The bicycling thread.

IcBlUsCrN

Vanessa's Drinking Buddy
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So i was doing that basic 5 mile loop (up to a couple of laps now) as usual/ routine and stopped for a second to read the trail map sign. turns out there is a few exits (which i thought were entrances from the street) which lead to a series of other loops all over the suburbs which totals out around 40 or so miles. It's a fun discovery now that i know this thing can grow with my ability.

try something like starva it will help you discover new loops and unknown trails. for road or mountain bikes its pretty nice.
 

TurboCro

AESwipe,
Joined
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Posts
596
Started biking again this year. Picked up a used caad10 5. Also got a og general lee bmx and a trek mountain beater.

Strava is awesome.
 

smokehouse

I was Born This Ugly.,
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try something like starva it will help you discover new loops and unknown trails. for road or mountain bikes its pretty nice.

LOL, starva….this is what happens to me when din-din isn't on the table by 6 PM...
 

cdamm

Trust the French?
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CAWWWWWWWWWWwkkkkkkkkkk :make_fac:

holy fuckballs!

try something like starva it will help you discover new loops and unknown trails. for road or mountain bikes its pretty nice.

I like bikebrain- its cheap as hell ($5.00 all in with all features unlocked and no monthly fee) has a great mapping feature and good analytics (good as i am an analytics whore).

also-
I did my first 10 miler today since i've been back on the bike. so theres that. I swear since i re-did my diet and moved to a more cardio intensive exercise routine pounds are falling off.
 

smokehouse

I was Born This Ugly.,
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holy fuckballs!



I like bikebrain- its cheap as hell ($5.00 all in with all features unlocked and no monthly fee) has a great mapping feature and good analytics (good as i am an analytics whore).

also-
I did my first 10 miler today since i've been back on the bike. so theres that. I swear since i re-did my diet and moved to a more cardio intensive exercise routine pounds are falling off.

Strava is free as well...you can go "premium" but if you do not have a HR monitor, it's not worth it.

I think that you'll find that the miles will get larger in rapid fashion...and the lbs will melt off.

So many kept asking me how I lost 100 lbs so fast...and I never had this amazing answer to give them outside of "diet and exercise". I ate clean, and I mean clean. Lean meats, controlled portions. Zero junk food, zero fast food, very little sugar. Combined that with cycling and the pounds fell off. I never felt like I was doing something dangerous, I was never starving.

I view it like I view smoking. When i finally had enough, I just quit. Zero smokes ever. No cheating, no pills, or patches, or gimmicks...I just quit.

Everyone I know that tries, and fails at losing weight "cheats"...or tries to replace one bad with something not so bad. The eat those stupid 100 calorie cookie pouches, or they have a "cheating day", or some other gimmick. Once I told myself that every meal is not a party for my face and that all junk food was off the table, the rest was easy. Once I hit my goal...I let it slip a bit, if I wanted a cheeseburger, I ate one, if I wanted to go out for ice cream, I did. One key though is never keeping the shit in the house...I am one weak willed moron between 8-10pm. If it's there, I'll eat it.
 

cdamm

Trust the French?
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Strava is free as well...you can go "premium" but if you do not have a HR monitor, it's not worth it.

I think that you'll find that the miles will get larger in rapid fashion...and the lbs will melt off.

So many kept asking me how I lost 100 lbs so fast...and I never had this amazing answer to give them outside of "diet and exercise". I ate clean, and I mean clean. Lean meats, controlled portions. Zero junk food, zero fast food, very little sugar. Combined that with cycling and the pounds fell off. I never felt like I was doing something dangerous, I was never starving.

I view it like I view smoking. When i finally had enough, I just quit. Zero smokes ever. No cheating, no pills, or patches, or gimmicks...I just quit.

Everyone I know that tries, and fails at losing weight "cheats"...or tries to replace one bad with something not so bad. The eat those stupid 100 calorie cookie pouches, or they have a "cheating day", or some other gimmick. Once I told myself that every meal is not a party for my face and that all junk food was off the table, the rest was easy. Once I hit my goal...I let it slip a bit, if I wanted a cheeseburger, I ate one, if I wanted to go out for ice cream, I did. One key though is never keeping the shit in the house...I am one weak willed moron between 8-10pm. If it's there, I'll eat it.

All of the strava reviews say the latest update gimps the free version and kind of forces you into premium. That was enough for me to pass on it. Maybe i'll give it a peek.

also- thats where im at too eating wise- completely clean. My brother in law came home last night for the first time in a while (he lives far away) and there was kind of a feast prepared. I was kind of freaking out regarding fucking up my diet. I managed, but it was tough watching everyone dig into some of my favorite shitty foods there.
 

smokehouse

I was Born This Ugly.,
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All of the strava reviews say the latest update gimps the free version and kind of forces you into premium. That was enough for me to pass on it. Maybe i'll give it a peek.

also- thats where im at too eating wise- completely clean. My brother in law came home last night for the first time in a while (he lives far away) and there was kind of a feast prepared. I was kind of freaking out regarding fucking up my diet. I managed, but it was tough watching everyone dig into some of my favorite shitty foods there.

Just remember to not get too crazy with things...I did and it wasn't fun. Once you hit a goal (weight and/or fitness), you can go into maintenance mode. When I first started, I was so far off, I had no goal. It was simply "I'm pushing 300...this shit needs to stop". I dropped to 250, 220, 200, 190, 170...and then just kept going. I think that at my lowest, I was probably high 150's, low 160's. At 6' tall, I was a bag of bones. I started getting comments about how gaunt I looked from my wife and family. In other words, I didn't go into maint mode...I just kept dropping weight.

While smoking is one thing...it should go from "always" to "never again" and stay that way, food shouldn't be. Letting yourself enjoy junk foods now and again is fine...it just requires mental discipline. I went from hard left to hard right...depriving myself of everything, no "cheats", no anything, ever. It didn't take long until this turned miserable and you just can't live that way. I love junk food...and I always will. Instead of the Snickers/doritoes/pepsi 9am break food followed by fast food lunch I subjected my body to for years...I now do it on occasion.

I've gone back up to the mid 170's and although a bit of the belly is back...I do look more "healthy" than I did before. I'll admit that I've slipped a bit lately, especially with the booze, so I'm actually trimming things down a bit again.
 

cdamm

Trust the French?
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Just remember to not get too crazy with things...I did and it wasn't fun. Once you hit a goal (weight and/or fitness), you can go into maintenance mode. When I first started, I was so far off, I had no goal. It was simply "I'm pushing 300...this shit needs to stop". I dropped to 250, 220, 200, 190, 170...and then just kept going. I think that at my lowest, I was probably high 150's, low 160's. At 6' tall, I was a bag of bones. I started getting comments about how gaunt I looked from my wife and family. In other words, I didn't go into maint mode...I just kept dropping weight.

While smoking is one thing...it should go from "always" to "never again" and stay that way, food shouldn't be. Letting yourself enjoy junk foods now and again is fine...it just requires mental discipline. I went from hard left to hard right...depriving myself of everything, no "cheats", no anything, ever. It didn't take long until this turned miserable and you just can't live that way. I love junk food...and I always will. Instead of the Snickers/doritoes/pepsi 9am break food followed by fast food lunch I subjected my body to for years...I now do it on occasion.

I've gone back up to the mid 170's and although a bit of the belly is back...I do look more "healthy" than I did before. I'll admit that I've slipped a bit lately, especially with the booze, so I'm actually trimming things down a bit again.

qft.

my issue is and always was 'portion control'. that was what i was kind of dealing with yesterday. Keeping it light. i did well, but a few people noticed that i did not have a huge plate of food and i sort of had to explain what i was doing.
 

smokehouse

I was Born This Ugly.,
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qft.

my issue is and always was 'portion control'. that was what i was kind of dealing with yesterday. Keeping it light. i did well, but a few people noticed that i did not have a huge plate of food and i sort of had to explain what i was doing.

This is the key 1000% when you are past the "lose weight" and onto the "maint" stage. A summer cookout would be 2 cheeseburgers, a pile of chips, baked beans...and in the end, probably a second helping.

Now...I'll do one hamburger, small pile of ship and a small dish of beans. Not two helpings, no cheese, no extras. I still enjoy it...just less of it.
 

nug

B. Jenet's Firstmate
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This is the key 1000% when you are past the "lose weight" and onto the "maint" stage. A summer cookout would be 2 cheeseburgers, a pile of chips, baked beans...and in the end, probably a second helping.

Now...I'll do one hamburger, small pile of ship and a small dish of beans. Not two helpings, no cheese, no extras. I still enjoy it...just less of it.
I love food, particularly stuff that's awful for you. That's why I started riding, so I could still eat like a pig and not gain weight. Crazy part was the more I enjoyed riding, the longer I went, so I started having to eat more and more tto maintain the body weight I wanted to be at. Got to the point where I had to cut back on riding
 

smokehouse

I was Born This Ugly.,
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I love food, particularly stuff that's awful for you. That's why I started riding, so I could still eat like a pig and not gain weight. Crazy part was the more I enjoyed riding, the longer I went, so I started having to eat more and more tto maintain the body weight I wanted to be at. Got to the point where I had to cut back on riding

I will say this...diet does really matter if you are shooting for performance on the bike. If you goal isn't performance, then no...eat all you want but exercise enough to keep the weight off. It's not a bad thing to do...just not as productive.

Comparing my '13, '14, and '15 seasons on the bike...there's a distinct difference in my performance between them.

Summer of '13 I was all about it. Eating very well, big bides with big miles.
Summer of '14, I took a completely different apporach. Ate "normally" and rode many, shorter and often harder sessions than '13.
This year...well shit...it has been shitty. Either way, once the two straight months of rain stopped...I started doing more of a blend with shorter, harder sets during the week, longer sets on the weekends.

Even thought I rode fewer miles in '13 than I did in '14...my #'s were far better than in '14. My overall speeds, my PR's on climbs and other segments...more often than not were set (and still stand) in '13. On top of that, I lost more weight as well...
 

JammaGuy

Previously I-d-o-s-k-8
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See, I live in the heart of a bicycle heavy town. Bike shops everywhere, and bikers every morning and every evening when I get home! I'd love to jump on the bandwagon, as I eat very healthy, live a healthy lifestyle as it is, but the cheapest bike I've found is $700ish... I cannot justify spending that much money on a bike that's no where near as cool as the $2,400 bike that I actually like, and if I can't muster the money for the turd bike, there's no way I'd spend what could buy a running cars worth of money on a bike.. I guess I have one question, and that is how the hell do you get started? I can't even afford the hobby I'm originally on the forums for... I know I'd love it, I used to bmx for years until I was about 20, and I know with that bike I had wrapped up a good 3k cash, but growing older brings responsibilities that don't allow that big of a spend.
 
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Jibbajaba

Ralfredacc's Worst Nightmare
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I just drank three beers and then rode my bike 12 miles.

Life is too short to tailor your diet to your riding habits, unless someone is paying you to ride.
 

cdamm

Trust the French?
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See, I live in the heart of a bicycle heavy town. Bike shops everywhere, and bikers every morning and every evening when I get home! I'd love to jump on the bandwagon, as I eat very healthy, live a healthy lifestyle as it is, but the cheapest bike I've found is $700ish... I cannot justify spending that much money on a bike that's no where near as cool as the $2,400 bike that I actually like, and if I can't muster the money for the turd bike, there's no way I'd spend what could buy a running cars worth of money on a bike.. I guess I have one question, and that is how the hell do you get started? I can't even afford the hobby I'm originally on the forums for... I know I'd love it, I used to bmx for years until I was about 20, and I know with that bike I had wrapped up a good 3k cash, but growing older brings responsibilities that don't allow that big of a spend.

i did a lot of research. there is a pretty strong bike community out there (other forums/ articles/ blogs). I cant justify a $500 bike right now, so the one i ended up picking out and should be picking up next week is a $200 basic bike. What i found out is there is a bunch of cheaper bikes out there with good frames that you can upgrade to your tastes. I found a bunch of solid but cost effective upgrades that will have me rolling on a cheap bike that rides like something much nicer than it is.

I'll post up all about it when i grab it, but look into customizing something cheaper until you can afford something you really want.
 

nug

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I just drank three beers and then rode my bike 12 miles.

Life is too short to tailor your diet to your riding habits, unless someone is paying you to ride.
The main reason I goto the gym and ride is so I can eat whatever. If I want to drink a couple of tall boys with a giant bacon burger, I'll do it with no worries. I generally eat healthy as is, but no way am I ever counting calories etc. There is one exception: if we are planning a family vacation to somewhere warm where I'll be in a swimsuit alot, I'll go on a cutting diet.
 

supergoose

Die Gans,
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I cant justify a $500 bike right now, so the one i ended up picking out and should be picking up next week is a $200 basic bike. What i found out is there is a bunch of cheaper bikes out there with good frames that you can upgrade to your tastes.
Used?
 

p413j316

Crazed MVS Addict
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I cycle to work every day that weather permits. I used to cycle in the rain, but wet gear is not fun in an office setting. It's my only form of exercise and I look forward to riding each and every day. It's a great stress relief and helps me to appreciate my surroundings.
 

smokehouse

I was Born This Ugly.,
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I thought I'd put this info up...

Before I bought my Garmin, I ran Strava on an iPhone (I've ran it on a 4s, 5 and 5s). It was all cool beans until I rode a friend who had a garmin 500. Comparing his ride data to mine, the miles were the same the but the elevation was way off.His Garmin would register far more elevation than mine. We did a 75 mile ride and his Garmin had registered 2451' vs my iPhone showing 1516'...that's a huge difference.

For the hell of it, I did the same test. I took a hard rolling course locally where there are a good amount of short, but steep climbs one after another. My Garmin registered 1300' in 32 miles, my iPhone 5s registered 850'...big difference.

If you're interested, here's the ride:

https://www.strava.com/activities/370536985/overview
 
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Jibbajaba

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Does anyone just ride their bike without using a GPS to collect data anymore?
 

Electric Grave

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I do but I have an odometer...that's just for my road bike, I don't use it on my other bikes.
 

kraquepype

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Does anyone just ride their bike without using a GPS to collect data anymore?
I only turn strava on to get my distances for the week but it doesn't really matter. Its cool to see your route on a map but if you do the same routine for weeks at a time who cares? I could do without it.

...
 
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