Hi everyone, my name is Rena

My introduction to cycling started in 2008 when I heard about a 2200km ride around the perimiter of Poland. I signed up for the tour and then bought a bike. I had 4 months of self training before the trip and it worked out great. What an experience. But even then, in kindness the other cyclist in the group told me I needed to lose weight. The hills were hard.

After that, I put my bike away for 5 years until I decided to cycle Indonesia Jan 2013. For various reasons, health, weather... I wasn't able to train as well and was no where near the fitness level of the others. I only managed 1000km and 1 1/2 islands before dropping out of the tour and coming home.

Everytime I see I cyclist on the road, my heart breaks a little. I want that to be me.

I'm trying to get back on track now. I'm 53 yrs young, 5'1" 40lbs over weight and my knees hit my boobs when I ride.

Sept 1st I started making serious changes and major plans to get me back on my bike and prepare me for a new and incredible experience, with people who share the passion.

Happy to (sort of) meet you all

Hi, I'm Jez from Yorkshire, England. Started cycling nearly 3 years ago at the age of 50 to try and put a stop to the year on year steady weight gain. Now have 2 bikes, the Cube MTB I started with, which was followed by a Cannondale CAAD8 road bike. I try and get out for a ride at least once a week using the road bike, in the spring/summer and the MTB from Autumn onwards.
Had a crash at the end of April and broke my left clavicle (not recommended... it hurt.. a lot!), so had an enforced few months off, but I've recovered now and picking up my fitness again and losing the extra pounds I gained.

Hadn't spotted this group til now, but looking forward to seeing what you get up to

I'm 53, an auditor. I started my quest in 2010, lost from a high of 343 to 216 by 2012. Since then, I have regained 40 pounds. So, it's time for a new quest: I will lose to my ideal weight of 190 and run a Sprint Triathlon in June of 2015.

I started riding (Roadbike: Giant Defy Composite) two years ago. I've put 2,100 miles on her. I am a novice runner as well. I could use a few MFP friends to encourage/be encouraged in meeting our goals.

Greetings to everyone. I've been using MFP for the past few weeks. I hope that by being brutally honest with myself on what I actually eat every day that I can stop my hands from putting way too much stuff in my mouth! So far so good.
I just turned 69. I've been riding road bikes for 25 years, generally attempting to keep up with my husband.
I live in central Kansas--and believe me, the part of Kansas in which I live is far from flat. (see attached photo). We have plenty of hills and almost always that oh so lovely Kansas wind! I currently have a Giant road bike, which I got 2 years ago after 20+ years riding a Cannondale. My husband and I ride spring, summer and fall, but during the winter we content ourselves with using a mag trainer Our rides are usually 20-25 miles with occasional 40+ mile rides. We live in a semi-rural area, lots of paved roads. However there is a LOT of vehicle traffic since there is a nearby large Army post. In the late afternoon and early evening, when we generally ride, the roads can be quite congested.
I have ridden many century rides in the past, but now content myself with metric centuries a few times each year.
I hope to make this year a strong one for riding, and losing the 25 pounds or so extra I'm carrying right now will hopefully help achieve that goal. One of my husband's and my mottos is "2pedal4ever", I devoutly hope this will be our forever activity-maybe just a little slower in the future. The attached photo is on a nearby state highway. My husband is one of the riders in the photo.

Welcome handymano! Nice picture and mountain. Join us in the other threads.

Hi, my name is Scott, and I've been on MFP for a while, but not actively. I'm going to try and change that. I'm 44 years old, married to a great wife, and we have two kids. I have about 100 lbs to lose, and I'm hoping to lose quite a bit of that while on my bike. I ride 6 miles per day as part of my commute to work 3 days a week, and I work from home the other two. I'm trying to get into the habit of riding some local trails the other four days of the week, because I LOVE mountain biking. Anyhow, hello from a new member of this group.

Vanessa_Ross wrote: »

Hi, my name is Vanessa, and I have been on MFP for a while but definitely not active. I am 45 years old and married. I need to drop at least 60 lbs. and am hoping to do a lot of biking. For now, I am on an old Schwinn bike as it is all I can afford. Other than the bike are there one or two key things that I should have to start this adventure?

Decent shorts and a good helmet! Otherwise, just bring a sense of adventure and a willingness to have fun. Good luck and welcome!

Hi all, I'm just getting back into bikes. I have some back issues that left me with a numb left foot and leg so I went to walking because of the way it felt on the bike. Well now my knees are shot so I'm back to bikes. lol The lessor of two evils. I have to exercise to lose and keep weight off, I was 490 at my heaviest and 245 at my lowest. I'm currently 337 and need to step up my game in both diet and exercise. I have worked up to putting in an hour a day for 12 mi, 5x a week. My goal is always to get an hour a day of exercise. Once I get in better shape I'm sure the mileage will go up. I have a Raleigh Retroglide NX7 that I put street tires on. I love this bike! The nexus 7 speed hub is so much nicer for me than having a Derailleur, I don't think I will ever switch back. I look forward to chating with you all!

My name is Jean. I am retired and enjoy outdoor activities, including road biking, and hiking. I am not a performance cyclist. I like it for fun and fitness. I live along the coast of Maine in the summer until mid November, then return to an island off of the coast of Charleston SC for the other part of the year. I'm 4'11" and have two Terry road bikes that work best for my height, a 650 cc wheel Terry Symmetry (my profile pic) and an older steel framed 700cc and 24in wheel Symmetry. Hi everyone.

Just realized I never did this when I joined up here.

My name is Ron and I have been doing MFP for a few years now. Late last summer I discovered cycling as a better exercise option over running as my knees and feet kept getting hurt running. Fell in love with cycling right away.

My 2 rides at the moment are a 2014 Cannondale Trail 7 29er MTB which I've modified quite a bit for comfort and road riding. I've only done actual mountain bike trails a few times as they are not very accessible to me where I live but still try to do that as well when I have the time to drive to a trail. My other bike is new (to me) and is a Mongoose Dolomite Fat Bike. It was a cheap option to see how I felt about Fat Biking and I'm fairly certain I will save my pennies over the next few months while doing research so I can buy a better Fat Bike.

I started a Ride Streak about 9 days ago and my goal is to ride at least one mile every single day for a year. Obviously I hope to ride much more per ride, but in the case of extreme weather I figure at least a mile will keep my streak alive.

Another goal I have is to do a Century Ride next spring. I've already made some friends here - feel free to add me. I am a fairly regular user of MFP and try to be very supportive to my friends here.

Hello from me. I used to be a regular cyclists a few years back when I was based in Edinburgh (mainly mountain biking with some roadie stuff too) but switched to running when I moved to London a couple of years back. I've got back into cycling in recent weeks though - mainly road bike rides in the Essex lanes to the East of London at the moment but also planning to bring one of my mountain bikes down as my London place is close to Epping Forest.

I've got loads of bikes (too many according to my wife!) although they're mostly getting on a bit:
- Specialized Roubaix Elite (my London road bike)
- Boardman Team Carbon (my Edinburgh road bike)
- Cotic Roadrat (tourer/commuter with flat bars, hydro brakes and Alfine gearing)
- Specialized Epic (full-suspension XC mountain bike)
- Cotic Soul (steel framed XC mountain bike)
- Cotic BFe (steel framed "hardcore" hardtail)
- Specialized S-Works Enduro (sort of all-mountain full-suspension XC bike)
- Specialized Enduro SX (heavy but fun full-suspension mountain bike)
- On-One Inbred (usually built up as a singlespeed)

I'm working my way back up to being able to do decent length road rides - especially getting my backside used to being in the saddle for a while.

New to the group but not MFP. Mtn. biker mostly but will do a little road riding. Live in MS but ride frequently in AL and FL.

Hello Family, long time cyclist, just starting my vision of becoming a ultra-distance cyclist. Getting serious with my food intake, and workouts. Turning 48 this sunday, and it's never too late to reach your dreams.