DataJunkie

It is much easier to write a novel.

jbenkert111

While bike riding is certainly a healthy activity, slow riding (or fast riding) when used as your only exercise and not supplemented with some kind of weight bearing exercise does very little to prevent weakening of the bones, while walking and running do provide a little bit of everything.

erig007

For the body maybe, for the mind.......not reaallly as you have hard time explaining to yourself why you've been outpaced by someone walking on the sidewalk with a kid in the stroller.

MetalPedaler

While just getting outside and getting SOME exercise is certainly good.......my own personal observation/experience has been this:

I'm 50 now, and spent a good deal of my life working outdoors; taking long frequent walks and generally getting low-level low-impact exercise. While I have stayed pretty healthy, doing those things did NOT keep me from getting to be 50 lbs. overweight; nor did they keep me in shape. I got to the point where I was starting to see that I was fat and pathetically out-of-shape. At first, I thought it was just age. Then I realized: Maybe not.

I took up cycling a year ago- not just for the exercise, but because I always loved bicycles. I was in such pathetic shape, that my first "real" ride, it took me an hour and 20 minutes to do 11 miles...and I had to rest on every hill I encountered, and was huffing and puffing so hard on the hills, I thought I was going to die!

Long story short: I started pushing myself to do better on the bike; and I got a spin bike for winter, on which I do Tabata Intervals, in addition to regular spinning. I now see, that that low-impact exercise I'd been oing most of life, didn't do me much good- and that I was essentially starting from scratch, now. Doing the Tabata intervals, where you get anaerobic, but for short periods, has done me more good than anything. I can now go much harder on the road bike; and the hills that never seemed to get easier, are suddenly pretty easy!

I used to think something was wrong with me, because I was pretty active and got quite a bit of exercise...but yet never seemed to improve my endurance or strength.

Now I see what the problem was: I was lazy. I never pushed myself; rarely if ever went anaerobic- and that is what held me back, and kept that exercise from benefitting me!

Now that I figured that out- and get decent higher-impact anaerobic exercise...I have seen tremendous gains in fitness in the last the last couple of months- more so than during the last 4 decades combined!

My point: The exercise has to tax you and make you anaerobic, to truly have significant benefit. Think of it: 2 months vs. the last 40 years. I'd been largely wasting my time for the last 40 years [as far as fitness goes...I still did reap SOME benefits- physical and mental; and enjoyed myself- because i don't exercise for exercise's sake, but rather only do things i enjoy- but had I been doing it right, I would have never gotten fat or pathetically out-of-shape.]

It feels SO GOOD, at 50, to be in better shape than I was at 19, and to weigh what I weighed when I was 16 !!

Any exercise is better than none; but don't kid yourself.....unless you push, and get anaerobic; and make it hurt for a while [initially], you're only getting a slight benefit. And yes, it did hurt initially...but that was very short-lived. Now, being in better shape has made the initial hurt seem like nothing, because I can now do so much more, so much easier. Hills that used to still kill me 3 months ago, riding them in the lowest gear of my triple(30/25)...I now almost laugh at, while riding a standard double in 39/23!

If you want to see results in performance and fitness...and really feel good, you have to suffer a little at first. But you move on; you advance. It sure beats suffering for 40 years and never getting anywhere.

Best of luck OP- now get out there and stop "relaxing" while you exercise, and DO IT! A few months from no, you'll be exercising much harder...but it'll feel easier than the easy exercise you do now.

vol

Thanks for all the great replies---sorry for being late (been occupied with the annual IRS headache so just came back to the forum).

Terrific!

I think slow cycling has another benefit: easing eye strains for those of us who look at the computer screen for most of the day. Sometimes I go out for a ride during daytime just for this purpose. At night you can't see far, so not as good as daytime. I understand there are some benefits that slow cycling barely brings, such as bone strengthening. The reason I try to avoid uphills is that my knees have had past injury and I have to take care not to add injuries or wear them out. I'm actually very fit, but I avoid fast riding for both safety and injury concerns. The rare occasion I ride fast is when on an almost empty bike path.

Wooden Tiger

Food is energy, so how exactly do you condition yourself to "burn fat?"

wolfchild

By eliminating simple processed sugar from your diet and eating less simple processed carbs... Eat more fat/protein and your body will reprogram itself and slowly learn to use fat as a source of energy and fuel.
Doing 1-2 hour intense rides or other intense excercise on empty stomach is also a great way to burn fat. I think one of the reasons why a lot of people experience BONK is because they have too much processed sugar in their diet. Fat and complex carbs are much better longer lasting source of energy then sugar.

Wooden Tiger

Good point on the processed sugar, but wouldn't riding on an empty stomach force your body to work harder to use fat as its source of energy and fuel? If I go out on the bike on an empty stomach, I'm whipped within a half hour. If I eat prior to going out, I can go far longer. For instance, if I bonk out on a ride, then stop for a large drink of water and a Clif Bar or something, then get back on the bike, I feel re-energized and can continue riding with less effort. I feel "replenished."

jolly_ross

You're cycling. Props to you.

MetalPedaler

I think that it's different for different people. A lot probably depends on what we've become conditioned to; long-term dietary habits; our metabolism; etc.

Like myself: I generally eat nothing in the morning- except for a cup of tea, and maybe a couple of crackers, or on some occasions, a granola bar. I'll go out for a 2 hour ride at 11 or noon (essentially not having eaten anything since the night before), and I'll be just fine, with nothing on the ride except a little water. I hate doing anything physical on a full [or even half-full] stomach.

I know other people, who, if they don't eat a good breakfast AND lunch, they have hunger pangs and can hardly function. So it's hard to generalize for everyone- we're all different.

rebel1916

I would definitely like to see links to peer reviewed research on that.

MetalPedaler

The main benefit to cycling slowly, is the enjoyment of your surroundings. We should all take slow rides occasionally.....but as for exercise....I believe that cycling slowly for an hour would have about the same benefit as taking a 20 minute walk- i.e. not much.

fietsbob

@ 7mph, sitting on the saddle and pedaling , in 10 hours , you are 70 miles down the road.

GrouchoWretch

That is definitely a benefit!

ThermionicScott 

I'm pretty sure that cycling at any speed does not strengthen bones. For that, they need to bear a load.

ThermionicScott 

I missed the benefit -- that riding slower makes it take longer to go 70 miles?

MetalPedaler

Yeah, and then your 70 miles away from hoime, and have to take another 10 hours to get back home! [Although I guess it would a benefit to the unhappily married....]

BlazingPedals

I guess the benefit is, if you like riding, you can take longer for any given mileage.

This is the same theory by which it can be said that golf was invented by a masochist who hated golf. That is, if you like golf and practice, you can get the game down to 70-75 strokes and a game takes a minimal amount of time; whereas if you don't like golf and never practice, a game takes much longer and you have to play more to get it over with.

fietsbob

7mph ..
It is a comfortable pace , and as I invested significant funds to fly my touring kit
8 time zones acround the globe,
I didn't see a point in rushing through the places, I Visited.

So many Pubs to call on

PDX Reborn

I like the way you think ^^^

MetalPedaler

Mark Twain had golf figured out: "A good walk spoiled".

Garfield Cat

How many and what benefits: probably less of everything than the rider who expands his/her riding experiences.

ganchan

From the "I Meant to Do That" Dept: You can pretend you're taking in the scenery, when in fact you're just exhausted.

MetalPedaler

Because of the terrain where I live, I wasn't able to avoid uphills....although I would have if I could have. But it worked out for good, because now, less than a year after I began riding, those hills have gotten easy, and are no longer an issue- as a result, my rides are much more enjoyable- and to me, enjoyment is what it's all about. Yes, I wanted something where I could get much-needed exercise, too- but it must be something very enjoyable, to keep me coming back and putting time in. I had to work at cycling at first....but the work paid off, as now I'm to the point where I'm fit enough to really enjoy it; and I can whiz over the hills, and go at a fast enough pace to not feel like I'm decrepit old fart just toddling along. It feels GOOD!

The <year of hard work paid off, because it made my cycling so much more enjoyable now, instead of being forever in that state of taking it easy, and never being fit enough to ace the hills. If I had been able to ride a flat route, and never had to push myself, I would have just forever remained at the level of unfitness I was at when I began- and that would have sucked, because cycling is so much more enjoyable when you get to the point where you can ride at a decent speed; don't have to dread the hills; and can enjoy your whole ride and do it with ease.

Cycling is one sport where a little work in the beginning pays off with big dividends. Not even a year later, I can look back and think of myself struggling and suffering as I creaked along at a snail's pace on even negligible up-grades, which I can just effortlessly fly over now. It feels good....and best of all, I can enjoy my rides much more fully.

Jim Kukula

I have a Nike heart rate monitor to calibrate effort, but somehow is has decided to stop working. Rats! I have an inexpensive unit by Omron on order to replace the Nike. Though my perceived effort seems high enough for me! Maybe somehow I am lazy though.

I just plotted my average speed versus the amount of climbing on my regular routes. I have about two years of reasonably regular riding under my belt at this point... it'll be interesting to see if I can improve this and how much...