I had a great day Saturday out riding my bike with some friends from Southern Maine Cycling Club(SMCC). These are guys that I pretty regularly train and occasionally race with. Some may have thought that we were crazy! It was 24 degrees when we started with snow on the ground (clear roads) and plenty of rolling hills along the 54 mile ride around Sebago Lake. I especially loved the comments from one gentleman, "You guys must really love to bike!" Ayup, I guess you could say that. However, it's also a heck of a good way to stay in shape. It'll be tough to get out much over the next 3 months, but it will make April feel so much warmer.
What's my point? It's no doubt that exercise is an important part of overall health but often people don't really embrace it as part of their way of life. It winds up being a means to an end, of not getting fat, usually. Biking for me is a perfect example of what people need to do to stay active. My big piece of advice to all my patients is to do something that you really like to do with at least one friend and preferably several. This means multiple people will keep you motivated to continue with staying in shape. SMCC has a message board where people will try to hook up with each other for rides and sometimes even publicly ridicule friends for sleeping in and skipping a ride or over-imbibing the night before and not being able to balance on a bike. An organized group can also be so helpful to motivate you. Ideally, you would also have your spouse's support. Shannon has fallen in love with biking like me and runs the SMCC Women's group ride. She has also taken up cyclocross racing with me this fall. I have rarely felt guilty for competing in many events and have never been made to feel guilty about attending a group ride. Thank goodness for her support!
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