Hello everyone. Wow boarderchick sounds like you are really a RIDER!! :bike: Good job!

I haven't tried the hill again as instead I decided on Saturday to ride way on up to another intersection... but whew it was more hills all the way! I had to push twice LOL but that is not so bad! :)

I didn't just bike and run, I swam as well :carrot: I was absolutely worn out by the end of the day though!

Slight problem, my bike fell over when I got home last night and the chain came off. I've managed to get it back on, but the gears don't seem to be changing properly and it was making a really funny noise when I cycled in this morning. It think I might be paying a visit to the bike shop at the weekend if a bit more fiddling with it before I try to ride home doesn't pay off.

Oh wow one of THOSE types of marathons! No wonder you were exhausted!

Hope you get your bike fixed up!

new to biking
 

Ladies, I hope I came to the right place. I am new to the whole bicycling thing. I have lost nearly 40 pounds without exercise, but now I am a bit stalled. So I figured I am ready to add some exercise. My DH is an avid biker, so he suggested I try the bicycle. I was having a really bad day at work yesterday and was really tempted to comfort my self with food. So instead we (DH & I) went and bought me a bike.

It’s a cross/hybrid, or what’s called a city bike (faster than a mountain bike, more comfortable than a road bike), and it feels pretty comfy. I will try to insert a picture, hopefully it works. The plan is that he can go on his long and fast rides alone, but few times a week he will go with me on about 1 hr (eventually, after I build up to it) rides however fast I can manage.
http://bicyclerenaissance.com/images...1l_cu_07_m.jpg

I hope you ladies can give me whatever recommendations, suggestions you have. My DH can help some, but he is a boy and is now about 100 pounds lighter than he was before he got in to it, so he may not think of it the same way as a girl would.

Hmm, the gears are still a bit funny. It seems to be a case of randomly pushing levers until it gets into the gear you want without being clicky, but once it's there it's fine. I managed my fastest cycle home with a bag (I once did it faster without the extra weight) so it can't be affecting it too much), it just sounds noisier than it should and I don't want to do any permanent damage.

I had my first biker conversation today when another cyclist asked me what I thought of my bike as we were stopped at some lights, because he was thinking of getting one from the same shop.

NinaV :welcome: and that sure is a pretty bike... If you like it and you've comfortable on it that's what's important...

Misti -- keep tackling those hills eventually you WILL conquer them...

Helen -- get your bike checked... my chain often falls and is always very easy to get back on with no problem... hope it's nothing serious...

I haven't biked in a few days I've been working 10 hour days and I'm not used to that :lol: tomorrow should be the last long day... I haven't gone in the evenings because the humidex is so high ...

Later all...

Hi everybody

Nina, what a beautiful bike! Hope you enjoy it!

Helen, sounds as if you may need to take your bike in... hope you get it in good shape soon!

And LOL Ilene... I don't think I will EVER conquer all these Seattle hills but I am besting SOME of them anyway! :) I know what you mean about the long days... with my commute mine are 11 hours so it is hard to get out there in the evenings!

Hi everyone -

I haven't posted in this thread before, but I love riding my bike and do it every day, so I figured I should say hi! :D

Currently, I own a mountain bike - nothing special. I've gotten more and more into cycling lately, and want to either get a road bike or a BMX bike. Very different, I know, but both have their advantages: both are light weight and much more general fun than regular ol' mountain bikes. Road bikes can go extremely fast, with their aerodynamic posture and large wheels, and BMX bikes... well... when I was younger, I was into doing neat tricks and I think it would be fun to get back into it.

Here's what I wonder:
how fast can BMX bikes really go? I know I can get to about 32 MPH (flat surface) on a mountain bike - I measured it with one of those digital signs they have at construction zones for cars to make sure that they don't go over the speed limit, and I know on a road bike, I could probably hit 45+ - on average, I ride around 15-20 MPH on my mountain bike ...I wonder if a BMX bike will go that fast with the moderate amount of effort that I normally put in, or if I'd have to work twice as hard to achieve the same speed?

Hi Shane and :welcome: So glad you decided to post!

Wow I sure won't be the one to answer your questions! :) You sound like quite a biker. :bike: I've only had mine a couple of weeks and had not ridden in years so I am doing well to pound my way 10 or 12 miles although it IS almost all up hill going. :)

Hope to see more of you in here!

Sue

Hi Shane :wave: ... So sorry I can't help with your question either I just wanted to welcome you...

Thanks for the welcome, Ilene and Misti! :D

Misti: going uphill on a bike is great exercise... but what about downhill? ;) Most of the time, once you climb uphill, there's a certain peak you reach in which you get to go down... going down is the best part.

My problem is that my ride to work is nearly all downhill, then I spend the day dreading riding back up it again! Still, at least it persuades me to take the bike in the morning because I think it isn't that hard and conveniently forget the ride home...

I managed 3 days this week for the first time. I'm trying to decide whether to ride in tomorrow or not, I might just get the bus because I need to buy a day ticket later in the day for a night out, so may as well use it for work too I suppose and have a bit of a rest day from biking.

Oh for sure, Shane! That is what is neat about the place I usually ride. The opposite of Helen's... my ride is about 5 miles almost all uphill. But wow what a ride coming home! :) Can't get complacent though as LOL I still have to keep control of the thing! :bike:

My ride to work is pretty balanced - lots of going uphill AND going downhill, though the ride home just FEELS so much faster, because I'm always dreading *going* to work and looking forward to being home. It's a 9.5 mile ride - sometimes, I don't know how I even do it. It felt SO long at first, and my legs were always sore, but I knew that since I work ten-hour days (4 days a week), I probably wouldn't get exercise any other way. Plus, for those of us who bike to work, we get exercise in the morning AND in the evening - great stuff. :)

That's a great plan! I would love to bike to work but it is way too far. So I walk on my breaks and lunch and do my biking or water aerobics, whatever, afterwards. It is kind of tough since with my commute I work 11 hour days but hey ya do what ya gotta do! :)

I have a new bike too, a hybrid, not expensive but did my first ride last night. I used to bike a lot back in college and haven't since. I suppose I kept seeing the pictures of skinny Kate Hudson in magazine's riding her bike, and it reminded me of how much I used to enjoy riding bikes. In this town there are some nice trails, one follows a river and has some hills. I saw on amazon that they make such a thing to attach a child's bike to the back of an adult bike, so if my three year old gets tired I could do this. He had me up at 7 am this am, Sat, as he was so thrilled about his new "racing" bike. This bike is for four year olds but he's almost a year advanced so he's very happy and proud. I even "counted" walking with him riding his bike as a little exercise this am. But I'm looking forward to some daycare too when I can really cruise. I have too thin of legs and a heavy upper body so I'm thinking I could build some leg muscle doing hills and burn fat. It's just such a pretty time of year too.

Hi Horsey... sounds like fun with you and your son! And like you, I have skinny legs and heavy upper body too so not so concerned about getting weight off my legs but building strength and the bike sure seems to be doing it. :)

Misti, do you ride up hills for this? You are 5'9 like me... this top heavy figure is odd, it's only since I gained weight but I think my shoulders have always been a little big. I've been losing weight - just 7 lbs but a start - and my legs have gotten skinnier. I read once you lose weight in the reverse order that you gained it so if I gained any in my legs it's first to go, but I think I've lost some muscle too. Does biking work the calves too? I think I need to find some mountains to hike as well, best shape my legs were in was when I went to college in the most insanely hilly campus in California. I had muscle and toning. I rode bike too a lot.

Can anyone tell me, those little computers at stores that measure mileage and fat burned - that you put on bikes, do they work? And what brand? Saw a few at Target and online. Since I'm being a bit obsessive these days it would be nice to know distance and calories at least.

Hi Horsey... well no, actually I ride up hills because I live in Seattle and if I go anywhere there are hills. :) No way to get anywhere without going up and down hills. And I would think it would work most all the leg muscles but haven't really studied up on it. I also do a lot of hard water aerobics -- not just calisthenics type but with weights and underwater and stuff -- as well as a lot of walking and also working with free weights.

How did you learn water aerobics with weights? That's something I could do with my little boy while he swims as he loves swimming. Does that tone your legs? I'm going to try this new Jari Love dvd I bought, she does major strength training on it, I like to lift heavy on my legs and I'm reading if you are top heavy to go for more reps and less weight on top. You don't post your weight or loss? Have you been losing? What do you think is ideal for 5'9 anyways? I was thinking/dreaming of my old college weight of 125 but there's no way that's realistic, so really at 150-55 I felt really good - somehow I blimped up to 180 almost this past year but I'm down to 173 and even that feels better. I'm just thinking cycling might really help do the trick since it'll work my skinny little legs.

Hi Horsey... actually I just bought the water weights and make up all my own exercises as well as checking here in the threads for ideas and also searching on the Internet. I only have the hand ones (plus regular walking leg weights) but did use the leg ones some at the public pool this past winter. And yes, I do all kinds of exercises so it tones my body all over.

And I agree that for top heavy (which I am also) less weight and more reps. I never use more than 5 pound weights and on the machines usually keep it at 20-30 pounds, except 50-60 on the leg pushes.

As for what looks good at 5'9" I guess it depends on your body type. On me 180 starts to look pretty thin and 170 is downright skinny if I am toned.

I used to post my weight and loss but got to where I would rather just keep an Excel database personally of my exercise totals and weight loss, etc. But yes I did lose another 7 pounds in June and hope/plan to keep it up. I have been working out so hard I think right now I am building muscle so the last couple weeks am battling the same three pounds over and over, grrrrr. :) But I'll get them, yes I will! :)

I was down to 155 before and it was skinny as I didn't tone my legs etc enough. I gained again so this time I'm concentraing more on weights. I've been lifting 8 lbs on my arms and I'm starting to like them and won't increase weight I don't think but I'm about to majorly increase on my legs, especially squats and such. Put on shorts and looked like pencil legs, I think I lost fat there with weight loss and now I desperately need muscle. I'm not sure what my ideal weight would be if I muscled up some. I think it might be around 155-160 but not the 135 I used to be way back when. But I feel best at size 10 whatever my weight and right now I'm size 12 in pants and large or xl on tops. What's your weight now?

Hello, I had a couple of good rides today. Normally my commute to work is about 5 miles each way, but today I decided to go a longer route. On the way there I did just over 12.5 miles, and on the way back I did 8 miles. Still not huge distances, but I was still proud of myself because I did it in pouring rain when the easiest thing might have been the shortest route . But actually I quite like exercising in the rain, and it didn't take too much longer than my normal route - and the way to work was a lot nicer, I ended up on a traffic free path alongside the canal which is far nicer than battling with buses and traffic lights. Unfortunately the longer route home didn't seem to make it any less hilly!