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Setting Goals Is Important Even In Cycling

Having good intentions is great, but those intentions need to be translated into action for them to have any real meaning. That's difficult if our exercise intentions are linked to our free time, which is always at a premium and has to be divided between competing priorities like family, friends, hobbies, and the like. 

via scottf.wordpress.com

Scott's solution is simple. He's trying to integrate cycling into his daily commute, as much as the weather will allow.  Living in Edmonton makes that difficult during the challenging winter weather, but as soon as Spring started to show it's timid head, he was off and cycling to and from the office.

Scott's HPV of choice is a TerraTrike tadpole recumbent equipped with a rack in the back to carry his stuff for the office. The round trip from home to office and back is 46 km, which some people would find challenging on a standard two wheeler, but the recumbent trike makes it a pleasure while providing great exercise and physical conditioning. And, it does it without stealing time from his busy schedule since he has to commute in any case.

The other important thing that Scott is doing is going public with his goal. By posting his commuting goals for anyone, and everyone, to see and follow on the internet, he's given himself additional pressure and motivation to stick with it. After all, no one would want to have to come back and admit that they didn't achieve their goals after broadcasting them to the world. 

He's setting a great example, and one that we plan to emulate as well. 

First Extended Recumbent Trike Adventure (Video)

Saturday was my first chance to take the new TW-Bents Mantis recumbent trike for an extended ride. It happened almost by accident. A quick trip over to the local 7/11, then a glimpse at the cherry blossoms showing off their full glory near the Hanamigawa River close to my home, then what I thought would be just a few minutes up the cycling course that parallels the river…

Three hours and 28 km later I was back home with lots of wonderful memories, a little tired but with absolutely no pain or soreness, and filled with a growing passion to go out and do it again as soon as possible.

 

Introduction to Kickbiking Techniques (Video)

via kickbike.blogspot.com

Kickbiking is a fantastic sport and one of the best ways we know to keep fit while exploring the world outdoors. It's low impact and avoids jarring, shocks to the ankles and knees, yet exercises almost every part of the body.

Until recently there hasn't been much available in the way of training material. People new to kickbiking sometimes tend to use their kickbike as if it were a child's kick scooter. They stand straight up, rigid, and don't bend their knees and relax. This causes undo strain and potential instability. And since it's still very early in the adoption phase, many of them don't have access to other local kickbikers to learn from and share techniques.

Thankfully, the KickBike & Kettlebell website has some excellent posts addressing this need. They also introduced us to three very useful video tutorials that anyone interested in kickbiking and related sports should review. 

Great Xootr kick scooter commercial (Video)

That would definitely convince us to go out and buy a Xootr, if we didn’t already use one daily.

Kick scootering with your dog (Video)

Scooter Dogs!!!

Calorie Burn While Footbiking

Over on the Yahoo Kickbiking Group, which is always interesting and educational, Dave Riley asked if anyone knew of a caloric burn chart for kickbiking. In response, Bob Dymond pulled a rabbit out of his hat and came up with the official IKSA Footbike chart in English that not only shows the calorie burn figures, it also includes comparisions to other sports, and great graphics illustrating what muscles and muscle groups we use while kicking.

Commuter uses the Xootr to zip through NYC traffic

Dave litterally flies through traffic, both vehicular and pedestrian, on his Xootr kick scooter.

Using a recumbent trike for daily commuting (Video)

When I lived in Orange County, California, I frequently had the opportunity to cycle along the Santa Ana River Trail (SART). It was fun, and great exercise, but a little boring given the bland, almost desert like terrian.

I doubt that I would have had the courage and fortitude to cycle the same route, and combine it with surface street legs on a daily basis. So my hat’s definitely off to Glenn, a.k.a. dregerclock, who uses his neat recumbent trike to cycle 13.5 miles (one way) for an hour every day to work and then back again.

That being said, I’m really impressed by both Glenn and his trike. The ride is smooth and appears almost effortless. It totally blew me away when I realized that he is hand-holding the video camera for many of the shots, and is even passing it from hand to hand while continuing his ride, and in at least one case making a major turn. There is no way that I could do that on a regular bicycle.

Finnish kick scooter guys are maniacs (Video)

We thought that our physical shape and endurance was improving, and that with a little more training we would be able to really cover some distance. But, after watching this video featuring some Finnish kick scooter maniacs out on a high speed, high tempo, training ride, we realized how far we have to go.

Kickbiking in Colorado (Video)

You know you’re really hooked when you go out for a short kick, and end up covering about 10 km, then go out again in the evening to do another 10 km, then come back and scan the internet for Kickbiking videos…