spokesNspin

One of the great things about bicycling is that it meets you at whatever your fitness level.  Many people who can’t run or do impact type aerobic exercise can ride a bicycle.

One of the bad things about bicycling is that it meets you at whatever your  fitness level.   Unlike running for example,  it is possible to ride a bicycle and get very little exercise.  It is possible to just easily pedal along and enjoy the view and not really get any exercise. 

There is nothing wrong with that unless becoming more physically fit is your goal. 

Bicycle commuters can also get in a rut and never improve their fitness level because of the routine of the ride.

Following are some ways to bicycle and improve your fitness.  I admit up front that have no type of training certifications or formal education.  What you get here is based on my experience and personal reading.  My use of certain techniques may not be exact either.  They are simply ways for me to schedule and vary my routine.

An important aspect of almost all training is to vary the routine and intensity of the activity.  I have read that most people don’t go hard enough when they go hard and don’t go easy enough when they go easy. 

Here is how I use the terrain/geography etc to initiate variety in my routine while commuting by bicycle.  

One type of technique is called fartlek.   Fartlek is Swedish for speed play and is not a comment on Guillermo’s playful tendencies.  Fartlek is a type of interval training.  Interval training is varying the intensity between very intense periods and less intense periods during one exercise session.  You can google the two terms to learn more.

My definition may not be exact but for my routine I use sprinting as fartlek.

A lot of stop signs can be frustrating when traveling by bicycle if you are trying to keep the heart rate up and get exercise.  Instead of getting aggravated, I use stop signs to initiate and motivate sprints.   When I come to the section of many stop signs I often sprint as hard as I can between them.

On a regular basis, I do what I refer to as my time trial or big gear pace.  I do this at times when I figure the bike trail will not be busy.  That means it is generally during my morning commute.  On these days I try to ride at a pace that will leave me pretty well physically spent at the end of my commute which is about 50 minutes.   Sometimes I do it by monitoring my heart rate and going as fast as I can.  Other times I do it by using my large chain ring and never shifting out of it.

Giving some variation makes it more fun and interesting.

I also do intervals.  This difference between intervals and what I call fartlek is that my sprint is longer and timed.  The fartleks are like sprints as if I am racing to the finish line.  The intervals are more like hard accelerations over a period of 1-3 minutes with the goal of dropping other riders.  I generally use a heart rate monitor when doing intervals.

The goal is to do about three accelerations with a short recovery period between the accelerations.   I have about three places along my commute that are good for this.  I sometimes detour to Hain’s Point for intervals.  Hain’s Point is a park with a  3 mile loop with very little traffic.  I can also loop by Fort Hunt Park for a mile loop and use it for intervals.

I have found a neighborhood with some short but intense hills.  On a regular basis,  I do loops in this neighborhood.  By looping around the loop I get about 1000 feet of climbing in a short distance.

Taking time to recover and ride easy is also important. I  schedule very easy rides into my routine.  A way to add some fun and challenge to this is to ride in a hilly area and work on easy and smooth pedaling and keeping the heart rate low all at the same time.

Another way to make sure I get recovery rides is to take time to ride with slower inexperienced riders.  It is a good time to mentor other riders and ensure that I don’t ride too hard.  I will also do very easy social club rides as a way to get some nice recovery time on the bike.

If fitness is your goal do some reading on some of the terms I have used and put some variety in your rides.

Tags: bicycling fitness

This entry was posted on Monday, August 18th, 2008 at 4:24 am and is filed under Bicycling. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.