Cycling is one of the most enjoyable forms of exercise that you can do, particularly if you live in the countryside, because you can explore your local area and take in the scenery, whilst at the same time losing weight and improving your overall fitness level.
It is even more pleasurable in the summer because it is obviously drier and warmer at this time of the year in many western countries.
However if you still find it hard to motivate yourself to get on your bike, there are two things that you should do.
First of all, you should check out this infographic because this highlights the seven main health benefits of cycling, and may well give you the encouragement you need to do more a lot more cycling yourself.
For example, you will see that cycling is good for toning, fat-burning and fitness, which is fairly self-explanatory, but you will also see that this form of exercise can increase your life span, boost your immune system, improve your mental health and give you better co-ordination.
The second thing that you should do during the summer is to watch every single day of the Tour de France on TV because if this doesn’t inspire you, nothing will.
These guys are some of the fittest men on the planet and display incredible levels of fitness and endurance to complete this epic race over the course of 21 days or so.
Indeed it is estimated that these elite level cyclists burn an average of 4000 – 5000 calories every single day, although I have recently seen some research from Inside Science that suggests that they burn an average of 6071 calories per day.
Either way, it shows just how much these people are pushing themselves and how hard they are working, and this is clear to see during the mountain stages in particular because these are incredibly tough and would be almost impossible for the average cyclist to complete.
Anyway the point is that watching this race will really motivate you to get out and do some cycling yourself because it certainly inspires me every year, and seems to inspire a lot of other people as well because every year many countries will report that there are more cyclists on the roads during and immediately after the Tour de France.
This is definitely true in the UK because cycling has enjoyed a huge upsurge in popularity in the last six years or so because of the victories of Bradley Wiggins and Chris Froome in the Tour de France, and the success of the British cycling team in the London Olympics.
If you are reading this article at other times of the year, there are other cycling races that are shown on TV that will also give you motivation. Plus there are also lots of videos on YouTube that you can use for motivation.
However the Tour de France is the toughest race in the world, and is the one race that will really give you the motivation you need to get on your bike.
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