Fitness

Welcome to all who have an interest in anything cycling of any kind.( road, mountain, commuting, stationary, whatever).

This is the place to come to ask that question you have been wanting to ask,

or tell that story about your latest adventure riding your bike,

find out how to use cycling to get in better shape, or anything else you can think of.

So, to start, tell us, what you ride, where you ride and what type of riding you enjoy.

Come back often too check out what's going on and see what's on everyones mind or add your knowledge to the group. 

 

i worked with a cyclist who ran into a parked POLICE car on the side of the road. was cut up pretty good, but otherwise OK. his bike was toast. and he didn't get a ticket or anything!

lolly, the new bikes sound great!

now, off to my commute!

Coffeelover: Welcome.  That fibromyalgia sounds tough but it looks like you are following through on your resolve to turn your life around.  That's great.  You don't have to be a superstar.  Book some time each week for comfortable rides.  Once you have figured out what you can handle without straining yourself, set some goals.  If it's any help I have been coping with some severe sciatica for the last couple of months.  In a situation like that it's easy to find some comfortable position and just wait out the pain.  But there is good evidence that pushing yourself to do some moderate exercise really helps even though it hurts.  I hope that you have checked out the Arthritis Foundation website.

hi ! I was directed here because i have just started riding a borrowed bike after i started missing my old one.

I LOVE RIDING! my bum is SOOOOO SORE but i just dont stop ... ive got a whole field/park right up my street literally 1 minute a way and i go there everyday to relax and ride.

Great to see otheres who love it too!

i rescued a baby blue jay from the road today! she was huddled in a little ball in the bike lane. i quickly stopped, parked my bike and hustled back to her. she let me scoop her up and carry her to a safe patch of grass. SO, SO cute!

i also rescued a big turtle from the road last week. i've helped a few turtles out of the road in my day, but this one didn't take a swipe at me OR pee on me, so this one was more successful than my other turtle rescues :-)

great ride this morning. 13mph headwind the whole way & i didn't eat before riding, so i was completely spent when i arrived here.

off to the cafeteria...

dan,

How far is your commute?   I'm looking at 36 to 38 miles round trip a day when I start the commute.

And for the $$$ savings, I'm computing them on a daily basis and then deducting that savings from what I spent on my bike and gear.   My goal is to get to where my bike has paid for itself and all the gear I've purchased.

As for the extra nourishment needed, even though I'm notoriously cheap, spending just $1.50+tax a day on lunch... I've found buying some foods and preparing my lunch at work will allow me to eat more without upping my weekly food costs at all.   So I'm considering all the costs involved in commuting since my commute is a little more intense and I'll need the extra fuel for my body.

Who knows if it'll stick with me or not once I get going with it.  But even if I bike just 1 day a week to work, I'll save around $270 a year which is enough to pay for my bi ke, gear, any extra food purchased, and a few bicycle goodies I  have yet to purchase but want (like a seat post mountable rack  that i can easily remove for my weekly big rides with my co-worker.. . and a new light for winter commuting on the way home).

Carri:  I think I'm having second thoughts about the weather site you refered us too.  It says that we will have 20 to 25 mph ground winds with gusts up to 45 mph during the time that I was planning to ride today.  I think I would be happier not knowing that.  ;)

it's DEFINITELY too much information some days! i tell you, i wasn't looking forward to my headwind this morning either.

one neat new feature my husband pointed out : there's a way, if it's showing rain in the forecast, for you to have it show you how much rain is predicted. i was going to bail on my commute because of a 40% chance of morning rain, but when he showed me it was only something like .16inches, i figured i could risk a 40% chance of having .16inches of rain POUR down on me ;-)

seriously, some of you ride in ferocious winds. isn't that scary/dangerous? i fear getting blown sideways into traffic if winds are gusting into the upper teens.

Thanks guys! I havent ridden a bike in years. We have a bike trail near my house, so I am going to try it out today. Maybe do 10 miles and see how long it takes me. I usually walk 6 miles a day but now I have something else to do and probably much more fun!! I am so new to this, but so excited to get into a daily routine. I live in Jersey so we are taking them to our shore house in AC this weekend.

Your stories are cracking me up! You all sound like professional cyclists. Thanks for keeping me focused on my goal!

You guys are making me feel better without knowing it!  Weather.com had today's forecast described as 'windy', with winds in the 20s gusting up to 35.  Which meant I chickened out on the commute.  Rain I can do, wind is a bit scary yet.  Especially since most days I have this thing on one side of my bike, and I feel every gust. 

gmule-  How was your ride home last night?  It was really windy all around the metro area.  A friend of mine was taking a motorcycle riding test and wiped out, so he didn't pass the test.  (However, I don't think it was related to wind BUT they did stop him in the middle until the wind calmed down...he's new to motorcycles)

I did get my bike yesterday!  However, there was a thunderstorm threatening when I got home...so I stayed inside.  I did take the bike out into the parking lot of the shop and ride it around.  Love the shoes that I got for it and was able to click in and out several times.....just a little wobbly.  The guys at the bike shop were great.  In fact, I am sending them a 6 pack of Fat Tire for helping me out.  THey put my computer on for no charge (however, after they offered...they noticed it was a cadence computer... THEN it wasn't so cool but they still did it.)  I am headed out this morning :).

night,  The distance for me wouldn't be too far about 7 miles one way, but, the last 2 miles are on a very heavily traveled road with lots of truck traffic and too make it even more troubling it is very narrow with no berm and ditches on the side.  I may like saving money but my life figures in this too! LOL

carri, you will like this story after saving your animal friends.  Last week on one of my more aggresive group rides, I was leading the paceline at around 26mph when I notice a turtle sitting on the white line at the edge of the road. So I yell out to the group  "TURTLE"  and I hear the guy behind me say "what does that mean" then I hear "HOLY S**T"  quess I'll have to be cleared next time and say " a reptile possibley a turtle is in the road ahead of us be careful"  luckily no one crashed or hit the turtle and he was heading in the right direction so I think he made it off the road OK!

As for riding in the wind it can be dangerous in a cross wind if it is blowing hard enough, I have abandond rides for my safety because of wind.

DAN

yay for the new bike deannad! that's exciting! i love that you're getting the shop a little treat. i routinely take my favorite mechanics baked goods when i have extras (i like to bake!).

dan, i stopped on a group ride to assist a turtle and almost got run down by bikes & cars in the process. sounds like yours made it A-OK if your crew missed him & he was headed to the side. i'm also a freak about helping frogs out of the road. they, like turtles, can't make it up on the curbs, so they end up as sitting ducks in the road. we live near a creek and on rainy night, i'm often seen chasing frogs out of the road. 

My ride home last night was brutal. I earned each and every mile. It took me 1 1/2 hours to make my way home. I stayed off of the roads and took the paths so that I wouldn't get blown into traffic. Most of my ride was directly into the wind. There are some sections of down hill where I usually get into the 30's speed wise. I was lucky if I hit 15 mph going down those same hills last night. There were times that the wind gust would litterly stop my progress. There were also times the wind would be a head wind from the west and then a gust would blow from the south almost knocking  me over while I was riding. At one point I was knocked over while waiting to cross the road at a traffic light. I had both of my feet down when  the wind hit me from the side and the weight of my gear (about 10lbs worth) pushed me the rest of the way over. I am glad that I was on the mountain bike the granny gears on the hills really helped. My legs are pretty beat up so I am going to be taking  it easy on the bike today.  In retrospect it was pretty foolish on my part to even ride in that wind last night. In all reality I should have made the call. I have learned my lesson.

Argh!  Biffed it in the driveway at the END of my ride.  I thought I was all unclipped but nope my left foot was securely anchored.  Needless to say I fell completely over, skinned up my hand and knee. 

First ride on my bike and the cadence stopped working partway through.  Still gave me the MPH but not cadence.  The ride that I went on was complete and total agony.  All hills and not small ones either.  Somehow when I run that route, I knew there were hills but not THAT many.  I would think that I was finally done going up hill, come around the hill and there is another one....  Oh well, I will eventually ride them all the way without stopping :). 

Thanks for the info on the trainer thing - I will have to do some investing.

I did my first 16 miles today (to my father-in-law's house and back). The wind was bad and at some point just the thought of the next looming hill almost made me stop. I made it though and I feel great. Today is last day of school so I will have to rearrange my biking schedule - ugh.

Jane

If there is one thing I have learned it's that I no longer dislike *running* up hills.  I do however dislike cycling up them!  I was not prepared myself for how much harder hills would be on a bike. 

I did a little math thing ... basicly height in feet divided by distance gets you the grade.  A 10% grade is enough to get most people off their bikes no matter what they ride.

I put in my 850 (probably more) foot climb in 1.5 miles (7920 feet)... and it is a 10.7% grade.

So that mountain road I ride near my house is pretty freakin hardcore!

I don't like hills, but I've found as the weeks have gone on that some hills which used to phase me on my old mountain bike are nothing on my road bike.  Sure I'm slowing down, but I'm still usually pushing atleast 13mph.   I remember some of the hills I used to ride actually had me getting off the bike.   So anyway it's nice to see how much my health has changed over the last so many years.   Loosing these 36 pounds... learning to run... hitting the gym... it's all paying off.

My leg muscles are looking seriously athletic!

gmule, what doesn't kill us makes us stronger, (whatever the hell that's suppose to mean), LOL, sounds like a nasty ride for sure!!

deanna, the magnet on your pedal crank problaly slipped, that is why the cadence quit working or worse it fell off.  What I found that works good is that once you get the thing reaglined again, put a piece of black eletrical tape over it to hold it in place.  If it fell off and is missing, go back to the shop and ask nicely to have a new one since they installed it they may not have got it on right.

panda, along with strength there is an art to climbing. Down shift as you aproach the hill, don't wait for your legs to load up in order to shift and always shift down as soon as you feel any stress in your knees. Also it may seem strange but gently lean back and pull up an the handle bars, don't lean forward, you want to take as much weight off the front tire as possible when you climb.  high cadence is best too.  This is another of those practice helps things.

DAN

I came across a quote today and I wanted to share it.

"When man invented the bicycle he reached the peak of his attainments.  Here was a machine of precision and balance for the convenience of man.  And (unlike subsequent inventions for man's convenience) the more he used it, the fitter his body became.  Here, for once, was a product of man's brain that was entirely beneficial to those who used it, and of no harm or irritation to others.  Progress should have stopped when man invented the bicycle."  ~Elizabeth West, Hovel in the Hills

Food for thought, especially when you are breathing diesel exhaust as somebody passes you in their 1 ton truck.

When I am riding hills I like to attack the hill and carry as much speed as possible with me in the begining then I keep downshifting as the resistance builds.