Smoking IS a pretty disgusting habit….

I remember watching a programme on telly years ago where they were trying to persuade a guy to stop smoking. They showed him the boat he could’ve bought with the money he’d burned in 20 years of smoking.. then they took it away.. the look on his face was quite something…

I remember watching a programme on telly years ago where they were trying to persuade a guy to stop smoking. They showed him the boat he could’ve bought with the money he’d burned in 20 years of smoking.. then they took it away.. the look on his face was quite something.

many of my riding friends are relatively new to the sport…and we got talking one evening about how much it had cost them so far. in the 25 years i’ve been mountain biking i’d say i’ve easily spent the best part of £50k on bikes, tools, clothing and all the other associated stuff…in that same time i reckon i’ve spent at least a minimum of £20k on destroying my lungs by smoking…
round 2 with the bombers for me…

In a ‘taking the positives’ post I normally nip out and have a mid-afternoon smoke around this time. It is absolutely tipping down out there at the moment. I’d have still bloody done it. Because I’m a bloody idiot!

I’m having another moment of clarity, and have weed in my own shoes again for good measure

and have weed in my own shoes again for good measure

Superb. No one will think of looking there and it’s much better than that nasty tobacco shit…

Oi bearnecessities! How you getting on? And other fag free STWers? I’m 4 days smoke free. The e-cig hasn’t been getting as much hammer as I thought it would. I even risked the pub last night.

I am permanently hungry though. I wouldn’t like to calculate my packet of crisps count. I’ve been inhaling these…

😳

Do you know they do a curry sauce version of those too, now?

You’re welcome.

I quit July 2007 after 20 years of 20 a day. Not had one since. I think you have to be determined and don’t leave yourself any “escape routes” I chucked everything away connected with smoking as I was never going to need them again.
After 6 months started putting on weight so bought a mountain bike. Kids decided they wanted a go at riding too.

This National XC[/url]was my oldest a couple of weeks ago at Cannock Chase riding for Torq and taking 3rd in the Elite race. As he has said to me a few times he would never had got started if I hadn’t quit

Good job Binners, Mike et al. Getting on Ok with e-fag for a week or more, and I too didnt use it much, but have been banging bread/bread products in me like I’m scared of deflating. Last night (under order of Mrs MR) I ‘simply have to buy some baccy’ as am midway through moving house. Now sitting here with a rollie feeling like crap, drinking tea, hurting all over with my head in bits. The shame.

well done all you non smokers!!

I’m so glad I never started – beyond smoking a bit of ‘herb’ whilst I was at Art college, I’ve never smoked.

My Mum’s Dad died when I was 3 – he was late 50’s – heart failure which was probably as a result of him being a life-long smoker.

My Dad’s Dad died when I was 17, he was 68 – massive heart attack, which was probably as a result of him being a lifelong (and heavy) smoker.

Good luck to any of you who’ve managed to quit, or are trying at the moment – Your grandkids will thankyou for it, because they’ll have a bit more time to get to know you.

RIght! Can we have an update non-smokerists?

I’m 11 days in and the last couple of days have seen a bit of a benchmark. I used to get up in the morning and the first thing I’d do would be have a coffee and a cig. So last week I was still using the e-cig while having a morning coffee. This week I haven’t, and I haven’t really thought about it either. Just sort of stopped. Still hammering it in the evenings though. But I can live with that for the time being.

Hows everyone else doing?

In the last week I’ve gone from a 35-40 a day habit, to smoking a maximum of 5 or 6 with 3 consecutive days completely fag free..

The vapouriser is definitely taking away the cravings very efficiently, and I’m not using it as much as I thought I would.. certainly not at the same rate that I would be smoking

Awesome work both of you, really good going.

The habit of smoking was the one thing I found hardest to break and it looks like you’ve both found a way of breaking that part.

Keep going!

Thats pretty bloody impressive Yunki. Both your ability to smoke 40 fags a day (I’ve never even managed that on an all dayer), and your success in reducing it to nowt

Good work fella!!

4 weeks fully with not even the odd crafty one when the Mrs ain’t about, I’m a a serial vaper, and quitter. Vape for a while then have a crafty tab when she isn’t around/having a beer with the lads.
Using my own mixed 3mg juice, so barely nothing

only time I smoke is If I’m drunk, which is usually once a year at an SS event. Years of behavioral conditioning mean that If i’m boozed up i smoke, so I quit drinking at the same time and again it a special event kind of thing. may have to do a tea total SSUK, Europeans and worlds just so I can say that proper im a non smoker, even worse I may have to just get racey and try hard and then I wont smoke either, but that’s crazy talk!

good work, giving up isn’t easy and don’t get tempted by the “odd one”, before you know it it ramps upgain

i stopped 2 years ago with champix (don’t use it, horrible stuff, i’ve had long lasting side effects), however over the past 9 months the weekend on the p*ss smoking has crept back in to the point where buying and smoking a 20 pack if on the pop all day.

now trying an e-cig at the weekends to avoid tobacco whilst at the same time trying to not get fully addicted to nicotine again!

has anyone who stopped tobacco but uses an e-cig noticed an improvement in cardio ability? I’m using my e-cig more than i was smoking fags (ie sometimes in the week) and i don’t want to go back to suffering pigeon lungs!

Stopped sometime in June not sure when – completely mind blanked the whole thing –
no vape no patches nothing

Occasionally a tickly feeling about needing to take one of those “breaks”

Just ignore it ..

@sofaboy, yeah cardio ability has improved being just on the e cig, although the normal cigs didn’t really affect me that much, on the old lung capacity test at the quacks, I used to blow 700, now 2 years later on and offsmoking vaping I’m at 720

Mrs Stu blows 450 being an asthmatic as a comparison

It helps to incentivise … and use man maths.

I was on about 5 packs of 20 a week. I gave up 16 years ago and in that time my hobby / toy fund has bought the following:

Five new motorbikes:
Honda XR650r
Honda XR400r
BMW G650 Dakar
BMW G650 Xchallenge
Husqvarna FE 450

Then moved on to bikes;
Specialized Rockhopper
Specialized Carve
Trek Rumblefish Pro
GT Grade 105 Carbon

OK I’ve traded previous bikes in or sold them on to part fund the next one but I’ve also bought loads of kit, insurances, servicing, dirt bike holidays – and a trip to LaMolina this year on the MTB. Still got the Grade & Rumble.

My hobby / toy fund budget is broadly about what I would have spent on smoking – over the past 16 years that would have been £23000.

Historic fag prices here[/url]:

Tax alone on the fags would have been £17700!!

And of course your hobby / toy budget is index linked so it goes up each in line with the cost of fags!

Next year my budget is £2200.

Its not a perfect calculation but it works for me!

Paul – that’s exactly what I’m doing. All the money I would have spent on fags is going into a savings account labelled ‘new bike fund’ at the end of the week. I was smoking about 15 a day, so that’s about £40 a week. As an incentive my better half, who has always hated me smoking, has promised to match fund it. Bless her.

The plan is to keep putting the money away and ride my present bike through the winter, then spank all the cash next spring on a very nice custom build. Doing the maths, by next May I’m going to be looking at a very very nicely specced new 650b Orange P7

I’m going to be looking at a very very nicely specced new 650b Orange P7

The rest of the MNPR crew will expect you to relinquish your tail-gunner status if you’re going to do justice to the bike.

Paul – that’s exactly what I’m doing. All the money I would have spent on fags is going into a savings account labelled ‘new bike fund’ at the end of the week. I was smoking about 15 a day, so that’s about £40 a week

Do it !! It’s like having a free new bike every year or so. It’s so easy to justify nice toys when the money is essentially free… proper man maths that!

Afterstarting at 16 and jacking at probably 40, only then to have the occasional few when drunk,I am not a non smoker proper like.

To “give up” initially ( not including temporary intoxicated smokes), I initially identified my triggers. They were:

Instant coffee
Lager
Leaving work at the end of the day
A particular set of traffic lights on the way to work.

I drank tea or propercoffee, drank wine instead of Lager, drove a different way to work. The hardest tab to give up on was the after work one but the ridiculousness of the traffic lights making me wanting smoke made it all the easier to Jack in.

I am proud to say I cold turkey’d my self off them about 7 years ago.

Avoid your triggers. You’ll succeed.

triggers maybe, for me it was/is def more about routine. Every time I broke my routine ie holidays, I could easily go without, but I’d be straight back on the cigs once I got back into everyday routine. I hated smoking for all the usual reasons and discovered e-cigs about 4 years ago and haven’t smoked since, but still vape regularly. The real smoking crunch came when I realised I couldn’t romp uphill and hold a conversation at the same time, time to deal with it. I have zero self discipline, but vaping has put my lungs back to where they were 20 years ago, I can now easily hill walk and talk without issue. I have some concerns about vaping, but it has been obvious that my lungs and fitness have massively benefited from vaping.
keep at it everyone/anyone, even if it is just becomes a substitute, it will always be 100 times better than smoking IMO.

So how is it going for everyone, Hope you’re all getting on ok?

I joined the club on Monday and so far I’m smoke free and no vaping either. I was on 8 a day when at work but never at the weekends unless drinking. Looking forward to getting my lungs back together!

Aye oop.

Well I’m still off the fags. Its a god few weeks now. The new bike fund is looking healthy.

I confess that I had a brief lapse last Sunday as I’d been to Anfield to watch a Liverpool game, and it was so unbelievably tedious and depressingly boring that I had a B&H or two in the pub afterwards.

However, disgusted with myself for caving in, I immediately developed such a venomous bout of man flu that I not only haven’t had a fag since then, I haven’t even been resorting to my e-cig either. This is major progress

Oh… and good luck teadrinker!

Hows everyone else getting on?

Good stuff bins.

So you’re on day 5 then 😉

Just thought I’d resurrect this for a bit of an update, and see how everyone else is getting on.

I’m coming up for 6 weeks off the things now (except the brief Scouser induced lapse), and feeling so much better for it. I’m starting to allow myself the thought that I might actually have cracked it for good this time. Not that I’m allowing myself to get complacent.

My problem was that the thought that I’d be less annoying or irritating than usual if I stopped smoking. I needn’t have worried. I’ve got it covered. I now look down my nose, in that smug condescending manner so familiar to a lot of people on here, as my mates come back in to the pub having been outside in the rain for a fag, that horrible faggy smell wafting in behind them. I really have lost the desire to join them. So I’ve actually managed to become even more annoying. Result, eh? 😀

The new bike fund was looking very healthy, so I just spanked that, and quite a bit more as well, on a new toy! Yay!!! But I’m going to keep putting away the B&H money away in the new bike fund, on an N+1 basis

Hows everyone else getting on then?

2 months off them now. Hurray for the new smug, sanctimonious me!!! 😀

Now I need to address the elephant in the room – literally – me. I’ve put on over half a stone. I was hardly svelte to begin with. The pies have been working their comfort food replacement magic 😥

Anyone else got an update then?

I’m back on the e-cigs now after a bad couple of months back on the roll ups.

Reduced my nic level to 6mg and feeling optimistic.
The only problem with the e cigs though is that they get rid of the desire to give up completely as they feel relatively harmless

The only problem with the e cigs though is that they get rid of the desire to give up completely as they feel relatively harmless

That’s my worry when those I care about consider using them to give up.

Reduced my nic level to 6mg and feeling optimistic.

whats that equivalent in normal cigs? 10 a day? 20? less?

The Nicorette mints worked for me all those years ago. I had to break the habit of hand to mouth, breathing in, exhaling etc. E-Cigs weren’t even a thing when I quit, but they probably wouldn’t have worked for me for that reason.

You could just go out and ride the new bike? Or use the bike fund to buy the kit to actually go out riding in all weathers (and don’t stop off at the pub on the way home. I reckon 50% of rides that finish at the pub you put more back in than you’ve just burnt off!)

You could do a Hora, and buy a road bike? (and then try not to sell it)

The only problem with the e cigs though is that they get rid of the desire to give up completely as they feel relatively harmless

..the other problem is that you look like a complete bell-end. if I was stopping now, those hideous bits of plastic would not be anywhere on my agenda.

Good work binners. That post-fag smell really is bloody awful isn’t it? At work I’ve asked people to go away and come back in 10 minutes not out of any kind of sanctimony but because the stink makes me feel nauseated.

The only problem with the e cigs though is that they get rid of the desire to give up completely as they feel relatively harmless

They are.

great stuff Binners, well done!! 😀