The 2017 Exercise Motivation Thread

[jtbo]

oh and the shorts worked good but I find myself sliding forward-got to adjust the seat AGAIN, it seems that I need the seat to go higher-it must not stay locked in or something. aerotechdesigns.com is the site for plus sized bike shorts with some padding..just feels like wearing a diaper!!

Different shoes and bicycling shorts cause need of seat adjustment for me at least.

Oh and they do feel like wearing a diaper, also baby powder works much better with them. Padding has usually anti-bacterial treatments to prevent odors and such, so there is that purpose wearing bicycling shorts too.

Seat adjustment that works for me best is to have height set so that leg is straight when touching pedal with heel, when pedal is furthest away from hip, so that at no point I need to reach the pedal by stretching, but that with heel on pedal leg is straight.

That causes leg to have bit of bend when pedaling normally. Front of my seat is higher than back of my seat, that helps with tingling of palms/wrists and improves control at descents for me. These are personal things, there is no one rule that fits for all.

Also I like my seat quite forward, actually I would like to have smaller sized frame than what everyone recommends for my height, or BB should be moved rearwards, I get feeling of pedaling 3-wheeler kid's bike if I set seat normally and lot of knee pain, so I have knees forward of pedal center line, however that allows better control on technical stuff and also at descents (I can move behind the seat easier, also more weight at front for fast turns), at least my experience.

When climbing really steep, padded shorts are great as I have to sit at very nose of the saddle, which might be uncomfortable without padding, however too much padding causes rubbing, collects and causes more sweating and idea is to stay dry to avoid red skin.

There comes reason for breathability of clothing being very important, anything that collects moisture or does not breathe becomes painful, collected moisture is like breathe block, so that is why thin padding is better for longer rides, thick might work better for short rides, but generally to be avoided.

Sadly my shorts have thick padding, I really should get a pair with thin padding, but there are those without padding at all.

Oh and don't spend too much on clothing, soon will need smaller sizes and there is need for a new shopping spree, it happens, I have noticed

 

[Winchester]

Friday -
3 miles on the treadmill
12/12 hours with 300+ steps
13,701 steps for the day - 6.49 miles

 

[Norachan]

I keep forgetting to post here.



All I've done this week is lots of yoga, about 90 minutes a day. Every time I plan to go for a walk or a run something crops up. Feeling very guilty about that.

Maybe force myself out for a run before it's too dark tomorrow.

jtbo every time I watch one of your videos I expect to see a bear come lurching out of the forest at you. Be careful!

 

[jtbo]

jtbo every time I watch one of your videos I expect to see a bear come lurching out of the forest at you. Be careful!

I heard sound that was bit like bear, but it was a dog with his owner training him in a forest.

Today I did ride 3 hours, it was not very easy as I had way too little air in my tires.

Took this picture after coming from swamp path, I could not ride there, had to walk and there was plenty of water, once again I was happy from my new hiking boots, feet were dry after walking trough that.

Of course I did some riding too, most of it was riding, with cheap new tires it was bit easier as there is now more grip, but those are heavy tires and don't roll very easily so it is quite exhausting.

There was some rocks too, not quite so wet right now, though. Also met nice gentleman with a fatbike and had a short chat with him, it is nice to meet people with same passion. My riding did not go too well today, but I did not fell down, it does not count when you land on your feet...


Anyone who wants to wash my bike? Oh yes, there was wet clay, also mud, swamp mud, all kinds of things.

Update: Forgot to add graph, those are important so that you know I'm not cheating

 

[foxxycat]

That's some impressive riding jtbo . I much prefer pavement or smooth trails lol. I need a bike with a lower middle bar-the one I have now is very high and I have to be on my toes to jump off otherwise OUCH. It's a girls bike too go figure.

This morning finally printing out labels to return the duds. One site I bought a jacket is now having a buy one get one free-so I am returning the original order and buying 2 for same price.

I plan on riding today. Today forgot my veggies for my lunch but did remember my long sleeved jersey which I forgot yesterday. I have so much stuff in my locker at work-I never changed back into my clothes yesterday. Just couldn't stop sweating so didn't want to resweat again in clothes-so tomorrow I will wear those again since I only wore them for 3 hours before I changed...I really like jogging pants better than jeans..

Going to jc penny after work to return everything I bought-I didn't like the fabrics and they run HUGE. Size 20 jeans swim on me and 18 is tight. I can't win. LOL.
Oh I stepped on the scale last week tues and it was 214. Last night 212.4. I don't know if I have lost anything as I still need big clothes..but I swear I feel my tummy getting tighter and legs getting more solid...

 

[foxxycat]

30 minutes riding- 2.6 one way turned around. Total of 5.2 miles. The wind was much calmer today so I could have gone a bit farther but I like to stop twice to drink water on way then on way back beat feet!
70 out. plenty hot. I miss it in the 50s~!

 

[foxxycat]

Got further today. biking 2.8miles one way. then turn around n ride back. still had 3 minutes to spare. Windy but sideways so it wasn't too bad. 70s. sunny.

How's everyone doing??

 

[jtbo]

I had 2 hour ride today, bit over 1600 calories destroyed. Partly same trails as yesterday, but returned same tracks so it was shorter ride, almost did run out of light at time I got home. I did try to take easy. At one point HR signal was lost as I had to walk to pickup the reflector that got broken off from bike. There is always something breaking. Really wet this time, so soft that at places bike did sank so deep quick release levers disappeared into swamp mud, had to lift bike up from the swamp several times.

 

[Winchester]

jtbo , I love your pictures! You have some beautiful places for bike-riding. And that was one dirty bike!

Saturday was a no-treadmill day and I just worked around the house.

Sunday -
2 miles on the treadmill
10,101 steps for the day - 4.78 miles

 

[Norachan]

Nice landing jtbo I have a similar philosophy when I suddenly part company with my pony. I didn't fall off, I made an emergency dismount.



You're doing really well foxxycat Must be nice to see your time improving a little every day.

Winchester Working around the house counts as exercise. I spent three hours cleaning this morning. It has been really wet and windy all weekend and the cats have been going stir crazy because they couldn't go out.

90 minutes yoga after that.

 

[jtbo]

Thanks, Norachan it is sometimes only luck, but we can pretend being so skilled if we don't tell anyone

2 hours riding today, not so much single track, but I had fun anyway.

foxxycat keep going, remember to take it easy and keep it enjoyable, pushing too much too fast bites back, I have experience from that

I have been slowly increasing amount of exercise I'm doing, trying to do mild intensity for now, but keep going past 1 hour, 2 hours each day is goal.

I have now around 1.7 hours per day, 1.9 hours per day with activity, so should be soon 2 hours, then I have to start doing 1 and later 2 longer rides a week, like 4 hours or more. However I might run out of time as 28th would be one cycling event, might take part to that next year as I need better fitness than what I have now to survive that event.

Those red boxes are how much strain ride puts on you, 4 red squares is quite a lot and recovery takes more than 1 day from such, can be even 2 days. It depends how hard you push and how long that how many red boxes you get.

Then on another page you can see how strained you currently are and history, which helps to take it bit easier or push bit more on coming days. You can see how walking is not giving me much of strain, I get blisters before I get enough workout from walking which is shame as there would be a lot of nice trails to walk.

So tomorrow I should take it quite easy, but let's see, might try 2 hours of walking.

I'm getting inactivity stamps while sleeping, it's annoying. Also I'm noticing I need longer warmup now than before, but after around 40 minutes warming up legs start to have less trouble and I can keep going longer.

By end of week we might get little bit of snow, weather will turn colder then, which is good as this 6-10C is bit warm, can't use proper gloves except when it rains, fingerless bicycling gloves are what I use most of the time, also mid layer is bit warm for this weather, around 3C is where I like it best for now, but going colder than that creates some issues.

 

[foxxycat]

Thanks jtbo .

today got to the fire station. 2.6 miles and back. the wind was hard at my face on ride out-so no speeding..ride back wasn't too bad. I am getting faster and stronger. I didn't need 1st gear on huge hill until I got to the very top. I was in 3rd gear going 6mph most of way up. I am sticking to 30 min a day because my knees are acting up and I don't want to stop. So I figured short bursts of energy is better than long easy ride. It helps build my heart and lungs. And I just plain like to go fast so I don't know what going easy means.

it was 52 out. I was still too hot. Wore the thin long sleeve shirt and pants. If it's 45°F then it's perfect to me.

 

[jtbo]

Spin, don't push the pedals, that saves the knees (if joints are the issue), is one of the bicycling wisdom, pedals should spin 90rpm or so using not so much of strength but just keeping momentum up.

That also burns more fat while using more power uses more carbs.

However it is always balancing of each aspect to find perfect compromise. How knee is positioned over pedal when pedal is at frontmost position can have big effect on knees too, same for seat height, too low and too far back is what gets my knees, so you might need to experiment with that a bit.

One of the reasons why I have my seat way forward.

 

[foxxycat]

my seat is not able to move back or forth. just up and down. I usually slide all the way back on the seat to get the best power stroke. Slide forward for flat pedaling. I need to up the seat another 1/8".

 

[Winchester]

foxxycat keep going! You are rocking that bike!!!

Monday -
3 miles on the treadmill
12/12 hours with 300+ steps per hour
14,097 steps for the day - 6.67 miles

 

[foxxycat]

Winchester I just so much prefer 2 rolling wheels than walking any day. As a kid I loved roller skates and wanted to wear them all the time...it made more sense to just push off with one foot to get where you need to go in less time..less wear and tear on joints..skateboard...bike.. whatever. it's fun too!

 

[Winchester]

And if you really like doing something, that's half the battle right there! It works when you enjoy your ride!

 

[jtbo]

my seat is not able to move back or forth. just up and down. I usually slide all the way back on the seat to get the best power stroke. Slide forward for flat pedaling. I need to up the seat another 1/8".

Usually saddle is on two rails, there should be bolt underside of the saddle which you loosen to tilt it's nose up and down, when that bolt is loose, then it should be possible to tap saddle to get it to move forward or back, sometimes it can be bit stuck if not moved for a long time.

Post a pic from underside of saddle so we can tell for sure, only time I have seen unmovable saddle was with chopper styled kid's bike, but it had really long saddle.

Some stationary bikes has had unmovable saddles too and I guess some comfort bikes have very little adjusting possibility, but I think that replacing seat post and saddle one gets normal adjustable seat for those too, I don't think it will cost more than 20 dollars or so, you just would need correct diameter seat tube that has normal rail mounts.

 

[foxxycat]

I can tip it up and down but there's no back or forth. I will double check again.

 

[foxxycat]

ok I figured it out-I guess I have to loosen both nuts on each side in order to slide it back. It was originally in the middle. I pushed it all the way back-sat on it-don't really feel a difference. I will tell today.