I couldn’t think of a better way to celebrate the completion of my first triathlon than with a week-and-a-half vacation to Ireland and Scotland. Of course, I also couldn’t think of a better way to fall off the fitness wagon—hard—than with 10 days of riding in buses, sitting in pubs, and sampling (read: gorging myself on) the local food and drink specialties.
Thank goodness for bike rentals.
Yes, if it weren’t for the rusted, clunky mountain bikes my boyfriend Anthony and I rented for an afternoon in Scotland, our vacation exercise would have consisted largely of raising glasses of Guinness to our lips and stretching in rest-stop parking lots during long bus rides. We walked a lot, sure, but not nearly as much as we ate. And after experiencing such a high following my triathlon the previous week, I was itching for some real physical activity.
Choosing a bike-friendly destination
This wasn’t the first time I’ve rented a bike on vacation: When I spent a weekend in Italy two years ago with a friend, we spent one day cycling through Chianti country with a tour guide and about 10 other bikers, stopping for lunch and wine tasting at a vineyard.
And when Anthony and I visited the tiny island of Vieques, Puerto Rico, over winter break last year, we ended up renting bikes for the entire week instead of a car (thanks to procrastination—every car rental place on the island was sold out!).
When I think back on those two trips, riding through the countryside or along sandy beach roads are among my favorite memories. With bikes, we were able to travel greater distances than on foot, and we saw sights we couldn’t have seen with a car. Plus, we never had to worry about finding a parking space or paying for gas.
So when I started planning our summer trip to Ireland and Scotland, I knew I wanted to find a place we could really explore by bike. We chose to spend a few days in the major cities—Dublin and Galway in Ireland, and Edinburgh in Scotland—but I also searched my guidebooks for more rural areas with good bike routes.
Rainy weather for the first half of our trip thwarted our plans to bike (or do much of anything outside, unfortunately) in Ireland, but by the time we got to Scotland, the forecast had brightened. We took advantage of the first sunny day on the Isle of Arran—known as “Scotland in miniature” because, at just about 55 miles around the perimeter, it’s possible to cover the whole coastal road by car or bike in a day or two—by going for a short hike and then checking out some bikes from the local rental shop.
Hill workouts burn major calories
After completing a 25-mile bike ride in New York City in just over an hour and a half during the triathlon, I thought the lazy, winding road along the island’s coast would be a piece of cake. Boy, was I wrong: The hills in the Bronx are nothing compared to the mountainous terrain of Scotland’s isles, and we quickly realized that the steep uphill climbs were going to slow us down considerably.
At one point we even had to get off our bikes and walk them up the longest, tallest hill when cutting back across the middle of the island. I was quite embarrassed and unhappy with myself (I just finished a triathlon, for Pete’s sake!), until we got to the top and could see just how high we really were.
We ended up riding hard for four hours, with just a few water or walking breaks—and we only covered about 36 miles. I’m not sure how much total distance we covered vertically, but the tallest point was about 770 feet above sea level, according to a map from the Arran Bike Club.
But here’s what shocked me: According to Health.com’s interactive calculator, four hours of light cycling burns almost 1,289 calories. Four hours of mountain biking? 1,824. No wonder we stuffed ourselves on Isle of Arran cheese and beer after returning the bikes! (No, we weren’t technically off-road mountain biking, but I think the hills we climbed took about the same amount of exertion.)
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