On your bike! Cycling for fitness

Cycling gives Dana Lis a high no other exercise can touch. "I love that feeling of flying you get from a fast ride -- the challenge of a hill, the rewards of riding faster, farther or better," says the 27-year-old from Vancouver, who is also a member of the Chicks Cycling Club. "Plus, in the gym, I never get the cardiovascular training I get outside on a bike. You can't control the elements outside, and you can end up working way harder without noticing. It just happens."

Getting outside and getting fit on your bike while having fun? Sounds like a good deal. Here's how to crank up your cycling workout to get the most out of your bike.

How to choose the right bike
Whether you're a rookie or a cyclist with many kilometres under your tires, it's a good idea to get your bike adjusted so it fits you comfortably. "It helps to know what type of cycling you're going to do, how experienced you are, what height you are and things like that," says Vincent Jourdain, a national coach with the Canadian Cycling Association. "If you're not properly fitted on it, you will never enjoy your bike and have a good workout."

Most sporting goods shops offer a basic fitting of your bike, which can take anywhere from half an hour to an hour and is often included in the price of the bike.

They will adjust elements such as your seat height, set to a level at which your leg is straight but your knee doesn't lock at the lowest pedal position. This will save your knees and hips from jarring too much.

They will also adjust your seat toward the back or front so you're balanced over the pedals, as well as the handlebar height, which should allow you to sit comfortably without too much weight on your hands and neither too hunched over nor up too straight.

How much you should expect to pay for a new set of wheels
Prices on new bikes range from a few hundred to a few thousand dollars for different types, including road, city or mountain bike models.

Carey Schleicher-Haselhorse, with Raleigh America Inc. in Kent, Wash., suggests trying a hybrid bike first, which has fatter tires than a road bike -- great for use on city roads or cleared paths.

Hybrids are great for urban areas because unlike road bike tires, hybrid tires can handle ruts, drains and other obstacles, and the wheels are larger in diameter than a mountain bike's, so you can still work up some speed.

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Cranking it up
The easiest way to add oomph to your workout is to change it up. In the start-and-stop pace of city biking, where you're dodging traffic and racing stoplights, it's still possible to ramp up your heart rate for an inner-city workout. "I take a hillier route or an extra-long route to work," says Dana. The lengthier route has a payoff -- cycling can torch approximately 250 to 1,000 calories per hour depending on "how hard you work."

Beth Mansfield, a registered dietitian and exercise specialist in Ottawa, also suggests adding intervals to your ride. "A lot of runners interval train by picking up their pace until the next telephone pole, for example, then slowing down once they hit it, then trying again with the next pole," says Mansfield. "You can do the same thing in cycling."

She also suggests pushing yourself by changing gears, which adds more resistance -- moving into a bigger gear means it will take more work on your part to get the wheel around.

Or invest in a cycling computer so you can keep pumping to keep your heart rate at its best level.

"If you have one of those cycling computers on your bike, then you can go at a given speed and try and maintain it," says Mansfield. "If you have a heart rate monitor on it, you can say you'll keep your heart rate up to a predetermined zone of X beats a minute."

She also offers up a tip to tell if your body is actually learning to work harder on your ride. "To monitor how fit you're getting, do one long, slow hill once a week and time yourself," says Mansfield. "Go comfortably up it in whatever time it takes. As you get fitter, you'll notice that for your same effort, you'll be going up in less time."

Making your workouts more intense
For a more serious bike workout, try road biking on a stretch of stoplight-free road or tackling mountain biking across rough terrain.

"There are different philosophies about how many calories you burn, but in some studies done comparing road riding to mountain biking -- excluding variables such as your fitness level, wind and distance -- you'll burn more calories mountain biking because you're always fighting the terrain," says Jourdain. "There's more resistance when you're mountain biking."

Bolster your bike workout by adding indoor strength training to complement your exercise.

"Cyclists forget about their upper body," says Mansfield. "But you need good upper body strength to climb hills. So do some upper strength training to strengthen your back and your arms as well as core work to fortify your abdominals and lower back. A stability ball is good for working on core muscle groups."

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Gear up
First and foremost, cyclists know that padded cycling shorts make a difference. "Any ride over 30 minutes deserves a nice pair of padded shorts," says Connie Cirkony, Dana's fellow Chicks Cycling Club member.

"Look for women's shorts that don't have a seam in the middle." (The seams leave the shorts prone to splitting and to chafing the rider.) And in other workout wear, look for a wicking T-shirt to draw away moisture on those hotter rides, plus vented sunglasses to counter both the sun's rays and the wind.

But if snow or rain are the elements bothering you most, try taking your training indoors to a group cycling, or spinning class, which is a cycling class that mimics the conditions of outdoor rides by doing hill climbs or speed drills.

Or, even simpler, invest in indoor trainers for between $150 and $350. These are racklike devices on which you can mount your outdoor bike on to ride indoors (rain-free) so you can ride your own bike in the comfort of home.

Advanced cycling gear
Once you get hooked on cycling, try gear that can take your bike workout to the next level, such as cycling shoes and "clipless" pedals (called clipless because once you're in, you see no straps). These pedals actually clip into your cycling shoes, which cost between $60 and $250. "The shoes are really rigid. It's easier to transfer the energy to the bike," says Jourdain.

And if you want to track your workouts, invest in a cycling computer; they start at roughly $30 and can track your time, calorie output, distance, maximum energy output and more.

"Some are wireless and you can download the information into your computer and track your workouts for the week," adds Schleicher-Haselhorse.

How best to lock up your investment? By far, cyclists recommend locking Kryptonite U-locks around one or both wheels and the frame to the bike rack. "But if it's a really good bike and you're worried, don't leave it outside," advises Dana.

And while it's fun to enjoy all the gear you add to your ride, remember to appreciate the extras that cycling can offer, such as creating a social network as it did for Connie. "I've met some wonderful people in the cycling community," she says.

Cycling essentials
Taking a longer ride? Tuck these into your saddlebag:

Snacks: think carb-rich such as granola bars, trail mix, and water or a sports drink.
Money: credit card and a cellphone/quarter for the pay phone.
Flat tire kit: a pump, an extra tube and tire levers to change flat tire. (You could tuck in a patch tube kit, although you might get stuck waiting for the adhesives on the patch to dry.)
Multitool set: to make quick adjustments to your bike, such as a Cannondale folding tool.

Put a lid on it
Be safe by adjusting your helmet according to the supplied instructions. Your helmet should sit parallel to the ground -- tilting it back can cause injury if you fall. It shouldn't move on your head.

"You want the helmet to come down half an inch above your eyebrow," says Schleicher-Haselhorse. "Don't ever push the helmet back any more than the hairline." Helmets start at $35; better quality helmets are ventilated and aerodynamic.

Follow our 8 bike-buying basics to make sure you have the best bike for your workout.

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