crosing over to the dark side

We like riding a bike. We don't really like running. But tonight we went for a run. This was not a terrible mistake or some sort of "against our better judgement" peer pressure thing or even a mating ritual. No, we did it to be a better cyclist. Which you all know is not possibly true!

The secret detail is that we ran over to the Mont Royal Chalet/lookout stairs. Then we went up them. All 256 of them. Going up stairs activates muscles that are very useful for cycling. Going up the stairs activates the cardiovascular system in a big way.  These are two things that really pay off when on the bike on sunny days and wanting to have as much fun as possible. (In the cardio area, if after a few or a lot of steps you think that you actually are going to die, we suggest you take a pause until respiration and heart rate are back in the realm of the living) Then continue upwards, dammit!

Do laps, and do them slow if necessary, there is nothing wrong with that.  Music helps, and we can say honestly that doing another lap is a test of/building up of mental strength that might come in useful when on the bike and there are still many kilometers to go until the end of the ride.  Unless you said you'd be home with a Coco Rico chicken at 7:30 and it's 7:10. Uh-oh.

Stairs will make you a better climber on the bike, which makes cycling more fun, since that means if you can get up more hills, you then will have more downhills to zoom down. Woohoo!

Plus it was raining, and that can dampen our enthusiasm for after work bike riding. Stairs to the rescue!