I’ve been trying to use the nice climate and facilities I now have access to get in better shape. I’ve been doing swimming for the last week, not pushing it too hard I know the risk of going too mad too soon so I’ve just been taking it easy.
As part of that I spotted it was possible to cycle to work it’s something like 8 miles google reckons 48 min’s and a lot of it is on proper trails or bike lanes. My parents offered to pay for a bike so I figured why not.
I went to the great mall which is this monstrosity with over a million square feet of shops. It is as close to hell on earth as I’ve been so far miles of car park all of which is full then miles and miles of shops, most of which no sane human could want, with people getting in the way constantly.
Anyway I found a sports shop there and queried the guy on what was the best bike to get for my needs, road capable but also able to handle some trail work which is a fair amount rougher. He recommended a comfort or mountain bike he also didn’t immediately show me the most expensive impractical machine possible, instead showing a cheaper lighter mountain bike, so it gave me some confidence he knew what he was talking about. He pointed out most of the other types had road tires that would either explode or give no traction on a trail.
I picked up a diamondback sorento which seemed a good compromise a mountain bike but a lighter frame and the tires looked smooth enough not to have huge rolling resistance on the road but big enough to give good traction on rough roads. I got all the necessary safety gear lights, helmet, stand, and a bike lock. The bloke checked the bike over checking all the gears and brakes fitting the lights and kick stand and then I was wrestling the thing into the back of my car.
Today I took it for a test spin trying out the route to work. I didn’t get as far as I wanted the heat is easy to underestimate I got dried out pretty quickly. Acording to google I got about a mile and half before I ran out of puff which isn’t too bad seeing as it’s been probably 13 years since I was last on a bike. I cycled back and had a rest.
I plan to work my way up to the full distance maybe try and interleave it with the swimming. Hopefully I’ll get to doing the distance to work then work my way up to doing it every day. As a safety net there is the light rail which will take bikes.
Comments
Stick with it...the first time I took my road bike out I died at the motorway, and that was 15 months ago!
I reckon swimming and cycling are the best types of exercise you can do. So long as you don't go daft it's virtually impossible to injure yourself with either, and they both hit very good intensity sweet spots.
I'm doing much the same - I drove in today to ensure work clothing was in the cupboard and the rest of the week, I'll cycle. Swimming is a good idea but will need to try and find to fit that in.
Do you have a target BMI or weight? I'm using the Wii Fit to chart my weight loss/gain but only as a pair of scales really.
As always with these exercise things sticking with it is going to be the key. If I can get into a routine I'm usually OK though I've had that in the past and found routines are ludicrously easy to break.
Hopefully with the relatively low impact aspect of the swim and bike I should manage to keep it up.
I don't really have a target BMI or weight just I know I'm currently shockingly out of shape. I've had various attempts to get healthier with varying degrees of success I was doing that EA Sports Active on the wii for a while which was getting some results till I pulled a muscle and fell out of the habit.
Given the ease with which I can access the pool now it should be fairly easy to keep that up and there is something nice and relaxing about a swim after work. The cycling is probably going to take more effort to keep up with but in the long run I think it will be worth it. There are plenty of trails and places to bike locally once I manage to get bit of distance out of my atrophied leg muscles I can start having a go at some of that sort of thing.