Mountain Biking
Every since a child I have been an avid bicycle fan. I rode my sturdy single speed bike all over the hills in Southern Indiana where I grew up. I remember my friend Jim Elliott and I riding five miles to Rising Sun and five miles back after running Cross Country. I figure I got more exercise on the bike than running Cross Country! As a student in Lubbock, TX, I rode four miles to school and back every day. Later I began mountain biking on a Schwinn Mesa Runner. For my 50th birthday, my son, Gary, helped my get a Raleigh M-80 mountain bike. The endless miles of rough oil field roads make ideal trails for mountain biking. I always make sure I have my digital camera and harmonica to keep me company.
My Raleigh M-80 ready for action. A well worn trail at The Pit
Will I make it?
Dr. Bob Arnot wrote in
Dr. Arnot's Guide to Turning Back the Clock:
A great bike is like an extension of your body. It replaces tired, worn joints and inelastic ligaments. Since you can maintain heart and lung power well into your sixties, the bike becomes a fresh, elastic young new set of ligaments, muscles, and joints. Knowledgeable exercise physiologists call the bicycle the ultimate time machine. Training on a great bike rewards you with a dynamic cardiovascular system, springy, powerful muscles, and the body of as much younger man. Exercise physiologists asked to pick just one piece of exercises equipment for a desert island most frequently select a bicycle. They know they can get strength, speed, endurance, agility, balance, and coordination training all on a single piece of equipment that is also a lot of fun.
Everything You Ever Wanted to Know about Bicycles
Here is the absolutely best web site for learning
about the history and operation of bicycles.
The Exploratorium Science of Cycling web site: Exploratorium
This web site is loaded with valuable information. There are articles to read,
diagrams to examine, beautiful pictures to look at, and even movies to
watch.
Pilates
While this pages is deals mostly with Mountain Biking; until I
make a special place for it, I want to recommend the Pilates' exercise program as
the best exercise program I have found. It has helped me improve my cycling
performance and everyday physical fitness. My favorite book on the method is The Pilates
Method of Body Conditioning by Seah P. Gallagher and Romana Kryzanowsky. The
book has excellent photographs and explanations. I follow the mat program, and can assure you that it will improve your posture and
conditioning. You can purchase in on the internet at:
The Pilates Method: Core Exercises
Many of the books available on the Pilates Method are extremely complicated. For
anyone interested in the original book written by Pilates himself, you can
purchase it at:
A Pilates' Primer : The Millennium Edition
This is actually two books in one: Return to Life Through Contrology, and
Health.
Anyone interested in fitness will benefit from the Active Isolated Stretching exercises mentioned in Dr. Bob Arnots' Guide to Turning Back the Clock mentioned above. I benefited from these exercises for over a year until I found the Pilates' exercises. Pilates and AI are both very effective in overcoming back problems. Purchase Dr. Arnot's book at: Dr. Bob Arnot: Turning Back the Clock. The exercises in Dr. Arnot's book are sufficient for most people, but if you are really interested in learning more about Active Isolated Stretching (AI) you will certainly want to purchase the original, breakthrough book on the subject: AI Stretching: Jim and Phil Wharton