The husky rider is a blog about my experience in cycling - especially bike / accessories fit
It seems like the cycling world is geared for celery munching folk. If you weigh more than 180 lb you are doomed. When I started riding I was pushing 300 lb. I was fitted at least 3 times and have tried different bikes pedals and shorts. I hope you learn from my experience and don’t quit this is a great sport especially for the husky rider for many reasons the most relevant being - you decide how hard or gentle your ride is.
Bikes:
Since you are husky you need a husky bike with fat tires and cushy saddle right? Hogwash. A speedy racy bike works too. Thanks to a Bicyling magazine article I decided to go with a drop down handle bar because the article said that with a drop down handle bar you can move your hands to multiple locations. The best bikes for husky middle aged folk is what bicycling magazine calls “Plush” category bikes. The most famous of these is the Specialized Roubaix which comes in several trims starting around $1800 all the way to $6000. They make a cheaper version of the Roubaix called Secteur which has similar geometry but less carbon. I own one of these secteurs and generally I am please with it. The problem though is that I put the fattest tire that fits and when I go over debris on the road it gets trapped between the wheel and the fork and makes an annoying sound. I want to go back to a cylocross bike which allows fatter tires and more off road ability. The specilaized Tricross model is also similar to the Roubaix in geometry although a little more aggressive. The critical number for us is the head tube length, the more the merrier. This is the one that determines how hunched over your ride is.
