Benefits of Biking

Bicycle riding is a great way to get fit or stay fit while enjoying the beauty of the outdoors. Although biking is often overlooked in favor of cars as a viable transportation option, the benefits of biking are many.

One of the obvious benefits of biking is its effect on bodily health. It's easy to start slowly and gradually increase to time trial biking speed without changing cadence or style. Unlike the transition from walking to running, speed when biking can be increase smoothly and seamlessly. Getting your heart rate up when biking can increase cardiovascular health reduce cholesterol and blood pressure. Biking also has a positive effect on all muscles below the chest.

Another benefit of biking is that unlike jogging, biking can be used to get from place to place fairly quickly. Riding a bike is both the most efficient way to harness the power of the human body, and the most efficient machine in terms of energy expended compared to distance traveled.

Bikes produce no pollution besides the carbon dioxide the rider would be producing anyway. When riding a bike it might seem like you'll be breathing more carbon monoxide than if you were inside a car, but studies have shown that the opposite is true. This is probably because most bikes sit higher than cars, ride near the edge of the road, and often take residential streets with less traffic.

Being able to see everything as you pass by is another of the benefits of biking. When you're walking or hiking, the scenery is up close, but you're traveling fairly slowly and don't see that much. A car is faster, but somewhat detached. A bike brings you the best of both worlds -- you're traveling fast enough to see a decent amount, but you're also right in the subject. When you're on a bike, you can see birds and animals, feel the subtle changes in temperature and really experience the trip instead of simply seeing it through a window at a distance.