Bike Riding

I like biking, but it's hard - I'm not used to those muscles! I've started riding about three miles up some mild hills, and it makes my legs burn. I can run for miles hardly breaking a sweat--5/10k is a normal day of running for me, and I'm preparing for a half marathon race now--but even a short stretch of biking hurts still.

Love it! My husband bought me a mountain bike for Valentine's Day ans we've been having so much fun! We do a short ride almost every evening, we're working on finishing a 5 mile hiking/biking loop up up near the local mountains (we've finished it but we had to hike some while pushing our bikes because it was so steep) and we got to do a 13 mile ride on the Route 66 trail by my house a few weeks ago! It's a really great workout.

I used to cycle everywhere, until I passed my driving test in 2004 and then I pretty much never used it. Last year I got back into cycling and dug out my old basic hybrid bike. My journey to work is just over 6 miles so I decided to give that a go a couple of times a week. I then signed up to do a 60 mile bike ride for charity and then started cycling longer routes at weekends.

Then my company signed up to the national UK "Cycle to Work" scheme, which meant I could get a new bike, tax free, paid for over 12 months out of my monthly salary before tax and National Insurance. I jumped at the chance and bought myself a lovely Specialized hybrid. I'm not keen on cycling in the dark as I don't trust motorists, but I'm back on the bike now it's light in the mornings and early evenings and am loving it.

In terms of results, I have an HRM which I use when I exercise. When I do Zumba or the machines when my heart rate gets approaching 160 that's about the maximum, but I find my heart rate is generally higher whilst cycling and consistently so, but I don't feel like I have to slack off, therefore it burns more calories. I think I read something that said similar that the heart needs to pump faster to get oxygen to the muscles to keep those legs pumping.

So - I'd say - go for it and enjoy :-D

Love biking! I have both a road bike and a mountain bike. I started with the road bike and averaged 30 miles per ride, but then I got my mountain bike, and that is SO MUCH MORE FUN! I find I get a much better full body workout when I mountain bike off road. Unfortunately, we had tons of rain this week, so the mountain bike trail will be closed for about 6 weeks until things are dried out and the trail is repaired. Back to the road bike, I guess... (Although, after one too many close calls with cars, I no longer ride it on the road; paved trails only!)