It depends on the riding position, but the hunched over position of competitive road cyclists is not good for the male genitalia. This position puts excessive pressure on the perineum, and can reduce circulation to the genitals.
This isn't nearly as much of an issue with a more upright-riding position. This puts the pressure on the sit-bones, where it belongs. So overall, the genital issues are related more to the seat position and ergonomics than the activity itself.
Thanks for the lesson, it was really advanced – friendly sarcasm.
I’m a road cyclist as my primary exercise and I know many many others one’s at both much higher and some lower levels than myself, from casual recreational riders up to some domestic pro’s. The fact is that the above is very incorrect information – very incorrect. If you are experiencing loss of blood flow in the perineum area it’s because your fit is incorrect or your saddle is not a good fit for you – both are easily remedied. If you get sore joints when running, does that mean your leg will fall off or become of no use? No, it just means you need to do something different. We road cyclists ride on our sit bones, it’s a basic. We don’t hunch so much as we bend at the hip. Believe you me, our sit bones are on the saddle, not the soft tissue.
Not good for the male genitalia? Simply outrageous. For anyone reading this, they should know there is absolutely no danger to your genitalia when riding on a road bike saddle. I feel silly just having to say that. When on a properly fitted bike with a regular saddle, you will get as much blood flow as your little guy can handle. Use your common sense everyone, there are many cyclists out there riding on road bike saddles all over the world and it’s been going on for generations. How are all these cyclists having babies! Maybe their wives are boinking the milkman? If it affected their ability to get it up, would the sport be as popular as it is (yes, on a world scale, it’s very popular)? Heck no. Do you think we are all impotent? Or maybe we’re all asexual? Just crazy, use common sense.
I've never cycled competitively, but have done several 100K group events. Sorry, but after awhile it's becomes pretty mindless, like so many other repetitive activities.
OK. We’re all entitled to experience our own levels of excitement so whatev. I suspect the reason those group events become mindless after a while is because you are puttering along at a semi relaxed pace, chatting for most of the time, with maybe a couple minutes of effort now and then when you get bored but with no real purpose. You also have dozens of others around so motorists are not as high of a concern. When I ride my senses are alert, even on slow recovery rides. The only time it feels mindless to me is on the trainer. Same thing with running, I am alert outside but dislike the treadmill.
When on a steep decline, peddling will only help you go marginally faster, and this requires minimal effort.
Depends on what “marginal” means to you I guess but we weren’t talking about speed, we were talking effort. And to that I would say if the grade is steep enough for your highest gear (usually in the ratio of 52/11 on a standard road bike setup) to not help much with speed then I would argue that your heart will be beating fast enough due to the high speeds you’re already travelling down that mountain descent. And your brain will be working overtime. If you’ve descended at 50+ mph for any length of time, you’d know it qualifies as a pretty fine workout.
It's great cardio, but I never really found it that torturous in terms of burning out my muscles. I got in great cardiovascular shape, but now that I run, I find it to be much more challenging. There's a reason someone can cycle for hours, but very few can run for that long: the latter is much more difficult than the former.
The reason is called gears, click up a couple while trying to maintain the same cadence. Or find a hill of any consequence to your current level of fitness. It’s not difficult to roast your muscles in short order, quite the opposite - the hard part is to not go into the red. I’m really surprised you have trouble with it. Most cyclists (non newbs) experience limitations in their legs rather than their lungs (i.e. the legs give out first). The sport is commonly regarded as one of the most suffer-filled one’s out there.
My advice to you is to shift out of your granny gear. And then go on a group training ride with some real cyclists and see how long you can keep up after their warm up. You’ll quickly see it is anything but mindless and anything but not torturous – no your joints probably will not hurt, rather your muscles will swiftly fill up with lactic acid and burn as if someone injected a 99% solution of alcohol directly into your veins. Make sure to bring your cell phone so you can call your wife to pick you up when you are too exhausted to get back to the parking lot after you’re dropped.
They don’t call it a sufferfest for nothin’. It’s grueling. Watch “The Hell of the North” on you tube – great flick, very well done and entertaining film, even for the casual or non cyclist.
Dude, exercising until you're in agony and puking is not healthy in the long-run. That's actually a problem with excessive cycling: It's a cardio overload. There's an over-emphasis on the legs, but since you're sitting you aren't using core muscles much. Walking and running are far more natural than cycling. What makes you think exercising until you're sick is a good idea? Seriously. :confused4:
Let me clarify. High intensity interval training is, well…high intensity. When you get to a plateau, you need to push the limits of the body. It’s not like I go out every day and puke my guts out. But yes, a couple times during the season, a little vomit comes up because I stress my body to the point of overload – not the kneeling and hugging the toilet type vomit though. You need to stress the body to experience gains, and the body will adapt. If you go at the same pace all the time you’ll get really good at going at that same pace all the time. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not nearly on the gas pedal for every ride. I like my slow easy rides too and do plenty of those. 2-3 hard rides a week with interval training, 1-2 steady rides, 1-2 recovery rides. Last season the overloads came after 2 races (very hard races for me) and once during a hill climbing training ride.
So pushing your body until its last fiber is a good idea in certain circumstances and on a very infrequent level. It’s not an attempt to get sick, it’s an attempt to get stronger and many athletes go that far and further. It’s not uncommon or anything to be surprised at.
You may be going to easy if you haven’t at least come close to something like that. I am sure that even many a recreational weekend warrior has experienced exercise induced nausea.
Your right of course that cycling is a sport where the legs are emphasized. But so what? So is running and rowing emphasizes different muscles, as do other sports. But yeah, I hear ya and recognize it and do some cross trainer (to the detriment of my cycling actually). Many others prioritize cycling because they are younger and have more of a chance than me to get into higher categories. And you are also absolutely correct that it doesn’t work the core much at all but is a sport where a strong core is essential. Core work is a basic with cyclists – it’s one of the few things that pro’s do off the bike (in the form of concentrated core work, yoga, etc.), most everything else is bike work.
As I said, I was once an avid cyclist. But since I have a complimentary employer-provided transit pass, it's just not cost-effective or efficient for me to maintain my bike anymore, so I gave it up. I think it's great that you do strength training in addition to cycling, but this is an area many cyclists neglect.
True, many neglect it. That’s because their goal is to be a better cyclist and the best way to get better at an activity is to spend the time you have doing that activity. But most very serious cyclists arms are comparable to a street urchin. I always enjoyed weight training (it was my first love) and am too old and with too many responsibilities to even dream of any sort of pro cycling career – heck, I’m happy I can maintain not getting dropped in races in my category. I try to balance more but I do emphasize cycling still, just because I enjoy it. And people think cyclists have strong legs, only to a certain and very specific extent. Get a cyclist to do some squats and they’ll be feeling it pretty bad the next day, especially in the hams.
I get a discount for a transit pass from my employer but I don’t use it often anyway. I’m only 4 miles from work so I either run to and from, or I ride in if the wife is nice enough to pick up our boy after work while I go for a ride. These days (winter here in Boston) I run a good deal more because the daylight limits my riding. I often wish I lived further away so I can commute in by bike. It’s not worth the effort to put on the layers for a 4 mile ride ya know? So I save it for the weekend and just do the trainer in the morning or evening.
Consider getting that ride of your tuned back up. It would be less $ for me too but yt’s not about financial cost, it’s about the health cost. I can rest my blubber on the seat of the train or I can get more fit. But we each have our own circumstances that allow us to do what we can. If you can’t ride in every day, do it 2 or 3 times a week.
This isn't just my argument; I've read several articles that, as long as you don't have joint issues, running is a better overall workout: It's weight-bearing (cycling is NOT); consequently some core-muscles are used, whereas with cycling the focus is almost entirely on the legs. In terms of overall cardio fitness, I agree you can make either activity as difficult or easy as you want. But the fact that it's weight bearing, more natural, and involves some core muscles makes running a better form of exercise.
In a very reluctant and qualified way, I would agree with some of that, most importantly that running is better (again, very reluctant and qualified). I’d have to make some big assumptions though. I just want to add here to anyone reading the above that running is not nearly enough to actually provide much benefit to the core and is also an activity that (in case it’s not clear for some reason) emphasizes the legs. So don’t think that running is enough to develop your core, it’s not. Kind of like cycling uses the triceps but doesn’t develop them in any meaningful way.
It's also much, much, much less expensive.
True dat. But so is dating! I can stay at home and use my hand or I can spend some $ and go out on a date with a gal. Both will get me where I want (if the gal is game whereas my hand never says no) but one will be a much better ride…so to speak. I’m way too married to remember some of that though.
Yeah, running is less expensive for sure. Many sports are more $ than running though. Part of the appeal is the bike, the gear, etc. I’d much rather spend my $ on that than the upgraded BMW.
