How Cycling Teaches You to be Kind to Your Body

James Rackliffe entry into cycling is probably not your standard route, but he has been that way with a lot of things in life. Read James’ story in his own words below and discover how he began and continues to compete in triathlons to this day.

With cycling I didn’t even learn to ride a bike until I was in 7th grade, and even then, I did so poorly. I really didn’t get into riding frequently until my late 20’s when I woke up one morning and decided I was going to be a triathlete.

So, armed with my newfound goal of competing in triathlons I decided to head to my local bike shop and hit the road! I ended up heading in on a Black Friday weekend and I picked myself up a middle of the line Cannondale road bike, trusty blue! But as I headed out on the road, normally in very controlled neighborhoods at first, I was highly scared of the street. I noticed that simple things in my life began to improve.

I had long been a battler of asthma type problems, however after riding for several weeks it had drastically improved. I also noticed that my overall mood was better. To top it all off I had shed a few pounds and so my confidence went up a lot as well!

To place this as well from a triathlon perspective is my other discipline, running, got much easier! Doing 5k or 10k runs was nothing compared to how it used to be and I started leaning heavier on riding my bike to achieve improvements in other facets of my triathlon game and life.

As I started my site, DocTriathlon, I began to research this more and more and finally found tons of research on all the ways biking can improve your well-being. I collaborated this research together into my infographic below on these benefits, the 25 Health Benefits of Cycling.

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