Why do we ride bikes?

Something which people who don't ride bicycles sometimes have difficulty understanding is, why do we do it? It's certainly one of the questions I've been asked many times in past by co-workers and others.

Why not use a car or motorbike to get around more, or have fun with some sort of motorized off road recreation such as an ATV or Trailbike? Especially as many of the new full suspension mountain bikes can be around the same price as some of the motorized equivalents!

To me, one of the main reasons is a very direct feel of freedom. Both while commuting, and while on the mountain bike trails. There is nothing between you and the experience. You want to go faster? Pump your legs. You want to zoom around that sharp corner? Position your body, get your speed right, and throw the bike around the corner!

Everything feels immediate and direct while riding a bike. You're very aware of everything around you as you ride. Passing sounds, smells, sights. The texture of the road surface. Even the sound of the road surface. The wind, the sun on your face.

Add to this the fact that you're directly powering this vehicle with your own muscles - heart and circulation pumping to keep up, and a few doses of adrenalin and natural dopamine (essentially a pleasure hormone) produced by physical exercise, and the humble bicycle takes on a very compelling light in my opinion.

As far as using a bicycle for everyday commuting goes, it naturally depends on your cities environment and cycle-friendliness as to whether it will be well suited. I'm quite lucky as we have a relatively compact city here of around 450,000 people, which is quite flat, and has many cycle lanes.

Of course bikes can also go where cars cannot - and indeed I take advantage of this to as much of a degree as I can while travelling the city. I prefer to avoid heavy traffic wherever possible, and by navigating certain routes through public parks etc, can avoid large sections of heavy congested traffic and fumes! Much more enjoyable this way, and almost turns the rest of the journey into a game as well, sprinting through sections of bustling city streets to get to the next quiet and relaxed part of the journey.

As my experience with bikes is limited to commuting, downhill mountain biking, and a little cross country/trail riding, I can't really comment on the draw of road cycling, but I'm sure at least some similar aspects come into play.

When riding a trail, whether and easy trail or a technical one, I find troubles and worries just fade away, as I focus on all the direct sensations around me, and concentrate on riding well (and not crashing!). This has without a doubt been a huge benefit of riding for me, especially during difficult and stressful periods of working life. I've discussed these aspects with friends many times, and we've agreed how positive a pastime such as mountain biking can be. You can start a ride scowling and miserable from the days events, but 5 minutes in and you're almost certainly going to be hooting and hollering as you narrowly avoid trail pitfalls and ride trail features that get the adrenalin pumping. After the ride, stress forgotten, and worries seemingly fading into laughable parody, things take on a different light.