Originally Posted by fordraceing_man
ok well ive been an on and off runner for the last few years, and shin splints are kinda getting me down, im thinking about taking up riding a bike a few times a week, also my girlfriend enjoys riding bikes to. anyways just curuios how well is cycling for weight loss compared to running? what kinda miles should someone be putting in for weight loss?
something else im wondering is what kinda bike should i be riding? right now i have a mounting bike, and a bmx bike (i know im not going to do this with a bmx bike) anyways i would be mostly riding on paved roads and a few dirt roads i guess but i really don't want one of the thin tire bikes with the wrap around handle bars, what kinda riding is mounting bikes for?
last thing i can think of now, is do many people ride in the winter? and in the snow, do you have many problems with that?
thanks
If you can run for that length of time you can bike for much longer. Now you are not a cyclist, so riding for 4 or 5 hours seems like a bit lengthy. Trust me though; if you get to really like biking you will find it very easy to fit in many rides, which are of the multi hour variety.
As for the bike, I am very biased in this sense, get a thin tire roadie. You can ride fast and go hard on the road; you will make a mountain bike look and feel like riding a slug in comparison. The bonus part is that you already have a mountain bike to do all the awesome off road stuff as well.
If you are really dead set against a roadie get a slick set of tires, as well as off road tires for your MTB. With the slicks you really get to practice you handling off road and can go at a fairly decent speed on the black top. Then when you get tired of wipe-outs at slow speed off road with your slicks, change to your knobbies, and wipe out at faster speed.
