I have been part of fitness, running and exercise as long as I can remember. At a younger age it was called “playing,” even when it meant running or riding a bike in a race around the block. Games were almost always associated with running or throwing or climbing something. There were not many of the group that were considered overweight. We were always moving to burn off extra calories.
Looking at how technology and liability issues have changed how youngsters and adults exercise in present day, it is easy to see why overweight and obesity are problems today. My first bike was a blue and orange ACE bike that must have weighed 25 pounds. It had one speed. If you wanted to go faster you had to pedal faster. If you wanted to pedal up a hill, it often required standing up and using what body weight we had to push the pedals down. Later, bikes had different speeds that were used for hills or faster speed. Many only had three speeds to use before bikes came out with 10 speeds. The 10 speeds are a little misleading in that proper shifting of the gears only gave you six speed changes. But, it made riding much easier.
In 1965, I bought a 10speed bike from one of my 7th grade students who had knee problems and he sold it to me. I thought a French-made Motobecan touring bike was the best thing going. It lasted many years with no problems. When I started riding with groups and friends, I learned differently. Frequent comments included, “It is a little embarrassing to ride with you on that bike.” I would ask what was wrong with my bike and they would tell me to lift it up off the ground. Then they would have me lift their bike off the ground. Their bikes weighed about half of what my bike weighed. So now the ease of riding not only included adding more gears, but the weight of the bike was now a factor. I bought another bike that was much lighter. Then one riding buddy bought a carbon fiber bike that was even lighter. I bought a carbon fiber bike – these bikes were even expensive back many years ago but made riding so much easier. Pedaling up that long hill on Center Point Road usually required standing up near the top of the hill. With the carbon fiber bike I could now pedal to the top sitting down. While it made riding much easier, it also required less exercise on my part.
