Congratulations!

Out. Freakin'. Standing!

Developing a distance addiction? Check out Randonneurs USA. Your region has some very active clubs, and not at all like the "Every Ride is the Tour de France" feeling that pervades so much of the sport.

I respect someone more who has been in poor shape who comes back to fitness than someone in shape who has always been in shape. Coming back takes far more discipline and sacrifice. I admire what you've done. I have not been so disciplined.

Nicely done!

Glad you had your helmet on.

Congratulations on your personal achievments! Thank you for sharing your thoughts and journey.

You have inspired me to go further on my bike now!
Keep up the good work.

You have my personal and sincere congratulations.

Awesome 911Boss.
I have enjoyed road and mountain biking off and on my whole life. Rode the HHH Hotter N Hell 100 mile ride in Wichita Falls, TX back in 1993. Had triple bypass surgery in 2019. Got back on the bike rode the 62 miler last summer. I am not fast, but that's not the point to me anymore. I have a good bunch of friends all in our mid 50s that ride together.

Out Standing.

Outstanding!!! Congrats on the weight loss. I'm glad the bike routine worked for you. Six and half hours on a hybrid with suspension is no joke. That's some serious saddle time. Nice scrapes! I've had my share over the years.

I recently finished Ironman St George - all asphalt and a triathlon bike. It's a long time to be pedaling.

You have some beautiful countryside to ride thru!

Thanks all for the kudos!

I am pretty surprised at how motivating the NordicTrack cycling rides have been. I really prefer the more outdoor oriented training vs the studio-centric Peloton classes.

I bought a 2x8 hybrid bike back in September, but after doing so many NordicTrack rides and experiencing gravel and backroads in Utah, Arizona, Iceland, Norway, and more I really decided I wanted to do more than just roads and paved paths so I picked up a 1x10 Mountain bike in February.

Was torn between the two bikes, different gearing, pros and cons for both. Carried higher average speed on the hybrid, but it was a bitch on the steep hills around my house. MTB has a great low gear for grinding up hills (48T rear cog and a 30T front), but with 2.6” tires it was a chore to keep any real speed on an uphill rise.

2x8 gear train had 3 overlapping gears so out of 16 possible combinations, really only 13 “speeds” and some those were really close ratios so occasionally faced with double shifting to make any real felt difference. The top speed was really only good for downhill as it put a lot of pressure on my bad knee on the flats.

The MTB 1x10 gear train is great. Just limited on the top gear ratio and speed.



Anyway, a few weeks ago I started messing around with “what if’s” on trying to see if I could modify the hybrid for a better climbing gear or the MTB for better top speed. Decided the best option was to improve the speed of the MTB. I went from a 30T front sprocket to a 32T oval sprocket for a little more on the top end and to relieve some of the pressure on my knee at the top of the stroke.

Next I swapped out the 170mm crank arms for 165mm ones. Those two changes made a huge difference in pedaling comfort. The larger sprocket only gives me about 1 mph more on the top end gear wise, BUT with the oval sprocket and shorter cranks I have increased my average cadence by 6-8 rpm.

I also picked up a pair of used (new take-off’s) 47c (1.85”) tires and swapped them in for the 2.6” knobby MTB tires. That dropped the rolling resistance some. They are still a “gravel” tire with good combination tread for paved/gravel traction. The slightly smaller diameter gave up a little bit of the top speed increase from the gear change, but is made up by the higher cadence.


Once I realized the top gear MTB speed really needed to be compared with the next to top speed Hybrid gear, they weren’t that far apart. Once I am going downhill, cadence and gravity do more work than the gearing.


So, to sum things up -

Hybrid Bike on the flats I would run in 1-2 gears down from the top. 46T front with 13 or 15T rear giving me a speed of 16.1-18.6 mph at a 65 rpm cadence. Any faster cadence and my knee couldn’t take it. In top gear I could get 22 mph, but in real use it was downhill only and of course cadence could be much higher depending on how steep the decent.

With the gear change on the MTB I can carry a cadence of 72 on the flats in top gear for a speed of 17.5 mph or 14.8 mph if I drop down one gear for a recovery stretch. That makes the MTB effectively only about 1 mph slower on the flats than the hybrid.

Once I am on anything but a slight downhill, the extra high gear of the hybrid is irrelevant. Uphill, the 40 and 48T cogs of the MTB (vs low of 34T on the hybrid) REALLY shine. I am able to keep pumping up hills that I had to dismount on before and still have 1 or even 2 gears left. No overlapping gears with the 1x drive train so no complicated double shifts at inopportune moments to mess up the rhythm.


I did a 20 mile ride this morning on the MTB before breakfast. I’ve done the same route on the hybrid and there is very little elevation change so a good test for the flat averages to compare between the two bikes. Hybrid - averaged 67 rpm, 15.1 mph over 20 miles. MTB averaged 72 rpm and 14.9 mph over 20 miles. Pretty close for the flats, once I get into steeper elevation, MTB is definitely the better bike for knee comfort and climbing gears. On a fast downhill, it is gravity doing most the work and I can’t get a fast enough cadence on either to actually drive the gears instead of just spinning them.



MTB also gives me the suspension fork and a simpler, more efficient, and evenly spaced gear train. Bottom line, MTB is the best fit for me and I just sold off the hybrid this morning. Took a “loss” of $200 on an $800 bike, but I did get a good 6 months of use out of it. I wish I had though it through better beforehand, but that’s how we learn. Of course when I bought the hybrid $1000 was my MAX. The MTB was $1050, so would not have been in consideration then anyway.



Funny thing - evidently bicycles are just like guns, cameras, and HAM radio gear. Once you pass an initial ”Oh shit, that’s a LOT of money threshold” it is wayyyy too easy to pass that threshold and raise it for future purchases

quote:

Originally posted by drill sgt:
Semper FI... Congrats on that accomplishment....... Check out the "Hotter-n-Hell" bike ride out of Wichita Falls, Texas usually in late August.... that is 100 miles in 100(+/-) degrees F... Starting line in excess of 10,000 riders....

Hmm, high temps and large groups of people - two of the things I prefer to avoid

quote:

Originally posted by jsbcody:

…My old beat up body can't tolerate a workout a day. I can go three to four days in a row and then need a recovery day. Mixing it up with cycling, rowing, treadmill, and boxing with a little weight lifting. Just started doing a basic Yoga and stretching program to do a couple times a week, especially on recovery days.

When I first started it was everyday, but only 1/4 - 1/2 mile walks at first. Then started doing morning/evening for 2x a day, then started increasing distance and adding Peloton every couple days. Then Peloton every day for short periods (just 10-15 min) then Peloton 2x a day and then increasing in Peloton times until I was doing 2-4 20 min+ rides a day.

While I am still minimum of 1 workout a day (usually 2 though and sometimes 4) I do make a point of no more than 2 “hard” days in a row. The next day is active recovery with lower impact (like the elliptical) or a shorter/easier pace recovery ride.

I added light weights and sit-ups (incline at first, now on a flat weight bench) to the routine back in October or so. Usually every other day for that or as a means to burn some extra calories on recovery days.

Most recently I have picked up resistance bands and they are a great addition as well.

quote:

Originally posted by 92fstech:
Great work! That's a long ride, glad you had your helmet on for that spill on the bridge. This eating healthy and exercising thing isn't necessarily fun, but it sure is satisfying when you set milestones and see results. Stick to it and keep up the good work!

I can’t believe how fast it happened. I went from feeling the front tire slip to feeling the impact on the left side of my head in an instant. Crazy thing is I was only going about 10 mph, upright with only the slightest left turn/bank as I was preparing to exit the bridge back to the gravel trail. Was essentially flat, level and straight, was just lining up for the left hand part of the trail as it was more compact.

quote:

Originally posted by 12131:
Good old no BS excuse hard work. You sir are the definition of dedication, determination and perseverance.

Thank you for the kind words

quote:

Originally posted by holdem:
Congrats!!!

Two things - First, make sure you replace that helmet. It did it's job, it saved your head, now get a new one.

Second - Instant Karma, since you broke your glasses, and I happen to work in that industry, PM me your info and I will send you a new pair.

And again, congrats on your journey. Your dedication to improving your health has been inspiring.

Yep, helmet is out of the rotation. Now using my “old” one. I had just bought this one at Costco a few months back because it had a flashing LED on it. Going to see if I can cobble the LED unit from it on to my old helmet.

Email sent regarding the kind offer for replacement glasses.

quote:

Originally posted by stickman428:
Wow! That’s a LOT of weight loss and some dang long rides you’re going on! Excellent!! Congrats!

I’ve been taking my son on bike rides. We started doing 3-4 mile runs to a park and then a little trail riding but now we’ve slowly increased our distance to close to 10 mile rides at least twice a week. He rode a drop bar gravel bike recently and just fell in love with the speed and ergos of that bike.

I’ve put 450 miles on my ebike in 2 months but I don’t think that one counts.

You are about to be the first SF Member on my “Ignore” list. I had to give up my motorcycle in 2018, miss it a lot. Bicycling is kind of starting to fill the void, but your damn E-Bike posts are REALLY getting me jonesing.

The only thing keeping me from an e-bike is that I rely on the calorie burn and I am afraid an e-bike would be a gateway back to a motorcycle followed by a very unhappy wife!

quote:

Originally posted by DennisM:
Out. Freakin'. Standing!

Developing a distance addiction? Check out Randonneurs USA. Your region has some very active clubs, and not at all like the "Every Ride is the Tour de France" feeling that pervades so much of the sport.

I’ll check that out - I am kind of starting to think I like the idea of the annual “STP” (Seattle to Portland). The only problem of course is Seattle and Portland. I wonder if the would let me wander in south of Tacoma and bail out around Vancouver?

quote:

Originally posted by darthfuster:
I respect someone more who has been in poor shape who comes back to fitness than someone in shape who has always been in shape. Coming back takes far more discipline and sacrifice. I admire what you've done. I have not been so disciplined.

Very kind words, thank you.

Most excellent.

Very motivated!

quote:

Originally posted by ibanda:
… Rode the HHH Hotter N Hell 100 mile ride in Wichita Falls, TX back in 1993. Had triple bypass surgery in 2019. Got back on the bike rode the 62 miler last summer. I am not fast, but that's not the point to me anymore. I have a good bunch of friends all in our mid 50s that ride together.

The ONLY way I was able to hit 80 miles was by realizing I am not racing anyone and not in a rush. “Slow and steady”. I am so use to the Peloton/NordicTrack and that you HAVE to be constantly pedaling that I would ride the real bike the same way.

Having to consciously remember to coast occasionally, enjoy the downhills, drop gears, and focus on an easier pedal pressure and higher cadence instead of trying to crush the pedals the entire trip.

quote:

Originally posted by Russ59:
… Six and half hours on a hybrid with suspension is no joke. That's some serious saddle time. Nice scrapes! I've had my share over the years.

I recently finished Ironman St George - all asphalt and a triathlon bike. It's a long time to be pedaling.

Definitely glad I wore my padded panties Even with them, “down there” was a bit sensitive the next couple days. Also have an “old man” saddle to help spread the pressure some. Didn’t really realize just how ragged I looked in the pick at key rest stop 57 miles in. best banana, energy bar, and ice tea I have had in a long time.

quote:

Originally posted by 229DAK:
You have some beautiful countryside to ride thru!

Only saving grace left in this God-forsaken state I am afraid. I will miss it when we bail out in a few years, for now though it helps me maintain sanity.

quote:

Originally posted by 911Boss:

Funny thing - evidently bicycles are just like guns, cameras, and HAM radio gear. Once you pass an initial ”Oh shit, that’s a LOT of money threshold” it is wayyyy too easy to pass that threshold and raise it for future purchases

YES!!! I bought my first bike back in 1996, a Specialized Hard Rock for $440. I recall thinking at the time, "This bike is awesome, I will not ever have to buy another one."

Well, 6 weeks later I was buying a Specialized Stumpjumper for $1219.

And it has only gotten more expensive from there.

quote:

Originally posted by 911Boss:

I’ve put 450 miles on my ebike in 2 months but I don’t think that one counts.

You are about to be the first SF Member on my “Ignore” list. I had to give up my motorcycle in 2018, miss it a lot. Bicycling is kind of starting to fill the void, but your damn E-Bike posts are REALLY getting me jonesing.

The only thing keeping me from an e-bike is that I rely on the calorie burn and I am afraid an e-bike would be a gateway back to a motorcycle followed by a very unhappy wife!

[/QUOTE]

If it is a pedal asset e-bike, and you ride it correctly, you can work just a hard on an e-bike.

For example, I have a Class 1 pedal assist e-MTB. When I ride off road and leave it on the low setting, I do get to go faster, and I almost always go longer. While it does take some of the workload off of my legs, it transfers a good amount of that work to my upper body. The difference in throwing around a 28-29lb full suspension MTB of the trails vs. throwing around a 48-50lb full suspension e-MTB on the trails is quite significant.

Now, if I just put it on top power and goof off, yes, I work less. But I can also make myself work the same, but different, while getting to go quicker, which means more fun.

Dang glad you had your helmet on, and didn't get beaned. Great work. I wish you could lose my weight for me LOL

quote:

Originally posted by holdem:

If it is a pedal asset e-bike, and you ride it correctly, you can work just a hard on an e-bike.

For example, I have a Class 1 pedal assist e-MTB. When I ride off road and leave it on the low setting, I do get to go faster, and I almost always go longer. While it does take some of the workload off of my legs, it transfers a good amount of that work to my upper body. The difference in throwing around a 28-29lb full suspension MTB of the trails vs. throwing around a 48-50lb full suspension e-MTB on the trails is quite significant.

Now, if I just put it on top power and goof off, yes, I work less. But I can also make myself work the same, but different, while getting to go quicker, which means more fun.

You’re not helping, in fact it sounds like your volunteering for “ignore” spot #2

Cheers!

quote:

Originally posted by 911Boss:

MTB also gives me the suspension fork and a simpler, more efficient, and evenly spaced gear train. Bottom line, MTB is the best fit for me and I just sold off the hybrid this morning. Took a “loss” of $200 on an $800 bike, but I did get a good 6 months of use out of it. I wish I had though it through better beforehand, but that’s how we learn. Of course when I bought the hybrid $1000 was my MAX. The MTB was $1050, so would not have been in consideration then anyway.



Funny thing - evidently bicycles are just like guns, cameras, and HAM radio gear. Once you pass an initial ”Oh shit, that’s a LOT of money threshold” it is wayyyy too easy to pass that threshold and raise it for future purchases

You ain’t wrong buddy! I’ll have my “base model” $3300 out the door Scott Spark 970 in candy orange paid off next month. It’s more than I paid for my Suzuki SV1000 naked sport bike motorcycle. But as you put it, bikes are easily as addictive as guns.

I won’t even say how many bicycles I own…it’s reaching small bike shop numbers. . Each bike is unique and offers benefits given the conditions and terrain you plan on riding. I have a bad weather/muddy trail bike or two,
a good conditions hardtail trail bike, three full suspension XC/trail bikes, a mental hardtail built to ride/race downhill but strong enough to ride off a shipping container, a cyclocross bike, a drop bar bike with 1970’s style balloon slicks that I adore (it actually does pretty darn good on single track believe it or not) and an ebike for when I just want to go fast.

I don’t think you can own too many bicycles. The Marin El Roy has been tempting me lately…it’s so funky and looks like an interesting ride.