Ride A Bike

My family riding the 16 mile loop on Jekyll Island, GA - 2019 

I'm sure we have all heard the saying that a walk can fix almost anything.... but did you know the same could be said of taking a bike ride?

“Nothing compares to the simple pleasure of riding a bike” 

– John F Kennedy

Riding a bike offers many health benefits.

Regular cycling will help strengthen your cardiovascular system, enabling your heart and lungs to work more efficiently and getting more oxygen where it’s needed, quicker. This means you can do more exercise for less effort. Cycling just 20 miles a week reduces your risk of heart disease to less than half that of those who take no exercise. There’s also evidence that any exercise is useful in warding off cancer, but some studies have shown that cycling is specifically good for keeping your cells in working order. 

Does your immune system need a boost..

Riding a bike and getting some moderate exercise can boost your immune system, so you can beat off colds and minor infections much easier than if you were a couch potato. Human beings were designed to be physically active most of the time. Your butt was not designed to wallow in an armchair. Mild exercise can improve our immune system by increasing production of essential proteins and waking up lazy white blood cells. Forget apples, riding’s the way to keep the doctor at bay. Moderate exercise makes immune cells more active, so they’re ready to fight off infection.

Is life getting you stressed out?

Riding a bike is a proven stress relefe Regardless of if you are riding purely for pleasure or for a specific purpose, such as to become more mindful about life, you will arrive at your destination feeling relaxed, energized and happier about the world and yourself. Plus, being out on your bike is just flat-out fun. The more time you spend on two wheels, the harder it is to take yourself too seriously.

Wanna have more fun in the bedroom?

Oh yeah! Riding… improves stamina, flexibility, makes it better overall, and will mean that for once, when you say you can go all night, you won’t be lying. Orgasms are just better, the fitter you are. The end result is a more powerful release of feel good hormones like serotonin, melatonin and testosterone when you climax. Most of us know that sex is a good thing, but not everyone knows that it’s actually good for your overall health. In fact, regular sex can indeed prolong your life.

Slow down and enjoy the things around you....

Anyone can whiz from place to place in a car or a plane when they go vacationing. But isn’t the point of vacations and travelling to see more, not less. When you travel by bike, you see everything and you discover so much more. Vacationing on a bike doesn’t mean covering a 100 miles day. The best bike holiday we go on is on Jekyll Island GA! We ride the 16 mile loop and stop to see the ocean views at our own pace!

“I don’t ride a bike to add days to my life. I ride a bike to add life to my days” 

– Unknown

Better Quality of Sleep

With all our modern-day stresses, compounded with an exorbitant amount of screen time, disconnecting and falling asleep is tougher than ever these days. A morning ride might tire you out in the short term, but it’ll help you catch some quality shut-eye when you get back to your pillow that night.

Get to actually know the place you live

When you cycle, you’ll find yourself trying to find a way to stay off the busy main roads. You’d be amazed how much opportunity there is to just explore your local surroundings, or how much of it there actually is when you’re not in your car. You might find a stream you don’t know existed, or a café that sells the best mocha latte in the northern hemisphere. Most people never truly realize just how much there is so close to us.

Do something for your kids....teach them to ride a bike.

Most everyone remembers the first time their parent let go of the bike and you pedaled away furiously under your own steam and didn’t fall off. No doubt you screamed at them, ‘don’t let go, don’t let go,’ while your parent shouted back ‘I won’t, I won’t’ and then you looked back and they were 100 feet behind you, and, you, were, riding, on, your, own. It’s a moment, no one ever forgets, so show your kids how to ride. Define your children for life, in a good way. If you ride on a regular basis, then they will too. Some things we can unlearn as we grow older, and some things like riding a bike, we never forget. If you can get them to enjoy their time in the saddle as a youngster, they will be more likely to be fitter and more active in the future.

"The bicycle is a simple solution to some of the worlds most complicated problems."

Spend quality time with your family

Cycling is something your whole family can do together, from toddler to great grandparent. The youngest can go in a bike trailer, and everyone else can pedal away happily together, off on another family adventure. Enjoy healthy family time.

Spend quality time with your partner

It’s not a race, get in sync with the way each of you ride.... It doesn’t matter if your paces aren’t perfectly matched, just slow down and enjoy each other’s company. , and make cycling dates at least once a month. If he/she doesn’t like barreling down black runs at the local trail center, then compromise and just enjoy each other’s company. And of course, the fitter you both become, the more fun in the bedroom later!!!

Spend quality time with yourself

Nobody said you had to do everything with your family. Everyone needs their space. It helps keep us all sane. Sometimes all you want to do is burn your way down a favorite trail, or hit the open road on your own. And why not. Being active and spending time on your own in a constructive and positive manner is really good for you. When you ride your bike, you are doing a lot of good things, many of which are for the benefit of others. But ultimately, the one who benefits the most is you, through better health, peace of mind, increased confidence and self-reliance. Cycling is freedom.

Feeling tired? Go for a ride

Sounds counter-intuitive but if you feel too tired for a ride, the best thing you can do is go for ride. Physical activity for even a few minutes is a surprisingly effective wake-up call. A review on the link between exercise and fatigue carried out between 50 years, found that exercise directly lowers fatigue levels.

Having a rough day... ride a bike! 

Cycling improves mental well-being. There are so many ways that exercise can boost your mood: there’s the basic release of adrenalin and endorphins, and the improved confidence that comes from achieving new things like getting closer to or completing a goal. Cycling combines physical exercise with being outdoors and exploring new views. Cycling makes you happy - science says so. 

FACT: Cycling makes you happy.

“When the spirits are low, when the day appears dark, when work becomes monotonous, when hope hardly seems worth having, just mount a bicycle and go out for a spin down the road, without thought on anything but the ride you are taking” – Arthur Conan Doyle

You’re developing a positive addiction

Replace a harmful dependency -such as cigarettes, alcohol or eating too much (this would be me!!) - with a positive one. The result? You’re a happier, healthier person getting the kind of fix that boosts the good things in life.

Weight loss is one benefit of cycling

The simple equation, when it comes to weight loss, is ‘calories out must exceed calories in’. Lose the weight in your saddle by getting in the saddle. Cycling is a good way to control or reduce weight, as it raises your metabolic rate, builds muscle and burns body fat. Sports physiologists have found that the body’s metabolic rate -is not only raised during a ride, but for several hours afterwards.

Your Community

Being out on your bike is good for the people around you as well. You are able to go the places you want to go and yet put one less car on the road. You don’t bring with you the noise that a car generates and are actually able to interact with people as you move. From my bike, I can wave to a neighbor, say hi to a kid, smell someone’s dinner cooking and be a warm and friendly human presence on the streets.

You can get back to nature

Quicker than walking but slow and gentle enough to take in the sights sounds and smells of both the animal and human kingdoms. Cycling provides the opportunity to get out into the countryside and grab some respite from the hustle and noise of the city. Riding along increasingly quiet lanes and trails allows us to wind down, take stock of our life and appreciate the beauty of the changing seasons.

It's an adventure

The feeling of setting off on an entirely new trip, without having a fully coherent vision of where you're going to end up, it one of the joys of cycle touring. You can stop and take in your surroundings And maybe have a nice rest while you're at it. "Let's stop here, it's a beautiful spot" is a much better rationale than "that last hill nearly killed me."

Riding bike can give us a changing perspective, one that is often breathtaking and would be completely missed by traveling in a car. And, with a bike you can always stop, point, and shoot.

“Cyclists see considerably more of this beautiful world than any other class of citizens. A good bicycle, well applied, will cure most ills this flesh is heir to” 

– Dr K.K. Doty