Cycling: Staying Healthy In Times Of Corona

2023 Author: Eric Donovan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-11-27 05:39

In times of Corona, the good old bicycle is the means of transport of choice. Now it is only to be hoped that cycling will remain as popular as it is now even after the corona crisis.

By Wolfgang Plank

spoods.de

The advice comes from a qualified mouth: Health Minister Jens Spahn himself recently praised the bicycle in the Corona crisis. In the spirit of “social distancing”, everyone should consider whether they can cover a distance on foot or in the saddle instead of using public transport. This can also reduce the risk of infection.

You don't have to be a virologist to see the benefits. If you don't squeeze into buses or trains, you won't get too close to someone who is sneezing or coughing. And for all that is known, the insidious corona virus is mainly transmitted via droplets. The chance of getting infected on the bike tends to be zero. Here you automatically keep your distance and on top of that you don't touch door handles or handrails - more self-protection is hardly conceivable in days of strict restrictions. And you don't have to give up your precious parking space either.

Good for the cardiovascular system

On top of that you do good. And of your own health. Cycling strengthens the heart and circulation and trains the lungs. Better blood circulation, better ventilation - that doesn't make you immune, but it does reduce the risk of underlying diseases. The Robert Koch Institute warns that they favor a more severe course of Covid-19. Doesn't always have to be a large blade and a small pinion. Doctors say ten minutes of gentle footsteps are healthy - so even the mini tour to the breakfast bakery is worthwhile.

The advantage of longer excursions: In the same time, you can see significantly more landscape than on a traditional walk. And compared to other sports, you have an extra asset. Runners and swimmers alike have to toil without a break, otherwise there is vinegar with propulsion. You can also just let it roll comfortably on the bike.

Fearless downhill

Or plunge fearlessly into the depths like on downhill. Sounds like a well-tended lawn, but it's a tough job. And not without risk. Roots, stones and thorny bushes lurk everywhere. The line between a brisk ride and a bad fall quickly becomes narrow. It is not without reason that, in addition to a helmet, you wear a neck rest, glasses, gloves and special protectors for your elbows, knees and shins. The old wisdom, according to which there are bold pilots - and old pilots - is also helpful next to the track.

Perhaps the current exit restrictions actually set a chain reaction in motion like the bloom of the forsythia in ordinary years. Unfortunately, quite a few bike-seekers can expect a velocipede that has survived the winter somewhere behind a grill, folding table and deck chair - and surprisingly is still as dirty as after the last late autumn excursion in the drizzle.

There are only cleaning and tools left. Or you hire the trusted bike doctor - who has meanwhile been awarded the seal of approval “system relevant” - whom all the others are now also commissioning, which is why we cannot wait for the derailleur to be set on site, but rather with a card in our pocket Start the way home. Presumably, the pick-up date is exactly the same as when the sun says goodbye.

Thanks to the baron

However, should we step, a brief memorial to Karl Friedrich Christian Ludwig Freiherr Drais von Sauerbronn would only be fair. If he hadn't made a public mockery of himself with his draisine a good 200 years ago - there might still be no mountain bike, no Holland bike and no time trial machines made of carbon. Who knows what we'd be headed for instead?

As it was, however, on June 12, 1817, the brave forester crouched on a self-made two-wheeled vehicle and ran - optionally: rolled - from Mannheim to the Schwetzingen relay house about seven kilometers away and back again. It took him just under an hour to cover the distance - an average of around 15 kilometers per hour. It was faster than the stagecoach.

Incidentally, this was a catastrophe for the clever officials. Not with viruses, but with ashes. A devastating volcanic eruption on the Indonesian island of Sumbawa darkened the sky over Europe - and the year 1816 became notorious as the “eighteen hundred freezing”. Bad harvests followed, many horses died because there were no more oats, and so a means of locomotion without horses came just as requested.

The very latest trends from Drais' estate could have been seen on April 18 and 19 at VeloBerlin. Would have. The rhyme with the bicycle chain has never fit better.