After almost a month of research, endless forums and videos on “heavy” riders, I understood one thing. I was going to fail. Things were going to suck. There was no way around this.
Something was going to break, maybe the spokes, maybe the rims, possibly the frame itself, no represented bicycle manufacturer in Riga caters for the likes of me. Bicycles are not designed for such heavy loads.
So I decided to work backwards, instead of going to a bicycle shop to buy a bike, I went to a repair shop. I went to the very person, who will be rebuilding the bike I was going to inevitably break and asked him to procure a bike for me.
He had some second hand bikes in store, I tried a couple, but after further discussion, we settled on buying a new bike and then upgrading some parts, which he knew for sure were going to fail.
It was quite fascinating to learn that two identical-looking bikes can have a thousand euro price difference between them, yet even the most expensive of the two still comes with some cheap parts which are highly likely to shatter the moment I put some strain on them.
The things I thought were important and worthy upgrades, he dismissed as pointless and a waste of money. My perception of the cycling industry had been influenced by marketing people and bicycle salesmen. I was finally in the right place.
The Friday
I woke up and stood on the scale. The number settled at 161kg. It was the 22nd of July, 2022. It was a special day. I was going to be picking up my brand new bicycle.
I couldn’t wait. It was an amazing day, like a child I was excited about all the endless possibilities, the freedom I was about to experience. I could go anywhere and become fitter while doing it. How amazing is that! The two cars and the kick ass s1000r I own could not excite me in the same way this cheapo parts bin bicycle could.
Even though the intention was city riding (commuting 9km one way), we settled on a mountain bike. Giant Talon 3. The tyres and the frame were more likely to stand up to my weight and were designed for jumps (of lighter riders), which meant calm riding at my weight shouldn’t theoretically shatter it.
This bike is on the higher end of the entry level. Giant is a reputable brand with good frames. We went for the largest available size as that would mean the least amount of lever from the frame to the seat post (one of the most likely breaking points).
Some of the cheap new components were never installed and instantly uprated to second hand uprated parts.
I was off.
I rode home from the bike repair shop. 14 minutes of pain and agony. From the first minute, I realised that my body is not ready. My back, my butt, my arms were not ready.
I nearly cried half way home. Everything hurt. I honestly wanted to stop and just roll the bike. But I knew that if there was any chance of me cycling to work in 3 days, I had to push through the pain and grow stronger.
I cycled again on Saturday and Sunday. Going further, faster and in a lot more pain. I could instantly feel an improvement, my body was settling in, muscles were adapting. Everything was hurting.
The agony and the shin splits I suffered through when I first started walking at 200kg instantly came to the front of my mind. If I overcame that, I can overcome anything.
So I cycled to work, I did at least 18km per day Monday-Friday, cycling to work every day. Probably the most excruciating week of my life. Every single joint was aching, all my muscles. But I did it, I pushed through, I overcame.
The bike held up, no issues what so ever.
Except on the last leg of the last commuting ride, something snapped. It felt like a little rubber band tore. I came home and part of my butt looked like a raw red burger. My skin had come apart.
It hurt, but it was nothing compared to all the other pain I was experiencing in the rest of my body, frankly it didn’t even register for a while, I mean just sitting on the bike was more painful than this tear.
But it was the most important injury as there is nothing doctors could do for me other than treat the wound and prescribe a strict cleaning, disinfecting and cream-treating regiment.
There was nothing to sew together as the skin around the tear was ground down and too thin to sew through (it would tear).
One of my docs said — bud, this is bad. This will take at least a month to close. And then if you don’t want it to reopen instantly, you must not sit on a bicycle for at least half a year, maybe more.
Cycling is not in the cards. Your body cannot do it.
So of course, two weeks later I went on a short test ride, the wound reopened within a minute.
Two months later, same thing again.
Six months later, same thing again. I made it 15 minutes and the same wound reopened.
I don’t know how I’m going to fix this, but I will overcome and I will find a way to cycle.
For now, the lesson I learned is — too much can be too much.
Mind over matter works to a degree, but there are parts of your body that you don’t even know you’re stressing that need care and attention.
If I could do this all over again, I would definitely take it slower. Take a single long ride per week.
Take a week to recover, let the skin regrow and become tougher, harder, don’t grind it down to nothing.
Do slow but consistent, progressive increase in challenge. So one commute the first week. Two commutes the following week, see how I feel, maybe only do two commutes for a while, then increase.
I take immense pride in having overcome the pain and the suffering, I just wish it lead to something positive.
But that’s ok, bring it on. This is just another puzzle to solve, it would be too boring any other way.