Yes, but “I WANT TO LIVE!”
[Official Moderator Gentle Scolding]A little harsh for IMHO, don’t you think?[Official Moderator Gentle Scolding]
For the OP, I assume your son is of a young age since you are still teaching him how to ride properly.
For a young child, it is best to emphasize fun in sport / exercise instead of making it a necessary chore. Young children don’t have the same drive that adults have and will likely want to play more. Also, the ability to feel “high” after exercise needs to be developed.
One of the major reasons your son does not feel the side effects of cycling is that it has only been 2 weeks since the start of school. This is not enough time for a couch potato to become adapted to cycling or get major doses of “high” after cycling. Give your son at least two months going to and from school on his bike before you make a conclusion if it is something for him.
For the first month, I would emphasize that your son just take it easy and just focus on developing the habits of riding to and from school on a regular basis. Tell him to enjoy the scenery. This is very, very, very, very important because good habits are essential to enjoying sports / exercise. Also, your son will probably not be exert himself very hard without running out of breath or get too much lactic acid in the legs.
I also highly recommend that you get someone that knows a lot about bicycles to make sure your son is properly fitted on his bike. I see tons of people ride bikes that are not adjusted properly and you won’t be able to ride very hard without a bunch of pain. Post a picture of your son standing beside his bicycle if you can. I’m just curious. I’ll bet his seat is too low.
For the second month, you should emphasize more intensity in his commutes. Your son will have developed some basic aerobic capacity and muscle memory in the legs. Get him to time himself on how fast he can get to and from school. Plot his times on a graph and try to get him to beat his records. If he doesn’t feel like riding fast, go with him on some of his commutes and ride away from him at each hill you come to. Bonus points if you do this in front of other kids. If he has any sense of dignity, he will come chasing after mom. 
Some intensity is important because you can only get so fit riding at a pedestrian pace. Another important reason is that you don’t get very much of a high if you just ride slowly.
Also, you should get your son riding with other kids or get him into a junior cycling club. This will give him extra motivation to ride and he will eventually develop the ability to feel “high” after cycling.
I’m one of those people that have grown into cycling and now am addicted to the highs it gives. But it hasn’t always been that way. When I first started cycling as a young kid, I didn’t feel much of a high after riding and didn’t do it very much. In retrospect, this is because I never really pushed myself that hard and it was all about getting to a school or a park. I didn’t feel a need to exercise or even cared about it.
In my adolescent years, I just started riding around to explore parks and enjoy the scenery. This was also around the time that I rode more, and more intensely. I just kept riding because the nature and scenery was so enjoyable. It was just so interesting that there was these areas that were so close to me but I never explored. I did rides of about 20-30 km at most. I never even though of it as exercise.
In my latter teenage years, I bought my own road bike to race on because my mountain bike just didn’t cut it for speed. At this time, I joined group rides and cycling clubs so I could ride more. This was all in the name of fun and I noticed that want to ride all the time. I even got myself a job in a bike store.
I’m 21 right now and this past year, I have noticed that I am completely addicted to cycling. If I go for a week without some exercise I will get really depressed and lethargic. I must cycle for at least a half hour each day to feel energized. My long rides are now 5 hours long and I race whenever I can. I’m already planning for Spring 2008 so I can try and win some races.
The lesson in all this is that cycling or your son should be fun and other things like fitness and highs will come naturally.
As for the cycling on the side walk debate, I say that bicycles should be allowed on the side walk. However, when riding on the sidewalk, you must keep your speed to 20 km/h or less and you can be a jerk and pester pedestrians. There is no reason why bicycles cannot share the sidewalk because lots of people are even too lazy to walk and I see few people on them (outside of downtowns). Why the hell do we have these sidewalks if so few people use them?
Some people just don’t have the skills to ride on the roads safely and I would prefer they develop that on the sidewalks before they attempt it on the road. Ex.: Ability to look backwards while still holding a straight line, riding in a straight line (don’t laugh, you are probably guilty), cornering safely, awareness of traffic to the sides, balance, etc.
No, he’s a junior in high school. He just never had any interest in biking until now. And we started biking regularly in June, he’s had three months to muscle up. He has gone from NO aerobic exercise to an hour a day, 5 days a week.
No, he’s like his dad, he really likes to crank it. Doesn’t seem to get winded easily. I mostly work on getting him to watch blind driveways and to slow down, get off the sidewalk or stop when he does encounter pedestrians.
You’d lose that bet. He’s over six feet and we have the post extended about as far as it can safely go. I’ve adjusted his brakes, his seat, got him new tires, put some gel wrap on his handlebars, etc. I love to tinker with bikes. What I like to do is buy old bikes and upgrade the heck out of them. I’ve also taught him to change tires and set him up with all the tools he needs to do it on the road.
Atlanta is in the foothills of the Appalachian mountains. There are some very nice climbing hills about.
We’ll see if he’s interested in that.
Oh, he likes it. He can quit and ride the bus anytime he likes.
When I was a teenager, I stayed pretty fit without doing much formal exercise. I was so much more active just living my life. There were always pick up games of something, dancing, scurrying about… 1/2 hour biking to and from school wouldn’t have made much of a difference. And my brothers? They were much more fit. The boys barely ever sat down! They were either running about or sleeping (or eating, good grief they ate a lot–and never got fat because they were so darned active). That could be what’s going on with your son (as others have mentioned).
As for now, I’m one of those that doesn’t notice when I get fit. I can see the difference, but I can’t feel it. Not getting fit anyway. However, I do notice when I get out of shape. It really stinks. I don’t know how good I’ve got it till I decide it’s not working. Only then do I realize how much better off I was!
Meh. I never felt “fit” through an entire childhood of competitve swimming (with a not insignificant number of blue ribbons). I was naturally athletic/active, long before there was such a thing as a cardio workout for anyone, much less kids. Bike riding, playing outside, pick up games of touch football, softball, running bases etc-that was being a kid.
As an adult, I tried aerobics. Huh. I would go home starving from there and eat like a lumberjack. (and yes, I ate breakfast before going).
Then I tried running. I never got a runner’s high–ok, so maybe it’s not so much a “high” as a “feeling of wellbeing”. Well, I never had that, either. I used to come home from running (2 whole miles) and take a nap. Then I was found to be severly anemic (iron deficiency). Once that was solved, I no longer napped. What I did notice was that my muscles would feel tight and cramped if I hadn’t worked out. I never, never enjoyed the run (except once, in a snowstorm-that was cool). I did get to the point where I wasn’t huffing and puffing etc—but never did I look forward to my run. I did like having run, though.
I gave it up when I developed a bone spur.
So, now I bought a bike and I bike around, casually (I see no need to look like Lance Armstrong while doing this-YMMV). I bike on the sidewalk or the street, depending on the situation. I like to run light errands on my bike (dry cleaners, video store)–I feel productive and get some exercise.
I don’t think kids notice “fitness” until well into HS. Let’s hope he keeps it up, though. You, too!
I just read through this thread from the beginning. It seems to me like a fair number of people who do feel fitter and/or better after exercising don’t believe those of us who don’t (or at least, seem to think that it could be changed by exercising harder). Even for the people (not I among them, I admit) who report doing a lot of daily exercise.
I don’t really have a question or anything. I just found it odd that there seems to be so much skepticism about it.
With me, I started feeling pretty good right after I first started running/working out. Now it’s more like I’ll feel a bit off if I don’t go. Often, if I’m feeling down or just neutral, I’ll feel very uplifted right after I’ve gone. I also felt like I got more of a boost when it was on an actual track instead of on a treadmill, but what are you going to do? (And no, the answer is not run outside.)
I also do like seeing the tone in my legs and such. The running itself isn’t all that much fun, if I don’t have music/some stimulation.
I don’t doubt that some folks don’t feel better/sometimes feel worse after working out. It could be any number of reasons, e.g. fitness level, type of activity, etc. Everyone’s body is different, perhaps those who feel worse after cardio may feel great after weight training or yoga. But I don’t doubt that some poor schmucks just feel tired/hungry/crappy after any kind of workout, and nothing will change that. That really stinks.
My only comment is that some people who don’t feel better after exercise might be expecting more of a “high” than it really is. Of course, if you fall into the “feel worse” rather than “don’t feel better” category, the point is moot.
I would add, though, that those who feel worse or don’t feel better after exercising would definitely notice the change if they got out of shape. As much as a chore as exercising is to someone who doesn’t get the immediate positive feedback that some do, being able to climb a couple flights of stairs without getting winded or carrying in the groceries without the need to have a lie-down afterwards is definitely nice.
Oh yes, no arguments from me there! I just don’t feel “fitter” after exercising more. (I’m honestly not even sure what that would feel like.) But I would never try to claim that the exercise doesn’t help my stamina for my life in general.
I think for me, it’s more I enjoy the benefits of exercise, rather than the exercise itself. I’ll never like doing it. I hate having to wash my (very thick, long) hair and fuss with it. I hate giving up approximately 2 hours of my day, 3 times/week minimum just to look “toned”. I don’t like spending money on a “health club wardrobe”, so I don’t belong to one. I don’t like the cult like devotion some show towards exercsie. Hey, whatever you’re into–but please allow me to not be into it, kay? I also can’t stand people who talk obsessively about their “exercise routine” ad nauseam. I know I need to do more of it, and I’ll find something. But I refuse to be a walking advert for Fitness! :rolleyes:
Yeah-I had a fairly bad attitude in gym class, too. 
Being healthy can be treated like a religion. (I’m not saying that anyone here is doing so), but I just don’t get this big charge out of being more toned or having more stamina. It’s nice and all, but so is an afternoon nap. I’ve never been able to get so toned (even when I weighed 118; I am 5’7", medium frame) to get those nice biceps and triceps and a six-pack. My legs always look toned, no matter what shape I’m in. This is veering OT, but all I’m saying is that the results/rewards for me are not obvious, consistent or enough to make me into a fitness guru. YMMV.
Actually, maybe he just doesn’t care about exercising all that much. I read the OP again and (don’t take this the wrong way!) it seems a little like you’re pushing him into it.
I work out a lot now but I wasn’t too into it back when I was in high school. I was still pretty thin and in good shape (thank you, naturally high metabolism!) but exercise was just something that I did NOT do. I would have resisted any attempts to get me to do it. My parents never really pushed me into it either way, though. You can lead a horse to water and all that.
It just seems a little like you’re trying to help him do something that’s very personal and has nothing to do with you.