“Thanks to cycling, I feel healthier today than I did 20 years ago”

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When I got the first problems in my knees and back 20 years ago and was also plagued by heart palpitations at night, I was looking for a suitable sporting activity to reduce weight and stress and build up muscles. But I didn’t want to pant through the landscape as a jogging or Nordic walking grandfather, especially since I didn’t want to put additional strain on my already damaged knee joints (signs of age-related wear and tear, also due to my previously neglected muscles).

So, after more than 30 years of abstinence, it was almost inevitable that I got back on my bike. For more than 20 years now I have been cycling regularly about three or four times a week (without a motor) through the hilly Vogtland, about 20 to 30 km each time, occasionally 50 km. After a strenuous 30km lap (with lots of climbs!) I can feel my knee joints, but I always take at least a day off.

I actually felt positive physical improvements fairly quickly. I was able to see my improvement in performance from the increasing average speed of my morning exercise lap, which I always adapt to my heart rate. Pulse monitoring is essential during physical exertion, because this is the only way to find the optimal level of exertion and avoid overloading.

Exercise – the perfect stress reliever

The many sports have not only had a positive effect on my physical fitness, cycling has also helped me to reduce stress and stop my heart racing at night.

At work, I not only had to deal with annoying bosses, but also no regular working hours and breaks. After initially having to use my bad conscience to pedal regularly, cycling quickly became a need for me. I soon got rid of the initial headphone music after I realized that you can also “ meditate ” wonderfully without music while cycling.

The fact that I haven’t felt my heart racing for many years could of course be because I’ve gotten used to it and therefore don’t wake up anymore. But I think the sport has also had an effect in this respect.

Sport keeps my immune system fit

Before I started cycling more intensively, I regularly caught colds in winter, often several times. Although I also do my rounds in the winter months (when the roads are free of snow and the air temperature is above 0°C), I haven’t had a serious cold for at least 20 years.

In “cold weather” I always drive without taking a break. Even if I should then freeze while I’m driving, I can’t cool down. But after such a tour, I immediately lie down in the warm bath tub.

I take a very critical view of sugar consumption

In addition to exercise, I focus on a healthy diet: lots of fruit and vegetables, nuts, whole grain products, lean dairy products, fish and meat.

For breakfast I eat my muesli, which consists of rolled oats, walnuts, oat bran, ground flaxseed and wheat germ, which I mix with (cold) water and enrich with plain yoghurt and blueberries.

I always have a drinking bottle with tap water with me when cycling, I don’t need “super power energy sports drinks”. Since hypoglycaemia can sometimes occur on very long and very strenuous tours (more than 50 km) without food, I have a glucose tablet with me to be on the safe side, so that I can react to this “hunger rush” (sudden drop in performance due to hypoglycaemia in the blood). . My “energy bar” for very long tours is, at best, a wholemeal roll and a boiled egg.

When it comes to fruit, I make sure to avoid types with a high sugar content (e.g. bananas, grapes) as well as sugary drinks. Unfortunately, sugar is an underestimated drug that I don’t want to supply my body with in a targeted manner. If you consider that sugar has only been available cheaply for 200 years, it should be clear that our metabolism is quickly overwhelmed with it.

I regularly take a magnesium tablet to treat calf cramps – preferably before the tour. Otherwise only vitamin D in winter and occasionally vitamin B12.

Focus Online guest author Hans Dyck also reports on his website hofradler.de about his great passion, cycling.

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