I just wanna say thanks riding!

[birdbrain]

Fantasic effort Steve(osrg) and PB12In and anybody else who has been bitten by the black dog. Been there, done that and I know how hard it is to crawl out of that hole. Mine goes back many years and I'm free of those feelings today. I credit in part taking up cycling again after a very long lay off.

[gabrielle260]

Just tried on a pair of trousers that I haven't been able to squeeze into since 2003 and they were loose!
I'm resurrecting a great thread as this isn't weight loss but is thanks to cycling. In Dec 2002 I was at my lightest and fittest. I was hoping to beat my best ever Alpine Classic 200km time that i had set in 1995 and felt I was in with a good chance. Then I got given a trip to the US for a conference as an incentive reward and it meant the Alpine was out. (Those with long memories will realize I wouldn't have got to ride anyway as 2003 was the year it was cancelled due to the bush fires)
When I got to Philly I kept training and I must have kept losing weight as I bought 2 pairs of Brooks Brothers pants and have never been able to get into them since. I think I was around 89kg.
Since then I have been as high as 117kg and am currently around 96kg. The difference, though, is that this time I am riding almost double the kms. My body shape has changed and wooohooo, they fit!
Andrew

[novice]

Nice one Gabrielle. I think it is great to feel the thrill of looking good in clothes that never fitted. I have been riding constantly for 2 years now & never felt better. I am fit and healthy & everyone comments on how good I look. I have struggled to get to my goal over the last couple of months due to a few setbacks, but am back on track now. Only 2 kg away from breaking the 100 kg mark. This is now only 7 kg from my goal of 95. My wife has never known me at this level as I was already very over weight when we met 32 years ago. So she now has a new husband ( so she says). Can't wait to bust into the 99 kilo mark. It's been a long & very hard journey but worth every moment. I also look forward to being able to back off a little once I am happy with the level that I settle at. I should be able to perhaps enjoy my riding a little more, not having to push myself to go every day at 5.15am in cold Winter weather. Maintaining the weght loss will be the key to all the effort.

[Toyopet]

An amazingly inspirational thread, this one.
Much of it strikes a chord with me.
To add even more to the inspiration, there was a similar editorial in the American Magazine "Bicycling" a year or two ago.

Happy riding everyone

[adrian_d]

Hey all,

I'm quite interested in knowing how cycling has changed your life and how much of a part it does play with regards to other interests in life.

For me I need a fundamental interest that I can be involved in substantially, at the same time it have substantial ongoing costs and with a relatively low chance of injury (considering all of my injuries have been from falling at <1km an hour haha)

I've tried all sorts of interests in the past (and gone back to the same ones) without much success for a long term interest. Cycling is cheap, can be enjoyed in any weather conditions (Depending on how keen you are), and its easy to get really involved with events and racing.

I do find myself taking great pride in maintaining my rides and keeping them in as good nick as possible. The most enjoyment is from maintaining and building the bike from scratch.

<mod says: OP requested deleted, better is to merge into the existing thread>

[adrian_d]

double post sorry

[scott w]

after turning 40 earlier this year and talking about buying a bike for a while i bought a specialized hardtail mountain bike , fitted some smooth tyres , bought a cheap bike computer to track my progress and have lost about 15kgs down to 76kgs which for me being 184cm is awesome .
i bought the misses a merida road bike as she could see how much i was enjoying myself and a trainer for the days when the weather isn't great and are looking at getting a road bike .

i think i maybe addicted.

cheers Scott

[marty_one]

for me cycling has changed my life in a un-expected way. Trading sleep for long rides. The down side though for me is that for the majority of long rides that I do I am by myself which is okay but gets very boring very quickly. I am fitter than I have ever been (I have also been swimming and running), and last weekend I completed my longest ride to date 95km. Never ever thought I would end up being able to ride that distance.

[g-boaf]

I've mentioned it elsewhere but I thought I'd create a new thread for fun. Yesterday marked one year of riding for me. The fourth of April was my very first commute.

In that time I have...

- Gotten really quite fit.
- Travelled 8100k by push bike.
- Lost about 26kg of flab.
- Become comfortable being in public wearing skin tight clothing.
- Ridden 170k in one ride.
- Met lots of super nice people.
- Found lots of people that are really very inspirational.
- Kept up with groups riding at 35kph av for 40k.
- Participated in 3 mass participation rides (despite loosing lots of mass myself).
- Bought two pushbikes for myself.
- Become a bit of a fitness role model amongst friends and relatives (Really!).
- Been called the "bike geek", "bike nutcase", "the terminator", "Banana man" ,"Toyboy", "the Beast"
- Bought a ridiculous amount of biking paraphernalia from various online shops.
- Crashed while towing the kids in a trailer ("Daddy can we walk to school?").
- Sprinted at 52kph on the flat (wohoo!).
- Been added to the business plan by name at the LBS.
- Travelled at 78.7kph on a pushbike dressed in lycra (what could possibly go wrong).
- Slashed 2 tyres, had about 10 flats, and somehow have amassed 5 sets of tyres in the garage plus the two that are on the bikes.
- Saved a whole heap of money in bus fares.
- "Reinvested" about 10 times that in the pushbike industry.
- Made my wife really quite proud of me.
- Shown the kids that going somewhere does not necessarily involve a car.
- Scared 7 shades of shite out of several people with my air horn.
- Spent way too much time on the internets talking about bike stuff.
- Persuaded about 4 people to ride to work on a semi regular basis (probably to shut me up!)
- Been checked out by the opposite sex on occasion (for the first time in my life).
- Saved lots of time by riding to work over the bus.
- Have not gone postal at any fellow commuter or a Brisbane City Council bus driver.
- Ridden in torrential rain.
- Ridden up Mt Cootha.
- Swapped my car cleaning time for bike cleaning time.
- Done good things for the environment by not driving places.
- Joined two bike advocacy groups!
- Remembered what hunger feels like.
- Seen my love of cars dwindle to a lifetime low.

That's all I can think of for the moment... maybe other people have similar lists.

That's an awesome list, well done!

I've done a few of those things. Wearing skin-tight clothing in public no longer an issue for me. Love riding, get cranky when I miss a bike ride. Went down from nearly 90kg to about 63kg. Had one crash early on, had other injuries - learned from them. The LBS has $$$$ signs in their eyes when I pay a visit. And I've had a lot of people notice how much weight I've lost. Biking changed my whole entire mindset as well. And lastly, I see a bike going by in the street and I think hmmmm, Scott Foil, or Specialized Venge, nice... Others roll their eyes that I know what those bikes are.

I'm still working on becoming a stronger and better rider - but biking for me has already paid off dividends that cannot be measured. It's one of my favourite things to do when I get spare time. And I actually love working on bikes too.

Amazing story Tim! You should be very proud of yourself - and your family You look like a different person!

Thanks Julie, the change that people don't see is the self esteem and mental change, the physical stuff takes care of itself with hard physical work, it's the other stuff that can be a battle.


But it's nice to be able to say I am a cycling addict !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


I must say it's rude of me not to Congratulate Comedian on his achievement, well done mate, top effort.Tim

Mate, you don't even look like the same person! Great achievement.

[NhiTrac]

It's allowed me to continue eating the way I do (I love food)

On a serious note its helped me with weight loss, increased fitness and general well being, increased savings from lower PT and car usage though probably offset from constant upgradeitis. Overall I believe cycling has made me a much happier person in general. I get moody and annoyed when I don't ride for more than a week.

[alf]

I think this thread needs a bump so that newer BNA members get to see it.