At Madsen Cycles, we’re all about promoting the family cycling experience. Whether it’s a bucket bike, a cargo kid bike or one of our other family bicycle options, we help connect the entire family for exercise, fun and bonding.
When your children reach certain ages, they can begin biking on their own for an additional part of the experience. In part one of our two-part blog series, we’ll look at some of the specific benefits of getting kids involved with cycling early in their lives.
Limited Technical Skill Requirements
Riding a bike is great exercise for developing bodies, but in many cases, kids don’t even realize they’re working muscles or helping themselves grow. Riding a bike doesn’t require any major technical skills beyond balance, unlike certain sports or other activities that do. Once your child gets the simple balance area of a bike down, they can take part in this activity safely and easily for the rest of their life.
Healthy For Lungs and Heart
From a health perspective, children getting exercise via a bicycle is excellent. Cycling is a cardiovascular form of exercise, meaning it raises the heart rate and improves heart health. The lungs and heart combine to bring oxygen into the body, which helps increase the lung capacity in growing children.
In addition, a study at the University of Glasgow indicated that people who cycle often, even at a young age, cut down their risk of heart disease and cancer by over 50 percent.
Relatively Low-Impact
If you have a child with brittle bones or you’re otherwise worried about injuries, cycling is a great form of exercise. As long as you have a proper helmet for your child, the risks here are very low compared to the repeated running and jumping of many sports.
Environmentally Friendly
In a different area, kids riding their bike to close-by locations not only helps them get better exercise, but is good for the environment through reducing vehicle emissions. Plus, did you realize your child will actually breathe in fewer dangerous fumes while riding their bike on the road than they will sitting inside a car? It’s true.
For more on why kids should get into cycling at a young age, or to learn more about any of our family bicycle options, speak to the pros at Madsen Cycles today.
