Very Fat bloke looking for advice

Page may contain affiliate links. Please see terms for details.

Arch

Married to Night Train
Location
Salford, UK
richtea78 said:
I realise that 3 miles each way is pretty short but at the moment it seems like a long way!

Yeah, but think about it this way - you're 2/3rds of the way towards doing it already.

When you feel ready to tackle it one way, rememebr that you can probablt work out a way of making it a one way trip - for example, ride in, leave the bike at work (if you can make it secure) get the bus home, get the bus in, ride home. Or take the bike in the car, ride home, ride in, drive home... That way you don't have to worry about not feeling up to riding home the same day.

Assuming you live in a town, you can probably find ways to increment your distance gently - my commute is 1.5 miles each way, but I'm in the early stages of training for something very stupid, so I'm trying to make myself do 10 miles a day instead of 3 - just by looping round different residential streets on the way in and home. Break it down into 'just to the next turning' and it seems easier than if you try and ride x miles along a stretch of country road.

In a week or two, I'll increase the loops a bit again, and then again and so on...
 

allen-uk

New Member
Location
London.
potsy said:
Hardest part is actually making the decision to do it.

That really is the key to ANYTHING you want to do.

People ask how I gave up drink (after being an alcoholic for around 30 years). The answer is, just as potsy said, the decision - inside your head you find a switch marked 'Just do it'. Find the switch, after that it's all easy.


A.
 
OP
OP
R

richtea78

New Member
Thanks for all the messages. I plan to do another 2 miles today but will wait for it to be a bit cooler first.

Gaz - I have read through most of your blog now, I am going to email you with some questions once I finished reading it, hope this is ok.

Can anyone direct me to a simple guide about gearing please as the last bike I rode had one front and 5 rear cogs and this one has a lot more. I know I should be able to understand it but I cant get my head around it and it seems that one minute im struggling like mad the next theres no effort at all.
 
OP
OP
R

richtea78

New Member
shippers said:
3- You're going to end up buying lycra clothing.

One advantage of being a porker is that they dont do cycling gear to fit me so the world is spared the sight of me in Lycra!
 

Arch

Married to Night Train
Location
Salford, UK
richtea78 said:
Thanks for all the messages. I plan to do another 2 miles today but will wait for it to be a bit cooler first.

Gaz - I have read through most of your blog now, I am going to email you with some questions once I finished reading it, hope this is ok.

Can anyone direct me to a simple guide about gearing please as the last bike I rode had one front and 5 rear cogs and this one has a lot more. I know I should be able to understand it but I cant get my head around it and it seems that one minute im struggling like mad the next theres no effort at all.

The late great Sheldon Brown's website is a good place to look for any technical info

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/

What do you have now? 2 or 3 front cogs and 7,8 or 9 rear ones?

The front ones, by the way, are 'chainrings', the rear ones are 'sprockets'.

At the back, the larger the sprocket, the lower the gear - you need to select these for going uphill, or into a bad headwind. The changes between them will be relatively small. At the front, the smaller the ring, the lower the gears - there will probably be a bigger jump between these gears.

It depends on how hilly it is where you live, and of course on your fitness, but I tend to use mainly my middle chainring, and just go up and down a few of the sprockets - 3,4 and 5 get used most. I tend to get down to 2 on the middle, and then if I have to, go down to the smaller chainring, and I still have my very very bottom gear (small ring, and biggest sprocket) if I need it, but by which time, I'm probably walking anyway. Other people have different ideal ways of shifting up and down.

Experiment a bit, and practise changing at the right time so that you don't have to resort to grinding hard. It's better to try and keep your legs spinning at the same rate - that's what the gears are for - as you go up a hill for example, and feel it getting harder, you change down a gear, and your legs carry on turning at about the same rate, but the bike goes slower. (and of course, as you speed up, you change up gear, so that the bike goes faster without you having to spin yor legs in a blur).

Something to avoid is to run your chain between the biggest ring and biggest sprocket (high gear at the front and low at the back), or the smallest and smallest (vice versa) - you don't need to, as you'll have these gears elsewhere (probably on the middle ring), and it's bad for the chain as it makes it run across at a sharp angle.
 

Niche

New Member
Richtea, Just keep riding. If it's 2 miles you can manage, then do two miles, but do it everyday. Soon it will become easier and before you know it you'll be doing 5 miles then 10

Rome really was not built in a day. It's been how many years since you did any regular exercise.

Give yourself a pat on the back for starting things off. But do not push yourself too hard. I fear that if you try to do too much too quickly, you'll throw in the towel
 

potsy

Rambler
Location
My Armchair
RT,I started last year,1st ride back from bike shop was 6 miles and my legs ached for a few days,did similar distances 2 or 3 times a week then went for it,18 mile round trip commute.
It will take time but build up slowly and enjoy it,today I did 36 miles and next Sunday am doing the Manchester to Blackpool 60 miles+,18 months ago I'd have laughed if someone said I'd be doing this.
Weight loss hasn't been great(20lbs or so) but am much fitter anyway.
 

Maizie

Veteran
Location
NE Hertfordshire
Richtea (great name!) - I started with two miles! It turns out the loop road around the estate I live on is two miles. After I'd done that a few times (and discovered you do indeed not forget entirely how to ride a bike), I went a bit further. I came home and my husband wondered what had taken me so long - well, I'd been four miles! Four whole miles!
My next adventure took me to six. And then I was basically goaded in to doing the 10 miles to work, about six weeks after I'd dusted down the bike. There was a bus stop outside the office, and a bus did a route that stopped there and went to the end of my road, so I could get the bus home if need be.
I didn't, but I did take a few rests each way. I couldn't imagine even then that I'd be doing it 3 or 4 times a week, just for the fun of it!

Everyone has already given great advice and I am sure gb155 will have specific useful info for you.

But, don't be bothered by anyone on here who can do 50 miles in 20 minutes. Good for them. Doesn't take anything away from your two miles.
Do your two miles as often as you can, but for these stupidly hot days wait for the evening, or early morning, and drink plenty.

Oh, and the main thing to remember is there are no rules. You can get off and walk up a hill if you want to. You can stop for a rest every five minutes if you want to. Do it your way, enjoy it, and as has been said above 'before you know it...'

By the way, when you do get to do those 3 miles to work (and you will do, I am sure it won't take too long until you can) - be prepared for your colleagues to think you are completely insane. When someone asks how far your ride was, they will be incredulous that any human being can possibly cycle so far...and you get to sit there smiling about the fact that they have no idea just how great it all is, being a cyclist :bravo:
Soon enough you will find that you automatically say it's 'just' three miles or 'only' from Ambridge - makes their admiration of your achievement even better, somehow :wacko:
 

Arch

Married to Night Train
Location
Salford, UK
Maizie said:
Oh, and the main thing to remember is there are no rules.

Ah, except there are...

We haven't mentioned roadcraft. If you haven't cycled for a long time, the roads may be a bit intimidating. If you want to gen up on the best practice for riding on them, get a book called Cyclecraft.

And remember, you do have to stop at red lights, and cycling on a pavement not specially designated as shared use is illegal. If that seems obvious to you, that's good, and apologies for the lesson - I fear a lot of people return to cycling and think that rules don't apply to bikes...

Otherwise, just enjoy it!
 

Crankarm

Guru
Location
Nr Cambridge
Good on you RichTea. Welcome to the rest of your life. Perhaps you could try some walking as well? Go for a brisk evening walk say 45 mins now it's light to well after 9pm.

When you get down to a decent weight you will be filling your panniers with heavy books or bricks to help you build stamina and strength on long rides and hill climbs.

Take it easy. The longest journey begins with a small step. Just keep putting one foot in front of the other.

Ps You could enlist gbb155 as your trainer/nutritionist?
 
richtea78 said:
One advantage of being a porker is that they dont do cycling gear to fit me so the world is spared the sight of me in Lycra!

One day you''ll be in a shop and think "I could buy that, it'll fit me". It might be just undergarments, or it might be something that could be worn as a single skin, but you'll wear as an undergarment.

But you'll wear it!
 

Norm

Guest
richtea78 said:
One advantage of being a porker is that they dont do cycling gear to fit me so the world is spared the sight of me in Lycra!
You'd be surprised. I'm close to 20 stone and I have some lycra (the inners that come with Endura Humvees, I think).

I always wear something else over it, though. :biggrin:
 

shrew

New Member
Location
St Neots , Cambs
Really good job mate, 2 miles is 2 miles, keep at it for 2 months and youll notice a massive difference in your fitness level, the 1st month is the hardest.
its important to keep at it regular, doing 5 miles then nothing for a week is nothing like as good as doing shorter runs a few times a week.
soon enough youll be doing 5 miles with no probles and youll be able to do it a few times a week.
cycling it perfect as it doesnt hammer your joints like many forms of exercise and the cardio workout (heart/lungs) is probably the best form of exercise you can be doing to reduce the risks from being overweight and smoking, it will undo alot of the damage over time.

just keep at it, after a month look back at the gains youve made, and then the 2nd month etc, it really is noticeable )
 
Top Bottom