I remember growing up and riding my bike with my brother and sister. My brother was always the first one and my sister was no too far behind him and me, well I did not want my dad to be walking by himself so I was riding slowly to be with him. NOT! I was always the last one. But since I started running, biking or cycling relaxes my legs, helps me with the endurance and the crossed training workouts.
Let’s start with the Health Benefits, and this is a no brainer, by cycling you will get the same cardiovascular benefits that you get from any other form of aerobic workout. Bike riding will strengthen your thighs, hips and rear end, and if you add hills to your routes your arms and upper body will feel it too. Also cycling is gentle to your knees, and to your joints, which is a great advantage to those who suffer from muscle strain, back pain, or any other impact related injury caused by running or any other high intensity sport. And with the gasoline prices rising up every day, we can talk about some Financial Benefits as well! So go shopping, visit a friend, go for a fun ride and enjoy all the benefits that tag along every ride.
Now, whether you are a recreational rider or want to improve your fitness, you really need to look for a bike that matches your needs. Here are a few things you need to know about buying the right bike for you.
The Frame: This one is the easy part, the tubes. They make the bike stable and help support the weight of the body, and it has the form of two triangles, and then the Fork which looks like a musical tuning, and even though is separate from the frame they “are meant to be together”.
The Wheels: Three main parts come attached to them: the rim, the spokes and the hub, and together they are your support system and the suspension. You have the skewers: they are what fasten your wheels to the frame, and are designed to make it easy to get the wheel on and off for storing or transportation. The tires: they always come with the package ha ha! Depending on the type of bike you want their width may vary. Narrower tires are found on racing and fitness bikes, wider tires on commute or mountain bikes, and the ones that I got they are called hybrid and they can be used for both.
The Saddle: It is where you seat and it helps cushion you from the road and supports your body weight.
Handlebars: The place where your hands go, they have different kinds and again it depends on what type of bike you buy. They just give cushion to your upper body and help preventing from fatiguing with road vibration.
Brakes: Two types of disc brakes: Hydraulic and Mechanical. The main difference between the two is efficiency. They are both great, you will hear Hydraulic is better than Mechanical, but they need a lot more maintenance than Mechanical. Again you can pick them according to your needs.
This is Miami…my new bike!
That been said choosing your bike will depend on what you want to do with it. Some of the questions you need to ask yourself are: What are my goals? What kind of weather will I ride in? What kind of terrain would I like to experience? What do I want to be able to carry? What kind of frame material do I want? Does the Brand matter? And when you have your answers go and buy your soulmate. Going to the store and ask any of the sales guys will help you as well, When we went to Village Cycle Center to buy mine, our guy was fantastic, even though I was just looking for a PINK bike, he explained everything, the different bikes, the suspensions, the breaks, the different saddles, etc., do not be afraid to ask, they will explain and help you answer all the questions. The good news is that you do not have to break your wallet to buy a new bike, they are great bikes out there with decent prices.
So if you just want to go for a spin, ride with friends, and get serious in your training or just regain some of the wonder of childhood in a more grown up kind of way… buy/rent/borrow a BIKE and go for a ride.
And the little ones can enjoy a bike ride too!
PS. Do not forget your helmet!
Livio Gazzini says
Very cool, simple and easy point of view of your first steps on the bike; straight to the point with a direct message: the bike is fully effective, enjoy the ride.