mis bicis are my therapy

the most popular article in today's new york times is their well blog's "phys ed: why exercise makes you less anxious." having personally experienced less anxiety and depression after riding around, i was rather intrigued and clicked on through to the other side.

to summarize, princeton university researchers recently compared rats that run to rats that don't run. they put both sets of rats into a stressful situation: swimming in cold water. i don't know about you, but i believe swimming in cold water would be pretty stressful to almost anyone. anyway, the study found that the rats who run had new brain cells created by exercising (not a new discovery). these new brain cells, "the researchers concluded, appeared to have been 'specifically buffered from exposure to a stressful experience.' The rats had created, through running, a brain that seemed biochemically, molecularly, calm." the author noted that running is a form of aerobic (cardio) exercise, and, in theory, the conclusions should extend to cycling and swimming. also, for the exercise to start to work, it takes somewhere between 3 weeks and 6 weeks to for the difference to be noticable.

i am not a scientist or a medicinal doctor. i do, however, have a brain in my skull. this brain has been put through a lot of stressful situations. put simply, i have been both the rat that does not run and the rat that runs. and i can say with absolute certainty, that i have responded better to stressful situations after i started biking around the city. i notice i feel calmer, more ready to think rationally and in turn better cope with the stress.

for example. i am under personal stress in this picture (to clarify: the stress was not from hanging out w/ the people i was around). but...notice the smiles? i'm keeping the stress at bay, quite easily in fact.

Úna and cali kriss krossin' the bicis.

this study doesn't exactly break too much new ground, but it did get me thinking about myself and then about you guys, our lovely readers.

so what about you? do you feel less anxious after you have ridden for a couple of months? would you recommend biking as a form of therapy or medication for a friend in need? please let us know in the comments.

LA cycle chic ride

say hi to Heather's red heels :)

Proper Bicycle Fit

It's a must!

scenes from the bikey lane: tuesday is the new monday edition

-1.) the time!! i was running, oh, about 15 minutes late. grr. and i had woken up early too. :)

1.) a cop pulling up across the intersection. i make sure to make a complete stop, leaving nothing to interpretation, because i've seen cops pulling over cyclists in the a.m. rush hour traffic.

2.) a cyclist running through a stop sign and taking a left right in front of cop mentioned in #1. cop and cyclist have words. dirty looks were exchanged. everyone kept going on their merry little morning way.

3.) my favorite little traffic cop. no, that is not an oxymoron. she is responsible for directing traffic to turn from market street onto 8th street. she tends to do this in a way that is favorable to those who commute on two wheels. thank you!

4.) the traffic cop i almost hit yesterday while trying to avoid a pothole. oh heeeeey osssifer. sup? sorry about that!

5.) a silver fox of the architect-looking variety with a sense of humor. you know, he had the spikey silver hair, cool looking plastic glasses, rather large head. i do know of a bikey friendly architecture firm in the direction he was heading. it's not so far fetched a thought...

6.) said silver fox and i exchanged a smile after seeing two, um, junkies yelling at each other about how foiiiine each other is & how good it was to see them. sunny mornings are great for everyone.

7.) the time. i was only 5 minutes late. how did that happen? time slows down, in the best way possible, when you are in the saddle. even if it's just for a short commute.

happy tuesday everyone.

Newbie

She is small, but she is mighty! Our new partner in crime.







Stay posted. She is feisty! Of course, that's why we like her : )

Sheila After 20 Years

This is my friend Sheila. This is the first time she has been on a bike since 1989. This is the first day of the rest of her bikey life!



Altogether, she rode almost 10 miles, including in the street with all of us.





The big grin lasted all day : )



Now we just need to find her a bike of her own! It is aways a great feeling when someone gets excited about something you love. I can't wait for Sheila to really be able to hit the road. We have so much to show her and there is so much for her to show herself!

Do you have someone who needs to get back on a bike? Go help them get back on! You will not regret it : )

Hello Readers. Mucho Gusto.

Hi. Those rather enterprising sorts of readers may have noticed a new contributor as of this morning. Yes, that's me, calitexican.

You may have met me before on the interwebs, or not. I first appeared on this right here site right here (Texas grammar intentional), and then I popped up here. I kept bumping into Meli and Adrienne all over town and on flickr. Through our encounters, I came to believe we all share a similar philosophy on riding bikes, and how they can be incorporated seamlessly into one's lifestyle. I hope to make some of you laugh (or at least smile), and to make others of you think. Most importantly, I hope to encourage all of you to ride around over town just living your own life.

So no matter what sort of riding you do, please get to it. There's a lot of roads, trails, mud, grass, whatever and et cetera to explore.

I would like to officially shake hands with the internet for bringing the three of us to know each other. I would also like to thank Meli, Adrienne and Caryl for asking me to be a part of this venture.

Have a great rest of your day. New horizons await all of us.