Went for my first bikeride today. I'm 320/6'2". My legs wanted to die, but I kept going until I literally could not pedal anymore. Afterwards, thought I was going to die, but I'm loving the high I have now.
Posted Mar 18, 2010, 6:55 PM UTC
that's amazing! can't beat that exhilaration. Keep it up and kudos for getting out there!
Ignore these jokers telling you not to ride. The body is resilient and biking is a relatively low impact activity.
What's your level of fitness and strength. Are you an in shape 320 lbs (lots of strength) or are you mainly sedentary? Giving us some background on your level of fitness would help us give you better advice.
I walk to and from school every day, that's about 1-2 miles round trip + moving about while in a school with a lot of stairs. Aside from that, nothing really. I don't have a lot of upper body strength, but my legs are strong, I'd say. I'm fat, no doubt, but pretty well proportioned.
If you're trying to improve your fitness, you are an ideal candidate for strength training. Keep up the biking, but strength training will really help reduce your body fat, and while you're heavy, your body will be primed to get really strong...
Getting a membership on Saturday.
Nice. Look up starting strength and get the book if possible.
Remember to spin the pedals quickly, rather than mash them with a lot of force. If you're getting tired, downshift to an easier gear and pedal faster.
Pedaling fast and easy is better, both for your endurance and your knees, than pedaling slow and hard.
If you need help with anything, come on over to /r/bicycling!
I'm still getting used to the gears. I'm going to have to read more about them.
The gears can be a little confusing when you're not used to them. In the front, you shift to a smaller-sized gear to make your pedaling easier. In the rear, you shift to a larger-sized gear to make your pedaling easier. They're reversed (for a good reason), which can make them a bit strange when you're not used to them.
The gears in front are called "chain rings". The gears in back are called "cogs".
Does your bike have two rings in front, or three?
If you have three chain rings in front, you can pretty much put the chain on the middle ring and only worry about shifting in the back. This can make things a little easier for you while you're starting out.
When you stop, make sure you downshift your rear to the largest cog. This will make starting again easy. As you speed up, shift to progressively smaller cogs to maintain a consistent pedaling speed. If you start to go up a hill, shift down again to a larger cog.
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After all of this, just keep in mind that it's pretty simple when you get used to it. Just get out there and practice!
When you get more experienced, it might be fun to try riding single-speed. You can start with an easier gear ratio and then make it more difficult if you'd like. It's a different viewpoint. For instance, when you see a hill, you can't shift down, you just have to pedal harder!
Sheldon Brown (who you will learn is the authority on bicycles) has this to say on single-speed bikes.
All that said, RIDE ON!
how far did you ride?
It wasn't far. Maybe a 2-3 miles.
If you love it, do it! Another great way to shed some weight is taking long walks. Get some comfortable shoes, an umbrella if it's raining, maybe find a partner, and just walk around. People need to walk around more often.
How long did you ride time wise? I ride a good bit, and it takes a good 5-10 minutes to get my legs warmed up.
Keep it up. Riding is great fun with some good exercise to boot.
I did a 5 minute warmup, then stretched for about 3 minutes. Then I rode for only about 15-18 minutes.
Good for you man! Cycling is an awesome way of loosing way while having fun.
Here's a link to a before after article on a guy that lost 330 pounds (your entire weight!) cycling.
Good job on getting motivated to do something but take it easy at first. It isn't necessary to exercise so hard that you're too sore to move for the next three days.
I'm not sore. Helped my brother move some stuff a few hours after. So, it wasn't too much. I could tell I'd done something though.
keep it up! watch what you eat and it will only get better!
Hell yes, congrats! I am a big advocate of bicycling and feel like I need to spread the word of how awesome it is to everyone I come in contact with. Not only is a bicycle the most efficient mode of transportation, it is a fun way to get a good workout! Beats the hell out of jogging.
Jogging hurts my feet. I would need better shoes for jogging. Cycling seemed like a better fit.
Nice one! Keep at it big guy and soon you'll be showing your bike who's boss.
Congratulations!
If you head over to bikeforums.net, they have a subforum specifically for people over 200 lbs. A lot of the posters there have some pretty inspirational success stories, and a lot of advice for new riders.
Congrats - I started cycling 11 years ago and it has evolved into a major passion of my life. If you get serious about it, you should sign up for a century or some other long distance ride. You'll never forget the first time you ride 100 miles in one go!
So now that it's been a few days, how are you feeling? Have you been out again? Did you remember to spin-and-not-mash, and did that make it easier for you?
Oh, and yeah, your butt hurts. There's no way around that. It'll hurt for two or three weeks, and then your body will get used to it and you'll be good.
I didn't go biking, but I did go hiking.
You are too fat. You should lose about 75 pounds through diet alone before engaging in activity like this, to spare your joints.
I'll take that under advisement, but... I don't think I'm going to stop.
I can't adequately express how extensive your denial is. Get a trainer and seek professional help.
Enjoy your broken knees
So let me ask you this: What would you suggest? I don't want to not do SOMETHING, it just felt good to get out there and do it. God knows, I'm no expert...
Please, just ignore him. He clearly doesn't know what he's talking about. I'm also 6'2", I weigh about 240 lbs, and I rode 2000 miles this past year.
If Anti-Lullaby and amberamberamber think cycling is hard on your joints, I can only assume that they've never actually ridden a bike.
There are plenty of non-wispy people who ride bikes. Take a look at the 200lb+ forum on bikeforums, if you want some proof and support.
If you feel like you HAVE to do physical activity, decrease volume and intensity, and try an elliptical (if you have access to a gym).
I'm not trying to be a dick like the other commenters here, but at 320/6'2 your BMR is ~2700kcal. You need to eat 2700kcal to maintain your current bodyweight. 6 months at 2000kcal a day and you'll have cut down to 290.
Some very low impact exercise, like walking a few miles a day, or biking 5-8mi should be ok. Keep it up!
That's bullshit.
Ok, right, our bones and associated structure are made of titanium like Wolverine and can't degrade at all under immense pressure. Shut your mouth if you have nothing to add.
Riding a bike, among many other exercise options such as swimming, is very forgiving on joints when compared to say running. Hell, a skinny person running creates more impact on joints than what a heavy person riding a bike does.
It is HORRIBLE advice to tell an overweight person to forgo hard activity.
He isn't simply 'overweight.' He is 320 pounds. The body wasn't made to handle 320 pounds. There is no such thing as a 320 pound hunter-gatherer.
Indeed, your joints can't handle that amount of weight. Going from being sedentary to biking to exhaustion requires training. You're only going to end up hurting yourself in the long-term.
If you're going to pick an exercise to start with, cycling is a good way to go. Gears, fit, and moderation to prevent injury.
http://orthoinfo.aaos.org/topic.cfm?topic=a00227
It's good if you're not obese...I'm not saying this to be cruel, just using what OP mentioned. Additionally, while it's true that you can moderate damage to joints and ligaments by way of using proper equipment, you will still hurt yourself through overexertion.
Yes, if you're going to pick an exercise, cycling is not the worst. Or you could not pick an exercise at all. That would be even better.
Did you ride on the road or on a trail? If you rode on the road, please keep a few things in mind:
You're not 12 anymore (well, maybe you are, but I'm guessing you're not). Get off the sidewalk and into the road.
Ride the same direction as the traffic -- in the U.S., that'd be the right side of the road.
Predictable = safe. Signal when you're going to turn, don't dart out in front of traffic, etc.
You're not in a race. There's no shame in stopping for a bit or walking your bike up a hill.
Most importantly: have fun!
I went on the sidewalk a few times to avoid nasty speedbumps, other than that, I rode how I would drive.
That whole list reeks of un-fun. I'm 27 and ride my BMX bike all over the road, sidewalk, jumps or wherever. I'm sure that sounds stupid to a lot of you but it really makes me feel good and free. That being said, I'm sure bigger bikes don't have the cat like maneuverability of my bike.
I used to hate people like you. I lived in a town where pretty much everyone walked or biked to class. There would always be several people on bikes that darted between being on the street and being on the sidewalk, often scaring the shit out of the pedestrians and cars, because they were completely unpredictable and seemed to be just asking for a collision.
So, if you're doing this in an area that is at least mildly congested, know that everyone else is scared shitless of you.
Well I'm glad that you used to hate people like me. I do this all on city streets and on the busy sea wall. I may seem unpredictable to you but to me you are all very predictable. It might look like I'm not paying attention to you but I am really watching everything like a hawk and planning my next move. It's the bike riders who see me coming and start to shake their handlebars left and right who scare me. I'm clearly going in a straight line and they think the best move is to shake about and most likely stop their bike right in front of me instead of just keeping doing what they're doing.
It's not about whether or not you are actually safe. It's about scaring the crap out of everyone around you, and how no one really likes that.
I am wanting to build a single speed hardtail with the pedal back brakes. just like when you were a kid.... slam the pedals in reverse do a wicked tire flattening slide to a stop. I ride a full suspension whenever I can. its tore down right now waiting for parts. shit's addictive. I want a roadbike, and may buy a bmx just to have the complete set.
At that point, I'd just go fixed. Coaster brakes are awfully annoying, you can only effectively brake from two foot positions. Just learn how to do skid-stops!
I highly recommend getting one. They're really fun to ride and easy to hop around on. I actually feel awkward on a big bike now.
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A sidewalk isn't designed for high-visibility of fast-moving traffic. You have stairwells and entryways and doorways and corners which can all hide children, the elderly, and other pedestrians. And what do you do when you come to an intersection? Cars aren't looking for you to come shooting off the sidewalk and zip across the crosswalk. So, everytime you need to cross a road you really need to stop and look for cars, because you've put yourself in a place where they can't look for you.
If you're traveling in the road, you're just a part of traffic. The cars see you, you see the cars, and everything just works.
(oh, and it's a sidewalk, not a sideride)
You're not 12 anymore (well, maybe you are, but I'm guessing you're not). Get off the sidewalk and into the road.
Definitely. And try to take the smaller roads with less traffic. Before I venture in a new direction/area I loop up the area on a map to find some alternative routes to go from A to B (even when A==B). I like the option in Google Maps to get directions for walking: most of the time these routes are cyclable too.