Being a woman comes with its own advantages and disadvantages. Simply go online and you will see plenty of polarizing articles expounding each side. As a female bicycle mechanic myself, I meet many people for whom cycling is something they live for. Amongst the women, there is a sense that cycling is still seen as a “man’s sport”. Let’s change that. Here, I will list ten reasons why every woman should have a bicycle.
1 To Have a Healthy Heart
Secret’s out! Riding a bike is an excellent way to strengthen your heart. The fact of the matter is that heart disease is the number one killer of women; In 2015, The American Heart Association concluded that in the United States, every minute someone dies from heart disease.
So, cycling is a part of a formal routine exercise is known as a protector of cardiovascular illness.
2 Community Engagement
As a child, my friends and I would ride our bicycles miles from home to the local drugstore where we would purchase travel board games and bubble gum. Today, I continue to ride to the local grocery store, and I bring a bag to carry the groceries back home.
While in route, things encounter me that otherwise would have been ignored were I in a car. Neighborhoods, neighbor’s dogs, and sunshine to name a few. According to a report from the University of California, if a city whose people walk, ride and participate in different activities, then they have increased their economic growth and productivity more than the other areas.
3 Experiencing New Places
“I shall be telling this with a sigh // Somewhere ages and ages hence // Two roads diverged in a wood, and I // I took the one less traveled by, // And that has made all the difference.”
Robert Frost’s words wring true with many women cyclist confronted with the idea that cycling is, mostly, a man’s sport.
Choosing how to travel down your own path is important and it is an important lesson for many women as we still live in the shadow of a time when women were property. There is an obvious way to talk about this bullet point. It would include something along the lines of learning which sequences of left, right turns will, literally, get you to a destination and back, but hey, we can use Garmin for that.
4 Making New Friends
Cycling can be as solitary or social as you make it. When you go bike riding with a group, you give yourself a chance to have conversations with people you may not meet elsewhere. As a group, someone will think to point and call out any road hazards ahead. These include pot-holes, drain grates, or stray dogs.
Also, and let’s face it, bike riding can be painful. The sitting on thin saddle, the weight on your hands, the strain in your lower back (as a mechanic, I can tell you that this is all a result of the geometry of your body on your bike and Not your fitness level), but when your thighs are feeling sore, you feel comforted knowing that the person next to you going up a hill is feeling the same thing. Plus, most of these groups will meet afterward for dinner and drinks.
5 Companies Value Your Opinion
Meanwhile, in America, women are doing most the shopping. Women are working more than in any previous generation. This means there’s money being left on the table for bicycle companies and they are dying to know what is going on in your female mind!
Nearly every corporation and non-profit is keeping track of how they can get women to buy their products or services. As a woman, this gives you a lot of power in determining the types of products and services offered! For example, Trek Bicycle Corporation is one of the world’s leading bicycle manufactures. After researching how they can encourage people (who do not normally ride a bike to, in fact, ride a Trek bike), Trek has a line of some of the best hybrid bikes available. For Trek, receiving hybrid bike reviews from women can translate into money for you.
6 Reduce Stress Level
Traffic jams are notorious stress inducers. The benefit of riding a bicycle is the avoidance of time wasted sitting in a parking lot waiting for a light to turn green.
7 Save Money by Commuting
Parking is free when you’re using a bicycle. In cities, parking rates can mean the difference in residence. Bikes, however, can be ridden into an office building and parked right by your desk. Regarding gas miles, check out this interesting website and see how much you can save by riding instead of driving. http://www.kiplinger.com/tool/spending/T061-S001-how-much-can-i-save-biking-to-work/index.php
8 Sleep Better
Keeping track of bills, giving your time and energy to your office and your personal life, fixing problems that arise in all of these areas is why there are so many avenues for women to find ways to give themselves a break. Stanford University School of Medicine researchers found that daily 20-30 minutes cycling helped the people with sedentary insomnia, and increase their sleeping.
9 Great for Your Immunity
The physical benefits for women riding bikes are many. One of them is the increase in her body’s ability to stave off germs. Did you know, exercise increase antibodies and white blood cells that improves immune system cell and fight disease? Well, during and after exercise, there is a brief rise in body temperature, which may prevent bad bacteria from growing. Riding a bike and getting sweaty will help fight infection more effectively.
10 Build Memories
When we were children, we remember being taught how to ride a bike and we remember the person who taught us. When we ride bikes in the street as kids, we remember who was with us and where we were going. Whether you are riding with your childhood friends while smacking Bazooka Joe bubble gum, or pushing yourself further down the street while competing in your first bicycle race, or riding to a brewery with friends, being on a bike means making memories that will last a lifetime.
