Health·5 min read 

Published in MTB Girls Magazine January 2025

From anti-aging to community-building, here’s why mountain biking is so good for us.

 

Why is mountain biking so good for us? Are you desiring a full-body workout that boosts your cardiovascular health, and bone density, lifts your mood, and creates a sense of belonging? Then, ladies, mountain biking is for you. Not many sports hit all of the markers when it comes to supporting your health. Mountain biking creates the ideal environment to pedal your way into optimal wellness no matter your age. 

Let’s explore the top 10 reasons mountain biking boosts women’s health. 

1. Strong Bones 

Did you know that bones build when under pressure? Bones need weight bearing and resistance exercises to build healthy and strong bones. These impact based exercises trigger osteoclasts to signal bone remodeling and deposition which creates healthy bone over time. A study comparing road biking vs mountain biking compares the Bone Mineral Density (BMD) of these two cycling groups and found that mountain bikers have a higher BMD than road cyclists. Supporting that the high impact nature of mountain trails is more effective at building bone. 

Imagine riding your bike up and down crests, bouncing over a rocky path and pedaling with all of your weight and strength to get up a steep incline. Doctors can not design a better way to engage in a load bearing exercise. Keep moving and make those healthy bones.

2. Robust Vitamin D Levels 

Mountain biking gets you outside, increasing your exposure to natural sunshine. UVB light from the sun strikes the skin and creates Vitamin D3. Vitamin D is a steroid pro-hormone that does three important things in our bodies; helps build bone, lifts mood and supports the immune system. 

• Builds Bone: Vitamin D directs calcium and phosphorus into your bones. Creating an influx of essential nutrients which increases bone mineral density. 
• Lifting mood: Vitamin D also lifts your mood by decreasing neuroinflammation and creating more serotonin, a happy neurotransmitter. 
• Immune Support: Vitamin D receptors have been found on all cells of the immune system. For optimal health, we do not want an underactive immune system, leading to frequent illness. Nor do you want an overactive immune system, causing autoimmune conditions. Vitamin D seems to shift the immune system into a more tolerogenic status, creating an immune reaction when needed and calming the immune system when necessary. 

Mountain biking in the sunlight is a fantastic way to activate Vitamin D3 and support optimal health.

3. Heart Happy 

To achieve cardiovascular health, one must fully engage in physical activity. I encourage all patients to do any activity hard enough that it is impossible to carry on a conversation. Mountain biking is not a walk in the park. It pushes you to the max; breathing heavily, heart pumping, and muscles responding. This aerobic exercise creates a vascular demand on your heart in which each pump of the heart supplies more oxygen and blood to the muscles. Training also increases the amount of mitochondria and capillary blood supply to the muscles improving muscular response. Mountain biking is a full-body aerobic exercise that improves circulation, stroke volume, lowers blood pressure, and lowers resting heart rate, which are all great goals for heart health and lowering the risk of cardiovascular disease.

4. Mental Resilience  

“Stress will always be there. It’s how we respond to the stress that matters.” 

The essence of mountain biking is not considered “easy”. It is not a stroll down a paved and well-marked path. Mountain biking is an adventure, exploring trails that bend and shift with the weather and winds. Therefore to mountain bike, you must be flexible. Flexible in your mind, adaptable to change, and responsive with quick and decisive action. Choosing a sport that encourages you to adapt and respond to stress with positivity and forward thinking, trains your brain to do that in everyday moments. Common stressors like job changes, moving homes, or conflicts with others, become less daunting. Instead of getting bogged down in the stress, your brain is wired to look ahead, problem solve, and make quick decisions propelling you forward. This action-oriented way women mountain bikers rise to any occasion is a key component to vibrant and age-less living. 

 

Hard to believe there are more great health benefits but there are!

5. Forest Bathing 

Forest bathing or Shinrin-yoku is a traditional Japanese practice of immersing oneself in nature by using all five senses. Mountain biking while smelling the trees, hearing a bird call, feeling the ground beneath you, tasting the wind and soil and undistractedly observing nature is a celebration of forest bathing. 

“People who spend time in nature inhale “beneficial bacteria, plant-derived essential oils and negatively-charged ions” that interact with gut bacteria to strengthen the body’s immune system and improve both mental and physical health.”

Research findings have targeted multiple areas of healing occurring by spending two hours per week in nature unplugged from our devices. Findings associated with lowered blood pressure, reduction in anxiety, mental relaxation, boosted immune system and increased sense of gratitude and selflessness. 

So get out there and really enjoy that long ride. Further enhance your health by focusing on what you see, smell, feel, hear and taste to get all of the benefits.

 

6. Community Connection

Mountain Biking is a magical sport in which you are solo riding but there is always a sense of the group connection and support. As mountain biking doesn’t have age restrictions, unless you place them on yourself, it is common to see Gen Alpha,Gen Z, Millennials, Gen X and Boomers are all out on the same rides together. Cheering each other on and pushing each other to do better. This intergenerational play is rare to witness in other sports. Research shows that engaging in intergenerational activities shows improved self-esteem, increased self-confidence and better mental health. Grab some friends of all ages and keep up that friendly competition, it’s good for you. 

“Riding a bike is everything to a cyclist. The friendship and camaraderie you have with other cyclists … to a cyclist, it was the be-all and end-all of your life.” – Tommy Godwin

7. Happy Neurotransmitters

We humans are pleasure seeking junkies. Our brains are wired to seek out activities that boost our endorphins and our “Happy Neurotransmitters” which are Dopamine, Serotonin and Norepinephrine. When our brains get a hit of these happy neurotransmitters, we feel stronger, happier, more alive and vibrant. Mountain Biking creates the perfect storm of these stimulants which get released when we are moving our bodies, conquering our goals and likely pushing on the edge of fear and daring. Can you get a boost of these endorphins and happy neurotransmitters while at the gym? Sure, but you can’t compare the thrill of flying down a trail to a jog on a treadmill. That’s why women mountain bikers are some of the happiest people around!

8. Healthier Lifestyle Choices

Women mountain bikers are always seeking a better ride. That desire for athletic advancement naturally helps expand outward into healthier life choices. To squeeze in a ride before work, an early bedtime is achieved. Hangovers don’t make for pleasant rides so female mountain bikers tend to not drink alcohol as much as non riders. The blend of high intensity cardio and endurance training keeps female mountain bikers within a healthy weight range or BMI which reduces a number of health concerns and potential diseases. Having higher serotonin and dopamine levels from biking also keeps other cravings at bay. When you have supported neurotransmitters, the desire for sugar, carbs and alcohol are more in control, creating healthier dietary habits. Overall, women mountain bikers crave the ride enough to further support the overall health of their physical bodies. 

9. Improved Balance & Coordination

As we age, experiencing a fall becomes our greatest risk factor in bone fractures and injury. To prevent this, one must improve balance and coordination. Mountain biking achieves this by increasing our proprioception, stability and stimulating all core muscle groups. The varying terrain allows for a full body workout. For example, going uphill challenges the abdominal and leg muscles, whereas riding downhill engages the arms, shoulders, chest, back and abdomen. This whole body engagement builds a strong sense of balance and coordination to prevent injury and feel physically strong.

One More Reason Mountain Biking kicks A**

10. Building Confidence 

It is so common for us to push ourselves as children and young adults. Trying new things and new adventures. The typical adult tends to become stuck in routines, rarely venturing out of comfort zones. Mountain biking is the antithesis of staying in your comfort zone. It is an ever-evolving sport that asks the athlete to try new things, attempt new challenges, build confidence, and create a WIN. Mountain biking is accepting of all skill levels so you can all have a WIN every time you get on the bike. Was it trying a new trail? Getting up when you fell down? Getting first in an international competition? What will your WIN be on your next ride? Keep pushing yourself and watch your confidence grow.

Author’s note: As a Naturopathic doctor focusing on women’s health, I began to see a difference between my female mountain biking patients and women who don’t ride. They were women ranging from 20 to 60 and they were Vibrant. They had clear skin, were quick to laugh, took on new life challenges and jobs with tenacity, and loved biking so much that they made sure to carve that time out during normal weekdays increasing their physical activity. I noticed a difference in female mountain bikers’ blood work as well. Their cholesterol was lower, their blood sugar stable and they responded quickly to treatments that I offered. This tells me that they were quick to heal and their body was adaptable to change. I love supporting women mountain bikers to achieve their health goals so they can reach their trail goals.

Sources Cited

 

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