Snow covers the ground and the cold turns cheeks rosy, but a group of DePauw students continues riding bicycles.
These students are from The Science of Cycling, a Winter Term course, and they can be found riding bicycles in room 1202 of the Green Center for the Performing Arts.
"The class last[s] three hours from 9 am to 12 pm, which is about nearly two hours of lecture and one hour of individual practice," ï¬rst year student Zheng Luo said.
During the ï¬rst two hours, students learn the methods of effective exercise, muscle recovery and the nutrition needed for the recovery. For example, meat is the main source of protein, and chocolate milk helps the muscle recombination. Enough sleep is also a necessary part of muscle recombination.
"Training aimed to break down the muscle, and the nutrition and enough sleep make the muscle recombine completely." Luo said.
During the rest of the time, they applied the principles they learned from the class to the cycling. To avoid being so tedious, they watched a movie while they rode.
With the daily practice, Luo felt that he lost weight under the intensive training. Instead of complaining about the tiredness, he said he really enjoys the cycling class.
"I like physical training, because it is not only funny, but also helpful for ï¬gure's shaping," Luo said. "Intensive training makes it work."
There are nearly three times as many women in the class as men. Even though the training class is always hard and sweaty, the students really enjoy the process.
"The ï¬rst class was going to be really hard for me, and I had been extremely exhausted. But it gets better now, and I have a lot of fun, " Luo said.
As he suggested, they are going to ride bicycle outdoors someday when the weather gets warmer.
"I choose the cycling class because I do not want to take other class. Physical training is the thing that I enjoy, and it is really full of fun," he said.