Cycling is a great sport which one can practice with relative ease, cost and without serious injury. There are times when we amateur cyclists start racking up the miles on our legs in a bid to get fitter and faster. That is a good thing, but does 'too much of a good thing' apply to cycling as well. Can we over-train?
Heart
A couple of days ago I read this article on the Cycling Weekly website about fit cyclists with heart problems. If you ride regularly, then it is a useful article to read.
Like anything good one finds, one shares it with anybody who would be interested. As such I shared this article with all my cycling buddies on WhatsApp. The majority of them replied with TLDR, summarise and resend!
It is an important enough topic, that I did make the effort of giving them a summary. If you are one of those who won't read it because the article is too lengthy, then here you go as well!
Shortest Version: Don't overtrain. It could put unnecessary strain on your heart.
A 2009 meta-analysis of six case-controlled studies on athletes concluded that being an endurance athlete makes you five times more likely to develop AF — one in four of us ends up with the condition.
Once you develop heart problems, it is near impossible to get rid of it. Therefore, it is better to be cautious beforehand. Prevention is the best cure and all that!
Athletes’ hearts experience very high and very low (resting) rates on a daily basis.
Moral of the story, if you aren't training for competitions, it is better to take it easy. You will win no medals in a coffin! If you are planning on training for competitions, stick to a proper structure under the guidance of a certified coach.
Cycling will keep you healthy in most cases, just don't try to overdo it. And go read the article!
Stretch
One of the biggest disadvantages of cycling is that it is repetitive. Your upper body is fixed in position and the lower half of your body performs the same motion, again and again and again.
This repetitive motion brings about stiffness and shortening in the muscles that are used a lot (glutes, hamstrings, quads) and those which aren't used a lot (back). The shortened and stiffened muscles leads to injury, inflammation and time off the saddle.
And that is why it is important to stretch a lot if you are a regular cyclist.
This website though is promoting its own product, it does a good job of describing the stiffy injuries that cyclists pick up along the way. Give it a read. Dynamic Cyclist
News
In some interesting news, Amsterdam has appointed a 'Junior Bicycle Mayor' to promote cycling amongst children.
This sounds like an interesting way in which to get the coming generation hooked to cycling. Which is the need of the hour, both to help promote a non-motorised form of transport. And to get kids to give up their PlayStation consoles for the real world!
You can read more about this here
If you like Bike Travel tales:
Cycling in the mighty Himalayas
Cycling in the mighty Himalayas Part II
You can read my previous travel tales from Goa and beyond below:
You can read my experience of bicycle racing below:
Road race in Delhi: The ATH KMP 100