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What’s Your Biggest Health Improvement From Biking?

11.02.2010 by Ray Niekamp // 10 Comments

I picked up my mountain bike from my neighborhood bike mechanic this evening.  It had been shifting poorly, and he took care of it.  Getting the bike was important to me, because I’m still not riding my road bike.

In case you missed it, the front derailleur on my road bike broke over a week ago.  I haven’t received the replacement yet.  Maybe it’ll be all set in time for the weekend.

But as long as I have one bike in operating condition, that’s a good thing.  Because biking is good for me.

How do I know?  I look at the numbers.

I recently had my annual physical exam.  I have some health issues that I pay close attention to.  My cholesterol has been high as long as I can remember.  So has my blood pressure.

I could count on a typical blood pressure reading of around 151/90.  My cholesterol used to be as high as 250.

Just 36 hours after I rode in the Outlaw Trail 100 last month, my BP was 113/69.  A year or so ago, my doctor would have been happy to get it to around 135/85.  In fact, for awhile, that was our target.  Now, we’re shooting for much lower readings.  I’m normally in the 120/80 vicinity these days.

Is it all because of biking?

Not completely.  I’m on blood pressure medication, but at my last physical, the doc told me to stop taking one of the two types of pills I was on.  He says that while the meds brought the BP down, it’s the biking that is keeping it in the target zone.

He was also pleasantly surprised to note that my resting heart rate is 56.  That’s all due to biking.

Ditto the cholesterol.  I take medicine for that, too, but it’s the smallest dose made — 5 milligrams.  The doc says it might as well be a placebo.  He credits biking and diet for my recent big drop.  Oh, I forgot to mention — it’s now 158.

(I’m still not super careful about diet, but I do eat smaller portions than before, and I don’t snack as much.)

How about weight?

I don’t have a super weight-loss story to tell, but I have lost about 12 pounds from what it was at the beginning of the year.  One of my New Year’s resolutions was to get below 200 pounds.  I’ve done that, but I didn’t stay there.  Right now, I flirt with it.  By year’s end, I should be there permanently.  More gratifying to me than the weight loss is the girth loss. I’ve gone from pants with a 40-inch waist to pants with a 38-inch waist.  And depending upon the brand of pants, some of those 38s are fitting too loosely.

So that’s why I was glad to get one of my bikes in operating condition this week.  I’ll be out on it soon.  While the main reason I bike is for the fun of it, the health benefits can’t be ignored — especially at my age.

How about you?  What kind of health benefits have you enjoyed as a result of your biking?

 

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Categories // fitness Tags // blood pressure, heart, weight

Old Lessons, Learned Anew

01.24.2010 by Ray Niekamp // 8 Comments

A very tough club ride today. Tough for me, anyway. The A group was going on a “reverse” dam loop, which would take them through some hilly neighborhoods. After last weekend’s short ride, where I did well on some hills, I figured it would be fun for the B’s to follow the A’s for part of their route, but turnaround early for a 33-mile ride. Seemed great in theory, but when we got out on the road, the going was tough. I relearned some old lessons today:

The Wind is Not Your Friend

Lots of riders would disagree. Treat the wind like hills, they’d say. Then you can get a hill workout even on the flats. Nuh-uh, not today. The wind was blowing briskly from the west-northwest, and was forecast to pick up throughout the morning. Temp was 52℉ (11℃), but most of us dressed for colder conditions.

About six miles into the ride, we’re on Barton Creek Blvd., a wide, smooth road running through a ritzy neighborhood. The road rises, falls, twists and turns over the hilly terrain. We had been riding against the wind up to this point, which was hard enough, but now the wind got stronger — 25 mph, gusting to 36, according to various weather sites after the fact. The wind grabbed the front wheel, and if you weren’t fully concentrating, could easily have knocked the bike over. As it was, it was hard to hold the line through the curves. An aero position didn’t seem to help much, and I rode the brakes through a particularly fast downhill section.

Later in the ride, I was on the shoulder of an expressway, crossing a bridge over a wooded valley. The wind grabbed the bike, and pushed it into the traffic lane — this on a road where the speed limit is 65 mph, and never observed. Yipes! I must have avoided being hit by a car, because I’m here writing this.

To get better on hills — ride hills!

Last week, we rode a somewhat hilly route. It was shorter than usual, because we had new riders along who weren’t ready for the grades. I felt good — I even attacked a hill that had given me trouble in the past.

So when planning the ride for today, I thought hills would be a nice addition. I started second guessing myself once I hit Barton Creek Blvd., because the A peloton was nowhere in sight. They do hilly routes all the time. But I made good progress against the wind, except for the aforementioned gust problems. At the end of the boulevard is “Hail Mary Hill.” It curves up toward a stoplight at a major highway, and we all stop to rest in a church parking lot. (The church is a Presbyterian church, and Presbyterians don’t say Hail Marys — but I get a kick out of the name coined by one of our club members, so I’m sticking with it. If you want to discuss the finer points of theology, I’m sure there are other blogs for that.)

Anyhow, halfway up the hill, I knew I was in trouble. I was in my 34 x 28 granny gear, trying to turn the pedals easily and “walk” the bike up the steep incline. I did it last summer, but today it felt as though my heart would explode right out of my chest. I think I had the strength in my thighs to keep going, but I had to stop. I walked the bike the rest of the way up.

Disheartening, because I know I can climb this thing. But I haven’t done it since September, and I haven’t been working hill repeats into my regular weekday rides during the winter months. That may have to  change. I was able to climb this same hill in September because I had done more rides with decent hills in them.

The quickest way to lighten your bike is to lighten yourself

I said I would get serious about losing weight this year. I’ve dropped three pounds since New Year’s Day, but that can be made up just by drinking lots of water. I think one of the reasons I had trouble on Hail Mary Hill is that I’m about 10 pounds heavier than I was in September.

It’s my usual winter weight gain, but it’s gotta stop. My wife is a fan of the Weight Watchers points system, and today we’ll be charting how many points I’ve been accounting for with my eating habits, and how they’ll have to change to get me to where I want to be. Meanwhile, every time I encounter a hill, I’ll envision myself climbing it with a bag of charcoal strapped around my waist. If I can lose the bag of charcoal, I should be in good shape. Stay tuned.

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Categories // Rides Tags // hills, Rides, weight, wind

Holidays and Food

12.13.2009 by Ray Niekamp // 5 Comments

I had a nice 36-mile club ride this morning. Well, it was nice when it ended, anyway. For most of the ride, it was chilly, foggy, and wet. But all that has nothing to do with the point of this post.

When I got home and finished taking a hot shower, I hopped on the bathroom scale. The scale is obviously not working right. It shows me five pounds heavier than my normal weight has been lately.

That’s right, blame the scale. I know I went overboard over Thanksgiving weekend, and I haven’t exactly been counting calories since then. In fact, I never count calories. I let the riding control my weight.

But it’s winter now, and even in Texas, the weather has been foul enough to keep me from riding regularly. And with Christmas coming up, I can look forward to another weekend of food, food, and more food (and it’s all so good!).

So I’ll have to take some steps to monitor my food intake and rejuvenate my exercise routine. The eight-day forecast isn’t very promising. More rain, and chilly temperatures. I’m not sure how much riding I’ll get in, although I’m really going to make an effort.

For starters, I think I’ll simply try to reduce my portions and cut out snacks. I have a bad habit of raiding the fridge after 10 p.m. so I can munch something while watching TV.

That’s worked in the past, if I stick to it. What kinds of weight control strategies will you be using this year?

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Categories // food Tags // weight

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