Writings of the Lone Maltese Rider

Ishmael Muscat is a 24 year old racing mountain biker & cyclist who blogs at Writings of the Lone Maltese Rider. He rides for the cycling club of Mosta and was recently in Melbourne, Australia for a training camp. In his latest entry, he discusses the effects of travelling on cycling:

It is widely agreed that the effects of travelling on the human body is detrimental to immune systems. Scientists articulate that travelling West to East seems to aid the adaptation of the human body’s biorhythms better than travelling East to West. Nevertheless, whatever the travelling direction, the negative impact of travelling on athletes has been verified through the various studies carried out over the past decades.

Numerous critics articulate various means of combating the so-called ‘jet lag’ effect. Believe it or not, crossing the Atlantic earlier this year left an indelible stain on my biorhythmic system, even though various precautions had been taken. The worse part was returning back to Malta from New York City after having spent two days in Italy on my way back. The sleep patterns reflected late last September were quite worrying-it took me 3 days to get into my normal sleeping hours pattern, with the worse part being the first two days when I was hitting the sack not before 04:00!

Yet, it is not only the difference in time that leaves an indelible temporary stain on one’s immune system. Think of travelling vertically North or vertically South, such as a long 10-hour trip to South Africa. The travelling effects are just as bad and need a couple of days to disappear...