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. 

 

Dan, it sounds like you had some great rides last week.  Just curious, what gearing do you use for those mountains?

FWIW, I had 805 miles for June.

Went out for my ride this morning only to discover they had closed "MY" road for construction. I decided to take the detour and ended up adding another 5 miles to my ride. Perfect riding conditions out there today. One small complaint though; I don't like the up close and personal view of all the road kill - ew, gross.

Training wheels didn't work. They collapsed as soon as Christopher got on the bike, but I have a friend who works in a customized car shop and he is going to work on it for me. So there is still hope.

Tomorrow's ride is off because of the new transformers movie - I think I am more excited about this movie than my child!!!!!

Jane

So I just lost my 100th lb and decided I would celebrate on Saturday (my weigh-in day) by buying a bicycle. So I went to Costco and bought a 21 speed bike. It's a comfort bike with upright handlebars and gear shifter by the handlebars. It's a guy's bike because they were out of ladies. So on Sunday, I returned to Costco and bought another one for my partner (he was casting longful looks at my bike) and, after doing a basic safety check and airing the tires, we hit the road, well actually the alley to get the hang of it.

It had been decades since I last rode a bike. But memory kicked in for both of us and we went out for a ride together for around 15 minutes, when his knees started hurting. I walk a lot so I went on for another 45 minute ride (a full 3.88 miles according to mapmyride.com. I'm not setting any speed records here). Then my knees hurt. We went out again later in the evening and hooked up our headlights and took another 15 minute ride.

It was fun! And it's the first exercise I've been able to get my partner to participate in, so that was great too.

All in all, the Costco bike held up well and seems well constructed. My only issue with it is the saddle is uncomfortable (a little too narrow for my comfort).

aovermy, sounds like the seat height is off.   Goolge "bicycle setup" and you'll probably find many articles on how to determine seat height, forward/backward position, handlebar height and so on.

jane, that's strange they folded up like that.  Are you sure they were bolted on tight enough?

dan, sounds like you had a good time.

....
UPDATE:

Saturday, after picking up some stuff at Lowes I stopped off at an LBS near my work.  I didn't even realize it was over there before.  Anyway I got a third-eye mirror that attaches to my sunglasses and a crank tool so I could tighten the crank a little and hopefully eliminate the **creak** sound.   The mirror is pretty awesome.  A lot of commuters on bikeforums.net use this one.  Also the crank tool took out most of the sound i was hearing.

I'm off work wed->friday... but i got most of the chores I needed a car for done today so tomorrow I may do the bicycle commute in early.  I only have one stop over at the volvo dealer since I need to get my car stereo code.   Long story short there, I had to remove the stereo and take it apart a little due to one or more of my kids putting two dimes and three pennies in the cd&tape slots.   Hopefully nothing was perminently damaged... but I couldn't find the card that had the code on it so back to the dealer I go.  Luckily the dealer would be on my way home :)

aovermy, Welcome to the club and welcome back to cycling. Nice job on the 100 pound loss, WOW!! The knee pains maybe just because you need to get all those muscles working again, but they could also be fit issues (seat height or postion). Look at some of the earlier posts on this thread, I know there are some that have discussed fitting.

trh, It's just an off the shelve Trek 5000 with a triple, nothing special, I'm not a real wiz at the gearing stuff, I ride by cadence and keep my spinning at 90-105rpm and when i climb I down shift to keep it that way, until I run out of gears then it's just, Me gravity and brute strength.

jane, to bad about the training wheels, hope your shop friend can help.  BTW the Twin Sizzler race on Medina square is July 4th morning at 8:00am, I'll be in the 50-54 age group start, look for a blue and silver Trek 5000(not sure about the outfit yet), we line up on the west side of the square. Also the Akron bike club has a ride on the 8th that starts at the  Medina acheivement center, I know you do long shifts on sunday,but if you come down there it would give you an idea what it's like to put on a ride like you want too. It's a great ride too.

DAN 

Dan, I can be there at 8am on the fourth since I don't have to be at work until 9am. See you there. By the way, I conquered the hills on Mark's road by Sleepy Hollow today - I have been dreading that road but I did it all in one stretch and without getting the wind knocked out of me.

nightc1, no they are not on right. The bar on the bike that they hook up to is too big so they are not able to stay on under Christopher's weight. If my friend can't rig it somehow, i will have to look for other possibilities. Looking forward to hearing about the commute.

aovermy, way to go on the weight loss! And congrats on the bike. My knees hurt a lot when I started (a short month ago). They still do if I ignore those subtle signs telling me that I am overdoing it. As all the people on here told me, make sure the seat height is right. Isn't it amazing that you still remember how to ride a bike. It seems to be fused in the brain somehow.

Jane

Jane

Well nothing today.  We are going to the in-laws tomorrow so maybe I'll bike that morning before hand or later in their neighborhood. Or maybe if the rain holds off I'll go for my mountain road ride today.   Oh and there's the spinning class option as well.  Somehow I'll get some bicycling time in.  The weather here, while it looks like rain wasn't what stopped me... it was staying up too late playing UNO with my wife & oldest son (he's 7).  Ah the joys of teaching youth the tricks of playing uno.  It makes getting up at 5am tough though.

Next week, I'm starting over fresh.  I'm getting back to my notebook and strict calorie counting and setting a new training schedule for the gym, running & bicycling.   The last several weeks has been pretty unstructured and I don't want to see myself slip back and start to put on weight.

I hear you nightc1. The last week has been tough for me when it comes to eating. I found myself slipping into the good old trap of thinking that because I lost some weight, it was ok to eat a little more....and a little more....and a little more.

I have a question for everyone. What is your take on energy drinks and bicycling? For years I have been hooked on Red Bull and Monster energy drinks. I drink an average of 4 per day (yes, it is an expensive habit). I am just wondering if it is a bad source of liquid when riding my daily 30 miles. I know I should switch to something like gatorade but I am having a hard time kicking the energy drinks to the curb.

Well, off to see transformers. Anyone else going today or am I the only one sooo excited about this movie, lol.

Jane

Hi! Hi! Hi! I haven't read the whole thread -- my apologies, but it's pretty long for ermmm... daytime reading -- but have read the first page and last several. Might I join?

I'm 50, a (slow) recreational trail rider, and ride a Giant confort bike. My most recent ride was this past Sunday, the Baltimore and Annapolis trail, which I'd ridden once several years ago and which, apparently, has somehow become vaguely uphill in both directions since my last ride on it. :-) My "short ride" is the Paint Branch Trail, which I can sometimes get to after work during the summer.

Jane, greetings! I have a son (my only child) on the autistic spectrum, too. He got his first bike when he was seven, a gift from his dad. (His dad and I are [nicely] divorced and share custody.) My ex rarely took him out to ride it, however, so the spring break when the kid was nine, I asked (*cough* told) my ex to please teach the kid to ride. He took off the training wheels, took the kid out, and told him they weren't going back in the house until he could ride!

Not that I'm necessarily recommending that method, but it did get the job done. I'd told my son that as soon as he knew how to ride, I'd get him a bike, too, for my house, which is how I ended up with my first new bike ever -- I wasn't going to let him ride alone.

We hit the trails immediately, and yes, it took a while for him to become a steady rider (and even now, he's not as steady as other kids), especially on the new, bigger bike, but since we ride on trails, it doesn't matter too much how steady he is. He's had his share of falls, including one last summer which resulted in a broken front tooth. He's a little reluctant to ride right now, but that's mostly out of laziness and needing a new bike (outgrew the other); once he's actually on the bike and riding, he's usually pretty happy about riding. He's 13 now and off at camp.

Anyway, yes to helmet (of course), all available pads and gloves for your son, and long pants and long sleeves, too, I'd suggest, until he's steady. I'd ditch the training wheels and just make the seat low so he can easily coast along, and I'd find a low, long hill for him to ride down to learn. Good luck!

aovermy, wow, congrats on the weight loss! And on your new bike!

Like you, I hadn't ridden in years. I have an old Panasonic 10-speed that used to be my older brother's that I rode in college, but hadn't ridden the thing since then. (So why do I still have it? I have no idea!) But yeah, when I got my Giant bike four years ago, I realized I'd forgotten how much fun bikeriding is!

My husband (just married this past April, proof that miracles DO happen) also likes to ride, which is fortunate. We hope to ride the whole C&O Canal Towpath (over several days, I hasten to add) someday.

Athena: Welcome to the club.

I ride some on the Paint Branch trail.  If I take the extended route home on my commute, I use PB trail to get from Lake Artemesia to Metzerott Rd and  then circle UM and take the NW Branch trail most of the rest of the way back to Cheverly.  My wife is working her way back into riding using the path around Lake Artemesia and heading south on the NE Branch Trail.

Joe

Thanks guys for your suggestions. I think it's just the muscles haven't moved in that way for a long, long time. I've been taking the bike out every day in the morning for short little 15 minute rides, just to acclimate those muscles. It seems to be working, today the pain moved up a bit into the quads which is probably just your usual muscle pain. I was able to get it out by walking foran hour.

I actually took the directions for the bike assembly and followed along making sure everything had been assembled correctly and was tight because I'm pretty sure Costco doesn't have trained bike mechanics doing assembly. I had also picked out the best of the litter available when I selected each one.

I'm riding, right now, mainly on side streets in my neighborhood which is the Berwyn/Cicero/Oak Park area which are near west suburbs of Chicago. In fact if I ride for 6 blocks due East and 2 blocks north, I'll be on the west side of Chicago. Given these circumstances I predict that I'll never use say 20 of the 21 gears my bike has available. There are no hills at all. I'm getting good at stopping because the side streets have stop signs just about every block or so.  I think I've even remembered my hand signals (left hand straight out indicates left turn, left hand with elbow bent indicates right turn) and used them. I've been passed by motorists and am getting used to it again.

Among the accessories I've bought are a helmet (which I wear when riding), a speedometer/odometer thingie that I can't get to work, a headlight (which I've hooked up already), a taillight (which I haven't got around to yet), and a Ulock.

How do you guys handle cargo? One of my motivations for getting a bike was being able to ride to the grocers. I'm thinking maybe a backpack. Just something that I can carry a bag of salad, or a dozen eggs or other small purchases. After all, if I can ride there everyday, I shouldn't have to buy a lot at any one time.

Eventually I'll probably ride it on the forest preserve trails in the area.

athena_tavener, that may be worth a try with Christopher. I may just have to try that after dinner. Keep your fingers crossed.

aovermy, I commute to and from work with a backback. It is ok but if you have a longer distance to go, you will be sweating quite a bit where the backpack touches your back.

The movie was awesome, as expected. We are going to have to go back and see it again. Of course it cost me a transformer toy after the movie was over, lol.

Jane

Just got Christopher out there on the bike. I had my hubby put some old training wheels from another bike on the new one. We still need to work a little on it but Christopher rode all the way down to the end of the road on the bike. Coming back was the hard one because it was uphill. So we walked back. He was so excited though because I was with him on my bike (more stand still for me than actually going but that's ok). We WILL get this to work one way or the other! I don't expect him to ride 30 miles with me but if we can ride together to the park, that would be great.

Jane

Jane nice to hear about the success with your son and his bike. New found freedom, I bet it opens a whole new world for him.  There is a father and son in my neighborhood that ride together everynight (the son has down's) and the dad follows along, I love seeing them and have talked to them when they stop now and then, they know I cycle so it's easy to start a conversation.

About the energy drink thing the only one I can stand is gatorade RAIN, I use to use cytomax but haven't seen it lately.

athena welcome!!

aovermy, there are lots of different types of rack systems for bikes, search on-line or go to your bike dealer and ckeck them out. I saw one locally and it was designed  to carry grocery bags, I may get it because I do some of our shopping using my bike and the panniers I use aren't really good enough.  If money is an object as I remember the ones I got where from a discount sport store for around 25 dollars.

Me and the misses just got back from our tuesday club ride, I told her to go with the fast group and i would stay back incase she couldn't hang on and she made it 29 out of 30 miles before they dropped her (told her she could do it!!)

Have a great 4th everyone and get out there and ride!!

DAN

Thanks, all, for the welcome!

Joe, I love the Paint Branch trail; not only is it an easy ride and mostly wooded, I get to see lots of good stuff on it! Good birds and mammals tonight, on it and Indian Spring.

Jane, yay! for Christopher getting out there! Riding down a long, low hill is when balancing on a bike first clicked for me as a child, and once the balance thing clicks, the rest follows pretty naturally!

I did some things to encourage my son to ride. I created a web page  that tracked his riding -- when it was, what trails, mileage and time, what he saw along the way. (Snakes! Skinks! Rabbits! Squirrels with a death wish! Heron!) I got him a bike computer, which put him in charge of all ride stats: how long we rode, how far, how fast, average MPH. He certainly liked having a cool bike toy that Mom didn't have! I also had him lead. Of course this was so I could keep an eye on him, but he got a kick out of being the leader.

Our longest ride together so far has been in the 17-mile range, this with another kid who was here for a sleepover, and not, alas, since my son has started going to camp (last year). The boys were pretty proud of themselves for going that far!

athena_tavener, that is a great idea. Christopher loves bugs and animals so it shouldn't be hard to spark his interest.

I even got him to wear the helmet without a fuss.

Dan, please tell your wife that she is my hero, lol.

They have cytomax at century cycles here in Medina. I know the red bull is not good for me but I have a hard time functioning at work without it, especially when I pull those 12-hour shifts on the weekends.

Happy 4th to everyone!

Jane

autismjtm: I don't think I'd recommend an energy drink while riding?they tend to have a lot of caffeine, which acts as a diuretic. They?re fine at other times during the day, as long as you replace the water you will inevitably lose. I drink half-strength Gatorade on my rides, as it is far too sweet for my taste when mixed full-strength; however, they were serving it full-strength at Brasstown Bald, and I did notice that although I nearly coughed up both lungs, my legs felt much stronger than I expected at the top of Hogpen Gap.

aovermy: You?ll work your way up to using the other gears on your bike, really. :-) The stronger you get, the faster you?ll be able to go, and the bigger the gear you?ll be able to turn at a comfortable cadence. It just takes time.

leinad: A ride like yours sure puts a new perspective on the local hills, doesn?t it? Stuff you used to think is hard is now just a bump. :-)

Here?s Tuesday?s ride: a vicious ride through some of the steepest hills in Butler County (the last hill has a short 30% section in the middle!): FT 14, Hills 10 through 14

behanna, Yes that is very true, did a ride up some hills here and it was amazing, When I got to the top, I was like "that's It?" A 30% climb!! Man that is insane steep, has to be concrete because asphalt won't hold on that steep of slope.

 Well gang,  I did the July 4th race this morning and was very happy with the out come. Stayed with the leaders all the way to the finish stretch (which is after a wicked S curve with a set of railroad tracks in the middle) but couldn't get the legs to sprint, oh well. The results weren't posted when we left but it looked like 5-6or 7th out of 25, very happy with that!! 24 mph average which is a personnel best, 27 mile rolling course, finished in 1 hour and 7 min. The cool thing was we toasted the men's 40-49 group, caught them and boy did that make'm mad (they had a 10 min head start) but try as they might they couldn't drop us. GOOO OLD GUYS!!!!

Jane, looked for you at the race this morning (of course I have no idea what you look like) were you there??  Hope you got down to see the spectacle of all those bikes in town.

Hope all had a safe 4th, DAN

Dan, I didn't make it. I snoozed too long and had to race out the door because I wanted to ride my bike to work. I was sooo mad at myself. Are you going on Sunday for the Akron bike thing at the achievement center? That is right by where I work so I will definitely be there. I can also hook you up with some food when you are done.

behanna, I didn't even think about the energy drink acting like a diuretic. I try to only drink water as I am riding but I do chug a red bull before I get on the bike.

Ok, now I have a really stupid question for you guys. How do you trigger the thingie to get a light to change at an intersection when you are on a bike. This morning I sat at a light forever because there was no cars in my lane. It was a very big intersection so I was afraid to just go but finally I raced across. I would feel pretty stupid standing there doing jumping jacks to trigger the light, lol.

Christopher is complaining about a headache. If he is not feeling better by tomorrow, he won't be going to school and then my ride is off (sniffle, pout, cry).

Jane