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Don’t train for cycling

January 16, 2012 By

If you really want to get for cycling, my advice is not to train. This is true of so many sports, but is perhaps more true of cycling than any other single sport.

Let me explain…

Any sport or pastime which you do for the exercise’s sake, for fitness in other words, becomes a drudge for most people, most of the time. But when the exercise is incidental to the activity being performed, then the exercise and the fitness it brings is a beneficial and wholly welcome by-product.

If you think back to when you were a child, did you play football, tennis, rounders, or go cycling for that matter because you thought you’d get fitter? Or did you do it because you enjoyed it – or, in the case of cycling, because you wanted to get around under your own steam and visit places / get to where you needed to be etc.?

So if you set off on your bike with a determination to become leaner, meaner and fitter, you’re setting yourself up to fail just as many people do with New Year’s resolutions; they’re there to be broken.

On the other hand, if you use your bike to get to where you need to be, or to enjoy the countryside with friends and see new areas etc. as the primary motive, then your physical fitness will happen anyway. After all, physical fitness in its true sense comes as result of mental fitness. The only time this isn’t true is for the control freaks amongst us; and that’s not healthy.

So my advice is to enjoy the exercise for what it enables you to enjoy – and the fitness will just happen incidentally. In this way, it’s sustainable fitness. And if you’re doing it for the environment but need to get further than you can on two self-powered wheels, then Honda has introduced some pretty amazing eco cars over the years – none more so than the latest concept car, the micro commuter, unveiled at the Tokyo Motor show – which even has a mini electric bike in  the boot. You’ll have to put your real one on the roof rack!

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Try a triathlon

October 24, 2011 By

If you’re really into cycling but want to give yourself a new challenge, you could try doing a triathlon.  Most people who do one triathlon find that they get hooked.
Triathlon is a relatively young sport – it only started in the 1970s when a groups of friends who were swimmers, cyclists and runners started training together.  It wasn’t long before they combined the disciplines. Standard triathlons these days consist of the three sports of swimming, cycling and running.  The race is against the clock, which starts as you enter the water and stops as you cross the finish line at the end of the run.  The time between each stage is also seen as part of the race – and is known as the transition.
What kit you need
Until you’ve decided if triathlon is for you, you don’t need to spend out on specialist clothing.  It’s best to wear something that’s closefitting – like a singlet and shorts.  If your swim is on open water, you’ll want to wear clothes that fit under a wetsuit.  Wetsuits are compulsory if the water is below 14 degrees. A swimming hat is definitely worth buying as it lowers resistance. Goggles are also a must, so you can see where you’re going.
Of course you’ll need a bike, but any bike will do.  Make sure you give your bike a good service – you don’t want to get caught out by a puncture on the day of the triathlon. Wearing a helmet is obligatory, at all levels of triathlon.
Although specialist cycling shoes are not essential, you’ll need a decent pair of running shoes, and make sure you can change in and out of your footwear easily during the race.
By definition, triathletes are people who like to get around under their own steam. So when they have to use a vehicle they tend to opt for something that’s environmentally friendly – for example Honda cars such as the fuel-efficient Honda Insight. You’ll usually need a car to get you and your equipment to the race and you can ask a friend or relative to act as your support team.
Joining a club is a great way to get started in triathlon – and there’s a sense of teamwork and belonging when you race with fellow club members.  There are over 350 triathlon clubs in the UK, so you should easily find one close to you.

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The fastest bikes in the world

September 26, 2011 By

Although land speed records are usually associated with cars, of all types of varieties including EVs and hybrids, there are also land speed records for bicycles, too.
In August 2011, wooden bike designer and builder Michael Thompson from Norfolk and triathlete James Tully broke a land speed record with Thompson’s wooden bicycle – the Splinterbike.  It is made entirely of wood, and though they were aiming to reach the heady heights of 30mph, they managed to establish a world speed record for 100% wooden bicycles at 11.25mph.
Although they set a new world record for a wooden bike, they didn’t come anywhere near the current world record for a bicycle land speed record – which is held by a Canadian, Sam Whittingham.  His record speed is 82.3mph, set in the World Human Powered Speed Challenge, an annual event for speed obsessives.  In 2009, a section of a Nevada highway was closed off to its usual array of family cars, trucks and lorries for the event to take place, and Whittingham broke his own previous record.
Whittingham used to be a track cyclist, but now pays for his record attempts by building bikes for other people.  His world record braking bike is a recumbent bike encased in a carbon fibre shell, with a Kevlar skin, designed to stop the carbon disintegrating in case of a crash.  The highest point of the bike is only 2 feet above the ground and its tyres are less than 1 inch across, to minimise rolling resistance.  It only has five gears, but they are enormous – it takes more than five miles for him to get his bike up to full speed.
Of course, bicycles will never get close to the kind of speeds which can be achieved in car land speed records – the current aspiration for the next record is 1000mph.

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How to get into Charity Cycling?

August 12, 2011 By

Cycling for charity is a good method to pull in cash for deserving causes. There are many approaches to getting started. Common methods of becoming involved include joining a local cycling organisation that sponsors regular charity events, contacting charities that take part in community fundraisers, and beginning your own cycling for charity event by looking for sponsors hereabouts.

Preferred world social sites like Facebook have cycling-for-charity pages where it is easy to find imminent events and sponsors. Many global affiliations may also be found online that organise regular cycling for charity events. A real instance of this is Best Pals World, set up in 1989 and existing in all fifty US states and in fifty states around the globe. Best Pals Global sponsors cycling events to pull in cash for folk with intellectual and development incapacities. Research setups devoted to curing sicknesses; groups like the Nation’s Multiple Sclerosis ( MS ) Society in the USA, with similar MS associations in Canada and Australia, prepare cycling-for-charity events on a common basis. Other common sicknesses and medical problems ,eg heart problems, Parkinson’s, and cancer, also have nationwide and world organisations that constantly prepare cycling-for-charity events.

Social movement non-profit making organisations also are concerned in cycling for charity, based around issues like this as misery and regional calamities, like tremors and hurricanes, that spark cycling fundraisers around the planet.

Local community groups are another avenue toward forming a cycling group and sponsoring charity rides and charity races. Cycle clubs and shops are sometimes hooked up to community outreach groups that prepare such events, and are an excellent source of info on the way to become involved in one. A number of these groups go past standard street cycling and sponsor cross country trail courses. Indoor cycling-for-charity events have also become popular in areas where the weather and season or urban environment may not lend itself to outside cycling activities. Organizing your own cycling-for-charity event, either as a group or an individual rider, is also a real possibility. Finding paths to publicize the event and gain sponsors can be done thru numerous local or regional cycling clubs, thru bosses, local churches, and other groups keen on promoting charitable activities. The concept of biking for charity is an extensive one which has been utilized to serve many deserving causes, while simultaneously promoting fitness in the riders who get entangled.

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