Benefits of Cycling

Enjoy these fantastic health benefits with cycling:

Compared to running or jogging, cycling has less impact on your joints. It's particularly healthy on your knees and hips. It can help to keep osteoarthritis from ruining your knees and hips in the future. There’s even a ground-breaking study which features an orthopaedic surgeon (bone doctor) prescribing cycling as a way to avoid knee and hip surgeries. Participants with osteoarthritis of the hips found that the cycling helped to reduce their symptoms. In addition, since cycling is a knee-friendly exercise, it’s also being used in knee rehabilitation. It has been shown to improve joint stability and mobility of the knee.

Additionally, cycling is a great form of exercise for your whole body, especially if you include a hill climb or even just a small incline. It’ll get your heart rate up and your muscles into action.

It's a great way to socialise. When it comes to cycling there are many social clubs and organisations. You'll be making friends in no time. A good way to find these groups is by searching on Facebook. It's always best to ride with a group or at least one other person.

If you have a family, you can take them along too. Each family member can ride their own bicycle except, of course, the youngest member who can ride in the child seat behind mum or dad. Or you can bike as a family using one big bicycle (e.g. triplet or quadruplet) with several individual seats and a pair of pedals for each member (I’ve always wanted to try one of these out!)!

Enjoy diversity of terrain at its finest. Australia and New Zealand are two countries with great cycle trails and mountain biking tracks. That’s a fact. With each bend you take, you’ll see a majestic landscape and beautiful view. Brace yourself for the world famous Otago Central Rail Trail, Queenstown Bike Park and Great Taste Trail, just to name a few.

Across the ditch, in 2012 bicycle sales in Australia outran car sales for the 13th year running. During the same year, 1.4 million bicycles were sold. It’s a very common form of recreation in this part of the world. Travel CNN has chosen the Great Ocean Road in Victoria, Australia alongside Molesworth Road in Christchurch, New Zealand among the top 10 cycling routes that will take your breath away.

Soak up on negative ions. Did you know that negative ions have positive effects on your health? That's correct. It’s been proven that long term exposure to pollution will wreak havoc on your health especially on your cardiovascular and pulmonary systems. Polluted air is full of positive ions which also contribute to poor health. Negative ions have been demonstrated to improve the health status of people commonly exposed to air pollution. Negative ions are abundant near streams, waterfalls, ocean surf and areas where water naturally evaporates. When you go cycling outdoors in the countryside, you inhale plenty of negative ions that can counteract effects of the positive ions in your system.

It’s one of the best modes of transportation. Taking into consideration most of your travel destinations, cycling may prove to you that it’s the best way for traveling short to moderate distances. Remember, when you use bicycles, no fossils fuels are burned so you’re supporting the environment. What you use to move forward is human energy, non-polluting and at the same time renewable. Also, bicycles are not noisy (less noise pollution) and require less maintenance compared to a car. In fact using a bicycle for transport is easy on your wallet as well.

Say goodbye to parking wars. If you ride a bicycle to work, problems concerning parking can be forgotten as parking your bike require significantly less space. Some bicycles can even be folded up to reduce storage space further (folding bike).

Before you buy a bike, it would be best to have a bike fitting. This will ensure you get the most suitable bike for your body. You can also get your existing bike fitted properly to you, just visit your local bicycle shop. This will help you determine the best positioning for a comfortable ride and reduce the incidence of several bike related injuries. Have a look at our infographic below to get familiar with the main areas to focus on: