thickets and thoracic

He has some stories to tell, and does a pretty good job of telling them. Check out this blog if you need some literary value with your snark.

Cycling is a good sport in many ways. But there are some pitfalls. One thing to avoid is compensated posture in the lumbar region. This can occur no matter what your posture is on the bike, and usually results in a chronic 'crunched' position. The body avoids this during a natural walking or running motion, but on the bike we tend to keep the waist from performing a very important twisting action that gives the lower back a little break from compressive forces. If you are aware of muscles like the obliques, you know that your abdomen is supported by a criss-crossed cylinder of muscle. When you twist the hips in relation to the ribcage, or vice-versa, you tighten this cylinder of muscle, and lengthen the distance between the two. The resulting traction-like force on the lumbar spine is something we are missing on the bike, as we try to keep the upper body stable and motionless. So if there ever was a reason for cross-training, this is it. Get off the bike and run now and then. Hmmm, sounds a lot like cyclecross...