Getting Surly
I took my new bicycle out for a spin this evening on the Burke-Gilman Trail, from Stone Way and N 41st down to Gasworks and then following the trail until NE 42nd. The ride was approximately 21 miles in 85 minutes, including a short rest at Mathew's Beach Park on the way back to enjoy the view.
I felt good despite obvious deficiencies in leg strength and slight lower back pain. I certainly never felt strained cardiovascularly. I think Charlie would tell me that I need to push myself harder. His valid point is that bicycling, unlike running, does not impact your joints and thus offers much faster recovery. The opportunity of faster recovery is greater exertion.
I am not sure that I subscribe to the Matlack school of bicycling as I am just not as rock hard as Charlie but I will take it up a notch on my next ride. And I am certainly not afraid of commuting now.
From Your Mom
Commented June 14th, 2007 5:53 pm
well I'm glad you posted an entry about bicycles because I have no idea what that other stuff is. NuTsie? don't try to explain...hope you are well.
love from your MOm.
From Charlie
Commented June 19th, 2007 1:05 am
Ha, and I am a pansy by any serious biking standards.
Just to clarify, it's not so much that you get faster recovery, it's that you don't sustain the damage from which you'd have to recover in the first place. Your body gives you feedback in the form of perceived exertion that assumes a correlation between muscular exertion and joint stress; this isn't the case when you're biking, so you can safely disregard the pain more than you can when running. If you get a normal 'sore' feeling at all the next day, that means your bike doesn't fit right.
Also, you should learn how to pedal properly. Sounds silly but wasn't intuitively obvious for me and makes a big difference.