A new hour record was set today. It was done by Robert Marchand, a French cyclist, who turned 100 years old a few months back. Here is a link to the article. This is a good reason, if not the best reason to ride bikes.
Cycling is super easy on your body. It is the sport that most other sports chose to use for rehabilitation when they are injured in their sport. That goes to show you it is easy on your body.
I broke my hip riding the off-road version of the Tour de France, the VTT, back in the 90’s. I spent a bit of time in France, but then came back to Kansas and saw my orthopedic physician. I asked him when I could start riding my bike and he asked me if I was walking up and down stairs. I told him I had. He said, go ahead. He told me that doing stairs put way more stress and pressure on the hip than riding a bike. I was all over his answer, but it surprised me.
Anyway, I know by personal experience that cycling is good for rehabilitation. It seems ironic that I use cycling to rehabilitate myself from hurting myself from cycling. There’s aren’t too many sports that can mimic that. We are lucky we have chosen a sport for life.
I like the comment in the article “I think he is a human example of the benefits of cycling.” …..as opposed to the reptillian examples?
That is awesome.
The last shop I worked at had a regular customer in his 90’s when he came in to have the clipless pedals taken off his Litespeed. He took a tumble on the shoulder unable to get a foot down. Put him on flat pedals an he was off and away with a huge grin. Tough old New England farmer. Rode every day the streets were clear year round.
Loved seeing the young fillies out in the athletic gear he would say.
He raced way back in the day. Waaaaaay back.
I too returned to cycling for the health benefits. From stress relief to weight control. Many years ago I used to run 5 minute miles. However, after four reconstructive knee surgeries I can no longer run, BUT–I can still ride! 🙂
A few years back I met an 85 year old fellow riding up Mt Evans to celebrate his birthday. His wife was driving the support van for him. I decided that was the way i want to celebrate my 85th birthday when I finally get there…. In the meantime I will practice riding Mt Evans everytime I visit Colorado in the summers.
Cycling is easy on the body as it is a non weight-bearing activity. It is the cars, trucks, and pavement that are tough on the body. In 1983 I twice got tangled up in race crashes while training for my second Paris-Brest-Paris (PBP). In both crashes I fractured my pelvis, once on each side. Both times it was a few days before I could swing my leg over the saddle for the best recovery therapy, riding. It has now been 5 PBPs and 640 k miles since my last day off the bike.
I hope that pic is _after_ the record… riding on the blue band will get your record dq’d around here…