DaemonCorax

Hi - I'm new. I have been a cyclist for years. I raced a bit before moving west. I ride every day. When a lot of people think of pro cyclists, they think of the small, light, mountain climbers. I am not that. As a woman, at 135-ish lbs and 5'7" my build is more in the middle. That's why I chose "ranger" in the first place. I've been strength training for a couple months and love it. I've been doing exercises that will complement cycling, but also stuff that will just make me stronger in general. So here's the thing: I would like to be a well-rounded athlete who can do pull-ups (not yet) and 75 mile road rides (50 is fine, haven't tried 75 is a while). Because of this, I have been steering clear of ultra-low rep power lifting. The heavier lifts I do, I do 8 reps (squat curls, dead lifts). The thing is, this puts me right in the range for adding muscle bulk, which means weight, which is harder to drag up mountains. I live next to the Rockies, so riding up 5000 ft is a given for fun exploring. As a woman, I know it will probably top out somewhere reasonable as long as I don't start eating specifically to gain muscle bulk. I eat 2000-3000 calories now, and honestly, work and life will prevent me from being a hard core power lifter. The bike takes precedence because it is built into my life (commuting), which I love, and because I want to go fast. Any tips on how to balance these things? Should I just wait and see where my muscle mass tops out? Are there "best practices" I should follow? Does anyone here know about Crossfit Endurance?

As a longtime parttime bike shop person: Bromptons are awesome BUT Dahon/Trek/Novara (all Dahons) are cheaper and easier to maintain. The fold on the Brompton is really neat, but truthfully, when you fold a Dahon, the seat make a nice handle. Also, the Dahon uses fewer proprietary drivetrain parts, so it's easier to get the bike worked on at any local bike shop. Finally, the Dahon 20" wheel is the ideal size: it handles better over bumps and potholes than smaller wheels, but is still small enough to be compact. Dahon makes a lot of nice models. Consider one with a rear rack built in.

Among the 4 bikes in my garage, the fixie come out the most. I have commuted on it (17 mi/day currently) for 7 years, and when the urge get me, will take it out on any non-mountain-involved ride under 50 miles. I love my fixie. Recommendations: 1. FRONT BRAKE. I know it IS possible to ride brakeless, but when you're tired on the way home at the end of the day, your reflexes may not be spot on. 2. I agree with the previous recommendation about the gearing. Shoot for high 60s/70s in gear inches if you have lots of hills. Also, riding a lower gear will let you get off red lights faster, get up to speed faster, etc, although your top speed will be a bit lower. Basically choose a gear that lets you get up all the hills in your neighborhood but doesn't kill you going back down. I ride 39x15 with my 32 mm tires and my 37 mm studded tires. In the summer I go to 42x15 with 23 or 25 mm tires. Your tires width affects your rolling resistance and therefore your effective gear ratio. Google Sheldon Brown's gear inch calculator. Changing the gearing is as easy as buying a new cog or chainring. Just make sure that all your parts match. This may be a lot to digest but: Track bikes and BMX bikes have a 1/8" wide chain, cog, and chainring. Road bikes and fixies that were converted from road bikes (like mine) are 3/32". It is inadviable to mix and match. A 1/8" chain will slop around a lot on a 3/32" cog. A 3/32" chain won't fit a 1/8" drivetrain. Just make things match when you mess with the ratio. If you are making a conversion, just keep everthing 3/32". It's easier to find chainrings (what I change for changing gear ratios) and replacement chains. Fixies are awesome because (1) they're fun, (2) they are insanely low maintenance, and (3) you learn to never stop pedaling and attack hills, so you get stronger and better at bike handling. Have fun and keep the rubber side down!

Holy cow. I love reading posts like this. Reading stories like this is wonderfully inspirational. Congrats, dude. Keep fighting.

I carry face lotion, deodorant and a hairbrush. My gym actually has really nice shampoo and body wash there, although I rarely wash my hair at the gym, so I don't need to carry any of that. Dry shampoo kicks around my house for when, again, I'm too lazy to wash the hair. I bike to work, so the magic there is baby wipes + a hand towel, face lotion and deodorant. Occasionally I will rinse of in one of the work showers, no soap. Baby wipes are magical when you are scooting from one thing to another.

That first video had me motivated. The rest are just cake. I'm progressing with strength training, and while videos of people lifting heavy weights are awesome, there is something so "super hero" about being able to put your body weight anywhere you want. Awesome!

Sadly, poor weather does exist. As a longtime bike commuter (17+ mi/day currently), I can give you a rundown of things to avoid like the plague: 1. Winds over 40 mph. I live in Colorado. This happens. Getting blown sideways through an intersection is BAD. 2. 35 and rain/sleet/snow. At this temperature the precipitation melts on you and something, somewhere will get wet. In my case my jacket is awesome, but my tights get soaked. If you can't keep your body temperature up, you're in trouble. 3. Dark+ice+cars. I ride in the snow with some frequency, but if the cars can't reliably not slide into me, I give it a pass. Those are my carpool days. The rest of the time, I ride, hitting roughly 4000-5000 miles/year. Biking is an awesome double-whammy of practical transportation and feel-good exercise. Hit me up for advice. For now: 1. Wear a helmet 2. Own and carry a small blinky taillight and a good recharegable headlight. Little blinky headlights are relatively useless. For $100-200 you can get a fantastic headlight these days, allowing you to be seen and see well enough to ride at daylight speeds.

Let me know if you have cycling questions!

Hi there. I'm new, but I'm a longtime cyclist getting into strength training and have been mulling over the same thing. I think it depends on a few things: 1. Body type - what you are predisposed to do. I am not built like an ultramarathoner or a ProTour road cyclist climber. I will never go up a mountain on a bike as fast as a 135 lb Spanish dude. SO adding strength training is something that suits my body type (somewhere in the middle) and WILL give me more explosive power when I need it. There is also some data out there that suggests that high intensity strength and interval training make your muscles more resistant to fatigue in endurance events. 2. What is a lot of cardio: Personally, I don't consider anything under 2 hours to be an endurance event. This may sound ridiculous, but I'm thinking about it from a food standpoint. You can preload calories for anything under 2 hours. After 2 hours, forget it. That much food weighs you down. This is also where your body will start switching much more to burning fat and protein and much less burning carbs. To make this transition easier, I've been eating more fat and protein period so that type of digestion is always chugging along. 3. What is a lot of strength training: From a couple people, I have gathered that as long as you avoid the super super low reps (4 or less) you're ok for strength. You can do cardio+strength and become a strong well-balanced athlete. So basically, have at it. Unless you are (1) a professional athlete in endurance events or (2) a serious power lifter, generalizing your training is all good. I think for most of us, what we are capable of right now falls short of the level of optimization mentioned here. I couldn't power lift in a rewarding way right now to save my life. I think the jack-of-all-trades approach is a-ok. I will qualify all this though: I am still trying to find my own strength/endurance balance.

Checking in here. We've gotten 8" of snow today, with more tomorrow and possibly Wednesday. SO there goes the bike commute for those days. Riding home in the dark when the shoulders are dicey is just too dangerous. Even if I'm stable, cars give me less space, like they're afraid to leave their wheel ruts. I ride home in a snow storm a few times a winter. By April, I'm kinda over it. Also, 20F and snowing is better than 35F and snowing like it is now - when it's too warm you get wet and cold, when it's cold you can actually dress to stay warm. Anyway. Gymed this morning - did 10 min cardio just to warm up and then when through my "super squat" workout, invented last week, it's basically a lot of squatting-related things and some mobility stuff for my shoulder, with barbell deadlifts in the last group. Whee.

Hi everyone! This is my first challenge too! Questions for the repeat challenger: Do you log day-to-day how you did on your goals? If it was something like "get out of bed on time" do you just go with a general average for the week? I'm SO new to this, I had a hard time setting numbers to my strength goal. Advice? As suggested, I put my character name in my topic.

Hey, I'm a newbie too! In reading your goals: If you want to eat right and make it to the gym 5 days a week, I strongly suggest you make friends with stew. Stew is wonderful. I'm not paleo, but I like to cook on Sundays and set myself up for a week of yummy meals. For example, dinner this week: Made pulled pork today (Sunday). Tuesday I'm going to make stew: stock, fire-roasted tomatoes, three cans assorted beans, the shredded pork, corn, bell peppers, jalapeno and habanero peppers, basil, other spices. Since I'm not paleo, the beans are ok and I will be pan-frying some tortilla pieces and topping the stew with those and a little cheese. I'm posting this mainly because I think it's important that even if you haven't made it all the way to paleo, that you have healthy options that make you feel good when you get home from work. Also, if beans don't bother your system, they are a good cheap source of protein and fiber that can supplement the meat (as in this stew) and keep your budget down. Good luck!

So here goes: I just wrote me intro post and read about the challenges. To me this sounds like just the right amount of structure: I have goals and people to egg me on, but I may not keep track of all the digits and calories perfectly. Height: 5'7" Weight: 138 Goals: 1. Unless there is an afternoon meeting, stop buying afternoon coffee. It really does mess with me and doesn't make me feel good if I'm trying to work out in the evening. (WIS +2) 2. Drink 64 oz of water a day. It's really really dry where I live. I bike to work. This much water really is necessary. (CON +2) 3. Learn how to squat with a bar again. I used to know how to do this. Also, learn how much weight I should be using. I can do 60 lbs with barbells, low, over and over until the cows come home. So more? (STR +5) 4. Find time for at least two short (10-30 mi) or one long (>30 mi) road ride per week and two gym trips per week. If I'm driving, gym must include warm-up cardio. If I'm biking, 40-45 minutes of strength and balance training is enough to be zonked for the day. A short road ride is may very often be just taking the long way to work. This is acceptable. I get to see cows when I go the long way. (STA +3) 5. Get out of bed and out the door on time. This means no later than 8. If I manage to get out earlier, I get to ride in the long way, or go to the gym (if snow is making me drive). (WIS +3) I don't know yet how this all works for the points part of the ranger character. Totally new at this Where I'm starting from: I need to get some baseline number figured out for strength. Because I've been rehabing my shoulder, I haven't tried to squat high yet. I also would love to be able to do a pull-up from a dead hang, but again, becuase of the shoulder, I'm not sure how far away that goal is. I'm working on my back to help with that. Cardio-wise: I ride my bike to and from work. I ride a fixed gear unless (1) I'm hitting the store on the way home for more than fits on my back or (2) High winds. 30 mph winds are no fun on a bike period. They're freaky on a fixed gear. If the wind of 40 mph and up, I carpool. I drink coffee everyday, done so for years, and have no caffiene tolerance. No pictures today. How much height/weight/measurement stuff should I put up?

Hello, So I've read through the bits about chosing a class for the challenges I am about to embark on, and I chose ranger. That's a good starting point for explaining why I'm here. At 135-140 lbs, I don't need to lose weight. Maybe convert a little squish to muscle, but that's no the point. As someone who is bad at turning my brain off after work, and who loves physical challenges, I need to do something new. A lifelong cyclist, I raced a bit in grad school on the East Coast before moving out to Colorado in summer 2011. I am one of those lucky folks with nice biking roads in my town. I get 17+ miles a day to and from work. The problem is, this becomes routine and doesn't make me tired enough to chill out. (Also, I have rules about ice and 40+ mph winds, so I carpool when these things occur.) I am a physicist by training. I got through grad school by never turning my brain off, but now I need to leave the "how do I fix the broken lab equipment" stuff at the lab. In an attempt to fix a crunchy left shoulder and reset a bit, I joined a gym at the beginning of February. I spent the $$$ on a trainer for a while, to fix the sad shoulder. My trainer was awesome, and it was great not have to worry about getting injured and jeopardizing my bike commute. I am now ready to embark on my own adventures. Some things I want to do: Be physically tired. Be stronger. I really really want my fixed shoulder to let me do a pull-up from a dead hang. Be faster. I think I will not end up doing true power-lifting because I want to keep endurance for riding up mountains. I chose ranger class because I want to be able to move heavy things and go on day-long road rides. Here, I am looking for knowledge, for exercises to do without writing myself a rigorous routine. I swing by the gym 2-3 times a week. My goal is to have fun and get tired without keeping track of tons of numbers. I know this is counter to how a lot of people "train", but for me this needs to be downtime, not training. Coming from racing bikes a bit and 9 years of school back-to-back, I want to avoid the numbers game when it comes to planning my workouts. Nerd fitness appealed to me because it seemed like the challenges, etc would keep me on my toes in a way that stays fun. Other things: I LOVE to cook. I am not paleo, but I eat mostly meat and veggies, rice, and pretty much no processed food except for the occassional indulgence. I eat pizza or take-out once a week. I take my lunch to work. I will gladly share recipes and love to have them shared with me.

Hi! I'm brand new too. My partner and I both work full-time and need lots of real good food. I'm not paleo, but I COOK. So: Every week I make a big pot of food (5 cans mixed beans, 28 ox fire-roasted tomatoes, some hot lean sausage, bell pepps, onion, jalapeno, celery, spices) and a big pot of rice. I divide it up into 4 cup Pyrex dishes 1/2 rice 1/2 magic mix. Every morning I grab that and an apple and voila: healthy hot lunch at work. Once you get it down, you can through the magic mix together in maybe 20 minutes. Let everything except the beans and tomatoes cook for a while before adding the those. Then simmer for 30-40 minutes. That recipe plus 3 cups (6 c water) basmati rice makes 9 lunches. Also, I second the recommendation of stews, hearty soups, chilli, etc. I don't crockpot, but I do most of my cooking on Sunday. If the 9 lunches run out mid-week (it can get off-kilter) I just find an evening to throw it together. Let me know if you want recipe ideas.