There is more than enough evidence around demonstrating that cycling at any level will have a beneficial effect on your health and may even change your life.
To achieve the benefits, though, you need to be disciplined and consistent; that discipline and consistency paves the way for the second, the potential for major life-change. I can claim no special knowledge when it comes to the physical effects of consistent cycling. But a few facts that have stuck with me from haphazard, assorted reading over the years really resonate.
One is that cycling leaves you dehydrated — a little even if you drink enough; a lot if you don’t drink enough, which we would want to avoid. This amounts to a temporary reduction in blood volume, which in turn reduces your blood pressure.
Consistently cycling at your own pace — once again consistency is important — over a period of time, and the longer the better, produces a cumulative positive affect on your cardiovascular system by quite significantly reducing risk of stroke and heart problems. A little dehydration, then, has a positive effect.
The other aspect is the cumulative reduction of blood sugar, and therefore insulin, over time has a beneficial effect on overall health. Both of these are on top of all the other benefits that general fitness allows us to enjoy.
Johnathan’s crash woes at Low Cadence remind us of the potential downside, however.
What I recall reading about over and above these varied consequences of cycling detailed by these bloggers, are the chronic, cumulative side effects, the negative flip-side, if you like, to the benefits briefly touched on above.
One that really gave me a surprise was that hard exercise produces “free radicals” that zoom around causing potential cumulative damage over time. And there’s the seeming antidote to this in the consuming of antioxidents in large numbers.
When I return from a ride the first thing I think about is stretching. I probably may be emphasizing this at the expense of other things that may take priority. One of these is consuming carbohydrates within 30 minutes of finishing the ride ie. the intense exercise, in order to assist my body in efficiently replacing glycogen stores, particularly important if there is to be any riding the following day.
Now, it seems I should be adding a blend of fruit and vegetables high in Vitamin C, E, and beta-carotine. The thing is that I mainly eat fruit for breakfast which is high in all of these ingredients. Does consuming high levels of antioxidants before intense exercise amount to the same thing as consuming them in a recovery phase after the event? I like to think so. If anyone has an answer to this or further insights on this whole area to share, I would be most interested.