What else can I do to prepare?

A foot of snow fell on Friday. The Bike Tour seems so far away, but it isn't. What can you do if you can't ride outside and you don't have access to an indoor trainer or spinning classes?

1. Work on your aerobic base using any other exercise (examples include: swimming, tennis, walking, skiing, dancing). If you are moving your body and increasing your heart rate above its resting rate, then you are helping to prepare yourself for the Bike Tour. Think duration, intensity, and frequency. In order to increase your fitness to take on the Clean Air Challenge, you may want to spend MORE than 30 minutes 3 x week exercising. Because it is going to take you more than 30 minutes to get to the finish of the Bike Tour. Intensity is partially about how fast you plan to ride. Do you want to get through the tour without breaking a sweat? Or do you plan on sweating through it? Exercising frequently will certainly help if you are planning on two days on the bike. But for the one-day riders, think of it this way: If you work out once now and then not again until May, how do you think you'll feel?

2. Work on strength training. Pedaling takes power. Biking is essentially applying force to a pedal to propel the wheel in a forward motion. The stronger your legs, the easier it is to apply force, and apply it repeatedly. I would say the primary muscles used in cycling are your quadriceps (front of your thighs), hamstrings (back of your thighs), and gluteus maximus (your butt). Simple exercises, such as squats, bridge, and front kicks, will strengthen these muscles. Another excellent exercise that will develop strength and increase your heart rate is jumping rope. I once read that jumping rope is 4x more effective than running. If you have your doctor's permission, I challenge you to just 30 seconds of jumping rope. Let me know how that feels! :)

3. Work on stretching. The main thing here is preventing injury. If your muscles are tight due to inadequate stretching, you are more likely to injure yourself. For example, let's say you are really tight in the groin area. Riding a bike for any length of time can exacerbate the tightness in your groin. When you go to get off your bike, for example, you might unintentionally overstretch your groin, thereby pulling a muscle causing days of unwanted pain. If you have been stretching regularly, however, it is possible that your body would be limber enough to handle the biking and the dismounting without any uncomfort at all. Although I mentioned previously that the lower half of the body gets the most use functionally. Your back (upper and lower) does come into play when you bike. So plan and implement a stretching routine to cover all your bases.

Enjoy the snow... think Spring!