Let's go ride a bike

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.

Now there are e-bikes (electric) that require no pedaling and an electric motor on the bike moves the rider along. I saw some of these bikes when I was visiting Switzerland and saw bike riders pedaling up steep mountain roads. The motor on the bikes still required some pedaling but without the help from the electric motor, the hilly roads would be almost impossible for most riders.

As a kid we had scooters that we would push with one foot on the scooter and the other foot was the “engine” to make it move. Now there are ‘e-scooters’ that require no pushing with one foot. All a kid has to do is stand on the scooter to get from one location to another. For university students to get around town, it is a nice inexpensive method of getting to class from their home.

As a youngster, we had roller skates that we clamped on our shoes and tightened them with a skate key. They were not very efficient but easier and faster than walking. Then the four-wheel skates with a boot attached made those skating parties at the skate rink much more efficient. Then the in-line skates appeared and skating became even easier. You could do tricks and skate much faster with the in-line skates.

Looking back at the playgrounds in school yards and city parks, there were jungle gyms that were almost two stories high and no safety net around. Liability issues and parents lawyers from injured kids have made many of those challenging climbing apparatuses obsolete. Now most playgrounds have soft ground and not many hard to climb structures for kids to be challenged.

The difference from years in the past to the advancement of safety and ease of using all these means of moving has resulted in kids and adults, not burning many calories when riding or skating. This is one of the reasons there is a health problem with overweight and obesity from youth to adult ages. It seems walking to go to the candy store as a kid now has a motorized scooter or bike to get there. The candy still has calories but the way of getting there now doesn’t burn them off. Time to move again.