My wife will testify if I don't get out on my bike regularly I'm a right grumpy git. Unfortunately it didn't stop diabetes or high blood pressure but who cares as long as I get out for the ride.
Hey Martin, I think we all get to a certain age and we become grumpy! Sadly cycling can only help reduce the risk of certain illnesses, not eliminate it.
Hi dude there is no reason cycling won’t stop Diabetes but it has to be linked to carb reduction and a big change of diet which isn’t hard put your mind to it you know it makes sense .
my wife says the same thing about me and not getting a ride done😢. But it really helps the psyche and body heals a little faster when something happens like some kind of disease or accident.
@@ronniebiggs4026absolutely correct. There is plenty of research out there to show diabetes type 2 can be cured in many sufferers by switching to LCHF ; Low Carb Healthy Fat. And the benefits include getting rid of visceral fat around your organs- the dangerous fat and in doing so lose 10plus kilos of weight. Carbs and sugar WILL kill you. Healthy fat is your friend. I’ve switched and my blood numbers have improved significantly; I’m now healthy after 4 months; I’m never going back ; LCHF is easy.
Diabetes and metabolic health is all about diet, cycling can only help that much. You cannot outrun or out cycle a bad diet. Type 2 effectively is nothing else than carb intolerance, so avoid carb loading.
Leonard, I have been off the bike for about eight months due to a severe breathing problem after contracting walking pnuemonia and asthma. I am now miraculously back to normal and ready to get back on the bike. I missed it. Thanks for all the motivation and inforative tips you have provided over the years.
I’ve been cycling seriously for around 4 years, I subscribed to Leonard’s channel shortly afterwards. During the following 4 years, I lost almost 8 stone , joined a cycling club, 4-5 bikes have come and gone. Unfortunately for me , I was diagnosed with stage 4 Follicular lymphoma last May, after the initial shock and month in hospital , I was out on my bike again, slowly building up the time and distance. Just after cycle 4 of chemotherapy I cycled from Twickenham to Paris as part of the rugby World Cup. Again unfortunately for me I was then diagnosed with another ( more serious) Lymphoma. Still stage 4 and I have that battle to face going into 2024. This isn’t “woe is me” my point is to support Leonard’s video. If I hadn’t have go so fit on the initial diagnosis, I would have died. If I didn’t cycle through chemotherapy treatment , my mental health would have suffered hugely . Cycling doesn’t prevent cancer ( as I well know) however it has given me so much strength both mentally and physically to overcome it ( jury is out on that at the moment pending 6 more cycles of chemo starting next week) . I just urge anyone that’s watching this , get out on your bike. Don’t worry about expensive bikes and gear. Just ride your bike , it frees your soul . I guarantee you will come home after a ride in a much better mood than when you left.
I’ve been following your story since I head of your diagnosis, Gareth and you have been facing it with courage and dignity. It’s very humbling. But you have also been cycling and raising money for the charity; you have certainly been inspiring me. Wishing you all the best moving forward.
Hi Leonard. I suspect that I might be able to add another benefit. For the last 15 years or so I've noticed a decline in memory. Its not that I forget, rather that I can't remember. I have catagorised it as "my mind is like a large library but my librarians going sick". The year before last (2022) I started cycling more again after a while off with last year (2023) being really regular, I rode every day except 5 days off sick and its really pepped up my librarian. So regular riding, it seems to me, can improve memory and perhaps its beginning to stave off the dreaded Altzhiemer's. That last bit might be optomistic but the first bit is noticeably true. Obviously my morale is up too.
Excellent vid detailing all the great benefits of cycling. Getting on my bike does remind this 70 year old how much fun I had as a kid and how much fun I have now. Also does help with the grumpiness my wife experiences too
Great vid, In these dark cold winter months getting out on my bike a couple of times a week really lifts my mood. Some winter sun would be very welcome right now.🥶
I can certainly testify to lung capacity and health benefits for fighting disease. I had a lobectomy in 2022 to remove a large tumour, thankfully benign, but my lung function was really high. The surgeon was really surprised because a third of one lung was doing nothing but feeding the tumour. Two weeks after the operation, I was on my turbo trainer. I did delay going outdoors, mainly because it was getting colder and icier, and I didn't want to risk coming off.
I spent a lot of my life rock-climbing and when conditions or health stopped you getting out you’d get edgy and feel boxed in. As soon as you got a few hours climbing in you were cured for a few days. We called it “feeding the rat”, an idea written about by Al Alvarez, another climber. The idea was the rat would gnaw away at you until you fed it climbing. Nowadays, running and cycling dominate but the rat is still there and needs feeding. The lift a good, doesn’t need to be long, ride provides is terrific. Better 15mins than not at all🎉🎉🎉
Thank You Leonard ..... I've been in a "Cycling" rut for the past few months. I needed this Pep Talk to give me encouragement to get out there and ride my bike.
The amount of nature you see and hear is astounding, I recently got a bit concerned I'd be inadvertently be joining the rutting season on my new route after seeing so many Stags
Before Christmas I took it a bit too easy and Strava showed my Fitness level drop. I didn't realise how quickly it happens and didn't believe the algorithm. I have started back up and unfortunately the algorithm was correct but I am getting better. Your advice about being regular is definitely the key
I will guarantee you this, One year ago I was about your size, I changed my job and bought a bike to commute in to work. It's five miles along the river Tyne in Newcastle. It was tough at first, that's 20 minutes or there abouts twice a day most days depending on the weather. After a year I'm wearing 32 inch waist jeans and I need a belt to keep them up, this year I'm upping the distance because I've got some strength back, I'm still losing weight, good job I didn't throw the clothes away I bought in my 30's because I'm wearing most of them again, I'm 54. Don't look back. Oh and save up because in six months you're going to need some new cycling clothes and clothes in general
Hej Leonard 🚲 I use my bike to get to work and when I ride with my work colleagues at the weekend. cycling means a lot in my life. I haven't had a car since 2009 and I don't miss it either. as you say it yourself, you save a lot of money and side benefit by cycling every day is exercise, fresh air and the feeling of freedom. That's why I love my bike and want to keep exploring areas/places I haven't been before. It's also one of the advantages of cycling that you can get into places that cars can't
Nice Leonardo, very nice. Agree with all of that, physical and mental benefits have been huge for me over the past 2 or 3 years. I just wish I lived somewhere with safer roads and greater variety of routes, but you can’t have it all! 😂 Happy cycling 🎉
You perfectly captured the essence and benefits of cycling. I was off the bike for three weeks after my front tire lost a battle with black ice. The effect on me--in a negative way--was massive. I rode 70 K yesterday and already have a better disposition.
Keep up the great work👍 Did daily commute for 36 years, never used a car but changed to more fun rides when I retired in 2012. Now approaching 71 and had some Epic fun at home and abroad.😊
My commute is 50 mins on a bike. Train/walk is 90mins. Car 60 mins+. Oh, car option was never quicker than cycling. Having had the pleasure of driving into London from 40 years ago. Just in case anti-ULEZ nutters watch your channel
Great review Leonard…I’ve been off the bike for about a month due to illness which thankfully I’m nearly over …and I’ve missed going out on the bike so much.👍🏻👍🏻
hi all.. random question to throw in here! my last bike rides were around the 25-30km and that was in October of last year . And i was worried about trying a ride tomorrow of 47km on reasonably hilly ground from micheldever to hedge end. what are your views on attempting this? cheers Paul
Please Please be aware of the FACT that you will "HAVE TO" get your buttocks familiar with the saddle/seat. Please do not go out and do 8...9 miles. Go around the block and put the bike away. Next day...do the same, then do this a few more times. That area of the body has a strange way of telling the brain, "Not Today".....Do Not be in a hurry. In retrospect. I love Leonard perspective of things.
Excellent point. Many people think there is something wrong with the saddle but it’s because they haven’t allowed enough time to get used to the saddle.
All of this is so true and so motivational! Over the past year I've had to build my fitness back up and coincidentally (subconsciously ?) bought a new, joy to ride, pretty heavy steel frame bike, an ATB for sure, and have been riding more off road. And thinking how out of shape I am indeed. Went sledding last week and was kicking myself, thinking if only I had spent more time on the bike, made greater increases in mileage, I'd be able to pull the sled back up the hill better than I anticipated, and ... I was so much stronger than I thought! Not superwoman by any means, but happily strong in the leg and lungs. Amazing what some lovely bike rides each week can do.
I hate the cold weather, so since November I have been on my cycling machine. 30 minutes a day, doing 10 miles every day. I put Indoor Cycling Videos YT on.
Excellent motivational commentary. Thanks! I recently lost my Wahoo cycling computer and am thinking of replacing it. You have used a Hammerhead for years now. Are you still happy with it?
Joining a cycling club will get into a group that have dozens of good routes to group ride on. Last year me and my wife did support for some club rides. She set up a rest stop and I drove SAG. We would go out later and do the routes ourselves.
I noticed that blue cap/blue jersey guy again. Helmet refusenik type. Thumbs up to that. As for me, I had to add a bike this year and get more keen on time, miles, and enthusiasm, to up the outlook on leaning up. That it wasn't my first choice for a bike (a road bike) was due to the influence I had from the bike shop in 2017. That guy was all into MTB types. The hybrid displaced the MTB I initially bought, being so much better for street riding. I'd dropped ten pounds six years ago (from a high of 195 lbs.) with what I was doing for cycling eight months a year, dropping it over the winters. Then it seemed that was just it. I just held there within two pounds on average year to year. It seemed within two months of adding utility rides and road biking with a road bike, I'd knocked off a few pounds. By Thanksgiving Day, it was five lbs. less than that and holding. Now two weeks into the new year, I'm 3-4 pounds less than that and holding, which is 173-174. I'd like to get down to high school weight this year, which would be another eight pounds down. I've done that and more since my 40s, so I know I can. That was a more rapid and less understood event then, compared to being more mentally programed now. In my case, it's really from the cycling and not the eating since about the only real things I've cut back on has been pasta dishes and pizza. Two of my very favorite things to have. Otherwise it's eating what I've always eaten and in the same amounts. So it's a little less for the starch week to week, but not as a "diet", just selective thinking. Getting down to normal range BMI at 179 lbs. was a significant mark to hit. That always bugged me a little, being a few pounds past. So L.L. was getting at the benefits in various measures, and this is how that computed for myself, objectively at least in part.
I got rid of my car 3 yrs ago now. It’s surprising how much extra money I seemed to have. For the cost of yearly car insurance I can do a week long bike tour in a new country. Plus gas, maintenance, car supplies add up too.
That is absolutely the plan! Africa won’t work but anything else in Europe should be good (I may get hip surgery in the fall so I’ll be ready for a third trip in 2025 :)
The compounding effect on your mental and physical health of finding a form of exercise you enjoy can’t be underestimated. Cycling has a way of pulling you in, it isn’t just the exercise it’s the exploration, the friends, the challenges, geeking out on equipment and just the joy of rolling along feeling like a kid again!
