Fat Girl on a Bike

[gr33nt3a]

You can do it!

1 1/2 ago I couldn't job for 2 minutes at a time when I decided to join the Navy. I went from 198 pounds to 170 to get into bootcamp so I know you can do it, all it takes it little changes!

My biggest suggestion is when you start riding for longer distances to make sure you have a nice seat. I had a man's style seat when I first started riding and they're not made wide enough for my butt.

Good luck girl and keep it up.

[schnitzle]

You can do it!

1 1/2 ago I couldn't job for 2 minutes at a time when I decided to join the Navy. I went from 198 pounds to 170 to get into bootcamp so I know you can do it, all it takes it little changes!

My biggest suggestion is when you start riding for longer distances to make sure you have a nice seat. I had a man's style seat when I first started riding and they're not made wide enough for my butt.

Good luck girl and keep it up.

Wow the Navy! Talk about your get fit quick plan!! I think I would probably die.

I think the seat my bike came with is pretty nice, but we'll see what happens when I start going on longer rides. At the moment I am just trying to get up the small hills to and from my house. By the time I do that (15 minutes?) I'm gasping for breath! LOL I think I need a bike rack for my car so I can easily take it somewhere flatter. I'm also going to drag the recumbant stationary bike out of the garage so I can train. Funny how this place works on you. I used to think "Oh it will be a nice thing to have a bike for summer", now I'm thinking "Must train so I can get up the hills without dying, want to ride with the Seattle TE people, how long until I can do the STP?" hahaha

[schnitzle]

Piker.
I'm 52 and not the least bit embarrassed.

Finals? In March?

I didn't mean to offend! I'm embarrassed because I've never gone to college and am in classes like Math 75 and English 101 with kids who ask me if I'm the teachers aid

We have quarters not semesters, so, yep, finals at the end of March. This is my first quarter so I'm probably more stressy than I need to be about that.

[theresar2004]

I am 43, loved to ride bikes as a kid and would ride off and on...very short trips...a few blocks on a 20 year old beach cruiser.....do you know how heavy those things are? OMG, so i got a newer beach cruiser and would tak my son, much easier then i started having trouble with blowouts when anyone rode it...cheap crappy tubes and tires!....the whole bike ending up being junk...never went back to that bike store again...two years later they were out of business, guess i wasnt the only unsatisfied person.

Anyway, i decided that i would like a new bike for my anniversary, i had never ridden a bike with gears, except for a 10 speed from the 70's that we ripped the gears just riding round the block....i was clueless and it didnt seem fun....anyway, i talked to the bike shop that i had trusted for years but didnt live near it any more and got a new 21 speed, HOLY MOLY, had i known what a difference and pleasure that it made riding that bike, i dont think i would be this heavy, 226 and 5'7". I have tried swimming, jogging adn walking...each to a small success but i dont have the knees for jogging or long distance walking and swimming just isnt available in my town without heafty fees to use an indoor pool and long commute...isnt worth it even though it is my fav. Well, I did weigh more when i started, then got sick and was off the bike for 3 months and have gained a little back but I am ready to ride like the wind now! Best of luck to you.


Can anyone suggest a great forum to find a female riding partner? I am in a small town outside of Jacksonville Florida and just havent seen anyone from there and as many bike riders as we have I am sure I am just missing something.

Theresa

Yes, I stole the name of a defunct blog for my first post. Go me!

I decided that going to community college at 40 is not embarrassing enough. I need to up the ante and get my big 'ol butt on a bike! It seems like it would be a great way to get outdoors and I'd eventually like to be able to take my dog with me so he can run as fast as he needs to and work out his yayas. Plus I reaaally need to start exercising. I'm 5'4" and 250lbs, things gotta change

So I went to a bike store a friend recommended looking for a hybrid-commuter kind of bike. Tried a Jamis commuter and a Giant cypress. Wow, what a good work out! Maybe going the day that I had very little sleep and after 3 hours of math class wasn't a great idea, but I wanted to try and beat the weekend rush (it's supposed to be nice in Seattle this weekend, so you know all the bike people will be active!). I gotta say, I am exhausted just from test riding the two bikes! It went better than expected though I want to go back and try out their Jamis citizen 1.0. I ran out of steam today and couldn't do it.

It gets easier right? The only way to improve is practice and build strength right? haha I am trying to psyche myself up because I have to admit that at one point during the test rides I thought "Maybe I have lost my mind. I really belong on the couch". But it's so lovely to ride a bike on a nice day!!

[marni]

congratulations on your new bike. It's too bad that you live in

florida and not near houston texas because I would ride with you. When I started biking 5 years ago I was 10 pounds heavier aI do manage to find another woman to ride with occasionally I mostly ride solo and spend a lot of time doing distance and endurance.

Hang in there and keep riding.

marni