3 Fitness Lessons I Learned Riding a Bike Through Europe

Remember back in grade school when your teacher clearly wasn't completely ready for the school year to begin? You'd get the assignment to write an essay about what you learned on your summer vacation. Well, you can think of this as my "What I learned on Summer Vacation" essay ... with a bit more of a fitness and wellness vibe than I had in the fifth grade. 

On my summer vacation I traveled through Denmark, Belgium, and Holland (with brief dips into Sweden and Germany) on a bicycle and on foot. As you probably know, I have always been a believer in making vacations active affairs (for fun and fitness) but cycling from town to town was a bit of a new adventure. An adventure I highly recommend!

Now that I've been home for a couple of weeks, I've had a chance to reflect on the trip. I'm ready to share what I experienced and contemplated during my cycling vacation. 

1. Safe cycling is more fun

As a cyclist, if you're constantly afraid of getting hit by a car (or even just getting run off the road by drivers whose cars are too big for their own good), you're not going to have all that much fun. The good people of Europe (specifically Denmark, Holland, and Belgium) seem to have that sorted out. 

We North Americans could really take a lesson on the importance of bike safety from the Scandanavians. Not only are the bike lanes significantly wider in those countries than they are in Canada and the USA, but much of the time there's an entirely separate roadway specifically for bikes. A roadway that even has its own numbering and navigation system. Check out the Cycle Across Netherlands trip planner website for a great example of how easy it is to plan your trip. 

I have never seen so many spryly cycling and self-sufficient septuagenarians in my life.

In Europe, cycling seems to play in important role in keeping our seniors healthy. I have never seen so many spryly cycling and self-sufficient septuagenarians in my life. It was both depressing and inspiring at the same time. My newly minted vision for my retirement years is to be happily pedaling along a country path with a smörgåsbord in my bike's basket and a happy pupper in the chariot I'm pulling along behind me. 

But the good news is that we don't all have to move to Copenhagen to get this outcome. In my article, The Benefits of Biking to Work, I dove into some research in the ...

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