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5 reasons why cycling is the best sport EVAR!

June 2, 2008, 5:45pm by electromute

Growing up in Boulder, you can’t help but be outdoors. When I was a teenager, I was a competitive cyclist eventually racing with the US National Cycling Team. It’s been about 15 years since I did my last race. Although I’ve kept in shape with yoga, hiking and some trail running, I haven’t really gotten back on my bike since.

A few wonderful things happened this spring to help me re-ignite my love for the sport.

1. I moved back to Boulder to work at a local startup: Me.dium
2. Steve LeGoff from Performance Bike helped me restore my old racing bike
3. David Mandell and Brent Daily from Me.dium bought road bikes and wanted to get out and ride

Being in a town where you can actually go out riding on the roads, having a bike that is ready in good repair, and having buddies to ride with are three very important ingredients to making cycling fun.

We’ve been getting out on our bikes as much as possible, mostly once or twice on weekends. Sunday, we had one of those epic rides that just reminded me how freaking cool cycling is. US 36–>Greenbriar–>Jamestown–>Olde Stage Road. Here are my top 5 reasons why cycling is the BEST SPORT EVARRR!

1. Fitness

This one is obvious. I sit all day at my desk. I call this the 10-finger workout, in that my 10 fingers are moving and typing, but not much else is happening. This burns about 80 calories per hour. Cycling on the other hand burns upwards of 700+ calories, depending on your current weight, fitness and terrain. Even better, cycling is a low impact sport, meaning if you are a little bit on the heavy side, your joints won’t suffer as they would if you were running.

2. Stress Reduction

They call it the fight or flight response. When stress levels are heightened, our bodies produce over 30 hormones, including adrenaline and cortisol that need to be cleared out of the body via some kind of “flight” response. When we don’t do any physical activity to rid our bodies of the horemones, the stress chemicals sit in our systems and cause damage both physically and psychologically.

3. Comraderie

Getting out on a nice ride with your buddies is one of the best ways of bonding. Hey, I don’t play golf, so being able to do something outside of the office that doesn’t involve drinking is pretty damn cool. Cycling is a gentleman’s’ sport and a hero’s sport, so you gain a lot of respect for the folks you ride with for various reasons whether it be the first time you climb that big hill or that time you pull around and win the sprint for once.

4. Cool toys and gadgets

Come now, have you seen the hipster kids riding fixies? Well road cycling is full of cool toys and gadgets. Cool wheels, computers for keeping your mileage, etc. You can buy cool bike stands for your house so you can tinker around with the wheels, parts, keeping things clean and buffed and it’s way cheaper than fixing cars!

5. Speed

Alright, one of the best things about cycling is riding down a mountain road, after you’ve done a big effort. Being able to go as fast or faster than the cars, taking the turns like a pro and imagining how cool you look. It doesn’t matter how you actually look-this is not the point. It’s imagining you are fast like a pro racer in the Giro d’Italia!

You don’t have time to ride you say? Well, here’s the deal, it took me over a year and a half of being back in Boulder before I got things under control enough to start riding again. I was too busy, tired, working, my bike was not fixed, etc. Even now, I have to ride at ungodly hours both during the week and weekend. My riding mates coordinate with spouses and babysitters, it is not an easy task. Do your best, don’t be too hard on yourself if you can’t get out and get out as much as you can without it being stressful.

Happy riding!

Tags: cycling

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