Bike Riding during pregnancy

Hi all,
Prior to conceiving my partner and I would hit the road/scrub a lot on our mountain bikes - we do some long and challenging rides, sometimes in precarious territory. Now I'm pregnant I've kept the rides very low key - just around tracks in my local neighbourhood that I'm familiar with and at a moderate pace. I'm curious to know if there is any general advice people have been given about bike riding during pregnancy? I'm aware of the recommendations not to raise your heart rate to high, and not to overheat or dehydrate plus be careful of falls. But if I'm confident I can moderate things, should I be worrying???
Lolly x

Hi Lolly you sounds just like my best friend :). She is now 27 wks but still rides to work each day (about 5kms) and in her 2nd tri did the occassional mountain bike albeit cautiously. But I think her belly has exploded in the last couple of weeks so I am not sure if she will continue the mountain biking, I am sure she will continue commuting though until she doesn't feel comfortable anymore.

Riding is second nature to her but as you know accidents can happen to the best of cyclists so she knows she is taking calculated risks.

Good luck

I was riding just locally up until about 30w. I am just too squished in the lungs to be able to do it anymore and I have kneed myself in the belly once to often to make it comfortable. I found that I had to adjust my style - knees out more and sitting more upright as my belly grew.

I am not a mountain biker (more of a roadie) so I can't help you on that but as your belly grows you may notice that your centre of gravity changes making it more difficult to balance on rough terrain. I also found that I didn't feel as confident riding in heavy traffic (maternal instinct maybe) although my route to work is all through inner city Melb and across the CBD so it is probably understandable - especially sice a pregnant cyclist was hit and killed by a bus on Swanston St - so I stoped riding to work early on and stuck to my local area.

I am nearly 26 weeks now and have just about stopped riding. I only ride on roads/paths anyway, so not quite as bumpy as yours (mind you, with traffic it's probably more dangerous).

I asked my OB about it when I realised I was starting to get puffed on the hills, and my heart rate was going over 140. She told me that was long as it was exercise I was used to doing from before I was pregnant, and as long as I remained comfortable and not getting too puffed, it would be fine to keep exercising at that rate.

Lately, I find that I have gotten too nervous about the risk of falling or being knocked off my bike. It's scary not so much because hurting the baby is likely but because worrying that you might have hurt the baby is awful (when I fell off my desk I worried for hours afterwards - not worth the stress). So I'm hardly riding at all now. But your experience may vary from this.

I'm in the same boat as you. As far as I am aware there is nothing wrong with the actual "RIDING", it's the falling off you need to worry about. So I have given the mountain biking a miss and just go for a ride around the local streets where there is little traffic.

The main reason I gave up mountain biking is because I know that when I don't feel confident, that is when I fall off. So being pregnant I would be worried and therefore fall off where I wouldn't normally.

Great to see that you are not letting yourself become an invalid whilst you are pregnant. Good on you!!!

Thanks to you all for your replies, I would miss my riding so much if I felt I needed to stop. Can't wait to get back to it properly once this bub is out! (not that i'll have heaps of time).
And Joey - i just wish everyone else would stop treating me like an invalid (sooooo frustrating) - my stupid MIL wouldn't let me push a trolley around Bunnings the other day, i was so furious. What do they think happens, that our arms and legs fall off or something...
Happy riding gals!
Lolly

Lolly, we're all still riding - not when the weather's too hot though for the dehydration factor.

There will probably be a point where you'll be forced to stop because your body just won't be able to do it anymore - lungs being squished etc.

Just make sure you take plenty of water and it sounds as though you've really backed off anyway. It's a good way of keeping some semblence of fitness under your belt - which will help in labour.

You can look forward (like us) buying one of those little carts that follow you everywhere. Ours has space for two littlies, so the new baby will have plenty of room when he/she is a fair bit older. Great family fun, to stop off by the river and watch birds, boats and anything else of interest passing by.