Lance Armstrong I am not. I didn’t learn to ride a bicycle until my freshman year of college, when a police officer noticed me wobbling along on my purple Schwinn. He was kind enough to run along behind me until I got the hang of it, then assured me my bike was sturdy enough to survive a few good crashes. Nice.

I’ve never felt at ease on a bike. But this week, I started counting the ways a bicycle tour might be more enjoyable than a more traditional vacation.

For one thing, the act of traveling is rarely pleasant. Driving is horrible. There’s always that psycho riding on your back bumper. (Guys, I think my Hyundai has a nice posterior, too, but she has space issues. Back off!) When you switch lanes to let the guy pass, he switches lanes, too. I’ve heard it’s a trick to get the first driver to go faster so the second driver can tag along and avoid a speeding ticket.

And then there’s flying. Does anyone actually enjoy being confined to a winged tin can 30,000 feet above the ground? Don’t get me started on the nutters who hog the armrests, sing along with their iPods (never on key) and let their kids kick the back of your seat. By the time you get back home, you’re so stressed you need another vacation.

But bike tours are different. The act of traveling is as much a part of the journey as the destination. It’s a way to slow down and enjoy the scenery. It’s less stressful, and depending on how far you have to drive to your starting point and where you’re staying in the evenings, it can be more cost-efficient.

Not only are you relaxing and enjoying the scenery, you’re getting some exercise. Given our collective expanding waistline (or in my case, rump line), a vacation centered on activity might be a good idea. The more activity you can fit in, the better.

That’s why I was really excited to learn about ways to include more exercise in my day-to-day schedule. Sure, fitness magazines have tips for lunch-break workouts, but I’ve never been one for pushups in the cubicle or power-walking around the block. It’s not easily done in high heels.

It is, however, easy to get up a little earlier in the morning for a few stretches, remember to sit up straight and hold my stomach in at work and then get some cardio in the evening.

By making fitness an all-day process instead of one big block of time, I might be less likely to skip out on it. It’s easier to simply not do something than it is to leave it unfinished.

And if I make cardio workouts a priority, maybe I’ll finally learn to ride my bike. I’ll never ride in the Tour de France, but maybe a Tour de Broadway?

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