Questions from an overweight beginner

[aka_kim]

Oh, I am so jealous, a lunch stop at a winery?!!

Backroads is a bicycle touring company, check out http://www.backroads.com/trips/BWCI.html for their wine country trip.

[Dogmama]

Be patient!! Rapid weight loss is water and muscle (think Atkins). You don't want to lose your precious muscle because it is a fuel burning machine, whereas fat just sits around & goes along for the ride (literally!). Atkins restricts carbs. Carbs retain water. Start eating carbs and guess what!!

More important is your body composition - fat to lean body weight ratio. Muscle weights more than fat. If you look at a body builder, she will register as "obese" in the charts because of the height/weight schedule.

I would augment cycling with hitting the gym. You want compound exercises - those that work many muscle groups at once. Squats, bench presses, overhead presses and pull ups are examples. Get a good book or get a trainer so you don't get hurt. Building muscle will help your cycling too.

A good website is:http://www.stumptuous.com/weights.html

Good luck!

[Bianchi Babe]

Dogmama:

Thank you for the sound advice. I am going to start hitting the gym tomorrow.

[waterlilli]

Dogmama thanks for the link! What a fun site.

[Maxine]

B-Babe, you've gotten a lot of great advice from all the other posters, so I'll try not to duplicate any of it.

First of all, don't let any notions about your height or weight get in the way of what you want to do. I'm 5'1 and about 30-40 pounds off the insurance charts (and 41 years old to boot!) but I rode my first century on June 1, through the mountains around Lake Tahoe. I was slow (averaged 11.7 -- my usual average was about 12.5), but I finished under my own power, before the offical end time of the ride, and felt fine.

As others have noted, the secret to getting better at riding is to ride . . . just keep at it, and listen to (and trust) what your body is telling you, and you will improve. (Since the Tahoe ride, my average speed has increased to about 13.5-14.0 mph.) The same is true with whatever your specific goals are. To get better at hill climbing, climb more hills.

Your saddle should not be killing you at 25 miles. Saddle choice is a highly personal thing. What's great for one person might be horrible for another, so you can only figure out which one is best by test-riding them. But as a mandatory first step, get yourself and your bike to a good bike shop (not Wal-Mart or whatever) and have them fit the bike to you.

My road bike (which I bought in spring 2002) came with toe straps, and I nearly killed myself trying to use them. I took them off, and rode with just my sneakers. When I started the century training this year, I bought clipless pedals and bike shoes. They make a world of difference, *especially* for an inexperienced cyclist; they keep your foot right where it does the most good, and help you "pull up" as well as "push down" on the pedals -- both things an enormous help, especially when climbing hills. They are also much easier to use (IMHO) than toe straps. Be aware, though, that there *is* a learning curve involved -- I can almost guarantee that you'll fall down at least once while learning to use the clipless pedals. Don't worry about it; everyone falls. (I fell about 5 or 6 times, and still have occasional near misses -- especially when I'm tired and fuzzy-headed near the end of a long ride!)

I can't speak too much about cycling clubs; I don't belong to any. Be sure you pick one that is kind to beginners. If the club groups like to ride in a paceline, and you've never done that, be sure to let your fellow riders know that you're new to that type of riding. (It takes some practice.)

Riding in traffic is another one of those things that gets less intimidating as you do it more often. (I was a bike commuter for four years, back in the early '80's.) Be as visible as possible. Be as predictable as possible -- ride in a straight line, and take whatever room you need. (For example, if there are a lot of storm drains that would trap your wheel, it's better to just consistently ride 3 feet out from the curb to avoid them than it is to keep darting in and out from the curb. Motorists generally don't pay attention to storm drains and such; they won't be able to anticipate your weaves.) Obey the traffic laws -- ride with traffic, in the proper lane, signal your intentions, stop at red lights, etc. (Cyclists who blow through stop signs and red lights are a pet peeve of mine. I'll admit to doing so on isolated rural roads; but even then, if there is a car around, I won't, even if I wouldn't interfere with it. Motorists like to complain about cyclists flouting the traffic rules, and use that as justification for hassling cyclists; why give them the ammo?)

You adjust for headwinds in much the same way you do for hills: find a gear that's easy enough to keep you pedaling at a fairly rapid cadence without a lot of strain on your knees. You can try to tuck down further, so as to be more aerodynamic, but that can make it harder to breathe.

I don't know of any good women-specific biking books, but a book that I found invaluable while training for my century was "The Complete Book of Long-Distance Cycling," by Ed Pavelka and Ed Burke. If you can't find it in a bookstore, you can order it from roadbikerider.com.

And here's the most important thing of all: HAVE FUN!!! Cycling shouldn't cause anxiety. There are many different ways to enjoy a bike; you should find out which ones make you happiest, and then stick with those. Ignore any folks who would try to tell you (or make you feel) that you're not a "real" cyclist unless you're climbing rock trails, or blazing downhill on gossamer tires at 45 mph, or doing double centuries, or whatever.

[MightyMitre]

Well said Maxine.

As you improve it's all too easy to get bogged down and be overwhelmed with what you should be doing, when, for how long and at what speed. But obviously if becoming a serious road racer is your goal then there's a tonne of material out there covering all aspects of training ect.

Cycling for me is my hobby. It takes me out to interesting places and I've met some cool people, and while I want to do as well as I can, having fun and enjoying what you do is far more important than any of the training manuals put together.

So get out there and enjoy...

[hibiscus09]

Hi there --

I've been lifting weights & doing cardio for about 7 years and biking for about 2 months. Here's a great site that shows you exercises you can do for different body parts -- I think the fact that I've lifted legs for so long before cycling is what helps me to get up the hills sitting.

http://www.exrx.net/Lists/Directory.html

I like the fact that this site has moving pictures showing proper form.

It's also important to eat right when being active. I have always done more of a higher protein, moderate carb & fat diet until I started cycling. Now, after reading a couple of books & doing some research, have switched to a 55% carbohydrate, 25% protein and 20% fat diet. If I have a ride that is shorter or moderate in length, I still do what I've always done & switch to protein & fibrous veggies for my night time meal. Not eating tons of carbs at night will help you with the weight loss. The day before my long ride, I take the carbs up to 65 to 70% carbs and increase the calories & the fat, so I can get through the ride. I also have a high carb meal before I go to bed & have a couple of servings of oatmeal about an hour or more before I head out. I take plenty of water -- 70oz. in my hydration system, a couple of carbohydrate drinks (I like Gatorade) and an energy gel for my long rides.

Another cool site where you can keep up with your ratios of what you're eating is called:

fitday.com

It's free and has a large database of foods with caloric values, fat grams, protein grams & carbohydrate grams in each food. It also breaks it down into percentages for you and has a cute little pie chart. LOL You can custom input your own foods also.

I'm still pretty new at all of this, but so far everything is working.

Oh, and one more thing. I just went through the clipless pedal horrors. LOL

When I bought my bike I had nothing on the pedals for about 2 weeks -- just your basic pedal. Then I went back & let them put the strappy cage things put on. I had no problem with these -- kept them loose enough to get my foot out easily. I then decided after another month or so to give clipless pedals a try. I tried "Look" clipless pedals & busted my fanny about 7 times. In my opinion, those things are hard to adjust to when you're a new cyclist. Mine were very hard to get out of consistently. After that, the LBS talked me into trying Speedplays. It was like night and day. They are much, much easier to unclip. The first few times trying to go around my cul de sac, I had to adjust to clipping in -- it was a little different from the Look pedals-- but by the time I finished my first ride, I could do it easily. It's just my opinion, but I'd try the Speedplays before the Look clipless pedals.

I do think you should just get really comfortable on your bike before you try a clipless system. It does make a world of difference in pedaling efficiency, though.

[williamtash]

Hi Bianchi Babe
I know how you feel about hills I have been training for the bikefest 2003 in hillsbourgh NC 31 miles. I had this hill on my training route that iI could past around. and I did for the first few times in my training. the one day I told the hill I will see you on the last lap of the 33. when I got to it I looked and said here it goes. It took me a big bit to get up it and man was I breathing like giving birth but I made it and I scared to men working on a roof because I yelled Ya I did it. When I did the bikefest that hill looked like a peice of cake compaired to the ones on the ride but I did the same thing so I guess mental work is really more then yyour body work. When you make your hill I bet you will have a little yell to you'll feel great.
Williamtash

[Bianchi Babe]

Maxine:

Thanks for the good advice, especially on traffic. Every bit of information I learn is helpful. Congradulations on your century ride around Lake Tahoe. That is a very pretty area.

[Bianchi Babe]

Mighty Mitre:

I appreciate your information on nutrition. Just curious, does England have bike trails or bike paths along your roads? I've never been to England so I'm totally unfamiliar with road conditions there. I don't know about other states here, but in california, at least where I live, most roads have a designated bike path. I think because our county has so many cyclists and several commuters commute to work by riding their bikes.

[Bianchi Babe]

Hibiscus09:

Cool pic of Betty Boop one of my favorites. Thank you for the links and the information on speedplays. I'll look into them when I've mastered getting on and off without clobbering myself. When I get on my bike I tend to waver a little bit until I get control. Its really scary at stop lights. But getting off is even worse. I must be doing something wrong and I hope the book the administrator recommended covers getting on and off. Although I don't suppose to many people are that clumsy. The book should be coming in today and I am really looking forward to reading it. Not just for the cycling information but also to learn more of the lingo. It really surprised me to find out that cycling is like a whole nother world. With unfamiliar words like cadence, drifting, pace line ect.

[Bianchi Babe]

Williamtash:

Your bike fest sounds interesting. I think I could ride 31 miles though I'm not sure about the hills. Depends on how close together they are and how steep and high they are. Were you aware of the bike fest route before doing it?

[MightyMitre]

Hi Bianchi babe

Ah now, cycle paths....yes we've got some cycle paths over here but to be honest, most of the time they're just there for show, so the city council can claim to be providing for cyclists.

There's a cycle lane down the road I take to get out into the countryside, but they let car's park in so you have to swerve. Very useful. How would motorists like it if I decided to park my bike in the middle of their lane?

If you've got a moment you really must look at this website, It's made by a guy who lives in my town, about - cycle lanes. It's www.weirdcyclelanes.co.uk it's very funny - some of the places they've put cycle lane! You can also see some of the less glamours parts of Brighton. Some of the cycle lanes are actually shorter than my bike!

[Bianchi Babe]

MightyMitre:

Your bike paths sound funny if they're shorter than your bike. Although I can't say the cars are particularly considerate around here, we do have bike lanes in the streets. We even have a bike signal in front of street lights so that if there aren't any cars around a bike can activate the light so that you can cross. At least that is the general theory but they don't all work. Some of them do change the light but the light changes so fast that I can't cross the street before its red again. Even my husband can't and he is a very good cyclist. There is a really nice bike path made especially for the cyclist that goes from one town to another. We took that one last weekend and it was heaven for me. No cars, smooth paved path that ran paralel to a major highway, and it was flanked on the sides by Alpine Lace, wild blackberry plants, oak trees and dairy pastures. Plus, we got to cross over three wooden bridges that spanned the creeks. I thought it was a beautiful pleasant ride but its very boring for experienced cyclists as there aren't any hills and its only about 21 miles. Of course, for us to get there we ride down from our town so for us its 28 miles. Thanks for the link. I love looking at pictures from other countries.

[missliz]

You know, maybe you need your own cycling life separate from your husbands. You can join more than one club, you can take the beginner rides while he hammers the long routes, you can go on the all girl rides; If you be yourself the cyclist you will get more out of it and sooner than you think you'll be able to ride together on equal terms and you'll have a lot more fun.
Somtimes having your husband/ boyfreind try to teach you stuff can be difficult- They overwhelm you with information. With the best of intentions, but sometimes a more neutral party is better for you. Clubmates who can 'splain stuff are good to have around.
The point is, it sounds like you want to ride, so you should do activities that meet your needs as a beginner. And he needs to respect that. A lot of cycling couples ride together and ride separately. Some days you may just need to toodle around the neighborhood. And some days you should go out with a group- just hang on the back and you'll amaze yourself!
Go to the library or Amazon and look into the work of Covert Bailey. He explains metabolism and how you make the transition from fat to fit in easy to understand language. If you understand some simple biology you'll be able to train to make it up those hills more efficiently. And you need to understand how that body fat gets burned off. Ignore the fancy math, you don't need it.

missliz

95% of climbing a scary hill is knowing how to use those gears. I learned the basics from Mountain Biking magazine. Bicycling Mag is also good for learning stuff. Lots of basic instructions.