The Health & Social Benefits of Cycling

It is no surprise that cycling keeps you fit and healthy. It is also apparent how sports in general help with your social well-being. Ciclismo Classico super alums like Katie Saunders, Liza Cotter, and Jan Van Steenwijk can attest to that.

Whether you are riding in the peloton with your local club or enjoying that well-deserved post-ride brew, there are many ways cycling can keep you physically and socially healthy.

Some studies show that sports actually help social interactions. Research on adolescents shows how athletic activity helps develop leadership skills, self-esteem, and also fosters healthy habits, distancing kids from drugs and getting them closer to bicycles.

Here are a number of ways that cycling keeps you physically healthy:

Build the Muscle, Cut the Fat

Cycling helps you increase the amount of muscle in your body. This increase in muscle triggers anabolic hormones that help burn fat. It’s a win/win situation. You get leaner by activities fat-eating hormones.

Reduce Anxiety and Stress

Although this is a mental aspect of cycling, it has physical consequences. With all of those endorphins released in your system, you are on a high. Endorphins are released by the body to help you manage pain and stress. Ever come back from a bike ride and feel that all is good in the world? Yup, that is the effect of endorphins – also known as “runner’s high” – giving you that pleasurable post-ride buzz.

Sleep Better, Look Younger

So now you are getting leaner and are less stressed. That slows down the aging process too. Actually, cycling (and exercise in general) helps with the lengthening of telomeres: the tops at the end of chromosomes that control aging. Research suggests that telomeres shorten as we age. But cycling keeps these chromosomes nice and long. This article in Health gives a whole number of reasons how exercise can help almost “reverse” the aging process. Although you can’t outsmart your chronological age, cycling will help you feel like a kid for a long time.

Save Your Knees

Cycling is a low-impact sport, meaning there is no jarring or stress on joints, unlike running. Running, over time, can crush the cartilage in the knee, which is why most runners turn to the bicycle later on in life. Cycling is also a non-weight bearing exercise. Weight lifting and tennis are great for building bone strength, but put a lot of pressure on the knee joint. Cycling doesn’t have that problem, so you can keep walking even at an older age.

Improve Your Immune System

Cycling seems to have positive effects as well on the Thymus (the organ which makes the immune systems T-cells). In this Guardian article, studies at the University of Birmingham shows the thymus in older cyclists generates as many T-cells as younger people. Considering the thymus tends to shrink after 20 (and thus affects the immune system in an adverse way), staying on the bike will apparently keep you out of the sick bed.

Boost Libido

But biking will keep you in another bed! Let’s face it: one of the joys of cycling is the pleasure of heightened sexual desire. Increased blood flow to the brain (and – ahem – other organs as well) together with well-oxygenated blood helps sexual drive. Good circulation coupled with the anti-depression benefits mentioned earlier create a mean, lean, cycling, sex bomb. Just make sure you have the right kind of bike seat or you may be facing another kind of problem.

The social benefits of cycling are no less impressive:

Make New Friends

There is no doubt riding bicycles together with a group of like-minded people is good for the soul and your “offline” social network. This strenuous activity brings people together and gives you a fun and healthy activity to do in a group. Soon enough you’ll be organizing your weeks around your next ride out, and not your next night out.

Have New Experiences

Ever get a flat in the middle of nowhere and have to flag down a car? Yup, been there. Or how about getting lost in your own back yard? Guilty there too. By yourself, it is a borderline scary experience, but with one or two friends it becomes the “you’re buying” experience at the bar in the evening. These experiences also become the center of many, timeless, “hey, do you remember when…” stories.

Be More Interesting

Imagine yourself at a cocktail party. People ask what you do for fun. You could answer that you watch sports on television. That’s cool. But what if you answered you biked Mont Ventoux or the l’Alpe d’Huez? You know, “The one the pros ride during the Tour de France.” All of a sudden, the evening just got a whole lot more interesting.

Get More Dates

In a 2014 UK study, 23% of people said they would be willing to date a cyclist over any other sportsperson. That’s pretty good. Think about it: you spend your dates riding your bikes, in tight-fitting lycra, staying healthy, enjoying lattes at the local coffee shop. But one thing you can do on a bike that most people aren’t doing: talk. Your hands are on the handlebars, not on a smartphone, so you get to know the person you’re riding with very well.

Know Your Town Better

New to the city? Cycling helps you get to know the roads very well. It also helps you find the quick ways out of the traffic and onto quiet country roads. It also helps you find the soft and scenic way to the next town as opposed to taking the highway when there are traffic jams during rush hour. You can also help people with directions a lot better than those who don’t.

Stay Environmentally Conscientious

There is nothing more satisfying than knowing you are not burning fossil fuels on your Saturday mornings. You’re burning calories. So you’re helping the environment by staying out of your car, and you’re helping the local economy by having that second burrito at lunch. Bon appetit!

Do you want to stay healthy and socially active in Europe? Check out these great European Bike Destinations to continue your training and make you even more interesting!