Cycling is an excellent low impact exercise, it's good for cardio-vascular fitness (heart and the circulatory system), and if your bike is set up properly, cycling is easy on your knees

Increased fitness also means

Your legs and buttocks do most of the work in cycling. Regular cycling improves leg strength and can often be used as a form of rehabilitation for certain leg injuries. As with any new exercise program, it is important that you start out slowly and gradually build up your mileage.

Your cycling will improve if you increase your fitness or if you become more efficient at riding your bike. That is, you use less energy to go the same speed. You can improve your efficiency through learning to pedal at a higher or more constant cadence, increasing your muscular endurance or strength or adjusting your bike to better suit your body. 

How will you know if you are getting any fitter? The easiest way to tell is that you're getting places faster or you're are less puffed when you get there. The more scientific way is to do a simple test, such as a five kilometre cycling efficiency test.

The first time you complete the ride, you will be setting yourself a benchmark against which you can measure your progress. What you are aiming for is that your time decreases for the set distance.  It is good idea to retest your cycling performance every six to eight weeks to help you to maintain your motivation.

For more information on cycling fitness and a sample work out program:

• Click here to download an article by Lynn Gunning which was published in the Ultra Fit Magazine.