Cycling Versus Hiking

I love being in nature.  Even a tiny urban park offers a fresh perspective from the daily monotony.  The chance to see otherwise common flora and fauna in their natural environment. 

However, I have chronic plantar fasciitis.  As a result, walking, much less hiking extended distances is a study in pain.

So, I decided to buy a bike to continue enjoying the outdoors while keeping off my feet.

The first step was finding the right bike size.  I Googled “Correct Bike Size” and found various complex charts and formulas.  Most of them were perplexing and bewildering, involving measuring your inseam compared to the bike’s height at numerous points.

Disarmed with this impersonal information, I decided to do some legwork and talk to some actual people.  And, since I would only be riding casually, I didn’t want to break the bank on a tricked-out bike with a titanium frame and high torque motor for hills.

So I went to Walmart.  The Superstore is excellent if you’re looking for low-priced walnuts and inexpensive floor lamps.  However, the sporting goods department doesn’t offer much help in the choosing a bike division.

Next, I went to Play It Again Sports, a local chain selling used sporting goods.  The staff was eager, enthusiastic and passionate.  They also worked in tandem, trading jargon and double talk about wheel sizes, down tubes and seat tubes.  In the end, the lingo translated into, “All the bikes are the same.”

Finally, I went to Academy Sports, a national chain.  I chose two bikes with moderate height differences and tracked down the bike department manager.  I asked him which bike suited me best. I expected more technical mumbo jumbo but he simply replied, “Can your feet touch the ground when you’re in the seat?”  Sold.

Now I was safe to be free and wild.  Provided I wore a helmet and obeyed park traffic rules. 

Hiking and cycling a trail offer different experiences.  In terms of health or workout, sure, they’re night and day.  However,  it’s the sensory involvement that creates the contrast.

Both involve momentum, moving forward.  However, the type of momentum radically differs, especially in perspective.  Hiking allows the trekker to stop and absorb the details-an iridescent flower, a basking snake, a surreal mushroom.

On the other hand, cycling, especially at high speeds, involves total focus.  Allow the mind to wander and the cyclist becomes roadkill.  Yet, the bike’s velocity gives one a sense of commanding the trail; a knight on horseback weaving through the serfs.

The result of this dissimilarity boggles the mind.  Trails I had hiked countless times and thought I knew like the back of my hand took on a new point of view. 

Tree branches I would offhandedly brush aside now became booby traps.  A lack of focus meant a clotheslined cyclist. 

I used to pass hikers and say, “Hi!”  Now, I had to alert them that I was passing on their left or the result would be a human pileup.  However, the warning also seemed like a command for the pedestrians to move to the right. 

I was accustomed to effortlessly strolling up hills.  On the bike, going uphill became work.

However, the biggest difference between hiking and cycling comes at the end.  After a hike, I feel a serene exhaustion, a fatigued sense of accomplishment.  Conversely, the post-bike ride feeling is an “I want more” adrenaline rush, a “What’s next?” attitude.

In the end, hiking and cycling are apples and oranges.  Hiking allows the adventurer time to soak in the environment and reflect on life.  Conversely, cycling offers paradoxical senses of abandon and control.

While I prefer the more casual pace of hiking, walking for extended periods becomes agonizing due to the plantar fasciitis.  And, cycling gives contradictory feelings of domination and peril.  And, keep in mind what Mark Twain said about cycling.  “Get a bike.  You will not regret it.  If you live.”

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