MFP Spitfires Cycling Club Week 9!!!

skywalker

I know... I'm starting the check-in a day early. I've noticed that most of us finish our week by Sunday evening. :happy: So... checking in...
Last week's pledge 125m
Actual 147.5m

I pledge another 125 :happy:
Good Luck, everyone!!! :drinker: :drinker:

Jax67

Good morning

I pledged 33 miles last week
Actual - 39.6 m

I pledge 33 again :happy:

Happy cycling everyone :flowerforyou:

Jax67

Skywalker you should hit your summer goal this week... i am in awe!!

Good luck :flowerforyou: :drinker:

skywalker

Skywalker you should hit your summer goal this week... i am in awe!!

Good luck :flowerforyou: :drinker:

Thanks, Jax!! :happy: That's the plan. You keep surpassing your goals. You'll be at 500 in no time!!! I wanted to hit it by Sept 1st, so I'm right on track :happy: After I get there, I'm going to slow down the cycling a bit and try doing some more strength training. There's a 30 Day Shred group starting Sept 1st if anyone wants to join in. I'm still going to stay in the cycling club though.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/63971-new-30-day-shred-group

prayerfulmom

last week pledged 64 and achieved 64.
This week pledge 96

dlestermfp

It has kind of died down in here. Maybe everyone is out riding?

I am going for 100 miles again. I think I am going to blow the lid off my mileage average starting next week though. It looks like my commute is going to get significantly longer due to bridge construction. If it doesn't kill me, it will definitely make me stronger.

skywalker

It has kind of died down in here. Maybe everyone is out riding?

I am going for 100 miles again. I think I am going to blow the lid off my mileage average starting next week though. It looks like my commute is going to get significantly longer due to bridge construction. If it doesn't kill me, it will definitely make me stronger.

I know. It has died down. We started off strong and now there seems to be only a few of us left.
Oh well. I plan on sticking around. I have a trainer to use in the winter or hopefully I'll be able to get the mtn bike I've had my eye on. I sold my old one. I miss it :sad:
Good luck to everyone! Hope you're out riding even if you're not checking in :happy:

skywalker

Maybe someone farted again....:noway:

dlestermfp

I am hoping that the 100+ mile goals of a few of us haven't been intimidating others away from participating. If it has, I thought I would share my history for the past couple of years.

In December of 2007, when I decided I didn't want to be a fat couch potato any longer, I hopped on an old exercise bike I had in the garage and pedaled for 7 minutes. The intensity and pace were pathetic, and I felt like I was going to die. I didn't get back on the thing for two days. When I got on it again, I again went for about 7 minutes, and again I felt like I was going to die.

This little pattern continued, getting gradually more time and higher intensity until in March of 2008 I was looking at the computer readout on the exercise bike. I was pedalling for 30 minutes at that point, and it was saying I had travelled six miles in that time. I figured that was about the same distance to my office, so that next Saturday I pulled the bicycle down that had been hanging on a hook in the garage for some ten years, lubed up the chain, pumped up the tires, and rode it to work. I didn't expect that to be a very big deal since two of the six miles was down hill. I was right. Getting to work, it was easy.

Of course, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize that if you have two miles downhill on the way to work that you have the same two miles up hill on the way home. How would that work?

Well, it didn't work well at all. I was in the lowest gear the whole way up. I was not pedalling very fast, and I was desperately gasping for air. It was a huge struggle. But, I did eventually reach the top of that damn hill and at that point I knew I could do it. That Monday I commuted to work.

At first I could only ride every other day. It just took too much out of me. But, weight was coming off and my fitness was improving. Over the next few months I managed to work up to commuting every day, I was really feeling better than I had in years, and winter was just around the corner.

I didn't want to stop riding for fear I would slide back into my old sedentary ways, so I pulled the mountain bike off the hook in the garage and got it ready to ride. I also bought some wicking cold weather clothing, a nice jacket, headlight, helmet light, tail light, spoke lights, and I rode all winter. I didn't care if it was snowing, sleeting, sub-zero, I rode. The weight kept coming off.

When spring came I pulled the road bike back out and rode it for the first time after pushing the knobby tires all winter. I found new strength and insane speed. I started taking longer routes home just to get in more miles, especially adding a particularly nasty hill.

So, for whatever it is worth, what I am riding right now started with panting and wheezing on an exercise bike just 22 months and over 100 pounds ago. I am in my early 40s, so youth is not on my side either (a point I observed on several occasions).

Quite literally, if I can do it, anyone can. Bicycles are amazing. They can change your life if you let them.

skywalker

Thanks for posting that dlester. My story is not much different than yours. Congrats on losing over 100 lbs!! :drinker: I've lost 40 total (15 of it with MFP), but the first 25 took me a year to lose. A few years ago, I couldn't ride 5 miles without feeling like my heart was going to explode :laugh:

A close friend of mine at that time was riding 30-40 miles a day as his regular ride and I remember thinking that I'd never be able to do that. I still don't put up the kind of mileage that he did. I felt inspired and discouraged at the same time (though he was always very encouraging and patient despite his superior fitness level).

Once I started really trying, I noticed how quickly my endurance began to build and that weight started coming off. I've never been more disciplined about cycling than I've been this summer. I owe most of it to motivation and encouragement that I get on this site. If you saw me on the street, you wouldn't say, "Now she looks like a cyclist." :laugh: I'm still a good 30 lbs overweight. I still huff and puff up steep hills and will be 37 years old soon, so youth isn't on my side either. I don't think I'm old, but weight loss was much easier in my twenties.

I guess I just wanted to agree with dlester and just encourage anyone and everyone who wants to ride, whether it's 1 mile a week, or 1000 miles a week. Just keep pedaling! :happy: :drinker: :happy:

prayerfulmom

I enjoyed both of your stories. So I'll chime in here too

Last spring I was empty nesting so I decided to join a triathlon training group. I had lost weight on my own but still had a long way to go. I successfuly completed two triathlons and slimmed down a bit more while following a sports nutritionists advice and eating a high protein diet (plenty of carbs too). I then find out I have damaged my kidney (i have just one) from the high protein diet. I have to change my diet to low protein I search and search for info. Basically people with my kidney disease are just encouraged to walk. I'm not ready to give up. Dang, I was only 38. I started packing on the pounds with the diet motification but still was training. I realized my greatest love was for the bike. I still cross train but love the bike. So when you look at me you wouldn't say "now there is a cyclist". But you might be impressed that a big girl like me rides over 100 miles a week, and runs, and swims.

So, if I can do it with age and disease not on my side, you can do it! Its a gradual process. Its a blast!

skywalker

Good for you, prayerfulmom :flowerforyou:

dlestermfp

Well, my week is done. Ended up at 112.34 for the week.

Other interesting things off the Garmin:

Total time: 7:21:13.80
Average Speed: 15.3mph
Average Cadence: 81rpm
Total Ascent: 5337ft (Descent is the same)
Total Calories: 8889

I will go for another 100 next week. I will be on vacation the week after that, so I will either get a lot more miles in, or almost none.

Jax67

Thank you to all 3 of you for sharing your stories, interesting and inspiring at the same time

Skywalker........ YAY!! you have passed your target!
Way to go girl :happy:

dlester ... have a great holiday :happy:

I'm off to Cornwall for a couple of days next week, i'm taking the bike with me so i should be able to make up for the lack of miles this week.

Jax

skywalker

New week... :happy:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/64698-mfp-spitfires-cycling-club-week-10