With spring officially upon us, cycling season also begins for anyone who enjoys the exercise. 

I have enjoyed riding my bike for well over 10 years. I have found cycling to be a lot easier and more enjoyable than running. 

What I like the most about cycling is that you can challenge yourself to ride a certain distance or average a specific number of miles per hour. As of today, my longest ride is 48.38 miles. 

Research has shown that cycling helps improve your heart function and circulation, reduces risk of heart disease and stroke and improves your endurance. Cycling can also be used to help burn fat and lose weight.  

I had a chance to speak with YouTube personality and cyclist Zach Gallardo about why cycling is important exercise. 

“Cycling is a special gift to humanity,” Gallardo said. “There’s not many things on this planet that make you stronger, keep you fit, make you more attractive, redefine what’s possible for yourself, don’t cost a lot of money, save you a ton of money, help you make friends, are stupidly fun to do alone or with others, are easy to do every day and are better for you the more you do it. Every single time I ride my bike; it makes my day better. I have to ride my bike. Can’t stop, don’t want to either.” 

Gallardo’s most famous video was when he challenged himself to ride 30 miles on a bike for 30 days straight. He was forced to take a few rest days during the challenge due to the mental and physical toll the challenge took on his body. 

Gallardo weighed 160 pounds with 16.8% body fat before starting the challenge. After the month-long challenge Gallardo lost 4.2 pounds and 0.5% body fat while consuming 30% more calories each day than he did before the challenge. 

Cycling can also positively affect your mental health. While cycling, your brain gains positive endorphins which help reduce anxiety and depression. 

I have battled depression myself and there have been times where I was not satisfied with my athletic ability. Whenever I go for a long ride, I feel my mood gradually increase. 

Many of my friends both on campus and back home in Earlville have also enjoyed cycling. 

The social media platform Strava adds to the fun of cycling and other cardiovascular exercises such as running, jogging, walking and hiking by allowing the user to record their results and allow their followers to like and comment on their workout stats. 

Whenever I go for long rides on my bike, I take a screenshot of the recording from Strava and post it to my other social media platforms. 

I also try to compete with the other Strava users including professional athletes. I had the screenshot of my longest ride posted to British Paralympic swimmer Jessica Jane-Applegate’s Instagram story when I sent her the photo while she was asking her followers to ask her a question on her original story. I asked her what she thought of my achievement because I had seen her post stories about cycling before. 

I was excited to see my photo and question posted and I was even more impressed when her answer was “That is impressive TBH three hours is long! Nearly 50 miles.” 

While riding my bike I use Strava to record my average miles per hour and it seems like the more I ride, the faster I get. So, this is proof that cycling has indeed helped me stay in shape. 

Junior accounting major Alex Wilcoxon believes that cycling is a good alternative to running. 

“You still get a great exercise. You can build a sweat and burn quite a bit of calories,” Wilcoxon said. “You can set your own resistance if you’re on the bike at the gym. I like it a lot better than running, and I used to be a runner, I used to run distance, and I still prefer cycling; it’s a lot easier on the legs especially after having leg injuries.” 

Wilcoxon said that his favorite part about cycling is being outside on an actual bicycle and seeing the views and being able to cover a lot more distance than running. 

Sophomore multi-track athlete Ben Jessup used cycling as part of his rehabilitation from right foot surgery. 

“Cycling helped me stay in good cardiovascular shape while not being able to sprint,” Jessup said. “It also provides a pretty good leg workout to keep things moving.” 

Cycling helps you with both your physical and mental health. It is important exercise. 

Drew Farrell can be reached at 581-2812 or at atfarrell@eiu.edu.