Starting Over with this Blog - Starting Over with my Bicycling Vision

I deleted all the blogs here in the El Paso Bicyclist area of markstone.org this afternoon. There was really some good stuff, about tactics when bicycling on busy city streets, my personal goals, other stuff. But bicycling, and my role in it as a lifestyle or sport or recreational activity, has become confusing to me. I have been bouncing back and forth between the thought that I want to go completely car-free or car-light, and the other end of the spectrum which is not riding at all. But after hee-hawing all over the decision map, I think I've come to a conclusion. However, my "conclusion" comes with a caveat: I can change my mind if I want.

My conclusion is to be a recreational/fitness cyclist, and still use my car. I love riding, but I'm turning into the kind of cyclist that likes to smell the roses and see the sights. I enjoy riding a little slower than others, and don't really worry about others passing me. I'm 61 and am losing interest in the competitive and political nature of cycling. I want to ride for exercise, to stay active, and enjoy life.

My Cycling History

I've been a serious bicyclist since I graduated from high school in 1971. Without getting into too much detail, I've done everything on a bike except compete. For 40+ years I have commuted to work on my bike, and during several stretches of time my bicycle has been my only transportation. I have ridden over many Colorado mountain passes, done a few Centuries, and have had a lot of flat tires. Many of my finest memories are from riding. I have ridden hundreds of miles in the Desert Southwest around El Paso.

I have over 60,000 verifiable miles on my two wheel chariots.

My Cycling Goal

One of the great advantages of my cycling lifestyle has been great health. Now, as I've gracefully entered my 60s, I plan on continuing the very activity that has given me my healthy years.However, I plan on doing this activity in a fashion that I enjoy: Rose Smelling.

Bicycling and My Health

Here is a document I wrote in 2006 which documents the strong tie between Aerobic Exercise, especially Bicycling, and health. I would add that, at 61 years of age, all of the positives I expressed about my health in 2006 at 55 years of age still hold true now:

"I've been reading several books lately, trying to get a consensus on what makes and keeps me healthy. Some are radical, others middle of the road, some simply generic and benign. Covert Baily (Fit or Fat) seems to have the closest thing to balance. Bill Dufty wrote The Sugar Blues, which is extremely radical. Mr. Dufty died in his early 80s from Cancer, a disease which, according to him, he shouldn't have caught. He said in his book that Cancer was caused by the consumption of refined Sucrose.

Anyway, those authors and several others have been on my bookshelf and in my head for some time now. But none of them are completely right, it seems. They never agree on many points, and rarely agree on the few remaining. However, the vast amount of information they present gives me plenty of data, in concert with my own experience, to come to conclusions about what works specifically for me. Diet? Exercise? Both, or neither?

Let's start by talking about my family. My Father died from Cancer at the age of 75. He had a major heart attack the night before his 55th birthday, and was clinically dead for about 20 minutes. (I am only 2 months short of that age as of this writing). My younger sister died from Cancer at the tender age of 46 in September 2001. My younger brother is arrested in his development, and at the age of 50 is at about the level of a 3-year old. He lives in a State of Colorado mental facility. My Mom is a Diabetic, and has been insulin dependent for 10 years. Additionally, she has had skin cancer. Me? None of the above. No cancer, no heart disease, no diabetes, nothin'. At 55 years of age, I'm strong, mobile, and sane. My heart rate is 50, my BP is about 124 over 74 on the average. Cholesterol is around 170 to 175. I have no major physical problems, no systemic or chronic disease. I am on no medication. What is the difference between healthy me and my disease riddled family? Not diet. We ate (and eat) identically. Not genetics. We have the same DNA. The only clear difference throughout our lives is that I have spent most of the last 30 years or so in an aerobic exercise program, and they did not exercise at all. After my Mom contracted diabetes, she started a walking program, but other than that there has been no exercise at all in my family. Except for me. I began bicycling and running in the mid-to-late 1970s, went to bicycling exclusively (and extensively) in the 1980s, and finally started keeping an annual exercise log every year starting in 1990. The 18 years that I have detailed in those logs reflect over 30,000 miles of bicycling, in addition to many walking workouts in later years. 

Since I am (apparently) predisposed to chronic illness because of genetics and heritage, I of course am very thankful to have escaped it. The only thing available to be grateful to, and the only thing that has kept me strong and healthy, is regular aerobic activity. Therefore, as I discuss health, I am heavily predisposed to believe that it is exercise that has made the difference rather than diet or medication. It makes me wonder why none of the "health" books I've read in the past few years, except Covert Bailey's books, make any mention of the power of aerobics in the maintenance of health? Personal experience makes me know that exercise works, so why can't I find literature that explains why? Two of the books I've read, one called The McDougal Program and the other The Sugar Blues tell the same story: When visiting a doctor when being treated for a chronic disease, not one time were they asked what they put in their mouth. (Page 21 in Sugar Blues) I can re-phrase the same question to these authors. Why are they not interested in our physical activity, and how Aerobics impacts health? It is certainly more important than the few paragraphs dedicated to the subject in their books."