I had my annual physical yesterday. My doctor and I discussed my weight- I should really lose 20-30 lb. She knows I ride a bike and I mentioned I haven't ridden as much lately. She said the answer was obvious: I need to ride more.

So now when I want to ride and the wife is giving me the stink eye, I can say "Doctor's orders!"

That is a great perscription! Do you have a drug plan that will buy you a new bike?

My experience has always been that lots of riding helps to cure or treat many ailments and conditions, including but not limited to high blood pressure, depression, overweight/obesity, hypothyroidism, ADHD, alcoholism, bad marriages, anger, high cholesterol...

I don't need one; I wouldn't have room for it. We did once get an elliptical machine paid for by our medical spending account because the doctor said it was necessary for treating my wife's fibromyalgia, so such a thought isn't completely out of the ordinary.

I agree except for one thing, I always want to drink a 6pack after a good hard ride!!!

+1!!
but I've been limiting it to just 1-2.

I did't mean to say riding *cures* alcoholism, but just that it allows one to live more comfortably with the condition. Just like marijuana for AIDS patients...

...although one does not necessarily need to contract AIDS to get similar benifits

Edit: I also limit myself to one or two, but I find this much easier with better beer - I can drink a six of Budweiser or Canadian or Keith's or Bud Lite, and still want more... but if I drink one Anchor Liberty Ale or Headstrong Balck&Tan or Guiness, I am more full and satisfied, and feel less need to get a second, third, or sixth, which saves money, too. Cheap beer is a false economy.

Exactly. If you're paying $1.50 for a PBR draft, you think nothing of having another, but if you pay $5 for a draft, you're out of pocket money before you know it, so you have to milk 'em a little.

My doc knows I bicycle and has "prescribed" one twenty+ miler per week. I have not done it in a while due to schedule but I got 18 in yesterday. A little sore since I have gotten out of the habit. I need to get back into it.

Burning calories while riding is a good thing. The other side of the equation is that if you eat more calories than your burn then riding is not going to be benefical for weight loss.

Gapwedge,

True. But I can tell you that even though I have have not lost a lot of weight by riding thus far, my health has improved greatly. My breathing is vastly improved, I have much more energy than I had before I started riding, and I have been sick far fewer times than I was before.

Weight loss or not, bicycling has greatly improved my overall health. I have no question about that.