I have recently taken up cycling to get around Toronto. I want to cycle to and from ma class which is 15km each way. Eventually I want to do some longer trips. How has cycling effected your martial arts training?
Oddly enoug it affected it more when I stopped. Growing up in a hilly city with bad public transit, no car, and a culture of male teen bravado meant high intensity. Long distance,many high volume. We all had immensely good cardio as a result. When I stopped I was shocked at how much work it took to maintain even a lesser level of cardio. Off topic, where have you ended up training?
No where yet, but I think I'm going to study at Wu's TC academy. http://www.wustyle.com/site/index.php/our-federation/learning-centres/22-learning-centres/488-wu-s-tai-chi-chuan-academy-toronto-11
i ride a road bike to work (most) every day. it's only 3 miles each way, about 5km. but i really enjoy it. i can ride most days for 9 months a year. i don't ride when it's under 40 degrees fahrenheit. i also do a ride-share that costs me about $100/year. so for days that i know it's going to be raining either in the morning or the afternoon, i will take public transportation to work or back, and take ride-share bicycles the other trip. i really enjoy riding as a form of commuting to work. it's changed my life since i started doing it about 4 years ago.
I used to ride my bike around my base for awhile, it was great. I stopped due to a combination of messing up my ankle and my inner tube popping, but I've been meaning to get that bike repaired and resume riding.
I second the cardio. But over 30 years of peddling my calf muscles became seriously tight. so much so that my feet would not actually bend to 90 degrees when standing or walking. This caused long term alignment problems from my arthritic toes all the way to the pain in the neck. But I have discovered the solution - and it is painless and hugely effective for legs stretching. buy a hammock ! (the variety with a spreader at the ends) I kid you not. I have replaced my couch with a hammock. I sit in it currently as I type. and my legs are very gently stretching. 3 or four hours of light stretching a day when watching TV and I am gaining flexibility that I have not had for over 30 years. !!!
Been cycling for years. Not sure if there has been any impact on my MA training--exceptmaybe some cardio endurance.