On a Healthy Body Image and Bikes

I've been spending a ton of time thinking about this in the last few weeks/months/years... Body image as girls who ride bikes. I love what cycling can do for us: Make us happier, healthier and stronger. But I do worry that there is a pressure when you're a female athlete to feel like you need fit into this certain mold of 'what a female athlete should look like,' though. Thankfully, in cycling, there are countless examples of women and girls of all shapes and sizes who are absolutely crushing it. I was in a race this weekend and in the pro women's field, I looked around and realized that there was a huge range of body types represented in the field, and that's what makes cycling so rad. There simply isn't a 'cyclist body type,' it's so dependent on what your body can actually do—not what it looks like. I started thinking about this back when we featured Charlotte Batty on here and she spoke briefly about her struggles to accept where she was and how she fit into the 'cyclist image.' "There were a few things I found difficult about being a competitive mountain biker, but the hardest part was diet," says Charlotte. "I was a bit heavier than your average teenage female and so it always felt like I was in a battle with myself to eat less calories and try to lose those couple extra pounds. I guess I have my raging sweet tooth to thank for that." I know a ton of cyclists—especially younger ones—who feel that way and go down a path that isn't healthy because of it. Some get fixated on dropping down to what they think is the 'ideal weight,' while some leave the sport altogether, feeling defeated. But there is another path—figuring out the healthy balance between embracing a healthy lifestyle and feeling great about yourself where you are. That feeling Charlotte's talking about rarely completely goes away, but she has turned her energy to focusing on the positives and embracing a healthy body image—and gotten back on the bike and gotten a ton of other women into riding in the process! "I still to this day struggle with my body image," she says, "But I have learned to embrace what healthy looks like and what curves are. The best piece of advice for other girls on this, is to NOT compare yourself to others. You are uniquely you." In cycling, I'm seeing so often that women are embracing who they are and where they are right now, and I love it. Of course, we know that it's important to get out and exercise and move your body—that's part of why we pedal around on bikes!—and it's important to have a healthy, balanced diet (with some fun foods in there too, of course!). But it's also so important to be psyched about who you are right now.

Staying active and participating in physical activity can prevent chronic diseases such as obesity and heart disease, according to The Women’s Sports Foundation’s report “Her Life Depends On It III." But even better, the report says that participation in sport will help girls to have "better mental health, higher self-image and confidence levels, improved teamwork and communication skills, increased graduation rates, and leadership skills that can lead to achievement opportunities in school and at work."

I know when I was younger, I shied away from sports because I didn't really feel like I belonged in them. I know a lot of other friends that I had at the time felt the same—we didn't think we fit in because we weren't the right body types to be running track or playing volleyball (and no amount of dieting was going to make my short self grow 6 inches!). Looking back, I want to cry for that girl. She was tough and fierce and would have done just fine on the track team... But probably would have been much happier if someone had handed her a BMX bike and taught her how to shred. So I just wanted to pop in here and say that you're absolutely awesome, and you can be riding a bike and crushing it, any shape, any size, any height, any body. And we want you out there shredding! Let other girls know that every body is a biking body—share this or lend out your bike for the weekend and get someone else shredding today!

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