101 Benefits Of Cycling | According to a
Pro Cyclist
101 Benefits of Cycling That
will Make you Love it more
Taking up cycling can be one of the best
decisions you’ll make in life. Whether you choose to hop on a bike for health
reasons, to help the environment, try a new activity, or even to supplement
another sport, cycling is a ton of fun.
After some time on the
bike, you may find that the only downside to cycling is that it can be
addictive!
And you won’t be
riding alone. Globally, more people own bikes than own cars – about 42% of the world’s
population – and that
number is growing every year.
FOR
EXAMPLE, in the US, the
number of people biking to work has grown by 60% over the past 10 years and the number of
cyclists has grown by 15 million people overall.
If you’re still on the fence about joining the global community of cyclists, Here Are 101 Amazing Benefits to cycling that span all aspects of
life.
The best part is, you only need to choose one to start cycling – but as soon as you start, all the other benefits will follow
HEALTH BENEFITS
Exercise Is A Critical Component Of Staying
Healthy. But The Type Of Exercise You Do – Strength Or Cardio, Sprinting Or
Endurance - Also Matters. Cycling Is A Great Way To Capture The Health Benefits
Of These Different Styles Of Fitness Since It Blends The Line Between Lower
Body Strength, Aerobic Training, Intervals, And Long Rides In The Saddle.
Cycle Regularly And
Mix Up Workouts For Maximum Benefits
Of course, health benefits don’t come for free. While you might
see some benefits after your first few times on the bike, many of these
benefits require cycling regularly to develop and maintain. Mixing up your
cycling workouts, for example by doing intervals one day a week and a long ride
later in the week, can help you to hit on different aspects of fitness.
1.Build Muscle
Cycling is a
serious leg workout, and your quads, hamstrings, and glutes are
sure to respond by building new muscle fibers to adapt. Although cycling at low
resistance will slowly build muscles, you can maximize the gains and build
muscle faster by riding uphill, riding in higher gears, or including sprint
intervals in your workout.
2.Cut Fat
Low intensity,
aerobic, and consistent exercise is one of the most effective ways to lose body fat. Cycling for an hour or so each day is
plenty to begin losing fat, and you can maximize the loss by heading into a
training section after fasting for a few hours – but be careful not to overeat at the end of
the ride.
Low Intensity, Aerobic, And Consistent
Exercise Is One Of The Most Effective Ways To Lose Body Fat.
Click To Tweet
3.Strengthen Your Legs
Cycling is far more
fun than lifting weights in the basement, but it can help you achieve similar
strength gains in your lower body. The best way to build brute strength, particularly in your quads, is to grind
away in your highest gear – but if you drop below 60 pedal strokes per minute,
drop a gear so that you don’t crush your knee joints.
4.Decrease Your Stress
Many athletes point to
the “runner’s high” as a zen mental state that comes
from exercise, but the same stress-free feeling can be found through cycling.
Cycling forces you to regulate your
breathing, breathe more deeply,
and focus on the task at hand rather than the stress of other parts of your
life.
5.Save Your Knees
Running, and most team
sports that involves running, slowly breaks down your knee joints over time. Cycling, on the other hand,
has a low impact on your knee joints and as a result is a sport you can
participate even in old age. Be sure to fit your bike
properly, since a seat that is too high or low can cause grinding or over
extension.
6.Breath Deep
Just as you can train
the muscles in your legs, you can train the muscles that expand and contract
your lungs. Cycling is a great way for this because there are ample
opportunities to include intervals in your workouts,
or to practice cresting a hill and then keeping up the hard effort. This type
of training can help to expand your lung capacity and teach you to move air
more effectively.
7.Cheer Up
Even 30 minutes of
cycling or other aerobic exercise per day has been demonstrated to improve your
subjective mood. In addition,
according to one study, people who exercise routinely have a decreased chance of
falling into depression as they age.
8.Reduce Anxiety
Cycling has been shown
to reduce stress levels by up to 40%,
and as a result can keep feelings of anxiety at bay. By keeping your mind on
the road in front of you rather than aspects of work or life that are bothering
you, cycling can provided a much-needed mental break.
9.Stretch Yourself
The motion of cycling
forces you to extend specific muscles in your lower body that
don’t often get stretched, like your glutes and hip flexors. This stretching
can increase your overall range of motion and flexibility. However, it’s also
important to remember to stretch these muscles after rides so they don’t tighten up
after expanding.
10.Sleep Better
Decreases in fitness
have been found to correlate with levels
of insomnia in both men and
women, so it’s important to stay in shape to give yourself the best possible
chance of a good night’s sleep. Cycling in
particular is a great way to reap exercise-induced sleep benefits since it
reduces anxiety and keeps weight down, both of which are thought to contribute
to insomnia.
11.Boost Your Libido
Building your
cardiovascular system is a great way to increase your sex drive and counteract
aging. In men, athletes can have the sex drive of non-athletes up to five years younger and one study found that men
over 50 who cycle at least three hours a week are 30% less likely to experience impotence. In women,
cardiovascular exercise can delay menopause by up to several years.
12.Heart Healthy
Hopping on a bike can
drastically cut your risk of heart
disease. One study found that
cycling regularly can decrease your chance of developing heart problems by 50%, while another study found
that those who ride just 20 miles per week have half the heart disease risk as
people who don’t exercise.
13.Work Those Lungs
Regular cardiovascular
exercise can help to keep your lungs
healthy by teaching them
to move air more efficiently. Breathing hard actually forces the muscles that
expand and contract your lungs to work harder,
which can decrease your risk of losing lung function as your age.
14.Improve Your
Cholesterol
Aerobic exercise, like
cycling, is one of the best ways to boost your HDL
cholesterol – the good cholesterol – and decrease your LDL
cholesterol – the bad cholesterol. Just two months of regular cycling at an
intensity that raises your heart rate, but doesn’t leave you breathless, is
enough to raise your HDL
cholesterol by 5%.
15.Fight Cancer
Exercise in general
can reduce your risk of cancer, but studies have honed in on cycling in
particular as one of the best sports to reduce cancer risk.
One study in particular looked at bike commuters, and found that cycling to
work can reduce your chances of developing cancer by 45.
Cycling To Work Can Reduce Your Chances Of
Developing Cancer By 45%.
Click To Tweet
16.Control Diabetes
People with Type II
diabetes often experience poor circulation in their lower body, which can lead
to swollen feet. Cycling is a great way to help enhance blood return from the lower body, reducing swelling
and foot pain. Because cycling uses up glucose in your muscle cells as well, it can also help people with
diabetes regulate their blood sugar.
17.Boost Your Brain
Power
Cycling doesn’t just
build blood vessels in your leg muscles – it also builds them in your brain. As a result, hopping on a bike regularly can
improve blood flow through your brain which can help replenish the neurons
involved in thought processing and memory.
18.Eat Frequently
Cycling can burn
through your body’s fat and sugar reserves
quickly, requiring you to eat small portions frequently to replenish your
energy during long rides. That same habit of eating small portions
frequently, rather than stomach
ache-inducing large portions all at once, can help your digestive tract
function more smoothly off the bike, too.
19.Improve Your Blood
Pressure
Any physician will
tell you that high blood pressure is a risk factor for having a heart attack. They’ll also tell you that cycling is one
of the best exercises for lowering your blood pressure since it helps your body
circulate blood from your legs back to your heart.
20.Get Addicted
For some people,
cycling is more than just a fun sport – it’s an addiction. But cycling is
a positive addiction, one that can help to replace or stave off
developing other, less benevolent addictions and
that can add significant satisfaction to your daily life.
21.Be In Tune With
Your Body
Cycling, especially at
a competitive level, requires you to understand all of the nuanced signals your body gives you about mood,
fatigue, stress, and exertion. Tuning yourself to recognize these signals can
be helpful in assessing and adapting your daily life, for example to stress at
work or illness.
22.Look Younger
A study from Stanford
University found that cycling regularly can reduce signs of aging by protecting your skin from
harmful UV rays. The secret is that increased circulation
allows your skin cells to gain nutrients and flush out toxins – just remember
to lather on the sun tan lotion when you go out for a ride.
23.Regulate Your
Digestion
Cycling also works the
muscles inside your body – the ones surrounding your digestive tract. Cyclists
have more frequent bowel movements. That may not seem like a benefit, but it
actually reduces feelings of being bloated, can result in softer stools that
are easier to pass, and can reduce your risk of digestive
tract cancers.
24.Keep Disease At Bay
Aerobic exercise can
be a significant boost to your immune system thanks to the boost in circulation
it provides. One study found that people who exercised five
days a week were more than 40% less likely to
get the common cold compared to people who didn’t exercise, and when they did
get sick they reported symptoms as being 30% less severe compared to
non-athletes.
25.Improve Bone
Structure
Resistance exercises
are one of the best ways to improve bone density and fight osteoporosis as you age. Pushing and pulling on
the pedals on the bike works the muscles in your legs, which in turn work the
bones and signal your body to keep up bone structure.
26.Live Longer
By reducing your risk
of some of the most common killers – car accidents, heart and lung disease, and
cancer, cycling can actually help to stretch your lifespan.
Numerous studies looking directly at lifespan have found that cyclists tend to live longer than non-athletes, by an average of an
extra five years for men and four years for women.
Cyclists Tend To Live Longer Than Non-Athletes
Click To Tweet
27.Treat Arthritis
Cycling involves a low
impact motion that makes it a great option to strengthen muscles even
when most other sports cause pain. One recent study found that because of this, cycling can
both slow down the development of arthritis and reduce its effects on patients
who experience arthritis pain in their knees.
28.Your Newborn Will
Thank You
Exercising during
pregnancy has a number of benefits for both mothers and their newborns.
Several studies have found that exercise can reduce the risk of caesarean sections and dangerous complications
during childbirth, like preeclampsia. Children of parents who exercise also
have a 50% lower risk of obesity.
29.Stay Hydrated
Good hydration
can promote cardiovascular
health, keep your joints and
muscles in working order, and help regulate your body temperature. Cycling is a
great way to make staying hydrated part of your routine since performing at
your best on and off the bike forces you to drink lots of water.
30.Wake Up
Studies have found a
strong link between regular exercise and reduced fatigue. In one example, study
participants who cycled at low intensity for 20 minutes daily reported feelings
of fatigue 65% less often than participants who did not
exercise. While the mechanism for this isn’t clear, researchers believe it may
be because the stimulation provided to the nervous system lasts longer than the
workout itself.
31.Improve Posture
Correct posture is a
big deal when cycling. It affects not only comfort during long rides, but also
speed on the road and your risk for developing injury. While developing good
posture on the bike takes some practice, that posture improvement will
translate to all aspects of your life and can reduce your risk of back pain.
ENVIRONMENTAL
BENEFITS
Let’s face it – cars aren’t great for the
environment. They produce noise pollution and air pollution, and are one of the
largest contributors of man-made greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to
climate change. But since bicycles don’t run on diesel, they can be an
environmentally sustainable alternative to cars.
Catalyze The Change
It's often said that one person switching to cycling won’t make a
dent in the number of cars on the road, but switching to cycling can encourage
friends, family, and even strangers to trade their cars for bikes. And the more
bicycles that replace cars, the better these benefits get.
32.Save on CO2
Even a short commute
of around 5 miles to work each day can quickly add up to more than 100 gallons
of gas over a year, and correspondingly contribute to carbon dioxide emissions
and global climate change. Biking to work doesn’t require fossil fuels and can
help to reduce your personal contribution to climate change.
Biking To Work Doesn’t Require Fossil Fuels
And Can Help To Reduce Your Personal Contribution To Climate Change.
Click To Tweet
33.Reduce Smog
Cars are among the
largest contributors to air pollution because they emit not only carbon dioxide,
but also pollutants like nitrogen oxides and
particulate soot. Cycling doesn’t
produce any of these pollutants and can help to keep city air clean to breathe.
34.Cut Noise Pollution
Compared to a car
engine, bikes are basically silent. Reducing noise pollution, especially in
crowded cities, can drastically reduce noise
complaints and make for a
more pleasant environment. In addition, reducing noise pollution can actually
have physical health benefits since long exposure to moderate noise levels can
cause auditory damage.
35.Use Less Space
A single parking space
for a car can fit up to 12 bikes, which on the scale of a city can be a ton of
real estate converted to uses other than parking. In fact, cities often
subsidize the cost of parking – so that taxpayer money is being used to pay for
people to drive.
36.No Idling
Idling in traffic
can suck up gas, producing carbon dioxide emissions and
contributing to air and noise pollution. Not only do bikes not contribute to
these problems when they’re stopped – they also require you to stop less
frequently because you can weave through traffic or use a designated bike path.
37.Use Less Resources
Bikes do require
materials and their manufacture has some environmental negatives, but the manufacturing
footprint for bikes is minimal
compared to cars. That’s even more true when accounting for batteries, leather
seats, and the sheer amount of industrial materials required to put together a
car compared to a bike.
38.Leave batteries
behind
All cars, even
environmentally friendly electric vehicles, use large batteries that need to be
replaced every few years. These batteries produce toxic waste that is hazardous
to dispose and can’t be recycled. Bikes don’t require any batteries.
39.Save trees
All tires use rubber,
which typically comes from rubber plantations planted over rain forests that
have been clear-cut and burned. But the skinny tires of a road bike use far less rubber than car tires, which
helps to reduce demand for rubber and can save rain forests from being
converted to plantations.
40.Reduce Water
Pollution
Motor oil, brake fluid
oil, and antifreeze all leak from cars, and thanks to the number of cars on the
roads have become a major source of water
pollution and contain a
variety of toxic substances. Bikes, on the other hand, don’t require any oil –
so riding a bike can help to keep the water we drink clean of toxins.
41.Save Animals
The number of animals
killed by cars each day is staggering – it’s estimated to be in the tens of millions
globally. While bike-animal
collisions can happen, the slower speed of bikes make these collisions much
more avoidable and far less dangerous to both humans and animals.
ECONOMIC
BENEFITS
Everyone wants to save money, and cycling is
one way to keep more of your hard-earned paycheck in your pocket. Owning a bike
is far cheaper than owning a car thanks to parking, insurance, fuel, and
maintenance costs. And while a bike can be a significant initial investment,
the money saved by switching from a bike to a car can quickly pay that back.
Bikes Help Cities, Too
Cycling can also have an economic benefit that reaches beyond your
own pockets. Cities generally lose money on giving up real estate for parking
spaces and cars can cause significant road wear that has to be fixed. All of
these things cost cities money, which in turn means higher taxes for everyone.
So switching to biking can save your entire community a little dough.
42.Bikes Are Cheaper
Than Cars
If you need a way to
get around, from a purely economic standpoint choosing between a new bike that
costs a couple hundred dollars and a new car that costs several thousand
dollars or more is a no-brainer. Even after spending money on accessories to
enable your bike to carry gear and ride in any weather, you’ll save by opting for a nice bike instead of a cheap car.
43.Use Public Bikes
Although far cheaper
than a car, a new bike comes with its own price tag as well as additional
maintenance costs over the life of the bike. Many cities offer bike-sharing
programs that you can use
for a low monthly cost, saving you even more money while still meeting most of
your transportation needs.
44.Save On Gas
Commuting 5 miles to
work by car every day can use up more than 100 gallons of gas, not to mention
the additional gas spent on running errands around your neighborhood. Using a
bike for these trips instead can save a ton of gas, which in turn saves you
hundreds to thousands of dollars per year – enough to recoup investing in a
bike and accessories in just five months.
45.Save On Parking
Parking your car in
many places isn’t free – expect to pay a meter or invest in an expensive
parking pass. Parking a bike, on the other hand, is almost always free. Even
buying a reliable bike lock is far less costly than paying daily
parking fees.
Buying A Reliable Bike Lock Is Far Less Costly
Than Paying Daily Parking Fees.
Click To Tweet
46.Drop Your Insurance
Car insurance
can cost many hundreds of
dollars per year, more than the cost
of a nice new bicycle in many cases. While cycling more may not allow you to
drop your car entirely, driving less and cycling more can save you money by
making pay-as-you-go insurance contracts more economical.
47.Get Around Faster
Time is money, as the
saying goes. In many cities, choosing to bike instead of drive can actually get
you to your destination
faster when traffic is
bad. Biking can also save you time since you don’t need to search for a parking
space when you get to your destination.
48.Support Local
Businesses
Let’s face it – you’re
not likely to travel as far or as fast on a bike as in a car. But that provides
an incentive to shop
locally whenever
possible – which keeps cash in your local community and supports local small
businesses.
49.Learn To Be A
Mechanic
Even if you make a
habit of bringing your bike to the local shop when it needs maintenance, owning
a bike will teach you some simple mechanic skills. These skills can be
translated to doing other simple mechanical maintenance around your home, which
can save you money since you can fix more things on your own instead of calling
in an expensive expert.
50.Cut Your Healthcare
Costs
Biking is great for
your overall health, reducing your risk of heart and lung disease and cancer as
well as everyday illness. That in turn benefits your wallet because it means
less doctor visits and can reduce the cost of your health insurance policy.
51.Spend Less
Biking can provide an
extra barrier, mental and physical, to making unnecessary trips – like eating
out or visiting a ton of stores and ending up with things you don’t need. The
savings can add up quickly, especially if the restaurant you love is just out
of range of an easy ride.
52.Reduce Road Wear
Cars cause significant
wear and tear on roads over time, which can cost cities – and in turn taxpayers
– tons of money to repair. But this road damage is correlated to the size of
the vehicle using the roads: it would take an extremely heavy bicyclist 17,000 trips to cause the same road damage as the
average car!
53.Improve Tourism
People enjoy cities
that have a big biking culture because they’re less crowded, smoggy, and loud.
Plus, many cities are discovering the economic benefits of bike
tourism – as they build
infrastructure for residents to cycle, tourists are flocking to bikes when they
visit as well.
54.Get A Cash Bonus
Some employers
have implemented programs to pay their employees a bonus for
biking to work as an incentive. Employers win because they can reduce their
parking lots and employees are more creative at work and healthier. You win by
getting more money in your paycheck.
55.Cut Your Tax Bill
If your employer pays
you for cycling to work, you can actually claim that income without having to pay
taxes on it later.
56.Drop Your Gym
Membership
Switching to cycling
as a way to build fitness can also allow you to cut another expense: your gym membership. Even if you don’t like to cycle for exercise
in the winter, you can still save during the summer as many gyms will allow you
to suspend your membership for a few months.
SOCIAL
BENEFITS
Life is about finding happiness, and having
great friends along for the journey can make all the difference. Cycling is a
great way to not only make new friends, but to form deep bonds and memories
that last a lifetime.
New Friends Can Change Your Life
Having different friends can dramatically change your life. For
example, a friend you found through cycling may bring along other hobbies or
opportunities for you. Or maybe you meet your significant other through a
cycling club. The social benefits of cycling can have a far-reaching positive
impact on your life that can be hard to predict when you first start out.
57.Make New Friends
Cycling can help you
develop deeper bonds with existing friends who cycle, or it can be a gateway to
making tons of new friends. Many cities and towns have local cycling clubs full of people eager to ride with new
cyclists, and it’s easy to walk away from a bike race with a handful of new
cycling friends.
Cycling Can Help You Develop Deeper Bonds With
Existing Friends Who Cycle
Click To Tweet
58.Belong To A Club
Cycling teams and
clubs welcome cyclists of all ability levels, and they offer a ton of benefits both on the bike and off. For cyclists
interested in racing, they offer potential teammates, while for more casual
cyclists they’re a ready supply of potential friends to bike with and can
provide a critical sense of purpose to your rides. Many clubs also offer
discounts on bike gear.
59.Spend Quality Time
Together
Nothing brings people
together like adversity, and it’s relatively easy to manufacture difficult
adventures on a bike – just target the biggest hill you can find, or a long
route. Time spent cycling together is also spent disconnected from your phone and the outside world,
and it can be the foundation of lasting friendships.
60.Create Memories
Tackle a massive route
with big views or plenty of beer stops, and you’re sure to remember it forever.
Cycling is a great way to enjoy experiences with friends that will turn into lasting
memories and stories that
you can share for years to come.
61.Teach Others
Being a mentor feels
good – and it’s a
possibility that cycling can open up for you. New cyclists are constantly
joining the ranks (because they find out there are so many benefits to
cycling!), and it takes an experienced cyclist to teach them the local routes,
bike handling, and gear.
62.Make It A Family
Affair
The bonds that cycling
can build also apply to your family, since cycling is accessible to people of all
ages and abilities. Cycling can also instill a sense of adventure and
physical ability in your children, which will serve them well throughout their
entire lives.
63.Support Charity
Cycling can be bigger
than just you. Many race or organized ride entry fees directly benefit charity,
and other rides require you to raise money for charity from family and friends.
Best of all, you can pick and choose rides based on the charities you want to support.
64.Be More Interesting
When you meet someone
at a party, do you think they would rather hear about your 9-5 job or your
latest cycling adventure? The adventure that is an inherent part of cycling,
along with the friendships you make along the way, can make you a more
interesting person and help you attract even more friends.
65.Get More Dates
According to one survey, people are 23% more likely to go on a date
with a cyclist than any other type of athlete – and you can better your chances
of having a second date by riding for charity since 80% of potential dates
think that’s an impressive feat.
According To One Survey, People Are 23% More
Likely To Go On A Date With A Cyclist Than Any Other Type Of Athlete
Click To Tweet
TRANSPORT BENEFITS
Cars aren’t always the best way to get around,
and they certainly don’t have the versatility that bikes offer. Cycling can
help you get places faster, take you to places a car couldn’t or wouldn’t go,
and teach you something about your local community in the process.
Every Car Off The Road Matters
Switching to bikes can also make the roads better for everyone,
since every car taken off the road is one less car contributing to congestion.
That can make it easier for everyone to get around, improve quality of life in
crowded cities, and even contribute to the environment by reducing idling.
66.Learn Local Roads
Let’s face it, not
every ride can be a long ride - and the roads that you normally drive around
your neighborhood may not be ideal for cycling. As a result, cycling forces you
to explore the roads around your home that you don’t normally drive and may
help you find a shortcut that you didn’t know existed.
67.Avoid Traffic
It’s often easy to get
around time-consuming traffic on a bike that would be impossible to
escape in a car. For example, you can walk your bike on the sidewalk to go
around a jam, or hop on a bike path to avoid a congested area. In fact, cycling
is faster than driving during rush hour in many cities.
Cycling Is Faster Than Driving During Rush
Hour In Many Cities.
Click To Tweet
68.Improve Your
Navigational Skills
Being on a bicycle
forces you to find your way, since checking your GPS requires you to actually
stop and get off your bike – something that most people would rather not do.
Practicing your navigational skills on the bike can help improve your sense of
direction so that you may
not need to check your GPS on your next car trip, either.
69.Explore New Places
Long bike rides can
force you to get out of your geographic comfort zone and explore new roads and
areas that might offer the perfect pavement. Cycling can also be a great
motivation to check out streets that you wouldn’t ordinarily drive down. Best
of all, there are numerous lists of amazing
places to bike around the world
that cyclists can add to their bucket lists.
70.Access To Bike Paths
There are a growing
number of bike paths both in cities and rural areas, and in many cases they
offer much more spectacular views than nearby roads as well as the promise of
zero traffic.
71.One Less Car On The
Road
Taking your bike
instead of a car means there will be one less car on the road. And while one
car may not make a huge difference, people switching to bikes in large numbers
can dramatically reduce
traffic. That means less
congestion for drivers and safer roads for cyclists – a win for everyone.
SPORTS
BENEFITS
Cycling doesn’t have to be your only sport, or
even your primary sport. But the training that cycling provides is an excellent
way to increase your fitness and athletic prowess, setting you up for success
in whatever sport you choose.
Work Your Mental Game
Cycling can impact not just your physical fitness for other
sports, but can also reach your mental athleticism. The best athletes have the
mental fortitude to push through difficult portions of a competition, and
cycling can radically change the way you react to a burning sensation in your
leg muscles.
72.Injury Prevention
For non-cyclists,
adding a day or more of cycling per week can go a long way towards preventing
injury. For starters, simply switching out your normal sport for cycling can
help to prevent overuse
injuries. In addition, cycling
targets and stretches specific muscles like the hip flexors and glutes that
many other sports, like running, can stress.
73.Cross-Training Is
Key
There are a ton of
benefits to trading out your normal sport for a day of cycling once a week or
more. Cycling can teach aerobic
efficiency because of the
nature of spinning your legs at a high rate, as well as provide an alternative
to the monotony of training a single sport day in and day out.
Cycling Can Teach Aerobic Efficiency
Click To Tweet
74.Recover From Injury
Taking up cycling can
be a great way to keep in shape while fighting injury that affects another sport. Peddling
uses different muscles than running and many team sports and is low impact on
joints and other sensitive areas, so there’s a good chance pre-existing
injuries won’t be sensitive to cycling.
75.Tailor Your
Intensity
Bikes come with a
series of gears that make it easy to choose the intensity of workout you want. Have a rest day? Go
with an easy gear. Looking for a resistance training workout or to reap the
benefits of building strength in your legs? Drop the chain into your most
difficult cog.
76.Build Explosive
Strength
Racing bikes takes
explosive power in your legs, since the pack can break away at any moment and
you must be able to reel them in quickly. That same lower body strength can
also help you accelerate from a run to a sprint, making you an asset player in
any other sport.
77.Improve Your
Endurance
Cycling, especially
over long distances, takes grit and endurance. It requires your legs to be able
to meter out power steadily, and to train your ability to
recover quickly. And that lower body endurance isn’t specific to biking –
you’ll find yourself lasting longer on runs and in team sports as well.
78.Practice At The
Redline
In any sport, the
difference between good athletes and great athletes is the ability to recover
quickly after a hard, draining effort. Cycling can help your muscles adapt to
hard efforts and active recoveries, which can boost your fitness and
performance in any sport.
79.Get Faster
Cycling can make you a
faster runner thanks to the high cadence of pedaling. The best runners have
cadences of 180 steps per minute, which is difficult to achieve for many
runners. But cycling forces you to aim for 90 large rotations per minute, which
teaches your feet and legs to turn over quickly.
80.Train Without
Injury
Any sport that
involves running can wear down your joints if you’re practicing every day and
increase your risk of injury, but every day without practice your fitness is at
risk. Cycling as a form of cross-training can allow you to train with a low injury
risk because it has a very low impact on your knees and hips.
81.Build Aerobic
Capacity
For any sporting
events that last longer than a minute, your aerobic capacity – your body’s
ability to move oxygen to your muscles - defines how long you can play at your
best and has been directly linked to performance in soccer. Cycling is one
of the best exercises to improve your aerobic
capacity because it
combines endurance with intervals of hard efforts.
Cycling is one of the best exercises to
improve your aerobic capacity because it combines endurance with intervals of
hard efforts.
Click to Tweet
82.Create A Training
Plan
Learning to craft a
training plan is an important skill for training for competition in any sport.
Cycling is a great way to learn how to create a plan because there are so many resources
out there, including premade training plans that you can tailor to your needs.
83.Stay In Shape
Through The Winter
Many runners fall out
of shape during the winter months because they’re hesitant to go outside in
cold and wet weather. But cycling can easily be done inside by putting your
bike on a trainer stand, which mimics the feeling of biking on the
road and can help you stay in shape ahead of nice spring riding weather.
84.Get Competitive
Cycling can be a fun and welcoming
introduction to the world of
competitive sports, since there are many races that cater to beginners and pros
alike. Racing can in turn encourage you to become a better cyclist or athlete
in another sport, which only enhances many of the health, social, and exercise
benefits from cycling.
85.Balance Better
Bikes don’t simply
stay upright by themselves, so the simple act of cycling and focusing on
keeping the bike steady teaches your body and mind to
balance. The resulting
improvement in balance can rub off on every other movement you make throughout
the day, of which balance is an important and often underrated element.
86.Learn To Use Your
Body Weight
Cycling is a technical
sport – there are descents, corners, and sudden stops and accelerations.
Staying upright on two wheels requires understanding how to move your body weight around
to adjust to the bike’s motion. While training this might feel specific to
cycling, you’ll notice the benefits in many sports through improved agility and
coordination
87.Build Mental
Fortitude
All sports are
mentally demanding, and cycling is a great way to train for that. Long hours of
solitude, freezing your fingers off during a winter ride, or dripping water
from your whole body after riding through a rainstorm all build mental fortitude that can help carry you through any
challenge, whether in sport or in life.
All sports are mentally demanding, and cycling
is a great way to train for that
Click to Tweet
88.Get In A Training
Rhythm
Training for cycling
requires dedication, endurance, and the willingness to create a plan and stick
to it. That same training ethic and the skill of building a training plan is
crucial for nearly any sport and can be easily translated.
89.Improve Reflexes
Situations can change
fast on the road. In a race, changes in speed can be sudden, while even during
daily rides it’s important to be able to shift and clamp down on the breaks
quickly. Because of this, cycling can help you build reflexes in your hands and legs that can increase
your quickness in all parts of your life.
PERSONAL
BENEFITS
Cycling can also have some unexpected benefits
that are hard to measure, but that any experienced cyclist knows to be real.
Change Your Outlook
These benefits reach beyond your body to your mind and outlook on
life, and can play a huge role in how you choose to live and your quality of
life.
90.Find Inner Peace
Long rides can seem
monotonous at first, but after enough hours on the road staring at your front
wheel it’s easy to enter another, higher mental state altogether. This zen state isn’t
“runner’s high” – instead, it’s a relaxation and acceptance that can only come
from cycling long distances.
91.Rep Your Style
Riding a bicycle can
be a statement of your lifestyle and values in itself, but you can also make a
serious style statement with your choice of bike. Those who believe that life should be lived
in the fast lane can pick up a racing-style road bike, while more easygoing
people can ride a beach cruiser or mountain bike.
92.Be More Resourceful
Unfortunately, things
won’t always go right on the road. You may get a flat, find yourself lost on a
new road with a dead phone, or run out of food or water. Cycling teaches you to
be resourceful when you’re out on the road by yourself, and that same
resourcefulness can help you solve problems that crop up in all aspects of your
life.
Cycling Teaches You To Be Resourceful When
You’re Out On The Road By Yourself
Click To Tweet
93.Be More Adventurous
Cycling encourages
exploration, and not just of your local roads. There are tons of amazing rides
that other cyclists have compiled, and one of the best things about biking is
that it almost always rewards taking a map and drawing out a new route from
scratch.
94.Don’t Waste A Nice
Day
There’s nothing worse
than giving up a sunny day because you don’t know what to go outside and do
with yourself. Cycling can be your go-to activity for nice days to feel the
wind in your face, catch the sun on your skin, and enjoy the beauty of your
surroundings on a blue-sky day.
95.See The World
Traveling the world is
on many people’s bucket lists, and cycling offers a great excuse to make it
to far-flung destinations that you wouldn’t otherwise see. Many
tourist-friendly cities now offer bike tours, while many countries have
developed Tour de France-like routes intended for cycling vacations packed with
sightseeing and amenities.
96.Improve Your
Productivity
Numerous studies have
found that people who cycle to work are more productive than their non-cycling
peers. Opting to commuter bike instead of relying on public transit or
sitting in traffic can leave you feeling refreshed and energized rather than
feeling stressed and potentially late for work.
Numerous studies have found that people who
cycle to work are more productive than their non-cycling peers.
Click to Tweet
97.Boost Creative
Breakthroughs
While your heart rate
may drop soon after you hop off the bike, the benefits of boosting blood flow
to your brain can last through the remainder of the day. Exercise has been
shown to increase problem solving abilities and can encourage your
creative juices to flow freely.
98.Learn
Self-Sufficiency
Especially on long
rides, anything that can go wrong, will. That’s why cyclists have to be
self-sufficient, carrying everything they need to fix a flat, find their way,
and fuel themselves throughout a ride. That capacity for
self-sufficiency translates well
to other activities, like traveling on your own or even work around the house.
99.Snack More
Eat more salt?
Probably not what any non-athlete would hear from their doctor, but increasing salt intake can actually be beneficial for frequent
cyclists to avoid hyponatremia during long rides. That means getting to enjoy
more of the snacks you love that aren’t necessarily the healthiest.
100.Drink More Beer
Let’s face it, many
cyclists are just in it for the beer. Finishing off a big ride with a beer is
an essential part of the celebration and recovery. And
best of all, cycling will help your body burn the calories from that beer so
you don’t have to worry about gaining weight from it.
101.Have More Fun
Cycling has a ton of
benefits, any of which could be motivation enough to hop on a bike. But at the
end of the day, it’s the fun of cycling that will keep you coming back – ask
any biker how much fun cycling is, and an hour later they’ll probably still be
listing all of the cool adventures they’ve had on their bike with friends.
