Bicycle recommendation for very overweight people (over 300 pounds)

A "29er" on the left with a regular mountain bike on the right w/ 26" wheels

Winter is lingering badly where I live. It might be the worst spring ever! Naturally, with skiing done for the year, I'm tending to my unhealthy obsession with bikes by upgrading and maintaining my two bicycles.

Two years ago, I started bicycling at about 350 pounds. I spent a few months walking for about 20-30 minutes first. I lost thirty or forty pounds, gained some muscle and was ready to try my long-loved activity of cycling.

Most obese people who take up cycling to improve their health have little interest of going off-road (like dirt trails with lots of hills and sharp turns.) However, it only took me one year of fitness to get interested in that particular kind of bicycling as an addition to my repertoire of fitness activities, so never say never!

I've always found cycling to be great for weight-loss and health improvement. It's easy on your joints and it's fun, so you keep going back for more. But what if you weigh so much you're afraid a bike won't hold you?

I think most mountain bikes--which are designed to take a beating bouncing off tree limbs, rocks and dips in trails with a normal-weighted rider--will hold someone well over 300 pounds (if not 400 pounds or more) if you're riding on a smooth, flat paved road or bike path (get a cushy seat too!)

There are heavy duty bikes for people as heavy as five hundred pounds but they're very expensive, about $2000.00. When I started out, I thought I needed one of these. I was wrong.

But I didn't like mountain bikes much. Their wheels have a smaller diameter than bikes made for the road and as such, they're not very efficient. You have to put more work into them to ride on pavement than you should. Road bikes typically have wheels that are 700 mm, or around 29 inches, but the rims are thin, often very thin, the higher the level you go.

My solution, if you have lots of money, say $5-600.00, is to buy a relatively new style of bike called a "29er." The name comes from the size of wheel. It's 3 inches larger in diameter than a regular 26 inch mountain bike but still has wide rims that can take a beating. I think I even saw a 29er at Wal-Mart but I'm not sure a Wal-Mart bike would hold up to someone weighing over 350 pounds. The wheels are more flimsy.

Local bike shops always have much better quality bikes. You get what you pay for. Anyone of any weight should consider wheels that have "double-wall" rims. They're sturdier, and any decent bike has them. But you won't find them at your local big box store.

Mountain bike tire for riding on pavement

Secondly, you need to put "slick" or "pavement" tires on your 29er. These hold more pressure (they're harder and therefore more efficient) and they don't have unnecessary knobbies on them that are used for traction in dirt. They roll smoother, more easily and they make less noise. The end result is a faster, more enjoyable ride that will keep you coming back for more. And that's really important for obese people.

If you can't find a 29er, or already have a mountain bike lined up, put slick road tires on it. It'll cost you $40 to do that, but it'll be worth it for your health. If you can't afford a bike-shop quality bike, you can buy used or buy a cheap bike and have your local bike shop put on decent quality (sturdy) wheels for about $100.

How This Fat Guy's House Has Changed in Two Years

It drives my wife crazy. They're everywhere in our house. You can't swing a cat with out hitting one. My house is cluttered with items used in the support of an active lifestyle.

The winter of two years ago was different. The house was much less cluttered by comparison. There were a pair of gloves, a toque and a standard winter jacket. That's all I needed. My big endeavors were to go to the grocery store. Maybe do a little fast food eating in the minivan. The rest of the time was spent on the couch or in bed, sore from a high-fat diet and jellified muscles carrying a ridiculous amount of weight.

Walk in my front door with me now, will you? I'll give you the tour.

The front porch is heavy with indications that I'm no longer sedentary. You'll notice two sets of cross country skis. I only started a week ago and I'm already on my second set. Picked up some waxless skis yesterday that are easier to use. Cost me $20.

Your eyes will no doubt dart towards the snow sleds sitting by the front closet. I have three, one for each particular sledding condition. My latest is soft to keep my spine from compressing and has a fin to guide it true.

On the floor you'll see winter boots for the first time in decades. I need these for tobogganing and winter hikes. A cheap pair of runners is dedicated to icy conditions. They have metal cleats strapped to the bottoms. Can't let ice keep me indoors.

Inside the closet you'll find drawers with not one, but three, sports balaclavas. Each for a different temperature range. Beyond that, there's an assortment of toques, beanies and skull caps for cycling or winter exercise. On the floor, runners for jogging, complete with orthopedic inserts that finally provide relief to my calves during vigorous exercise. And be careful of the freshly sharpened ice skates. They're waiting for December.

You'll have to forgive me for the bike wheel by the front door, I don't know where else to put it right now.

The open stairs as you enter the house are littered with Jameswear. Three sizes of fleece jackets, made for a man who sweats, all of which can be layered if necessary. There's T-Max Heat socks ready to go for cold days, long underwear (which I haven't used since I was a kid), ski pants for very cold weather, and layers of sweat pants for cooler weather. A heart rate monitor and watch sit at the ready, along with my iPod and headphones. Athletic shorts and shirts for the gym are also all over the place. All these clothes are at the ready. Every day some of them get used in the pursuit of fitness.

Which leads me to something else we have a lot more of: Laundry detergent. I'm washing a lot more clothes. Usually there's a fresh pile of clothes soaked with sweat that gets cleaned almost daily. Two winters ago, I rarely worked up enough heat to require clothes to be washed on a regular basis. Now, the washing machine is running constantly.

Entering the kitchen, there's a serving cart that couldn't be more full of bike helmets, sweat bands, cycling gloves, hydration back packs, water bottles and a few cycling tools and bike spare parts.

In the laundry room, more skis for the family, and a bike rack for the car.

The shed had bikes in it two years ago. Now it has twice as many. I picked up bikes on UsedRegina and at garage sales for me or the kids.

Our home and our life is hardly recognizable from two years ago. Thank god!

Oh My Heart, My Lazy, Barely Beating Heart

I didn't sleep well last night and I was tired tonight at walking time. The usual excuses went through my head, "I'm close to falling asleep, I can't possibly do this tonight." But I persisted. Halfway through you always wonder how you could have possibly wanted to avoid the enjoyment that a walk outdoors provides.

Like I always say, the hard part is making the decision to go, the easy part is going.

Yet I was tired and my muscles may not have been fully recovered from the night before. I jogged a bit, slow like I did when I first started in the summer (barely a trot) and I couldn't believe my heart rate. It was a full 20 beats below what it was at the same jogging  speed last summer when I first got my heart rate monitor, and ten beats below what it was in the Fall.

My heart has come a long way. It's a muscle, you know, and it's gotten stronger and more efficient just like many of my other (lower body) muscles. And that's definitely a good thing! Just see the video in the post below to be reminded why.

And finally today: You know how some women have shoe fetishes? Well I think I've developed a balaclava fetish. I now own two new, very useful balaclavas. One for very cold weather that covers my mouth and nose and one for coldish weather that lets my whole face be exposed. Wore it tonight, loved it.

The Weather Elephant in the Room

Ever since I hit my stride with exercise in June and July, it's been in the back of my mind that winter will one day come and put an end to my outdoor frolicking. I tried to make as much progress by the end of August because September can be unpredictable in these parts. Snow is even possible.

Fall has always seemed inhospitable to cycling for me. I would not have expected to have done all the cycling I did in the last two months. I embraced every chance I could, often in the evenings post-dusk. And tonight, I cycled for the first time in my life in November. It was also a first for my family who tagged along.

I'm getting used to knowing what to wear for what activity in very specific weather conditions. 0 C with a light wind is different than 0 C with a wind. Dressing in layers really does work the best. It keeps you warmer but you can also make slight adjustments if you get too hot or too cold. The old me would put on a light winter coat and sweat in it far past the point of being comfortable. I would have been hot and wet. Being wet would have made me cold even though I was hot.

The new me has invested in a few pieces of winter athletic gear and utilizes a pair of fleece jackets, size 5XL, that I got for five bucks a piece on clearance (I like to live beyond my means.) I no longer sweat to the point of discomfort. You can stay warm and relatively dry if you know what you're doing.

However, I'm still intimidated by winter and how it can put the kibosh on being active. (My neighbourhood has tonnes of walkers in the summer but you can't find a single one on November evenings even though the weather has been pleasant.) I had a goal of losing enough overall weight so that I would be under the limit of my treadmill that I bought a couple of years ago when we moved to our current home. I failed in that goal. I built up a great deal of muscle mass in the late summer and fall but neglected pushing my calorie restrictions. I lost some fat mass but not as much as I could have if I worked harder at it.

It's got mesh over the mouth and a nose flap that
directs breath away from your glasses (or goggles.)

I can still probably use my treadmill if it turns cold (I'm fairly close to the weight limit) and I have access to the gym at my medical clinic which I currently use twice per week. But I also spent some money on winter gear including a deluxe balaclava, a skull cap, and some light gloves that can be used for liners when it gets colder. From what I've read and heard, very active people like runners need surprisingly little to keep them warm because their bodies heat up so much, including their extremities because of increased circulation and blood flow.

Even when the streets are too icy and snow-covered for walking, I can use this gear to stay warm while tobogganing with my kids (a winter goal I'm looking forward to achieving for the first time.)

As winter comes, I'm going to try and face it head on, one challenge at a time. If I can beat winter, I can beat anything!

Mention and You Shall Receive!

"We were dreaming this up and suddenly it's another new reality," my wife just said, as I was about to begin writing this blog post. Remarkably, we had the idea only a few days ago, really wanted to get one, and suddenly we have it and are using it. 

With many thanks to my friend Brian and his family who read my previous blog post about Tag-a-Long ride-on bike trailers. He had one he used for two years for his young son but it became a bit too wobbly so he gave it to us. His son is big enough to ride on his own now, and I happen to be handy, so it all worked out. Turns out all it needed was a large thin washer to fill in a tiny gap in the hitch to make it work well.

Don't be fooled by my daughter's apparent grim expression in the photo, she had a blast and would NOT let me stop. I had a personal trainer back there yelling, "Come on, Daddy, pedal! You can do it!" The little tramp wouldn't let me coast. And in spite of the trailer being a tad big for her 2-months-shy-of-four-year-old body, she could have gone all night and had no problem holding on.

Here are the questions I had before using a Tag-a-Long that I can now answer:

• Do you lose your balance? Not at all. Maybe it's because I'm so heavy and she so small, but it wasn't an issue. Once she wobbled back and forth on purpose and it was a bit annoying but there were no balance issues at all. 
• Is it harder to ride pulling it? A little, not much different than our sit-in bike trailer with the only difference being sometimes my daughter made up for the drag by pedalling. It was like there's a bit of a drag on your bike that varies. It varies because the child's pedalling varies. 
• Can you turn sharply? Yes, she even liked turns because it was thrilling.
• Is it hard to get started? Not really. The adult straddles their bike then the child sits on the trailer bike. Then you go. It's not that different than not having it and there were no issues.
• Does the child's pedalling help? I'd say yes. At brief moments she made up for her extra drag it seemed.

You have to do some extra breaking than normal when you're stopping but that's no big deal. It's tempting to want to go fast but if you crash, your child crashes. We went about 15 KM/hr.

I highly recommend these types of products. They're recommended for children between 4 and 9. But for practical purposes, most people only use them until their kids can ride a two-wheeler. By the time she's six or seven, I can't see her needing to use this. 

This unit costs $100 at Canadian Tire. Sport Chek has a slightly better one for $130. Other stores carry more expensive models but this one is just fine with the extra washer (so far.)

She was very proud of herself.

Tonight is the eve of my son's eighth birthday. He's an avid little cyclist now and I'm immensely proud of him. I think he's a bit jealous that his daddy-son bike trips now can include his baby sister. It's our thing, after all. But my wife and I felt bad doing family bike rides with my daughter sitting pretty in the other sit-in bike trailer. My daughter wants to ride badly with us but can't keep up, obviously. This is a great solution.

I'm very happy and so is my little girl, who has informed me we'll be hitting the streets first thing tomorrow.

Next Year's Cycling Machine?

I have a three year old girl and a seven year old boy (he turns 8 on Friday.) The boy is already an avid cyclist, as you may have read. And the girl's getting that way too but she can't keep up. We feel bad pulling her in the bike trailer on family bike rides because she can't get any exercise or do more than enjoy the view.

My wife and I are jonzing to buy the above product for a little over one hundred dollars. It's a ride on bike trailer for kids aged 4-9 to ride with you. Here are some of its features:

• True quick release system for fast detachment from adult bike
• Adjustable handlebars, up/down and rotation adjustments
• Child can pedal forward, backward or coast

I found this photo on the Internet

I saw one on the bike path last night, and let me tell you, there was no one we passed all summer who were cycling faster than that family. And the kid must have been only four like my daughter will be next season. I wanted to yell out, "Hey do you like that?" but they were gone in an instant (headed in the opposite direction.)

I can see us using it for at least three years then selling it. If my daughter doesn't have the same abilities as my son does now at age 7, maybe we'll use it longer. Either way it would allow the four of us to do all the biking we wanted.