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Benefits of Cycling
Cycling To Work Day is on 6th August, it's a nationwide celebration of commuting by bicycle, promoting health, sustainability and eco conscious travel.
If cycling to work isn't an option for you or you aren't a keen rider, the benefits of cycling may help you reconsider giving cycling a try. Cycling can be fun, improve your fitness and is a great and inexpensive activity which can be shared with friends and family.
Benefits of Cycling
Weight
Continual riding may help you maintain a healthy weight. Cycling, especially at high intensity can help lower your body fat levels which in turn help promote good weight management.
Strength
Cycling improves overall function in your lower body and strengthens your leg muscles without overstressing your joints. It targets your quads, glutes, hamstrings and calves.
Beginners
If you're new to fitness cycling can be a gentle entry point where the intensity can be gradually increased. Studies have shown that even sedentary people will reap the health benefits of cycling, so it can be a great introduction for exercise novices.
Mental Health
Cycling can ease feelings of stress, depression or anxiety. Focusing on the road when cycling with a regular rhythm the action of cycling can help you develop concentration and awareness of the present moment. This in turn may help clear the mental chatter of your day.
Cancer
Cycling is a fantastic aerobic addition to your care plan if you have or are recovering from cancer. Oncologists encourage their patients to engage in aerobic and resistance exercise during treatment.
Be sure to work with your care team, listen to your body, and exercise only if you’re up for it.
Positive
Beginning your day with a healthy activity like cycling wakes you up by boosting your circulation and allows you to start your day with a sense of accomplishment. It may also improve your executive functioning and help you make more positive choices as the day progresses.
Prevent
Regular exercise can help prevent heart issues such as stroke, heart attack and high blood pressure. Cycling may help prevent and manage type 2 diabetes..
Enviromental
Reduce your carbon footprint by riding your bike whenever possible. Research in Europe found that commuting by bike instead of by car once a day decreases your transportation carbon footprint by 67%.
Balance
As you stabalize your body and keep your bike upright, you'll improve overall balance and coordinatin and even your gait. Balance tends to decline with age and inactivity, so it's vital to stay on top of it. Improved balance is beneficial in the prevention of falls and fractures, which can help decrease your risk of injury.
Heart Health
Cycling is a fantastic way to raise your heart rate, improve cardiovascular function, and enhance your overall fitness level.
Cycling is linked to a lower risk of cardiovascular disease. It’s also associated with lower mortality rates.
Source Healthline for full article click here
Travel
The NEXT Cycle to work Scheme opens October 1st - 31st 2026.
Look out for more details on all things cycling at Travel to NEXT here
British Cycling Routes
So you have your bike and have ridden out a few times but haven't taken on anything more. Perhaps you're unsure where to go or how complicated finding a route and navigating might be.
We've checked out Cycling UK and have picked our favourite of the single day routes that they have listed. They are straightforward and mapped so will not only be fun but will give you the confidence to set your sights on traversing the whole of the UK!
The Camel Trail, Cornwall
Is UK’s most popular tourist cycle route attracts 350,000 cyclists each year. It’s a 17-mile ex-rail route beside the River Camel from Poley’s Bridge to Padstow, via Bodmin and Wadebridge. It’s ideal for younger children riding their own bikes or sitting in trailers, and while riding both ways is a long day out you can just ride from Wadebridge to Padstow and back, a 12-mile round trip.
Hartington, Peak District
The village of Hartington gives easy access to three excellent old railway paths: the High Peak Trail (17.5 miles), the Tissington Trail (13 miles) and the Manifold Way (8.5 miles). Despite the Peak District hills, cuttings and embankments keep these trails mostly flat, although the High Peak is exposed in places. YHA Hartington Hall, a 17th century manor house, is a nice place to stop for families, and Alton Towers theme park is nearby.
Mawddach trail, North Wales
The Mawddach Estuary is stunningly beautiful, with watercolour Welsh hills heaped up above a broad, peaceful estuary. The trip from Barmouth to Dolgellau is 11 miles each way, mostly along an old railway path. The pub at Penmaenpool part way does food. If you’re here for a few days, the off-road trails of Coed y Brenin are nearby.
The Cuckoo Trail, Sussex
An 11-mile route is from Heathfield to Polegate, with an onward link to Eastbourne. It runs through farmland and deciduous woodland, with interesting sculptures en route. Once again, it follows the route of a dismantled railway, making it a good option for children on their own bikes.
Putney Bridge to Weybridge, London and Surrey
Escape the hurly-burly of the capital into peaceful greenery. This 18-mile route runs mostly on riverside paths alongside the Thames and also takes in Richmond Park. For a shorter option ride from Kingston Upon Thames, which is nine miles from Weybridge. Sustrans’ Thames Valley Cycle Route (London - Oxford) has all of this route and more.
For more inspiration and great rides check out other people's cycling adventures in Great Rides features.
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