Cycling: An Old Friend

I’ve enjoyed road biking to an extent prior to my recent fitness lifestyle change, but I was never really GOOD at it. I bought a respectable entry-level bike back in 2010 and used it off and on throughout the years. At my previous fitness level, I never really got the level of enjoyment I saw other Lycra-wearing peers of mine did from their road bikes.

At least until recently.

After the Vineyard half marathon, my legs (and really my body overall) fought back hard and just did not want to continue training. Truth be told, I felt that I over trained for my half marathon and the rest period after the race dragged on longer and longer. I decided that I needed something else in the mix to change things up a bit before I settle back into a more sedimentary lifestyle.

I dug my Giant Defy 3 from storage and started riding. A few miles here, a few miles there, and then I started realizing that I really enjoyed it. I guess the stamina and endurance that I have built up from my running translated to better cycling performance too. This eventually lead to longer and longer rides.

One of my challenges on the road bike was sustained climbs. Little hills here and there I can handle, but a mile stretch of road at 9% gradient? No thanks. So I would purposely plan routes that avoided hills as much as possible. However, as I spent more time cycling, I’m realizing that climbs aren’t as bad as I made them out to be when I first started cycling. 

The downside of cycling is that, compared to running, this activity will take up as much time and money as you have. One or two hour bike rides? Sure why not? $500 for new (insert bike accessory here) - you betcha. It just goes on and on...

This makes spending $130 on a pair of running shoes look like nothing.

Now, I still have a lot to learn since proper mechanics of cycling is still very new to me. My hope is that this keeps my body (and mind) fresh and not get too bored of any one activity.