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70 days tomorrow......

Champix made a huge difference for me. In saying that, i stopped taking it after about 7 weeks. Only side effect for me was nausea which was easily enough managed by making sure i ate before taking it, which ina way was a good thing cos it forced me to eat breakfast.

Saturday was the first big night on the turps. Had a cigar, which was no big issue, i will probably continue to have the occasional one of those. Held a lit smoke, looked at it and gave it back. I was pretty happy with that.

The Womble wrote:In the first instance I stopped the course of Champix with almost a month to go because my wife Kat found I was becoming more agressive and sometimes scarily so.

I hear you womble, i first had a serious go at quitting about 10 years ago using a product called Zyban.
I did manage to stop for about 6 weeks however the side effects included a couple of holes in doors around the house, numerous road rage incidents and a permanent ban from a hotel for breaking a pokie machine with a fellow patron

My missus eventually came home with a pack of winnie blue and flushed the remaining tablets down the loo.
I have since tried patches (ran out of room to put the buggers and the dreams about huge killer chickens and holes in my hands were exiting but a bit freaky), nicotine gum (almost bled to death from the mouth ulcers), and most recently i have purchased one of those electronic cigarettes (results TBA).

A big part for me is actually wanting to quit, after all it's sooooo tough and cool
The bike really helps because i literally need to wait at least an hour after a ride and it's almost impossible to roll a smoke while riding, and even harder to get it lit.
Notice the word almost, and I'm not kidding here.

Anyway, as already stated, onya to all those who have done it. I look forward to being one of the biggest pain in the ar$e, insufferable reformed guys that look down their noses with disdain at the likes of us nicoholics.

im_no_pro wrote:70 days tomorrow......

Champix made a huge difference for me. In saying that, i stopped taking it after about 7 weeks. Only side effect for me was nausea which was easily enough managed by making sure i ate before taking it, which ina way was a good thing cos it forced me to eat breakfast.

Saturday was the first big night on the turps. Had a cigar, which was no big issue, i will probably continue to have the occasional one of those. Held a lit smoke, looked at it and gave it back. I was pretty happy with that.

Great job im_no_pro and all the reformed

I have been off the suckers for 20 months now.
Smoked for 20 years and after numerous attempts to stop i tried the champix. No other side affects apart from the nausea also.

I also taught me to eat breakfast after 20 years of never eating a breakfast of more than a coffee and a cigarette.

dont miss them at all

Mallacai wrote:

im_no_pro wrote:70 days tomorrow......

Champix made a huge difference for me. In saying that, i stopped taking it after about 7 weeks. Only side effect for me was nausea which was easily enough managed by making sure i ate before taking it, which ina way was a good thing cos it forced me to eat breakfast.

Saturday was the first big night on the turps. Had a cigar, which was no big issue, i will probably continue to have the occasional one of those. Held a lit smoke, looked at it and gave it back. I was pretty happy with that.

Great job im_no_pro and all the reformed

I have been off the suckers for 20 months now.
Smoked for 20 years and after numerous attempts to stop i tried the champix. No other side affects apart from the nausea also.

I also taught me to eat breakfast after 20 years of never eating a breakfast of more than a coffee and a cigarette.

dont miss them at all

I also used Champix & haven't had any side effects. Made sure I took them at the end of a meal. Have been off for only a month, but the tablets worked. Well I did give up cold turkey about 5 years ago, lasted 6 months then lapsed.
I have found it is mainly breaking the routine of having a smoke. One with morning coffee, morning tea break, lunch, etc... Hardest part is when having a few beers out with mates. Once the routine was broken then that made it fairly easy day to day. But on the beers is when I really want one.
Luckily for me am now married with 14month old daughter & therefore drinking doesn't happen much. Plus don't want my little girl growing up around a smoker.
So well done to all who have quit, good luck to those trying. I feel better being a non smoker.
Haven't been riding much to notice the difference, but that is the big thing I am looking forward to. Make me quicker for longer I hope.

Champix sounds interesting from the feedback here. I might have a look into it. I am assuming that a lot of the reported 'side effects' such as insomnia and depression or whatever ... you may be less susceptible to if you are an active cyclist ? Dont know, but its a habit Id really like to kick ... one day soon, but not just yet.

Anyway, I was in the LBS the other day to have a look at some cheap pedals for a mate's bike ... and I made a big effort NOT TO LOOK at the new bikes. I don't want to upgrade yet, I am more than happy with my still shiny 2008 Avanti Giro, and I am not that good a cyclist that the bike is limiting me in any serious way. I actually really like my current bike to be honest.

So I don't need a new bike anyway, just not interested.


And then I saw it. It caught my eye, and I just couldn't help myself. Had a closer look. I knew there and then that I had to have this bike.

Its a brand new BH G5, with FSA carbon cranks, and stunning wheels with white spokes. Its hard to describe what a total work of art + brilliant engineering this new BH is ... Here is a video, but its nothing to compared to seeing it in the flesh.


Price tag - somewhat over $5000 with an Ultegra build.

There is no way I can do that. $5k for a bike ... nah, thats just excessive for me, Im just a weekend warrior when it comes to bikes. I can't justify that, and a part of me would die if I traded in my beloved Giro. So I forget about an upgrade for at least another couple of years yet. When Im ready for it, a nice bike like a G5 might be a good idea and a worthwhile purchase. Much better climbing bike than the Giro, but it demands a better climber than I am at the moment, thats for sure.

Now today, I was out the back at work having a smoke, and really enjoying it .. when I coughed on the horrible stuff, and could smell the stale lingering smell outside by the smoking area. Now this should have occurred to me 20 years ago, but it really struck home here and now all of a sudden. I said to myself in my head ... "Say What mate ? Thats AT LEAST $5k you are spending on this rubbish every year, not to mention the other excesses that seem to naturally occur when you are hanging around with others that do the same thing, and don't really care about where its taking them". Without generalising at smokers at all, I can say that a lot of the heavy smokers that I know do not really have a concept of a long term plan. A lot of them do tend to make a lot of decisions based on 'I want it now, and bugger the consequences tomorrow'.

Anyway, Iooked at the packet ... in this case a nice shiny packet of B&H that I absolutely adore, and the irony of that was not lost on me. "Ditch the B&H and replace it with a BH for the same amount of money ! ... DUH !!!!" ... for the first time that made perfect sense to me.

Stuff this smoking thing - I am going to do whatever it takes to get off them, and I AM going to get myself on a new BH G5 road bike. I am not going to spend any savings or borrow money to do it - I am going to pay for it entirely out of enforced savings from what was previously cigarette money + trash money from wasted hedonistic nights out on the town. As soon as that kitty hits $1000, I am putting the deposit down and ordering the G5. Persistent nagging from the LBS about completing the payments on the bike will accelerate the plan no doubt. By the short time that its paid for, my lungs should be so much better, that Ill be a better climber without the smokes anyway. And ... I get to keep my Giro.

Im even thinking of inventing a sales contract with the LBS to say that if the bike is not paid by a certain date ... OR ... if I touch my credit card to make a payment .. OR .. if Im caught smoking between now and then ... then Ill happily forfeit the deposit.

This is going to be very hard to do, but I am going to turn this :

into that :


.. and Ill probably need all the support I can get to do it.


Interestingly enough, even if this Spanish 810g carbon frame + Edge Composites fork + new Ultegra Gruppo turn out to be absolute rubbish ... Im still ahead !

Happy to help you quit if we can mate

side affects will differ from person to person if at all.

i dont think it matters if you are as fit as lance armstrong or just a couch potato.

i wasnt cycling when i gave it up, but i also wasnt a couch potato and didnt get any.

comes down to chemical reaction i believe.

Mallacai wrote:side affects will differ from person to person if at all.

i dont think it matters if you are as fit as lance armstrong or just a couch potato.

i wasnt cycling when i gave it up, but i also wasnt a couch potato and didnt get any.

comes down to chemical reaction i believe.

You are pretty much spot on Mallacai. It is like any drug, there are possible side effects & some people have more of a pre-disposition to them than others.
I'd say give them a try, they are subsidised by the govt & the first course was $33. If you feel any ill effects, stop taking them.

All the best & I reckon having a goal like yours will make it that much easier & you will be more determined.

Good for you, nice little motivational rant, but you get stuck in.

PS: you'll need to budget for some new kit, obviously, changing over from that lime green machine. Actually, on second thoughts, keep the Avanti. Nothing wrong with 2 or 3 or... bikes. But you'll deffo need new kit.

rustychisel wrote:Good for you, nice little motivational rant, but you get stuck in.

PS: you'll need to budget for some new kit, obviously, changing over from that lime green machine. Actually, on second thoughts, keep the Avanti. Nothing wrong with 2 or 3 or... bikes. But you'll deffo need new kit.

No need to invest in new kit for the G5 .. I was thinking a Port Adelaide jersey would be just fine for that bike.

you wouldn't!!!!!


... would you?

steveoc wrote: No need to invest in new kit for the G5 .. I was thinking a Port Adelaide jersey would be just fine for that bike.

Everyone will assume you stole it

NOW you have me thinking ..... I could attach the whole set of AFL trading cards to those lovely white wheels as spoke cards !!



Wouldnt that look just GREAT on that handmade Spanish frame ?

I'm one. I did the cold turkey thing and found it surprisingly easy.

What worked for me was setting a goal/trigger for actually starting the quitting process. When cigs got to $10 a pack it was time to quit. I'd been telling myself that for a couple of years before it actually happened so when it did happen I just did what I'd been telling myself.

Basically, I think you've got to really want it. If Zyban, hypnotherapy, etc work for you have a go. Your lungs and legs will thank you for it.

I'll admit there were some cr@ppy days and to this day sometimes the whiff of a cig (especially early in the morning) makes me crave a bit. Usually, I am on my bike which makes me reject the idea out of hand.

That was 3.5 years ago and ~35,000 km's, and I don't really miss them and I can do stuff I've never been able to do (e.g. climb an average 20% climb over 1.5 km's, ride an imperial century, etc).

Best of luck.

I started smoking when I was 15, gave it up when I was 50. That's five years ago.

Cold turkey. It was hard for the first few weeks and then I started riding and discovered there was a good option for a bad habit.

Now if I feel the urge (not often these days) I tell myself that smoking is the slowest, dumbest and most expensive way ever devised to commit suicide.

Good luck with it. Maybe we can ride that 130km stage in the TDU together and discuss the evils of tobacco while sucking-in helath lungfuls of air.

steveoc wrote:
Interestingly enough, even if this Spanish 810g carbon frame + Edge Composites fork + new Ultegra Gruppo turn out to be absolute rubbish ... Im still ahead !

Go for it, but don't wera the Port jersey ......

Just make sure you don't start again after buying it ....

Saw it at Corsa i presume ... ?

I smoked from 14 to 33, for the last ten of those years was on over 1 pack of 16mg a day. 1 day about 5 years ago I was lining up to buy a packet and looked around at my fellows in the smoke mart. These weren't the cool kids that I shared furtive durries with at the back of the oval anymore. They were old women with no teath and low vocabularies, dudes who thought owning a Holden was the be all and end all and the sort of people who wear full AFL team gear in public all year round. I walked away and never smoked again. Sometimes snobbery pays off!
Yes I put on a lot of weight, then I started cycling about 14 months ago and haven't looked back. One of the first things I did was go up the old freeway and to be honest I didn't make it and turned around at eagle on the hill. The next week I made it to crafers and the week later to the summit of lofty. 2 weeks later I did the 60 k amy's 4 or so months later I did the coast to coast.
I guess my point is that every time I've stretched myself I've either persisted or tried again - a lot if it is about silencing the voice in your head that tells you to stop. Either way at 38 I've never been fitter, careful though, it's as addictive as smoking!