Cycle on the Way

I had a week of very bad back pain. One day just laying down on my back I did some cycling in air and felt some relief from back pain. Bingo!! The next day I bought a bicycle at a good sum of Rs 6500 and I was riding on it to the office on the day after. After the childhood days I was on the bicycle again after almost 15 years and it was a great experience.

It’s a good idea to go to office on a bicycle, provided you are staying at a distance that you can comfortably cover on the bicycle. Also the timing at which you go to and come back from the office is also a critical factor, when you are travelling through the areas of heavy traffic in rush hours. Though it helps in rush hours to be on the bicycle as you can even use the foot paths, it’s not so easy ride on the roads with heavy traffic. On the Indian roads people have very little respect towards others driving on the road, especially if a person is on bicycle. So it’s better to avoid the traffic. You may even consider going going earlier than usual and returning earlier from the office, if that is suitable. Changing the timing like this for two or three days a week can also be a good idea.

The advantages of cycling can be numerous. First of all its good for health. A daily routine exercise like this can definitely help to keep you fit. Particularly if you are in a profession that requires you to sit in front of a desk for whole day, then this kind of exercise is must for you.

Apart from burning calories this also saves you from burning fuel for your vehicle. So, you save on the fees to the doctor by staying fit and save on the cost of fuel, a dual saving scheme!

Increasing the heart beats for a while in morning hours helps to keep you fresh and energetic throughout the day. If you are staying in a place with pleasantly cool weather, like Pune, then riding a bicycle in such a weather in early morning hours is very much enjoyable. The cool breeze hitting your face when going down a slope is an experience that cannot be explained in words. While riding a bicycle, you feel the ups and downs of the road very prominently, which you don’t even notice otherwise.

Personally I like to enjoy the open air bicycle ride against cycling in the enclosed chamber of the gym. Another advantage of cycling to the office is that you cannot give up half way, as you have to reach to the office. This is a good motivational factor which is absent when cycling on a machine in the gym.

One thing that cannot be ignore is the road conditions in our country. The roads are not at all bicycle-friendly. There are hardly any places where you have a separate lane for cycles. Most of the roads are full of pit holes. Also, as mentioned previously, the attitude of the people driving on the roads is a serious issue. Having said all this, I know that there is very little that we can do about these issues. In spite of these little troubles, going to the office on a bicycle is an enjoyable experience.

I had a funny experience on the very first day when I went to the office on my bicycle. One guy with heavy personality loaded on a motor bike stopped my way. In a very concerned tone he asked, “Does cycling really help to reduce the weight? I am badly looking out for a way to reduce my weight.” That being my very first day, I could only answer as “I am doing it only out of my own interest. However, you may try it out. It’s a good option to go for.”