Summertime!

[Lance C]

I traded my car in for a good pair of shoes a couple of years ago and devoted my time relaxing and exercising for an increasingly frustrating drive to work and back (funny thing is that it took me 10 minutes to drive to work, or 12 minutes to walk it!)

This year brought learning how to ride a bicycle, and what a thrilling thing that is! I just don't bike around town, but practice sprinting (note: my legs are unable to withstand the vigors of running regularly) and am starting to get familiar with runner's high. And of course living in such a flat corn-belt area, I look for every opportunity to go trail riding (mountain biking)

This seems to lean up the body and bring a certain efficiency to the legs, however they are tightening up and am loosing minor amounts of range of motion. My lower abdomen (under the spare tire) seems to be much stronger and the spare tire is starting to deflate, weight wise, only down a few pounds.

Cross training certainly adds variety to the workout, and allows various personal goals to be set, mine was to learn how to ride and make it to a dam about 10 miles away, hopefully by the end of the summer.

Get out there while you can and enjoy the great (but hot!) weather!

-Lance C

[Xperience]

I traded my car in for a good pair of shoes a couple of years ago and devoted my time relaxing and exercising for an increasingly frustrating drive to work and back (funny thing is that it took me 10 minutes to drive to work, or 12 minutes to walk it!)

This year brought learning how to ride a bicycle, and what a thrilling thing that is! I just don't bike around town, but practice sprinting (note: my legs are unable to withstand the vigors of running regularly) and am starting to get familiar with runner's high. And of course living in such a flat corn-belt area, I look for every opportunity to go trail riding (mountain biking)

This seems to lean up the body and bring a certain efficiency to the legs, however they are tightening up and am loosing minor amounts of range of motion. My lower abdomen (under the spare tire) seems to be much stronger and the spare tire is starting to deflate, weight wise, only down a few pounds.

Cross training certainly adds variety to the workout, and allows various personal goals to be set, mine was to learn how to ride and make it to a dam about 10 miles away, hopefully by the end of the summer.

Get out there while you can and enjoy the great (but hot!) weather!

-Lance C

Hey Lance ~
Congrats on learning to bike . . . one of the best forms of exercise/transportation going. Just make sure that you're getting a full stroke when you peddle; that is, make sure that your seat is adjusted high enough, so that on your down-stroke, you're getting full-extension (with knee slightly bent). That's one thing that minimizes getting tight; another is to be sure and stretch before and after your ride, which also helps to minimize injuries. By the way, you'll be doing 10 miles in no-time; That's kid stuff, trust me. Also, be careful 'mountain biking' . . . it can be dangerous. Anyway, take care and have yourself a ball. X

[Lance C]

Hey Lance ~
Congrats on learning to bike . . . one of the best forms of exercise/transportation going. Just make sure that you're getting a full stroke when you peddle; that is, make sure that your seat is adjusted high enough, so that on your down-stroke, you're getting full-extension (with knee slightly bent). That's one thing that minimizes getting tight; another is to be sure and stretch before and after your ride, which also helps to minimize injuries. By the way, you'll be doing 10 miles in no-time; That's kid stuff, trust me. Also, be careful 'mountain biking' . . . it can be dangerous. Anyway, take care and have yourself a ball. X


Thanks for the advice, my bike is a little small for me and I do not get the full stroke by your description. I found kicking it down a gear or two gives more cardio and less loss of range of motion after biking. I made 6km the other day (a little less than 4miles.) More distance could have been made, but wanted to walk upright the next day.

The thing helping me with stamina is going from casual to sprinting a couple of times. My top speed during the ride is increasing too. My body is loosing some fat from key areas like the lower ab and my thighs, however my muscle mass is increasing too. Suprisingly I walk faster from the increased leg strength.

Being a bit into biking now, I started looking at old books that teach bicycle self-defense, its giving me ideas.

-Lance

and as for mountainbiking, in this corn-belt, its more like, man-made hill biking.