I’m far from being a serious cyclist of any kind – but I do love to ride my bike particularly right now with how wonderful the weather is/has been. Riding my bike makes me feel good; I know by riding I’m doing something good for my health and something good for the environment.

I’m working on finding a true cyclist to blog for Be Fit NOLA but I haven’t had much luck thus far.  However, in the meanwhile, I want to share the resources and information I have come across in relation to Cycling in New Orleans.  I have divided the information by Advocates – organization working to improve the cycling experience in New Orleans, Clubs – A place to find other cyclists and people to ride with and Providers – where to buy, rent or take a bicycle tour.

Advocates

The Metro Bicycle Coalition is a grassroots organization dedicated to improving commuting and recreational cycling conditions in and around New Orleans, Louisiana. MBC works to increase transportation choice, mobility, and infrastructure by establishing a safe network of bicycle lanes, paths and facilities, educating cyclists and drivers on safety and the rules of the road, and advocating at local, state and national levels for routine accommodation of bicyclists and pedestrians.

Another must check-out site is NOLACycle, Bike Map Project.  NolaCycle is a project aimed to create a high quality cycling map of New Orleans. Cycling maps include information beyond just streets and their names that benefits cyclists. In our map, we highlight the pavement quality, car travel speed, lane width, and special caution areas (busy intersections, man-eating potholes, or high accident areas). Volunteers help to collect this data by attending mapping events.  Please consider volunteering and be sure to have a look at the NOLACycle Map before heading out on your bike.

Where Ya’ Rack? is a Young Leadership Council initiative.  Our objective is to provide unique and secure bicycle parking throughout New Orleans to encourage cycling for commuting, short trips, and errands. We are also a community of citizens and cyclists and who feel safe and secure bicycle parking can enhance New Orleans.

Cycling Clubs

Crescent City Cyclists is the oldest and largest bicycle touring club in the New Orleans area. The CCC was founded in August 1977 to provide bicycling activities for its members, to educate its members in the rules of safe bicycling, and to promote bicycling as a recreational and sports activity as well as an alternative mode of transport

New Orleans Bicycle Club (NOBC) is dedicated to promoting bicycling, with the emphasis on bicycle racing, in the Greater New Orleans area.  The NOBC was founded in 1968, and remains at the forefront of competitive cycling activity.

New Orleans Metro Area Mountain Bike Organization (NOMAMBO) was formed in March 2003, under partnership with the Corps of Engineers and sanctioned by IMBA (International Mountain Bike Organization) to build a multi-use trail system (hiking/biking) at the Bonnet Carre’ Spillway in Norco, LA.

Providers

Bayou Bicycles
Bicycle World
Bicycle Michael’s
Joy Ride Bike Rentals
Big Easy Bike ToursConfederacy of CruisersNinth Ward Rebirth Bike Tours

Time to wrap things up on the home workout portion of the affordable workouts in New Orleans blog series.  Saving money is almost synonymous with proper prior preparation. Just like you’ll save money by cooking your own meals and taking your lunch in from home to work – in order to get an adequate workout at home, it will require solid proper prior preparation.

For a quick review…in the last post on this topic, we discussed establishing structure by: setting a workout schedule, establishing your home gym, ensuring your write out your weekly workout plan, investing in the proper equipment you will need, setting realistic goals and including activities like walking, running and biking into your routine.

Do It Yourself (DIY) Routines

If you aren’t ready to invest the time in creating your own routines – the best thing to do is to get the right home workout video series.  An example of a great workout series we discussed in the past is P90X. Between paying for the DVDs and the equipment you’ll need – the cost will be approximately $300.

If you want to truly create your own routine…than you can do so for free or very little money with websites like:

Exercise TV: What I like about Exercise TV is that they will put a workout routine together for you and break it down from day to day. I’m a little hesitant to say that following their guidelines is enough…but it’s certainly a good start.

yogadownload.com: Yogadownload.com is a great way for you to include yoga to your DIY routines. Many of the 20 minute workouts are free to download and the cost to download longer videos is very inexpensive.

Don’t Weight To Lose YouTube Channel: Our own local motivator Jacques Courseault created a series of workout videos that you can do with just using a resistance band – which counts as resistance training.

SparksPeople YouTube Channel: To be honest, there are a lot of various workout channels on YouTube – so if you take the time to check them out; you’ll be able to line up the workouts you need to put a good routine together for FREE.

Creating your DIY Routines

1. Watch and Tag Videos – watch a lot of videos of various lengths to know exactly what the video will require of you, the intensity of the workouts and whether or not you would enjoy doing the workout(s). Tag all the videos accordingly, i.e. high intensity cardio, yoga routine, low intensity cardio, bicep, shoulder and back workout…etc.  You might actually want to use a bookmarking site to do this.

2. Mix and Match – Start planning your routines by mix and matching your videos.  If you are trying to lose weight, than you need to be doing 40-60 minutes of cardio…preferably 5 times a week and resistance training 3 times a week. Remember…add going for a walk, run or long bike ride in your routines.

Example One Week DIY Routine:

Monday – 3 miles run/walk (depending on your level of fitness), abs workout video

Tuesday – (2) 20 minutes workout videos medium intensity and arms and back resistance workout

Wednesday – Rest Day

Thursday – 1 hour of yoga video and abs workout video

Friday – Bike ride and shoulders resistance workout

Saturday – Rest Day

Sunday – (2) 25 minutes workout videos ((1) high intensity (1) low intensity) and calves, legs resistance workout, abs workout

Yes…I know – that is a lot of planning!! But that’s what it takes to save money by working out at home.

The Home Workout and Do-It- Yourself (DIY) Routines

I eluded in my first post about Affordable Workouts in New Orleans that working out from home will be affected by your level of experience and motivation.  In regards to your level of experience, for example, for me to workout at home and create my own routines is pretty simple – I have enough knowledge and experience to put together DIY routines that will either provide me with full body workouts or target body parts.  I can also ensure I have plenty of interval training by mixing things up to get maximum results.  However, if you don’t have a full repertoire to rely on; you will need to do more homework, research and experimenting to find out exactly what will work for you.  We’ll gladly help with that!

Second – lets address MOTIVATION. Here are my recommendations to ensure you have and maintain your motivation to workout from home.

Establish Structure

Set your schedule.  Carve out the exact time you plan to workout.  Preferably it’s the same every day.  Let everyone in your life, your family, friends, co-workers…whoever has an impact on your time that from this time to whatever time on these days – that is your workout time. Yes, you should write this in stone.

Create Your Home Gym. Figure out where you are going to workout and buy the equipment you will need (more to come about equipment). Things to consider when selecting a space…if you plan on jumping up and down – you must make sure that you’re on a floor (preferably basement) that can accommodate that without destroying your house. You will likely need a TV or computer in the room.  You will need to de-conflict the use of the room with other members of the household based on yours and their schedules.

Say you plan to use the garage…how will you hold up in the New Orleans summer heat and humidity?!? Is there proper ventilation and cooling?

Write Out Your Weekly Workout Plan. The clearer you are on what you are doing on which day – the more likely you are to stick with it.  If you need to figure out what you’re doing last minute; it won’t take long before you find a reason to do something else.  This is why workout videos come with planners and specific instructions – it’s what helps people stick with the program.  You’re welcome to send me your plan each week!

Have the Proper Equipment: You definitely don’t need to go spend an arm and a leg on home gym equipment.  I recommend you start out with some dumbbells (3 pairs of 3 different weights), a mat, and an resistance band…may be a jump rope, medicine ball and exercise ball.  Eventually you can look into also getting a home pull-up bar and some other things you will come to realize you want. You can find all that you need at either Walmart or Sports Authority. My other recommendation is that you go to the store instead of ordering online…first because shipping for 3 sets of dumbbells is likely to run you an arm and a leg. But also because it will be good for you to see what other equipment is out there.  DO NOT get wrapped up into gimmicks – stick with the basics.

Walking, Running, Biking. Any one of those three or all three are also part of your home workout so don’t forget about them.  Figure out routes and distances that you want to either walk, run or bike.  Plan accordingly if you need to drive to a park to do it.

Set Realistic Goals. Don’t get into a home workout routine expecting crazy results after a week or two.  Look at this as a learning experience and adventure. Set your goals to sticking to your new establish routine.  Take it one day at a time and enjoy it.

This post is getting a little long – in the next post we’ll get into some recommended routines, videos to check-out and basic things to workout by!

I did it! I started a Be Fit NOLA Tour de Cure Team!! My grandmother (mom’s side) had diabetes and my aunt also has diabetes – I have to be extra cautious because this is a disease that I’m genetically predisposed to…so I am at risk.  This is a personal quest but obviously it’s also a quest on a much larger level for what we believe-in at Be Fit NOLA. Participating in the American Diabetes Association Tour de Cure is a way for us to encourage you to join us in a 25 miles bike ride to raise money for a fabulous cause.

To prevent and cure diabetes and to improve the lives of all people affected by diabetes.

Now you can make a difference in the lives of more than 23.6 million Americans with diabetes by joining thousands of cyclists around the nation who are riding in Tour de Cure.

Tour de Cure is a series of fundraising cycling events held in 43 states nationwide to benefit the American Diabetes Association. The Tour is a ride, not a race, with routes designed for everyone from the occasional rider to the experienced cyclist.

The event is being held May 23, 2010 at Tammany Trace Trailhead (Koop) Drive in Mandeville.

This is a great opportunity to do something good for yourself and for a good cause…while having fun with us!!

To Register to Ride with Us – On the Be Fit NOLA team click here and for team name put in Be Fit NOLA (we are a Corporate team).  Our goal is to get at least 5 riders together who will raise $150 for a total of $750.  We would of course love to get more!!

If you aren’t interested in riding- please support my fund raising efforts

Aaron and I will start riding and everyone will be invited to join us.