July in our house means the Tour. In case you don’t know what Tour – I mean Le Tour de France.
Watching the tour, listening to the podcasts (the best one is former tour director Johan Bruyneel discussing tactics and strategies on The Move) and reading the news, le tour is all-encompassing. This year the race started in Belgium to celebrate the first (of five) yellow jerseys for the legendary Eddie Merckx.
Eddie Merckx is considered to be one of the best cyclists and his son Axel has a great bike ride in Penticton this weekend. The Axel Merckx Gran Fondo is also one of the best and good luck to all of you riding it.
Watching the tour is inspiring and motivating. I find it ironic that I spend more time watching cycling than I do actually cycling in July.
You don’t have to ride the Tour to see the benefits of cycling. New research on bike commuters has shown that riding your bike to work is just as effective as an indoor workout for weight loss.
Even if you ride an E-bike.
A study of 65,000 cyclists participating in Switzerland’s Bike to Work Week, compared exercise intensity on e-bikes with conventional bicycles. They found that training with an e-bike is an effective way to see the benefits of exercise for unfit or overweight cyclists and has comparable health benefits as regular cycling.
People that commute to work by bike also report reduced levels of stress. Researchers at Concordia University found that “cycling to work is a good way to have a good day”. This, of course, relies on the availability of a safe way to ride to work and cities that invest in cycling infrastructure have more people cycling.
The Barcelona Institute for Global Health recently found that “cycling is the mode of transport associated with the greatest health benefits: better self-perceived general health, better mental health and fewer feelings of loneliness.”
Cycling is a great way to get low impact, endurance exercise. It is an amazing way to get around, see different places and have fun! Cycling is for everyone, not just the pros at le tour.
Change your mind, change your health,
Shayla
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