The start of a new year is a time where countless resolutions are made and broken – one of the most common is inevitably some sort of variant of the classic “I will do more exercise this year”. For some this signifies the beginning of a radical change but for many any initial drive soon tails off once we’re back into the daily grind of lectures and essays, as it becomes harder and harder to drag yourself out to the gym. However one solution could be to take up cycling, it’s great fun as well as being great exercise! There’s no better time to start cycling either, 2012 in the UK was the year of the bike, for many it started when Bradley Wiggins (though he is now of course Sir Bradley Wiggins) won the Tour de France, the first Brit ever to do so, and was followed by an amazing showing for the Team GB cyclists at the London Olympics and this has sparked huge interest and encouraged extra funding to be pumped into the sport. It’s estimated that around 15 million of us are regular cyclists, whether for the purposes of leisure, competition, fitness or simply as a way of getting around.
The benefits of cycling are obvious, just look at Pendleton’s sculpted bod, but let’s see what it can do for you in more detail:
· It’s a great cardio workout – probably pretty obvious to most but cycling is an excellent way to improve your cardio-vascular fitness and lose weight by burning calories.
· Improves strength and endurance.
· It will tone up your legs and going uphill or off-road will also work out your upper-body.
· It’s low-impact, so compared to other cardio exercise like jogging you are far less likely to cause serious damage to your joints.
As well as all these cycling has been linked with many other great benefits: keeping you looking youthful, improving your sex life, boosting your brain power and heightening your creativity!
So if you decide cycling is for you, what should you do first? Many will already have bikes and if you’re lucky you might have been able to bring yours to university with you, but for the less fortunate among us who must drag our luggage to Exeter and back on a train each term, this just isn’t possible (lugging a suitcase across London on the tube is hard enough without having a bicycle in your other hand). If you just wish to cycle casually you don’t need to worry about spending an insane amount of money on a top of the range brand-new bike, they can get well into the £1000s, you’ll be sticking to cycle paths and roads so a simple utility or city bike is fine. However if you’re planning to ride off-road or start competing, you will need to do some more research into the right sort of bicycle and set aside a bit more money for the task. Remember to also get a helmet, and if you’re planning on riding at night lights are essential.
Cycling to and from your lectures or the supermarket is the obvious choice and a great way to ensure you get it into your routine, but the wonderful thing is that with a bike it’s much easier to get to places you might have never thought of visiting before! We’re super lucky in Exeter to be surrounded by stunning countryside and some of the country’s best beaches are just a stone’s throw away. So if you fancy a longer ride why not do a little research and set off to explore a bit more of rural Devon or just head off and see where the road takes you, who knows what you’ll find? There are also a number of places to rent bikes in and around Exeter – they’ll also be a great source of advice on where the best places to go are and their availability means you could get a few friends together for a day of cycling even if they don’t all have bikes. Check out Cycle Devon’s page for more information.
If you want more advice on where to go Sustrans shows you cycle routes and paths as well as which roads are most suitable for cycling. There are also a number of organised bike rides around the country such as those put on by Sky Ride if you don’t know where to start and like the idea of riding with a large group of people. Hopefully Her Campus has convinced you to seriously consider cycling as your new way to keep active in the New Year; we don’t think you’ll regret it!
Image Credits: thesundaytimes.co.uk