Join in the fun; The Calorie-Count Cycling Club...

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. 

 

Found the bike I want:

http://www2.trekbikes.com/Bikes/City_Bike_Pat h/Hybrid/Hybrid/7000/index.php

Now I just need to convince my husband to get it for me even though he just bought a bike for me. Lol, that may be the hard part.

That looks like a really nice bike.

nightc1,

If I go the other way out of my neighborhood, I can avoid 280 completely, and the traffic wouldn't be so bad at the time I'd go to work. Unfortunately doing that turns it from 7 miles into 12 miles. So, it's definitely something for the future.

Poze: It sounds like fatigue to me.  Part of the solution is to peddle standing periodically.  That will give you a change and help relax your muscles.  You can also stop periodically and do a little stretching as Carrie suggested. I have found that just stopping to check my cue sheet and eat a granola bar is a refreshing 1 or 2 minute break.  You might want start adding some off bike exercises especially reverse crunches and rowing with either barbells or dumbells.

Jane: Definitely a good bike.  You might want to consider that bikes usually go on sale at the end of the year.  (Christmas present??).  You also might want maintain a little flexibility.  There are many similar bikes and you might be able to get a better deal on another brand.  I read a post by a guy who got a new Bianchi road bike for $600 by going into the bike shop with an ad from another bike shop and asking the dealer what he could do.  The dealer offered him last year's model in an off-color.  It turned out to be a great bike at a great price even if the color scheme wasn't  perfect.

Shave: Thinking positive, 12 miles isn't a killer commute.  You can work up to it.  You should be able to make the round trip in a couple of hours on a Saturday or Sunday.  You don't necessarily need to do it right away.  Set yourself some intermediate goals -- 15 mile round trip this weekend; 18 next weekend; 21 and then the whole enchilada by mid-July.  Good luck

Joe

Great idea, Joe. I doubt I am going to persuade hubby to get a new bike right now anyways so a little shopping around won't hurt. And really, there is nothing wrong with the bike I have except for the fact that if it breaks, I can't get anyone to work on it because it is a chain store bike.

I have found yet another benefit to riding a bike: stress relief! This morning I got up in a horrible mood. It took everything I had to even get out there on the bike but after only 5 minutes of riding I was feeling great. I ended up riding 25 miles and it was the best thing I could have done. The road I have chosen for my morning ride is nothing but beautiful back roads with quite a few hills to challenge me (no "blood, sweat and gears" but it does the trick for me). I definitely agree with stopping to strech but then again I am a new rider so I need to do that. Personally I have learned to listen to my body. It is great to push myself but when it really starts outright hurting, it is time for a break. Oh I also learned the hard way that if you get thirsty don't wait until you can't breathe. That one little sip of water can make a big differnece, lol.

Gee, a month ago I would never have thought that I would be going 25 miles. My initial reason for getting a bike was the outrageous gas prices. Now I am so hooked on riding that I can't stay off the bike. Saturday we had a birthday party to go to and as we were driving I kept saying to my husband "look at that hill, wonder if I could handle that on my bike". I think he got a little tired of listening to me.

Jane

This is a great forum!  I just bought a Trek 1000 road bike and have been riding it like crazy.  I even signed up for an event where I will be riding 62 miles.  I am training for that and I rode yesterday for 48 miles averaging 15 miles per hour, but I over did it because I bonked out afterwords, oops, lesson learned. 

Biking turned out to be the perfect excercise for me.  I HATE running, I run like I have two left feet, dancing is the same way, I can hardly swim, believe me I have tried every excercise that I can think of and biking is the only thing that I found I can do, and I seem to have a knack for it.  (It doesn't require a great amount of coordination or balance, which I have little of.)

I find that a lot of people don't give biking enough credit, it is a GREAT aerobic form of excersice, it is fast which makes it more fun than running (in my opinion), and it really gets the heart going.  Legs are often sore afterwords and it gives me a great sense of accomplishment when I complete 25 miles at 16 miles per hour without stopping.  I bike in Katy, TX which is flatland, but the wind can be brutal. 

I highly suggest organized bike rides for anybody who is interested.  I am going to start doing 50 to 60 mile rides every Saturday out in Katy with the Bike Barn group.  I also do a 25 mile bike ride every Weds night after work and I go out on my bike when ever I have spare time.  I love to ride.  My Trek 1000 is the best (fun) investment I have ever made, I love to ride!

Sorry, I forgot to mention a little about myself in my post (#546).  I am female, 5' 6", a little overweight at 165lbs and started biking to loose some weight.  I bought my bike from Bike Barn two weeks ago and was very surprised at how much I found that I love to ride my bike.  I now am to the point that I don't care if I loose weight or not, quit trying to diet because I have no will power for food.  I love food.  So I ride, if I loose weight, good, if I don't, who cares, I am not obese, just a little overweight.  So I eat what I want, when I want, and ride my bike. 

Can bike riding become an addiction?  It seems that all I ever want to do is ride my bike.  I spend all week looking forward to the weekend so see if I can beat my previous speed and distance record.  Before I bought my bike I never realized that I would get into like I have!  Me?  25 miles without stopping?  No way, now I did 48 miles and I still can't believe it.  I can't wait to do 50!

Enjoy life - Get out and ride! ;)

cesty8, I believe biking can become an addiction just like any other kind of excersise. I am right there with you on wanting to ride all the time.

Your post made me want to get back out there right now!!!!

Jane

Cesty: Bonking is normally due to underdoing rather than overdoing.  You need to make sure that you get plenty of fluids during your ride particularly at this time of year.  You also need to eat something periodically.  If you are going 48 to 60 miles you are going to be expending about 1500 to 2000 calories so you need to make sure that you are replacing the glucose and carbs as you go.  Trail mix, granola bars, power bars, bananas or other fruit are all good choices.  There are two limitations: the food doesn't convert instantly to energy and you can only process about 250 calories per hour.  So start eating and drinking before you feel the need and give your body some time to process the input.

You could probably go out and do 62 miles right now.  That by the way is a metric century (100 Km).  But you might want to build up to it by adding 5 miles to your ride each week.  Also you should spend some time working on a smooth pedaling motion and an aero position.  With all that wind you really ought to consider aero bars.

Joe

Joe,

Thanks for your reply, also, thanks for your reply Jane.  You are right Joe about underdoing rather than overdoing.  I didn't take in enouph carbs which is amazing sinse I ate thick crust pizza for breakfast about 1.5 hours before the ride, had an energy bar during the ride, a large fat chocolate chip cookie and a banana during a rest break, a Power Gel, and 3 liters of Cytomax (a drink like Gatorade) during the ride.  They had bagels out right after the ride but I didn't eat one, I had an apple instead, I think that was my mistake.  I hung around talking for about 1/2 at the bike store, then went home, showered, and THEN ate lunch.  I think that I waited too long to eat after the ride, and when I did eat I don't think that I ate enough protein, and as a result it ruined the rest of the day since the bike ride went from 8AM to 11:30AM. 

As far as calories, I typed it into a website and it said that I probably burned around 1900 calories on that trip.  I was amazed, I didn't FEEL like I burned that many, in fact, during the ride, and for an hour afterwords I felt hyped, happy, and full of energy.  But when I came down from...whatever it was that made me feel so happy and full of energy...I really felt sick!  I thought that that was really strange, and the feeling lasted for 4 or 5 hours, until I ate dinner (rice, broccoli, and a grilled yellow-fin tuna steak...yum).  Then I felt energetic again except my legs hurt, but today, surprisingly I feel fine, my legs don't even hurt.  Strange events indeed. 

Thanks for your info!

Jane: I am going to throw a couple of things out that might be good discussion topics.  I think that you have just made the only major repair that you will need for quite a while.  You may have some flat tires to deal with.  Since you are now riding substantial distances you should have tire repair tools with you on your rides.  The next major repair that you might have to worry about is replacing your chain.  I have read that you should replace your chain every 1000 miles but I think that is excessive.  There are ways to check for chain wear but I haven't actually tried doing it so I am not sure what the best approach is.  You should be cleaning and lubricating your chain at least once a week with the miles that you are putting in.  That seems to be a good time to check your chain for wear.  You should also be lubricating the moving parts on your derailleurs.  Your pedals may need some maintenance.  My Aurora came with a cheap set of  pedals that would start clicking if they weren't lubricated about once a month.

I would also suggest that the reason people on this site know so much about maintaining bikes is because they have found that you are better off doing it yourself, if you can.  The bike shop will repair a bike that they sold you but they will charge you and they may not be able to get to it right away.

I am enjoying this forum and learning lots from all of you. The stories are a real encouragement!

I did a lot of cycling as a kid and on into my late twenties. I grew up in British Columbia enjoyed getting out and seeing the country on my bike. I am now 42 and living near Amsterdam The Netherlands and have started cyling again to loose weight. I weighed 215lbs March 15 and am now down to 182. I cycle about 26 miles per day 5 days per week. My 13 year old son joins me several times per week and we are planning a 400km ride later this summer. We love the bicycle paths here as we never have to ride with the cars. There are over 17,000 km of bicycle paths here in a country only twice the size of New Jersy! CYCLING HEAVEN!

I bought my latest bike is a 2006 Batavus Intermezzo that I bought at a local bike shop in March for 470 Euro. It was last years model so I got 300 Euro off the normal price. Here is a picture of my bike only this is this years model: http://www.bikemotion.nl/runisa.dll?CMNG:PGCMNG::waCMNG.ShowPageEx.133 1.litToonFiets=5749&gclid=CKrz-4f194wCFQz UlAodERrb-w

Keep on cycling, you will feel great, loose weight and enjoy the ride!

Stan - Amsterdam Holland

wow Stan! Holland does sound like cycling heaven! i spent some time in Belgium and saw the dedicated bike paths (complete with their own traffic signals!) and it made me envious. nothing like that in the US. that's a great bike, too.

keep up the great mileage & weight loss!

jc343, thank you for the suggestions. I have no clue how to fix a flat so that is definitely something I should learn. I do have a little pouch thing with repair stuff in it but that does me little good if I don't know how to use it.

Someone posted on here that you can use just about any kind of lube stuff except for WD40, right? When I check the chain, do I just look for weak links?

sbkamps, I was born and raised in Denmark and lived with my husband in Holland for 3 years (he was in the air force). Beautiful country and you're right; the bike paths are to be envied. We lived just outside Utrecht (geez, can't even remember if that is spelled right). Both Denmark and Holland are bicycle heaven and there is so much stuff to see.

Jane

Jane, chain wear is primarily a function of stretch rather than weakness.  They make these little gauges that you can use to measure the stretch but you can also look for excessive sagginess when the derailleur is in the most relaxed position.  In the old days we used to remove links as chains strechted but with modern componantry that doesn't seem to be acceptable any more.  As far as lubes, they are either dry or wet.  I'm in So. IN and ride dusty country roads so I always use a dry lube.  Dry lubes attract less dirt and grim.  Wet lube will protect better against moisture.  Either way you need to keep the chain clean and lubed and always wipe off the excess.  You should probably change at tire a home for practice.  It is not hard with the right tools but doing it on the side of the road for the very first time might be stressful.  It is definately worthwhile to do as much maintenance as possible yourself because a trip to the shop will keep you off the bike for a couple of days and none of us want that.

shavenyak, I agree with Joe... 12 miles isn't really a bad commute at all.  I think we hear about all these short commutes of just a couple miles and yeah no doubt a couple miles I wouldn't even think about.  But the 18 to 19 I need to ride to get to work?  While it seems crazy I could do that in under an hour and a half.   12 miles?  You should be able to do that in an hour.  I mean that's just averaging 12mph.   Then again your bike may be much heavier than mine and your route may be full of hills.

But hey take it when you are ready for certain.  I'm still not perfectly prepared to tackle my route yet.  This week also has a lot of rain in the afternoon forecast... so it makes it easier to maybe not try it this week knowing my ride home will involve maybe getting more wet than I'd like.

.........

I haven't rode since last Friday.   I had a good ride with my co-worker friend since Thursday fell through.  I pushed us to stay around 20mph for the majority of the first 8 or 9 miles... then tapered off to around 17 or so for much of the rest of it.   Stop signs killed the time though as we only managed around 16.3mph on average.   I know it would have been much better if we didn't have so many stops on the trail.

I'm contemplating the whole commute thing again.  No promises or time tables.  Just going to give it another try but aim to get out around 5:30... and get to work by 7.   Then leave work at 4 and try to get home by 5:30 (when I usually get home).   The hard part is getting to sleep early enough.  And I want some kind of under/behind the seat bag with some beef to it or pre-plan with work cloths waiting for me at the office so I can go minimal.

chain wear: Chains and gears wear together, and if you let them wear excessively, then the worn gears will wear out your new chain much more quickly. The rule to avoid that is to replace the chain when the length of 24 links is 1/16" or more beyond 12". I just use a good tape measure and pull the lower run taught and measure it. If you follow that rule, then you can burn through three or four chains before you have to replace your cassette, and 3 or 4 cassettes before you have to replace your chainrings. If, however, you let that chain wear out to 1/8" beyond 12", then the wear on the cassette and chainrings may accelerate the wear of your next chain. A bike multi-tool will usually have a chain breaker on it. You push the pins out to break the chain, possibly after filing the staked end off of the pin you are going to push (not needed for better Shimano chains, but maybe needed for other chains). As replacements, I like SRAM chains with a Power Link, which can be assembled and disassembled without tools.

trhawley and behanna, thank you so much for the advice. I looked up the chain maintenance and it said exactly the stuff about 12" so I am headed out in the garage with a ruler. I also went and bought some lube stuff so tomorrow I will clean the entire chain and all. Then I will attempt to change the tire - at least get it off and on again.

Just learning the names of all these parts is quite the job. I think I do much better with pictures, lol. I am however having fun with it and gaining a little more confidence.

So, do you guys think I should have an extra chain sitting in the garage, just in case? I like the idea of no tools needed for the SRAM chain. Is it expensive? Probably not compared to having to change the whole cassette and all because of lack of maintenance.

nightc1, packing up the work clothes is what gets to me on the commute. My backpack adds at least another 10-15 lbs and it really is a drag so if you can have the work clothes there it would make a big difference.

Jane

SRAM chains are the only ones i use - LOVE that powerlink! (although i think they've changed it in the past year & i think i prefer the older model? maybe?) anyway, i think they cost around $30.

you probably don't need an extra chain sitting around, but do watch for stretch and plan to replace it before it damages your cassette (which costs much more than $30 to replace).

Cesty:  I don't think I would consider your experience a bonk.  To me a bonk is having lead in your legs with another 10 miles to go on the ride.  The worst bonk that I have had occurred on a 25 mile ride.  I ran out fluids with 8 miles to go.  Five miles later I had to take along break so the spots in my vision would clear up.  I got home cleaned up and took a bath.  One minute I was getting out of the bathtub.  Then I remember hearing crash.  My wife was banging on the bathroom door wanting to know what was going on.  I told her I was fine then I realized I was sitting on the bathroom floor clutching the show curtain rod.  This is not good.

I rode 68 miles a week ago Saturday and 64 miles this past Saturday. I had eggs and toast and maybe a banana for breakfast.  I ate a granola bar or two on the way to the break at 31 miles.  I had a cheeseburger with chips and an orange soda for lunch.  I don't think I ate anything else except a couple of watermelon chunks until I got home this past Saturday.  But I did eat as soon as I got home.

I think the swings in your energy level are typical for not being in shape -- conditioned to that kind of exertion.  But now that you know your expending a whole days worth of calories in a few hours and you know what can happen if you don't replace those calories, you will be more careful about eating after the ride.