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Cycling Passion Explained: 15 Reasons Why Riding Gives Us So Much Joy

By Adam Marsal

Cycling possesses attributes that boost the feeling of happiness in a way other sports could hardly achieve. This is how you can explain it to your non-cycling friends.

1. It’s been proved by scientific studies: while cycling, happy chemicals like serotonin and dopamine, which cause euphoria and pain relief, are being released into your bloodstream. Serotonin is the mood neurotransmitter responsible for positive feelings and self-confidence. Dopamine helps us to feel fresh and motivated. Cycling also releases a growth hormone that increases the supply of oxygen to the brain, boosting the release of endorphins.

2. Cycling belongs among aerobic sports that were proved to be the greatest in gaining physical health. The entire body works much better when it’s trained and fit.

3. Fit people, in general, feel happier than the unfit part of the population. Uncomfortable feelings like stress, depression or anxiety rarely affect people doing aerobic sports.

4. You can gorge on heaps of food without feeling guilty as you burn all the calories as soon as you hop on the bike again.

© Profimedia

5. Cycling improves your sexual life by stimulating your sex drive. Once again, higher serotonin levels releasing into your body are responsible for that. Beside affecting mood levels, social behaviour, appetite and digestion, this neurotransmitter increases sexual desire and function.

6. The bikes are simply beautiful toys just by themselves. Owning a precious bicycle causes similar joy as if you possessed a vintage car, collection of toys or a Gibson guitar.

7. Being fit makes you able to catch buses or trams.

8. You will sleep better after a long day on the bike. After you’ve slept well, things go always easier in your life.

9. You can take the out dog while cycling, which will make both of you happy.

© redsnapper / Alamy / Alamy / Profimedia

10. Even though individual rides are fun too, the best part of the sport arrives when you ride with your friends. Cycling is a social sport if only for the reason that cycling in peloton reduces aerodynamic drag. On top of that, you can psych each other up, learn new tricks in BMX and MTB, help each other estimate the correct speed needed for nailing new jumps safely or simply spend a great day together.

11. While descending through turns on a road bike, you can experience what’s like to ride a motorbike on the race circuit including leaning.

12. Downhill or freeriding routes in bike parks such as Whistler are so much fun for the simple reason that you can enjoy tens of jumps, curves, wallrides and many more packed in just one ride. And there are so many of them you will never have enough.

13. In many cities, cycling is the fastest way how to get from one point to another. In one survey conducted in Copenhagen, 66 % people cycling to work said that they felt happy with their commute whilst there were only 25 % happy people among those who used public transport and 32 % among drivers.

14. You look much better, which contributes to your self-contentment better than if you were fat AND ugly.

15. By using a bicycle as a mean of transport, you leave no carbon dioxide trace behind, which makes both the world and Greta happy – and that counts.