5 Reasons to Try Mountain Biking

July 24, 2018

Today’s guest post is from Sophie Elise.

Moun­tain bik­ing is gain­ing pop­u­lar­i­ty, with trails, bike clin­ics, events and races for all skill lev­els and rid­ing styles pop­ping up across the coun­try, you’re guar­an­teed to find an aspect of moun­tain bik­ing that speaks to you.    If you’ve ever thought of try­ing moun­tain bik­ing, there’s no time like the present.   There are numer­ous men­tal and phys­i­cal ben­e­fits from hit­ting the trails. Here ere are 5  rea­sons to try moun­tain bik­ing… just be care­ful,  you may become addicted. 

1. HEALTH BENEFITS 

Moun­tain bik­ing has men­tal, phys­i­cal and spir­i­tu­al health ben­e­fits. It’s a great car­dio­vas­cu­lar activ­i­ty that helps increase your endurance, decrease stress and increase your abil­i­ty to live in the moment. 

Do not under­es­ti­mate the pow­er of nature and green spaces to change your mood and gen­er­al health. The envi­ron­ment around you has a huge impact on how you per­ceive the world and how you feel on any giv­en day. In the midst of the hus­tle and bus­tle of the city, you may feel over­whelmed, stressed and hur­ried. Once you hit the trails, and immerse your­self in a for­est or nat­ur­al land­scape, stud­ies have shown that stress lev­els are reduced , blood pres­sure decreas­es and your over­all well-being increases. 

Here are few oth­er health ben­e­fits of moun­tain biking:

• Increas­es strength, sta­mi­na and aer­o­bic fitness
• Bik­ing uses all the major mus­cle groups as you pedal
• Increas­es bal­ance and coördination 
• Low-impact — it’s eas­i­er on your joints than oth­er forms of exercise 
• Increased car­dio­vas­cu­lar health 
• Reduces stress, and improves sleep (any form of exer­cise will do this!)

2. MOUNTAIN BIKING TAKES YOU TO BEAUTIFUL PLACES 

There’s noth­ing like nature and spec­tac­u­lar moun­tain views to replen­ish your spir­it after a hard week at work. 

Moun­tain bik­ing can take you to beau­ti­ful places that you oth­er­wise would­n’t be able to reach in a car or on foot. 

3. MOUNTAIN BIKING IS AN ADVENTURE.

Ulti­mate­ly,  you choose your own adven­ture — and with moun­tain bik­ing there are  many kinds of adven­tures to  plan!  From one hour rides in your home­town to mul­ti-day inter­na­tion­al trips, there are trails around the world to feed your addic­tion.   Moun­tain bik­ing is chal­leng­ing and makes you push your­self, but when you suc­ceed in   tack­ling a dif­fi­cult obsta­cle or trail, you’re pro­vid­ed with a pret­ty big feel­ing  of fulfillment. 

No two trails are the same and this push­es your men­tal abil­i­ty to focus your atten­tion,  endurance, and skills on the trail ahead. 

The excite­ment of moun­tain bik­ing is also increased by your sur­round­ings. The sound of a riv­er flow­ing as you ped­al by, a brief glimpse of wildlife through the trees or panoram­ic views once you reach the top of a climb fuel the adven­ture and cre­ate grat­i­tude for the world around you. 

4. MOUNTAIN BIKING CREATES SOCIAL CONNECTIONS. 

Moun­tain bik­ing builds friend­ships.   In an age where friend­ships are main­tained with online con­nec­tions and text mes­sages, it’s even more impor­tant to find a hob­by that gets you out of the house,   increas­es your phys­i­cal activ­i­ty and fos­ters new friend­ships. The moun­tain bik­ing com­mu­ni­ty is a won­der­ful way to meet new peo­ple, and build friend­ships off of a shared inter­est and passion. 

5. MOUNTAIN BIKING WILL GET RID OF MONOTONY. 

Try­ing a new hob­by and learn­ing a new skill   is a won­der­fu way to keep your mind active.   It’s impor­tant to mix up your rou­tine  , as often this stim­u­lates your cre­ativ­i­ty and forces your to face a few fears along the way.   Moun­tain bik­ing has the   abil­i­ty to cre­ate a new persepc­tive for how you look at the world,  live in the moment and   express grat­i­tude for the beau­ty and peo­ple around you. 

So, what are you wait­ing for? As Dr. Suess said: 

“YOU’RE OFF TO GREAT PLACES!
TODAY IS YOUR DAY!
YOUR MOUNTAIN IS WAITING, 
SO… GET ON YOUR WAY!”

About the Author: Sophie Elise is an award-win­ning writer, blog­ger and edi­tor. She writes on her blog, Sport­sly and is pas­sion­ate about health and fitness.