RichardRoll.com

Cycling

The other weekend, I rode 68 miles in the hills of Southwest Connecticut, in 95 degree heat, training for the Pan-Mass challenge. Then I went and rode another 30+ miles on Sunday, also in 95 degree heat and high humidity. It’s all for a good cause, and on Saturday, August 2, I will be riding 110 miles, on the first leg of the Pan-Mass Challenge.

Before getting involved in cycling to train for this charity bikeathon, I had not had a bike of my own since high school. And while my friends and I used to enjoy riding into downtown White Plains when we were 15 and 16 (before we got our drivers licenses) I was never drawn to cycling, even in the gym, as an adult occupation. Now, I’m hooked on it. I bought a 21-speed road cycle, and had it fitted for me. Believe me, you can spend a lot more money than I did, and have a lot more fancy fittings and so forth. I have come to really love my bike, which is made under the brand BLUE. It is light-weight, and has this very unusual combination of stiffness and flexibility, due to carbon fiber. This means it takes bumps pretty well, which is rather appreciated by the 56-year old frame that rides it.

I have found cycling to be a remarkable form of exercise, combined with the exhilirating feeling of wind on your face, and the rigor of pushing yourself to climb up the many hills and inclines where I have been training, in the northern reaches of Fairfield County, Connecticut. This part of Connecticut is often called the ridges, because glacial ridges rise from the low lands of the beach area near Long Island Sound, and continue sloping upward to a peak near Danbury, Connecticut. This means that there is a solid 20-25 miles of climbing available, with a return that is primarily downhill, with some variations. The trainers at Tri-Cycle in Westport are intent on training us for the two area bikeathons that coming up, the Connecticut Challenge and the Pan-Mass Challenge. Connecticut is the newer entrant, having its fourth year this year. The Pan-Mass Challenge is having its 28th year, and has raised over 200 million dollars for cancer. It is the largest single athletic fundraising event for charity in the US.

But enough of that. What I want to emphasize in this entry is that cycling is a fantastick way of staying fit and conditioned for Baby Boomers. It is aerobic, low impact, strength building, upper body building (who’d have thunk that?), and endlessly interesting in both scenery and the experience of nature. It is a sport that you conduct yourself, which lends itself also to engaging with others. In the near future, I will be doing interviews with some leading figures in advocating the sport of cycling. These interviews will be posted in audio form on the Baby Boomers Retirement website (www.mybbrc.com)

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