cy·cling /ˈsīk(ə)liNG/
Noun: The sport or activity of riding a bicycle.
Synonyms: bicycling

For the last 3 or 4 years I’ve been gaining weight at a rate of about 2kg per year, I knew it wasn’t all about a bad diet and that I had to exercise more but never found a sport that I could stick to.

I tried yoga at home, a paid gym (that worked well but we moved), a gym at home. All of which I stopped doing. The common theme with these activities: I dreaded doing them. When the time was approaching for me to go to the gym or turn on the TV to view the Yoga DVD I was anxious and felt bored.

Today it was snowing/raining and 2°C and couldn’t wait to go outside and pedal. I bought my bike just 3 weeks ago and started commuting a third of my trip to work on my bike (I’m not ready for the 25k that is the complete trip). Yes, it’s 3 weeks only so it may well be a fad, but I’m liking it until now.

My trip consist mostly of cycling through bike paths which makes it very safe and because the path goes along a river is an treat of nature. And that is one of the nicest things about cycling, you get to enjoy nature. As opposed to the isolation we experience inside a car .

My ride

I bought a Specialized Crosstrail Hybrid Bike, which like my car expect to have for 10 years (too much? we’ll see).

I hadn’t ride a bike since I was 10 (the coolest black BMX in the world) so I’m not sure how to tell if the bike is the best or I missed on something better. I have read a couple of reviews about being hard and requiring more effort to maintain speed. I guess they are right as it’s no road bike but I will just assume I’m not strong enough yet.

All I can say is that I love the design, it takes me to and from work without problems and I’m getting exercise.

Paraphrasing a Reddit comment: a lighter bike won’t be as much improvement as a lighter you. So I’m happy with what I chose.

Logging

I bought an iPhone app called cyclemeter which basically tracks your route and time and estimates your calorie consumption and other nifty things.

I’d recommend it to anyone doing any work out that requires you to travel. It has allowed me to see that I am getting better at it aside from the muscle soreness.

It is also cool to see graphs of your speed compared to your best times.

Still Learning

I’m still learning a lot about my specific bicycle and cycling in general: maintenance, repairs, clothing, etc.

I plan to bike year-round so I’ll probably learn a lot more about cycling in the cold when the time comes.

A great resource for learning that I’ve found is Reddit , the community is great there and discussion and help is always there.

Savings?

A lot of people ride a bicycle as a way to save money monthly in transportation (gas, public transit). I’m not seeing savings yet as I’m still driving my car for about 40 km every day which is a lot more money than public transit. Add to that all the expenses of a new cycling life (bike, clothing, tools, etc. and I’m far from saving money. But the savings are offset by my healthier lifestyle.

To date I have bought a couple of cycling shorts, a pair of tights, a jacket, helmet, multitool, tire patch kit, u-lock, fenders, pump and a pair of lights (front and rear).

I have seen some nice things while cycling mostly having to do with nature. I was thinking of getting a helmet camera to record my rides and maybe post them to YouTube but I haven’t found one that is cheap-ish.