C’mon Zoe, cycling to work is great for your fitness!

I was surprised by Zoe Williams’ moan about commuting by bike, in this weekend’s Guardian (“Fit in my 40s…” Saturday 21st November 2020). I usually enjoy reading her Body and Mind column, so I can only think lockdown 2 is getting to her.

By far

Why is cycling to work the best way by far to commute, even in Manchester where it does rain quite a bit, because: it is often faster than the alternatives, especially walking, and even driving; I’m outside, which is great for my head; and it’s more exercise than I’m ever going to get in a car or on a a bus.
That said Zoe does make some good points about planning your route, dressing and/or packing well, and upgrading from pedals to cleats to enhance your ride.

Fitness test

My main gripe is with Zoe’s premise that commuting by bike won’t get you fit. So I asked a few of the people I know who usually cycle to work, how they perceive their fitness has been affected since they’ve been having to work from home.
Some are really noticing how not “having to” go out and cycle every morning before starting work is impacting their health and wellbeing - they talk about having to manage their weight more, feeling tired, and finding it more difficult to motivate themselves to do other forms of exercise.
Those who have not seen much of change, are the one or two who have replaced their daily commute with an equivalent cycle out either before or after a day of on-screen, homeworking.

Mixing it up

Where I do agree with Zoe is that it is important to avoid relying on any single activity to meet all our health and fitness needs. If cycling is your thing then you need to mix up your training if you want to get fitter, stronger and faster and that mix can easily accommodate some commuter cycling.