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[Bram Hengeveld]

This might look like a weird topic for a (sim) racing website, but is it really? Cycling, is together with running, the most popular activity to stay fit and healthy and is practiced by both professional motorsport athletes and gamers as well.

A little personal background story why we have launched a new community forum for bicycles and cycling in general over at www.cyclingdepartment.com

For the last 10 years I have operated RaceDepartment, together with a lot of passionate staff to help with the daily operations. Like with so many of us with a desk job or with a hobby that forces you to be on the PC a lot of hours a day, this eventually comes with a price.

Mine came back in February of this year when I was diagnosed with diabetes type 2 which is basically the luxury version of the diabetes type 1 that some are unfortunately born with. Type 2 has many causes but what caused it for me was pretty straight forward: not a very healthy diet, lack of exercise, not enough sleep, stress etc etc. On top of that I was one of the main shareholders of the Marlboro Company for the last 25 years with a consumption of at least a pack of cigarettes a day.

All of us with an unhealthy lifestyle know eventually that day will come where the blunt truth catches up with you. So in the last couple of weeks/months I've made some drastic lifestyle changes. Per the first of May 2016:

• Quit smoking (Gosh, the extra cash!!!)
• No more sugar. Less carbs (kinda). More veggies. More water etc
• To bed much earlier.
• And most importantly: MORE EXERCISE in the form of doing a solid bicycle ride every day / multiple times a week.

The results after two months:

• Lost at least 10 kg of body-weight (Gained a lot of muscle though)
• Blood-pressure from a scary shocking high value to a steady healthy 117/80.
• Blood-sugar level: from 9.6 to 7.9 to 5.1 and dropping.
• Feeling fitter and fitter each day by racing either my road bike or mountain bike with a very much improved overall health and stamina.

So why this new cycling site? If I can make a drastic change like this I am 100% convinced everybody that needs it can. On top of that I have re-discovered my old (mountain)biking hobby again after being inactive for too long, and I am not the only one. Cycling is booming again!

So if you are passionate about cycling as well and you would like to join our new world of road bikes, mountain bikes, cycling sports, technology and more we would be more than happy to welcome you at www.cyclingdepartment.com

See you on the other site

 

[arthur666]

Very cool. I'll check it out.
I love cars, but I love bikes even more. I ride whenever I can: road, trail, or touring, whatever.
Also rode to work for 10+ years until I changed jobs 3 years ago. Now I drive really nice company cars to work, but I'ld rather be on my Surly Long Haul Trucker any day.

Also ride an All City MMD, a Surly Krampus, and a sweet Waterford Paramount OS from the late 1980s.

 

[MikieC]

Awesome!!! keep up the great work. Please though, while biking, no matter how good a rider you are and how carfeul you think you are, NEVER let you guard down, and Always be defensive , wear brite reflective gear and assume cars dont see you. Specially in this Cell phone age. ( sorry in advance for being you mother hahaha)

I road cycled for years, (did 24hr MT bike races) and 1 day I neglected to take my light and was out later then expected, and around dusk got hit by SUV at 25mph, and enjoying a wheelchair now!
And I was SUPER defensive and careful, and had 2000 lumen bike light. usually haha

Wow, you got me there !!!
Apparently this is not at all inappropriate topic for RD, there's a lot of us here.

I drive for... about 5-6 years now. It wasn't for reasons Bram did but I love nature and I already climb the mountains and hiking near by hills so... this was kinda same. Only faster. lol
And I drive like a madman, cuz I don't know different. I have mountain bike, my trusty Scott Scale 70:

(pic is not mine but my look very similar, front Rockshox is black and i have disc brakes)
I looove hills. Though I prefer tarmac (I hate to wash bike later lol and I loove the speed while downhill after climb). But since I love nature, I'm stil mountaineer and hiker, so I really love to go to nature with my bike now but like I said I do most of the trip on tarmac then some small part offroad. Part cause in my country hiker and biker off road tracks are something ...nonexistent.

(this, once again is not me but it could easily be, if you know what I've mean)
I don't have road bike for now but I change my tires on Scale to fit more to tarmac than offroad cuz I mainly drive on roads. (I got Schwalbe Hurricane, great tire for both worlds)
But now my appetites are grow, I get used to high speeds, going faster and faster and now I was thinking about road bike too. I believe I reach the limit of mountain bikes. I'm the fastest cycler on my roads. I overtook everyone. They don't know what happened, I'm that fast. And yes, there was a crash ..or two (ok, there was four) but I crash less and less, since I get used to my ...trusty Scale.
Somewhat like Grosejean, yes. No, not like Maldonado, he never stops.

Anyway... long story, sorry, you got me with this topic...
speaking of speed - did anyone of you guys record how fast fastest you go ?
I watch the other day, on some (tarmac ofc) downhill I was as fast as 59 km/h. And I'm sure I was even faster than that on some other occasions when I didn't record my track. With my trusty Maverick app.
Which reminds me...
I'm really lucky I'm alive cuz I was.. dear Lord... take my mobile out of my pocket and watch (in real time, lol) how fast am I going - WHILE GOING FAST. Really... old habit, I'm happy, I get rid off. Hapier than Bram when he get rid of his bad old habits I'm sure.

Nice! my fastest downhill on road bike was 51 mph - 82 Km/h

 

[Nobkins]

Great idea @Bram and signed up already. Also very positive to hear your progress and recent achievements. Keep up the great work and if you are ever in Yorkshire in the UK let me know, would love to go on a scenic ride with you and enjoy the hills and countryside.

I warn you though that I prefer to start the ride from a rural pub car park so that you can enjoy a well earned pint when you finish

 

[gamer19]

Nice! my fastest downhill on road bike was 51 mph - 82 Km/h

Whata....
and I thought I was going fast. Probably I was on some other hills going something over 60 - but still short to your ~82 by 15 or 20 km/h for sure. In my defence - my speeds are with mountain bike and yours with road, I'm sure. And mbt vs road tires too, let's not forget. =)
Sometimes I think.. what would really happened crashing with all those speeds. Maybe better not to think about it.

Say, you said you have gone in wheelchair after your accident then. Or ...you're still in them ?

 

[Ricoow]

Is it just me or is the site not sending confirmation mails?

 

[Bram Hengeveld]

Is it just me or is the site not sending confirmation mails?

Long time email issue is back, ill approve it manually now.

Thanks for the heads up!

 

[Bram Hengeveld]

@MikieC thanks for sharing your story

 

[Frederic Schornstein]

Nice, I got on the bike as well at the end of January after 8 years of basically no sport (but was very fit during school). Went from being out of breathe after 7km to being able to ride 100km+ with some hills. But I had an easier start I was already on a "low meat" diet since one or two years, no drugs (alcohol, cigarettes etc.) and no weight issues. Only "problem" now is I have to eat quite a lot more.

@Bram Do you mind sharing your strava profile?

 

[Rob]

Great writeup Bram, and an even better personal story. I grew up in Richmond, VA, which, you guessed it, was the home of Phillip Morris. Having many friends who worked there, let's just say they are good at what they do. But not that good for you. Well done.

As part-time smoker and professional sitter, this new bicycling angle can be nothing but good, if we choose to follow it. After thinking you would push the racing angle of biking, learning about your race to stay healthy is more than good enough. As you say, those who are not there yet, will soon be.

 

[Ole Marius Myrvold]

Nice! my fastest downhill on road bike was 51 mph - 82 Km/h

Woah! I had 69 on my (mates) mountain bike a couple of years ago. I felt that was dangerous enough!
But then again, I felt I stood still, and clocked in on 65 km/h during alpine skiing some years ago - and then I felt I was going slow compared to what I usually did O.o
When karting, I easily passed 100, that felt dead slow as well.

Speed is strange!

 

[Tim.E]

Signed up, great concept @Bram

 

[norbs]

Awesome sauce.

My cycling blog is nonprocycling.com

 

[Grand Tourist]

Woah! I had 69 on my (mates) mountain bike a couple of years ago. I felt that was dangerous enough!
But then again, I felt I stood still, and clocked in on 65 km/h during alpine skiing some years ago - and then I felt I was going slow compared to what I usually did O.o
When karting, I easily passed 100, that felt dead slow as well.

Speed is strange!

Speed is just another acquired habit of man. It's not until you crash, you realise how fast you were going.

 

[Zetoyoc]

Loving the idea here.., Back when I was young and more stupid I did some downhill MTB racing we setup with friend on old logging roads. I will never forget the sound of the air humming through the lugs on those tires while we hit 55-60 MPH on some parts. and then wondering if I put enough grease in the hubs when I repacked them... I might have to give this new site a look and dust off the old bike. we kinda cheated back then and only went downhill.. we used trucks to get them back to the top I might have to try pedaling this time

 

[smasha]

I walk 5 km a day in Winter and jog three times a week in Summer.
And three times a week also do pushups,situps and leg squats.
And every day I practice drumming with steel drumsticks on two oven gloves over a practice pad.
Keeps me fit and also i don't smoke (have a drinking problem on the weekends though :-(

 

[Gabriel Good]

@Bram Great achievements
would be cool if you could use RD account to login like there is login with FB/Twitter, why not login with RD account

 

[Bram Hengeveld]

why not login with RD account

Technically possible for sure but a legal jungle we don't want to go into. Registration nowadays on forums only takes a few seconds anyway.

 

[Bram Hengeveld]

we kinda cheated back then and only went downhill

Many downhillers still do so today But it's more rewarding to make it to the top yourself though

 

[MikieC]

Whata....
and I thought I was going fast. Probably I was on some other hills going something over 60 - but still short to your ~82 by 15 or 20 km/h for sure. In my defence - my speeds are with mountain bike and yours with road, I'm sure. And mbt vs road tires too, let's not forget. =)
Sometimes I think.. what would really happened crashing with all those speeds. Maybe better not to think about it.

Say, you said you have gone in wheelchair after your accident then. Or ...you're still in them ?

hey there, so ya the Road bike, in a tuck with a tail wind on just the right day is how I got that fast. It was the largest hill in my area and would ride it weekly. usually a tad slower.

Yup im in a wheelchair, a paraplegic from the accident, At least until the Lord miraclulously heals me A helmet saved my life for sure. cracked it big time.

So got my arms still play the guitar and ofcourse simracing! Oh, and i got a 3 wheel handcycle i go out on once in a while, pretty nice, but alittle more difficult pedaling with your arms haha

 

[MikieC]

@MikieC thanks for sharing your story

No problem - I used to be really into biking, not so much these days as you can imagine. But its nice to reminisce Great to hear your riding now and Making important life/health changes! Its a Big deal!!