

It is soul destroying at first but after a few months you'll look up a hill you used to cringe at and want to get up it, yes want.

That feeling when you get up a certain hill and aren't out of breath at the top... thats when its time to push a bit harder next time and make yourself get out of breath doing it. In the beginning you're out of breath just looking at a bike, I was. :oops:

gingaman

Manc33 wrote:

Sore bum for you.

I sat on my ass for 10 years smoking, eating crap... well in 2010 when I got a MTB again (after about a 10 years break from touching a bicycle or any exercise) I started off going down the canal and I swear I used to do like a 3.5 mile ride down the canal, I could barely get up those tiny hills next to the locks in the lowest gear of a MTB... my average speed used to be 8.5MPH and only doing that one 3.5 mile ride I used to be yawning for 2 or 3 days after it, unable to even do a ride on those days.

It is soul destroying at first but after a few months you'll look up a hill you used to cringe at and want to get up it, yes want.

That feeling when you get up a certain hill and aren't out of breath at the top... thats when its time to push a bit harder next time and make yourself get out of breath doing it. In the beginning you're out of breath just looking at a bike, I was. :oops:

Good post, not a conspiracy in sight

Well done OP and Manc33, for getting off your asses and onto the bike. I did similar about 18 months ago, after eating crap and not looking after myself since school really. Now I'm still (slightly) portly, but much healthier, and can go riding for hours on road or trail.

Deciding to actually get out and do it is the hard part. Once you can drum up the motivatation, even in crappy weather, you will want to do it more and more. I haven't taken public transport in well over a year!

Corporate Camper

Thanks for the support all!

I didn't repeat the trip last week, but I did ride home from work yesterday and back in this morning so that's an extra 30 miles on the clock. I do feel pretty good afterwards, but struggling a bit during (and I'm slooow).

Still, I'm doing it, hopefully by the time more summer commuters appear on my route I'll be a little more up to respectable speed.

The Rookie

Look out for some CX Smart Sam's or Kenda small block 8's, narrower than MTB tyres for less drag and both are fast rolling.

The Mountain King is not fast rolling, the speed king is much faster rolling but but not a patch on the above.