Fat Girl on a Bike
Sarah is a fat girl on a bike. And she blogs about it. I'll let her tell you a little more:
I weigh more than 300 pounds and I finished my fifth triathlon Sunday. My sixth will be July 22.
My reason for keeping the blog up (and zomg actually promoting it) is because I want everyone to know that they can do whatever they put their mind to. Size doesn't matter if you don't let it. While it's very hard to 'race' against people less than half my size, I keep going back for more because I love it. Yes, I'm gawked at and yes, there are many days I feel
super awkward when riding a road bike while wearing spandex (and trust me, I've heard every possible insult related to the two) but I would rather keep pushing to my goals.It's time to let fat people know it's OK to have athletic goals and even more, it's important for them to say screw what everyone else has to say because they can do it. They don't need to lose 100 pounds before they can buy a bike. They can do it now.
Very cool, and more proof that people can be fat and fit.
Of Course The Spam Guys are Fat | Star-Tribune Earns a Bingo Square
Posted by paul on July 18, 2007
Oh, very interesting. I'll have to check out her blog. My sister is a fat girl on a bike, as well. She recently did the Tahoe Century ride with the Team in Training program. I went to visit her while she was there, and she definitely did not blend in very well with all the other competitive racers there, but I know the Team In Training group has people with a variance of athleticness and she wasn't alone in being a beginner.
She had asked me if I wanted to join her when she first signed up, but I had already done a marathon through that program and I didn't want to go down the fundraising road again. Plus I don't have a bike, and I've driven around Lake Tahoe enough to be know I didn't want to start out a biking hobby with that as my first event. I figured it would take a lot of leg muscle to get up some of those hills, and coming down some of them would be pretty darn scary. I was surprised that my sister stuck it out and not only raised the money, but completed the ride, doing 50 of the 70 miles around. The thing about my sister, though, is she usually isn't very athletic even on her best day. Everyone was congratulating her and being so darn effusive about it, and I'm not sure why, but it struck me the wrong way. I think I'm just projecting too much, or I'm too defensive, because even if she wasn't fat, the fact that she was a novice biker was reason enough for praise, but for some reason some of the praise she got reminded me of what you might give a young child and it seemed kind of patronizing. But I know it was meant in a heartfelt way.
My best friend was doing her second tri in my city and saw Sarah & told me about her, which inspired me to find out who she was. I found her blog last week, just after I bought my first bike in 22 years. I just got overwhelmed with the realization (even after following the FA movement for years) that I *can* go out in the world and be my [fat] self and have fun and be active -- I'm not the only one doing it. I can't explain it but it gave me courage to stop hiding my body. It's just a body, it's just as deserving as any other body. It was something I knew in my mind, but this pushed me to really know.
And now I'm stuck deciding if I want to take my bike on vacation with me. Me . . . taking sports equipment on vacation . . . !
I was totally just checking out bikes yesterday, trying to figure out if I'd have to spend an arm and a leg buying something that could carry me around without breaking. Yay for fat folk doing what they want!
I do also think that it's hard to walk that line between "Wow, what an amazing accomplishment for a fat girl!!" and just plain "Wow, what an amazing accomplishment!" I just think it's great that she's a person of size living the reality that fat doesn't have to be an impediment to all kinds of activities. It makes me sad that it's such a rarity, she has automatically become a kind of role model.
i think that's awesome. i'm also a fat girl who rides her bike quite a lot. i'm not a small girl by any means. lots of people look at me funny and call out names, but i couldn't care less. i love my bike (a fuji crosstown woman's model, if anyone is interested) and won't stop biking because people don't want to see a fat lady on a bike
:)
Here's to fat girls on bikes! I'm planning to do a sprint triathlon next year. Hopefully doing the swimming leg of one on a relay team this year. There's a great book called Slow Fat Triathlete that inspired me. There's some self-deprecation in it, but overall it's encouraging.
Always knew cycling was better for us heavier folk (Easier/less strain on the knees and other important parts) and from this blog as well as a few others, i've discovered that there are a lot more of us out there doing it than I originally thought. Now, it seems that we may REALLY be better at it than most people would give us credit for, as detailed in the NYTimes.
The Bicycling Paradox: Fit Doesn’t Have to Mean Thin
Been a while since I've been in the saddle but I think it may be time, once again, to put the rubber to the road.
Paul's note: Please make links
I've been a fat sports chick all my life. From softball, to basketball, to ice hockey. I'm 100% with the "you don't need to be skinny to play sports". If that were true, the USA Olympic Softball team would've been minus a number of players.
I am FAT! and I like to ride my bike. I even rode my bike up until I was 7 months pregnant. If a regular bike is uncomfortable, try a recumbent. My bike is a 21 speed recumbent tricycle. I can ride all day, go slow up hills, race on the flat parts, never worry about crashing or falling off.