[Closed] Would you still cycle if........?

I'd probably still ride if it was bad for me, it's ace. A lot like beer.

I cycle for the mental health benefits.

I'd probably still ride if it was bad for me, it's ace.

I ride to enjoy myself, see some stunning sights and ride with ace people. The health benefits are purely a bonus on top.

I love riding - just riding anywhere anytime - it brings out the inner child

Tbh, at the speed I ride at, and the beer I drink while riding. I don't think there are any health benefits. 😀
I cycle because I enjoy it, and as simon says, it keeps me sane.

I'd probably still ride if it was bad for me

Judging by the noises my knees make on a cold morning I'm sure it is bad for me!

Health benefits are incidental. For me it really just an excuse to go and play in the mud and dirt.

I do ride as it's the most palatable way of keeping fit, but probably would anyway. Wouldn't try as hard on the hills though.

To flip the question around, I am not sure I'd ride if it only gave me physical rather than mental health benefits. However, if it puts a smile on your face, that's reason enough for me.

as Simon above.

I cycle for the mental health benefits.

The fact that it keeps my weight to under 100 stone, is merely a nice bonus.

I've always been into weight lifting and running for the health and fitness aspect, plus the competitive streak in me.

Mountain biking was always for the fun.

I ride for two reasons:
a) I like to keep fit
b) I bloody love our Countryside

I think both of those elements keep me mentally sound. 😀

I ride because I enjoy it, if I didn't enjoy it I wouldn't have done it for so long. Any other benefits are an added bonus

Hypothetical question does not compute. Next you'll be asking me if I'd give up beer if it was shown not to be good for me

now,what I want to know next is, how many of you do that strava thing......I hope non. 😀

I've just started, I used to use Endo but no longer. I'm after other folks routes and guides to segments, I don't intend to log/upload anything of mine though, and can't be bothered chasing KOM's.

now,what I want to know next is, how many of you do that strava thing......I hope non.

As it happens I "do" Strava. I find it interesting to be able to quantify when I'm feeling like I'm riding well with some proof. I also won't lie in that I get a bit of a buzz comparing myself to other riders who I subjectively think are "better" than me. Tying this back to the OP, I would still cycle if I had no Strava 😆

I cycle despite the health benefits. It's hard sometimes.

I do Strava but I don't think I do it right- I like to know if I'm getting faster or slower, I don't really care if someone else is faster. Sometimes it's interesting to see where you are in the sliding scale I suppose... Found it really interesting to compare a load of testride bikes over the same sections though.

I ride cos i have a really nice bike, Oh and i can do wheelies and we ALL know they impress the chicks so im all for that

I do strava, but I'm looking for PR's not KOMs it's fun to go fast, so it's really fun to see how to go faster 🙂

Cycling is bad for me and I still do it.

I wouldn't go anywhere near my bike if I could run again.

Given that cycling is the only remotely healthy thing I do, I very much doubt it would stop me. As a few others have mentioned, I get more from the mental than physical gains anyway.

Much as above cycling is my time to unwind and relax.
At the moment it does very little for my health but I'd not be with out it

Nothing lifts my day like a bumble out on my hack bike

I'm bad for cycling but still ride.

yeah

I would, yes, of course.

Strava like racing is for the insecure 😆

Same as above, I would. I don't do it for health anyway, just the buzz.
And I "do" Strava, I'm almost addicted, I don't seem to be able to ride without it, but I'm not chasing KOM's. I just like to know my own stats.

To escape the wife and kids and have a bit of me time in the great outdoors. Fitness is never contemplated...or wasn't until after dyfi!!

No. Bikes are just exercise equipment to me.

I cycle for the mental health benefits.

For me it keeps the depression at bay.

Physically it [i]is[/i] bad for me - based on my extensive list of injuries (which smiley to use here?? 😥 😕 😉 🙂 😳 )

Mostly it's the buzz that means I can't stop.

i like the replies......i like that it helps people to keep sane.
i dont like strava, yet i use endomondo to log my miles.....odd!!

For me its an echo of the above keeps me from the darkside and cycling helps my bad knee and keeps the surgery at bay. But the biggest thing is the social aspect, im not a very social person but cycling lets me catch up with friends etc..

Yes to biking, no to Strava.
I don't even know what a KOM is?
Really not bothered whether I'm faster than last week/somebody else.

I don't even know what a KOM is?

I love riding bikes, always have, always will. it's good that it gives me some exercise as well, but i'd do it any way.

mental benefits? well, i've been feeling a bit shit this week, full of cold, work shit, not cycled to work this week for various reason. Had a bit of a go at the kids earlier, just cos they were doing kid stuff! Thought to my self afterwards while the kids were crying(!!) "i'd better go for a ride", feel much better now. kids probably hate me but i'll just buy them some chocolate tomorrow, they'll be reet....... 😉

No, I wouldn't bother. Cycling's just more fun than the gym for me. I prefer running but as running is so bad for your joints cycling seems like the next best alternative, or at least to dilute the running with something else.

It certainly doesn't make me feel like a child again, or soothe my soul or whatever else lots of other people seem to get out of it. Fair play to them though but I guess that's just not me.

I often think that to truly like mountain biking you have to like tools, maintenance and all that practical stuff and I'm really not into that at all so a lot of that stuff just seems like a drag to me when i could just go for a run.

or just like going down hills fast!

The physical health benefits are a bonus. The mental health benefits are essential.

I have had a few stints at running, and even swimming, to keep fit. But, I keep fit through riding because I enjoy it so much. It never feels a chore like exercising just to keep fit can.

I ride bikes because I love it. Sometimes I like riding my road bike, sometimes my MTB, sometimes my cx. They all leave me with a smile on my face.

Currently own 6 bikes in 2 countries. Guess I'm addicted.

Yes I would continue to ride!!!

The two times I've been off the bikes for any length of time I've been a pita to be around and have been the low points of my life. If I don't ride a bike of some sort once a week I get irritable.

Guess I'm addicted 😀

Yes. It wasn't and has never been about the health benefits. If I lost the ability to ride I'd probably collect and restore bikes.

Would I continue to ride if it kept on bloody raining? that's another question, but hey ho...upwards and onwards.

oldgit, i have just been out for a hour.....12 soaked through to the underpants miles, on empty wet tarmac, riding through red lights and smelling damp wet foliage..........FANBLOODYTASTIC!!!! 😀

Don't care about the health & fitness benefits - they're a bonus. If it wasn't for bikes I'd be a miserable fat bastard who spent his weekends waddling round ASDA & B&Q.

I ride because it's who I am, it's one of those things that once you have gotten into, you can never fully walk away, it draws you back in. Why do I ride, I love seeing places that not everyone sees, last night was a good example, top of a hill, thought I was doing nicely 20 miles no my singlespeed, and there was a group of swallows swooping over the field, they had done a trip from africa on there little wings, the countryside looked like a multi coloured patchwork quilt with the fading sunlight on it, all was stunning and well with the world at that point.

I ride because I love any form of off-road activity - I just love being out in hills and forests. It's good for my soul and, according to my long-suffering wife, without it I'd be unbearable to live with.

I cycle 'cos I love it. Any health benefits are a by-product.
I 'do' Strava.
It's an added point of interest to me. Others don't like it & I'm not bothered except for those who claim it takes the soul out of cycling. It might detract from their enjoyment, as we're all different, but they shouldn't assume it's detracting from others enjoyment.
Imagine if when you mentioned you like Marmite on toast some bore started banging on about how it detracts from buttered toast 😀

Oh yes I still would, ie if you told me that however much i train from now on i will still put a stone or two on this year and never lose it again i still would.
It's fun. Even road riding is, albeit a rather different 'fun' from an uplift day at gawton/cwmcarn etc.
And despite spending lots on bikey stuff, it has still saved me lots of money over the years in changing from my wife and I having 2 cars and both driving to work, to having one car which mostly lives at home and is mostly for transporting big stuff/large amounts of shopping/the children longer distances.

I expect there may be many like me who mitigate the heath benefits of cycling by feeling as though we have earnt the cakes, fried food, pies and beer afterwards. We would all be the fittest skinniest people ever if all this cycling we did for was part of a wider lifestyle of being super healthy and slim. I see one if its benefits as a means to enjoy eating more. On that note, for lunch today I am having a masala spicy vegetable pizza that i found in the halal bit of tesco. Curry and pizza, nom nom! 8)

Don't really reckon cycling is that good for me! It's the cause of most of my injuries and certainly my shrinking bank balance. And I still do it. So, yup, would def still do it!

I ride for fun, fitness (ish) is a bonus. If it was the other way round I wouldn't bother, I'm not of that mentality. I use strava, but only to look back an go 'oh, so that's how far/fast/high I was'. Never publish rides, never had a kom. Infact that's all irrelevant because I always forget to set it going at the start of the ride....

Suggsey - Member

Strava like racing is for the insecure

This sort of thing sounds alright til you see world champions using it 😆