How Not to Feel Old…on a bike!

OK. You’ve read “How Not to Look Old”.   Looks are only one part of beauty.  The rest is how you feel, right?  So, try this one on:    “how to not feel old”…on a bike!

Easier said than done – but for me,  it helped to learn to ride a very light weight custom-fit  “road bike” in about a 14 week period of increasing miles with the Team in Training, part of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society’s fund raising program.

On problem  you might face is that you might not think of yourself as a biker girl (biker chic is reserved for motorcyles),  and I didn’t  consider myself one either. But,  you can act like one, get into shape, and feel great, while helping others at the same time. (read my story here for more background)

Here’s what I recommend  for you to Feel Great…on a bike!:

Five recommendations:

A custom fit road bike, bike shorts,  Light-weight bike shoes, plenty of Advil, and drink lots of water  and hydrate after wards with coconut water.

1. Buy bike shorts!! I say this not because I did this, but because I failed to heed this advice…and rode 35 miles with just my exercise spandex.   Boy, ladies, don’t try it!  You’ll be sore for days without padded bike shorts.   Your legs will be bruised…and god forbid, you fall off the bike without padded shorts!  Your pelvis with never be the same.  I bought a fairly expensive pair with excellent padding.  A good pair is better than three low quality pair and probably cheaper in the long run.   The padding is key!

2. Bike shoes. Not great looking but you won’t be walking down Fifth Avenue in them.   Make sure you buy clip in bike shoes because when you cycle, you need to “spin” not push down with your knees like we did with our three-speed Schwinn’s!  You need to pull up on your pedal as well as push down.   If you simply push, you will hurt your knees.  I’m not saying that you need clips to ride leisurely around the block…only if you want to participate at a more intense level in biking.  When you look for shoes, and if you’re a novice, buy clip ons that will allow you to use the same shoes for a spinning class at the gym so you can “spin” all year long…both indoors as well as in the great outdoors!

3.  Before, during and after endurance riding, you need to hydrate for nutrients, so drink plenty of water – not sugar drinks.   The sugar that is contained in so-called performance drinks (Gatorade) is really bad for you as they spike your glucose levels quickly and then you “crash”, and loose the energy.  The drinks contain loads of “table” sugar.

Plain water is good, up to a point: it’s certainly loads better than nothing. When exercising you lose fluid partly through breathing and partly through sweating. What you breathe out is mostly water vapour but sweat contains chemicals, often referred to as salts or electrolytes.

Some commercially available “drinks” – especially so-called ‘energy’ drinks – also contain caffeine, which don’t help you hydrate.  I found that coconut water mixed with water tastes good and is very healthy for you – and is without sugar or fats.   You need to explore this arena more..here’s an idea for performance drinks to check out and see how you feel after riding.

4. Gel biking gloves.  The vibrations going through your bike wreak havoc unless you have a shock absorber for your hands. They’re also very cool looking and add to “the look” and help you feel great on a bike!